Top Five Tornado Disasters

Totally Top Five’s Tornadoes

As the residents of Henryville, Indiana start trying to restore their lives and recover their property after the recent tornado outbreak, we’re going to take a look at the top 5 tornado disasters in the world – and they all affect the United States.

Tornadoes are found on every continent in the world – except Antarctica – but by far and away, most tornadoes (or cyclones) occur in Tornado Alley here in the United States. Tornado Alley runs east of the Rockies, covering northern Texas up to South Dakota and eastwards about 5oo hundred miles.  Oklahoma City has the unwanted distinction of  being the city hit by the most tornadoes, and in 1999 it also experienced the highest wind speeds at 316mph during a tornado. The word tornado comes from the Spanish word, “tronada”, which means “to turn”. A weak tornado will rip branches off of trees, but the most powerful will rip entire buildings from their foundations and even skyscrapers are not immune.

The recent tornado outbreak in Indiana and Kentucky spawned tornadoes which were ferocious and powerful enough to pick up buildings and deposit debris from them over 60 miles away in the Ohio Valley!

Despite killing dozens of people, the 2012 tornado outbreak is nowhere near the top five tornado disasters to strike.

Totally Top Five’s Deadliest Tornadoes

#1 Tri State Tornado – March 18^th, 1925

Area Affected: Illinois, Indiana and Missouri

Death Toll: 695

This was one of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded, an F5 on the Fujitsa scale and after touching down in southeastern Missouri it proceeded to leave a swathe of destruction with a 219 mile track, which is the longest ever recorded.

The tornado was first observed touching down northwest of the town of Ellington MO at 1.01pm and it moved to the northeast, almost completely destroying the town of Annapolis and killing two people. Next it hit the Leadanna and moved into Bollinger County injuring 32 school children. In total 11 people died in Missouri before it became Illinois’ turn and the damage and casualties would be horrendous.

After crossing the Mississippi River, the town of Gorham was completely destroyed with 34 fatalities (occurring around 2.30pm). Traveling at speeds between 60 and 73 miles an hour, the tornado was too fast to outrun or even outdrive and was a mile wide as it town after town was hit by the F5 twister, destroying many completely and leaving behind over 613 fatalities, the most of any state from tornadoes in US history, but the Tri State Tornado had not yet finished for now it was Indiana’s turn.

The Tri State Tornado then crossed the Wabash River into southwestern Indiana and the town of Griffin was hit and practically completely destroyed. The F5 side swiped Owensville before hitting Princeton and leveling half of that town. After traveling a further ten miles, the Tri State Tornado finally dissipated at around 4.30pm but not after killing a further 71 people.

#2 The Great Natchez Tornado – May 7^th, 1840

Area Affected: Natchez Mississippi

Death Toll: 317

Many tornadoes have been lost to history, but the Great Natchez Tornado was well documented, not least because it killed so many people and almost completely destroyed the town – something not widely reported before in the still young United States intent on consolidating its hold on the hold.

The tornado formed to the southwest of Natchez, located in Adams County MS which borders the Mississippi River to the west. Striking Natchez itself, 48 people were killed, though the death toll is likely to have been much higher. Many of the town’s buildings were destroyed, but the greatest damage affected the flotillas of flat boats on the river itself – a further 269 fatalities were inflicted here.

One note on the death toll: this was Mississippi before the Civil War and slave deaths would not likely have been recorded. We can say with a very high degree of certainty that the death toll from the Great Natchez Tornado was much, much higher than that reported.

#3 The St. Louis – East St. Louis Tornado  - May 27^th, 1896

Area Affected: St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois

Death Toll: 255

Rarely do tornadoes strike a major city, but this one hit St Louis causing a mile wide destruction trail as it destroyed commercial building and residential areas. After smashing through St Louis, the twister crossed the Mississippi River and hit East St Louis in neighboring Illinois.

The tornado killed 255 confirmed, but again this is thought to be much higher because of the numbers killed in the boats on the Mississippi River. If we adjusted the cost of the damage to account for inflation, it would be the most expensive tornado event with over $3 billion in damage.

#4 The Tupelo Tornado – April 5^th, 1936

Area Affected: Tupelo Mississippi

Death Toll: 233

The Tupelo Tornado originated from the same storm system (super cell) which also created numerous other tornadoes, including our #5 entrant below. Forming quickly, the tornado hit the residential area of Tupelo killing 233, but sparing a one-year old Elvis Presley.

#5 The Gainesville Tornado – April 6^th, 1936

Area Affected: Gainesville Georgia

Death Toll: 203

The same storm system which created the Tupelo Tornado spawned the Gainesville Tornado which hit the town of Gainesville, Georgia. This event involved two tornadoes which formed early morning on April 6^th as the super cell moved eastwards from Mississippi and overnight through Alabama.

The first tornado moved in from the Atlanta highway and merged with the second in the town, before proceeding to obliterate everything in sight.

Numerous buildings were destroyed, killing 203 including 70 sheltering at the Cooper Pants Factory which was completely demolished, a further 20 were killed sheltering in a department store which collapsed, while a further major tragedy was averted by 550 workers at the Pacolet Mill moving to another part of the building.

Again, the death toll was purely arbitrary with over 40 people posted as missing and many fatalities unrecorded.

The Top Five Tornado Disasters

from Totally Top Five

 

Top Five Movies by Box Office Receipts

Settle down and take your seats for TTF’s Top Five Movies of All Time by Box Office Receipts.  Ahhh, the smell of popcorn and rustling of candy wrappers as the lights go down and you try to get comfortable in your seat, because you know, I mean you just really know, that after 30 minutes you will have a numb bum!

Going to the movies has resurged as a popular downtime destination after being almost slaughtered by the home video and DVD market, but when you look at the top 5 grossing films of all time, the old classics are missing…but wait for the end, because there is a twist in this top five tale!

#5 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – $1,119,929.521

The one where those furry hobbits finally get their act together, as Frodo (Elijah Wood) discovers he has a pair and stops whining long enough to get his finger bitten off by Gollum (Andy Serkis).

Meanwhile Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) slays everything in sight so he can finally come out of the closet and be crowned king and claim claiming his queen, Arwen (Liv Tyler). Ultimately, Aragorn and Co. defeat the ultimate baddie, Sauron and his orc hordes, right the many wrongs and peace returns to Middle Earth only for most of the victorious protagonists to promptly bog off so they can wreak havoc on another continent.

Directed by Peter Jackson, who handled all three of TLOR films following the books by JRRR Tolkien, the films made stars out of Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen, and also featured Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King out slashed Finding Nemo to become the #1 box office grossing film of 2003.

#4 Transformers: Dark of the Moon – $1,123,746,996

The most successful film based on a toy, Transformers started life as a Hasbro toy line which introduced the two warring factions of the Decepticons and the Autobots, but aside from film has branched out in video games, comic books, cartoon animations and more.

Starring Shia LaBeouf as the hapless hero with embarrassingly funny parents (played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White) and a smoking hot girlfriend (far too hot for him and played by English Rose, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). Any doubts over LaBeouf acting ability or the absence of Megan Fox were quickly cast aside, and in any event, how can a film with John Turturo, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand fail? That cast almost sounds like a recipe for a Cohen Brothers’ film.

Aimed at kids with mass appeal across all ages, Dark of the Moon is action packed from the word go with plenty of teenage cringe moments and hot looking girls (especially the one with the English accent) not to mention the cars. Even as I write this I can hear that whirr-whirr-whirrrr sound as the Transformers transform – perhaps we should mention the fantastic special effects on this one, especially as it interplays so well with the human actors.

Directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Rock and Bad Boys) and produced by wunderkind Steven Spielberg, DOTM is the 10th film to break the one billion dollar barrier and it would have the highest grossing film of 2011 but for one thing – Harry Potter!

#3 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – $1,328,111,219

Everyone’s favorite wizard, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) finally makes it to adolescence and gets to confront his nemesis, Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) in the ultimate wand smack down. The films are a roll call of British acting talent but made stars out of their child actors who were followed throughout the franchise, notably Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter but also introduced Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger.

My favorite part of the entire film was the emergence of poor Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) who slays Nagini, Lord V’s pet man-eating snake, spears a werewolf and tromps off to claim Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch)as his prize. There was a film in that alone.

A grand finale to the Harry Pottter films, and much better than Part 1 (an extended camping trip across damp, rainy England), it is the only Harry Potter film to be released entirely in 3D. Directed by David Yates and produced by the author, JK Rowling, David Heyman and David Barron, it was the top grossing film of 2011 and a great end to 10 years of filming and 8 films in the Harry Potter franchise.

#2 Titanic – $1,843,201,268

An epic disaster/love story based on the sinking of the famed R.M.S. Titanic, it was the most expensive movie ever made at the time (1997) with an unheard of $200 million budget that required two studios to fund (20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures). Directed by James Cameron who also co-produced with Jon Landau, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Bil Paxton, Kathy Bates, Danny Nucci, Bernard Hill and more with a music score by James Horner.

Titanic tied the record for Oscar nominations (held by All About Eve 1950) and garnered 14 Academy Award nominations and went on to win 11, including Best Picture and Best Director and it tied the record for Oscar wins with Ben-Hur.

One note – Isador Strauss was high society – he owned Macy’s and was a passenger on the real Titanic – when he could not get into a lifeboat because of the women and children first rule, his wife, Ida, left the lifeboat to rejoin him – they were last seen sitting on the deck holding hands when a wave took them.  Truly Titanic Love.

A film for everyone, as it interweaves the technical stuff with romance and a fictionalized account of class structure, Titanic ruled the movie waves at #1 until James Cameron came up with another movie idea – Avatar.

#1 – Avatar – $2,782,275,172

Written and directed by James Cameron, and reuniting the production pairing of Cameron with Jon Landau, Avatar is an epic science fiction/fantasy movie intermixing cutting edge special effects with live acting. Avatar is the first film to break the $2 billion box office barrier, but it is also the top selling Blu-ray ever and many other home release records.

Filming commenced in April 2007, in New Zealand, and the film got its box office premiere in London on December 10, 2009 with general worldwide release on December 16. Avatar was initially shown at over 14,000 cinemas with 90% of box office ticket sales stemming from 3D showings – a 4D presentation was made in Korea, complete with moving seats, water spray and the smell of ammunition and explosions.

Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, it won only 3 for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. After the outstanding commercial success of Avatar, Cameron signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to make two further sequels. Avatar 2 is tentatively scheduled for release in 2016.

The Twist – Gone with Wind – $3.3 Billion

There is a big issue with working out comparative numbers for older films – Gone With the Wind was the highest grossing film for over 25 years and it was released in 1939. If we were to inflate the box office receipts from that time to make them modern dollars, Gone With the Wind would have grossed $3.3 billion.

In any modern listing, Gone With the Wind doesn’t even make it into the top 50 highest grossing films but that is a crying shame. On the plus side, given everyone associated with that film is dead, frankly my dear, they don’t give a damn

Top Five Movies by Box Office Receipts Brought to You by

Totally Top Five

 

Top Five Useless Pieces of Information on America

Well, not so much Top 5 but an ongoing work – every day I come across “useless” pieces of information, which by themselves give you that “Ahhh ha!” moment, but which also don’t seem to have a place to live within the factual data stream.

Well, not anymore!

This is the first top 5 in what is going to be an ad hoc collection of Top Five Useless Pieces of Information, and feel free to join in with suggestions for inclusion in future lists.

For the first Top Five Useless Pieces of Information list, we’ll take a look at a favorite topic of mine, the United States of America

5. The Statue of Liberty is  Really a Muslim

The Statue of Liberty (Enlightening the World) was dedicated on October 28, 1886 and represents ‘Libertas’, the Roman goddess of freedom. The Statue of Liberty has become the iconic symbol of not only American independence, but freedom everywhere and she was a gift from France to mark 100 years of American Independence.

What is not commonly known is the original design was entitled, ‘Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia.’

The original plan was for her to be situated in Port Said, Egypt to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. Her designer, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was unable to gather the required support, even though he journeyed to Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal (itself a French-Egyptian engineering project).

Bartholdi’s eyes then turned west to the United States, encouraged and inspired by Edouard Rene de Laboulaye, a prominent writer, historian, lawyer, academic and lover of the United States. Laboulaye was a typical 19th Century liberal, with high-minded idealism and principles which supported the fundamental notions of freedom, international fraternity and peace.

Bartholdi later denied any such connection, but his models and preparatory work demonstrate an undeniable close similarity.

Laboulaye’s idealism created the concept of Enlightenment, Bartholdi’s creative vision provided the physical form of Liberty, while Eiffel’s engineering genius ensured the leviathan could be built – but there is no getting away from the fact that originally, she was to personify Egyptian enlightenment and not American.

Egypt is a Muslim country, however before the Koran-burning, conspiracy nutballs amongst you reach for the firelighters the actual model for Liberty’s face is believed to be that of Bartholdi’s own mother.

4. American Kids Witness on Average 8,000 Murders Before They Finish Elementary School

A report by the US Senate made a couple of observations that by the time a child completed elementary school, they had witnessed approximately 8,000 murders and 100,000 incidents of violence on television (obviously they aren’t watching the A-Team anymore).

3. The Irony of War – Hitler’s Personal Train Carriage Was Called “Amerika”

Adolf Hitler rail carriage was known as Fuhrersonderzug (Fuhrer’s Special Train) and was extensively used by him to travel not only across Germany but the extended European conquests in the heady early years of World War 2.

In 1940, the train was officially named Fuhrersonderzug Amerika, but had its name changed with the entry of the US into WW2 (to Brandenburg).

At the end of the war, the train is thought to have been broken up, with the German Army destroying Hitler’s personal carriage and the rest of the train being redeployed.

2. Life-Size Barbie and American Perception of Female Perfection

Barbie dolls are universally the little girls’ doll of choice and she is the epitome of American notions of what a young lady should look like, at least as far as consumption by kids is concerned.

America is a land of eating disorders – either too much or too little, rarely just the right amount.

High levels of obesity and anorexia persist -the highest in the world, but we’ll focus on anorexia here and some of the statistics are frightening:
• Anorexia is the 3rd most common serious illness in teenagers, especially girls;
• 95% of those with eating disorders, including anorexia, are between the ages of 12 and 25 years of age;
• 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 years believe themselves to be overweight; and
• 80% of 13 year old children have tried to diet.

[source: South Carolina Department of Mental Health – Eating Disorder Statistics]

Now let’s take a closer look at Barbie

Yale University professor, Dr. Kelly Brownell, extrapolated what Barbie’s measurements would be if she were a life-size person:
• Vital statistics – 38-18-34
• Height – 7 feet and 2 inches

[source: the BBC]

In other words, if Barbie were real she would be an amazingly tiny-waisted Amazon, with big breasts and an ability to wipe the floor with the LA Lakers and Miami Heat single-handed.

No wonder Ken is anatomically androgynous when you take his pants off!

Barbie is an impossible example to be setting for young, impressionable American children, girls and boys.

1. George Washington Was NOT the First President of the United States

George Washington is usually referred to as the first American president, but depending on how you interpret things, he was either the first or the eleventh president of the United States.

Elected to the office in 1789 after the War of Independence was finally won, Washington was the first president to be elected under the US Constitution.

Here’s the legal rub

The US Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, but prior to this date the United States was operating under the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified on March 1, 1781 by the 13 seceding colonies.

This document (the ‘Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union ‘to give it its full name) was the actual founding instrument of the United States.

It was this document which was prepared after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (which sparked the War of Independence) and not the Constitution in operation today.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the following Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled served:
1. Samuel Huntingdon (March 1st, 1781 to July 9th, 1781)
2. Thomas McKean (July 10th to November 4th, 1781)
3. John Hanson (November 5, 1781 to November 3, 1782)
4. Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 to November 2nd, 1783)
5. Thomas Mifflin (November 3rd, 1783 to October 31st, 1784)
6. Richard Henry Lee (November 30th, 1784 to November 6th, 1785)
7. John Hancock (November 23rd, 1785 to May 29th, 1786)
8. Nathaniel Gorham (June 6th, 1786 to November 5th, 1786)
9. Arthur St. Clair (February 2nd, 1787 to November 4th, 1787)
10. Cyrus Griffin (January 22nd, 1788 to November 2nd, 1788)

It was not until the Constitution was drafted, to replace the Articles, that the executive office of President was created. The presidents under the Articles of Confederation effectively chaired the Congressional Committee of the States, acting as caretaker when Congress itself was not in session, and did some administration, but they did not really have power (though a lot of influence).

It was not until the Constitution itself that executive powers were vested in the Office of President of the United States of America.

So, it’s really up to how you interpret the two founding documents of the United States which determines whether Huntingdon or Washington was the first President of the United States of America.

Incidentally, when it was mooted that Washington should be made King of the United States after the War of Independence, he is said to have replied, “I didn’t fight George the Third to become George the First.”

How very British of him

Top Five Cruise Ship Disasters

Totally Top 5 Cruise Ship Disasters

With the Costa Concordia hulk still floating amidst the rocks off the Italian coast, and the shameful, disgraceful behavior of her former captain, Francesco Scheffino leaving the tourist industry in a state of shock, we’re taking a look at the Top Five Cruise Ship Disasters.

1. The Titanic – R.M.S. Titanic

The Titanic was the epitome of luxury and safety – supposedly unsinkable, until a glancing blow from an iceberg ripped a fatal gash in her side.

RMS Titanic was designed to be the largest cruise liner in the world and was commissioned by the White Star Line. The Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland built the leviathan as an Olympic class cruise liner, but the R.M.S. designation stands for Royal Mail Ship – her role was not simply to ferry passengers in luxury across the Atlantic, but also to act as an important communication resource for mail between North America and Europe.

Her captain was the veteran seaman, Captain Edward Smith RD RNR – a Royal Navy Reserve officer and a highly experienced sea captain. He was highly regarded as a “safe captain” and was also known as “The Millionaire’s Captain” because so many wealthy passengers would not cross the Atlantic unless he was the captain of the ship.

Controversy exists over his responsibility for the Titanic disaster, however whether from his pride or pressure from the ship owners, excessive speed was applied in an effort to take the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing on the Titanic’s maiden voyage – with disastrous results. No matter, Captain Edward Smith perished with his ship like so many other men that fateful night.

High Society passengers on board the Titanic

John Jacob Astor IV, the richest man in the world, and his wife, Madeleine Force Astor – Astor himself rescued many passengers, however he died in the Titanic disaster, though his wife survived.

Benjamin Guggenheim was a wealthy industrialist who boarded the Titanic with his mistress and entourage. Guggenheim died after seeing off the ladies in his party, and realizing that there were not enough lifeboats for the men (remember women and children first) he retired to the Grand Ballroom with a companion after leaving a message with a survivor for his wife, “No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward.” – he was last seen smoking a cigar and sipping brandy when the Titanic finally went down.

Isidor Straus, the owner of Macys, together with his wife, Ida – when Ida refused to enter a lifeboat because her husband could not join her, she chose to stay with him – the couple were last seen on the Titanic’s deck, holding hands until a wave took them.

Margaret “Molly” Brown who was later known as “Unsinkable Molly Brown” as she helped other passsengers, though she was not called Molly to her face, she was “Maggie” – a force of nature and Missourian daughther, she made the crew of Lifeboat 6 look for other survivors in the freezing waters and kept her head while many others lost theirs.

The Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from the southern English port of Southampton on April 10, 1912 bound for New York with 2,223 souls on board. Four days into the voyage, at 11.40pm on the dark night of April 14, 1912 she collided with a large iceberg and finally sank at 2.20am on the morning of April 15, 1912.

Most of the men on board died, due to the women and children first safety procedure in force – and which was enforced by the crew, though with some exceptions depending on social status. A large number of the deaths were due in large part to a simple fatal equation – there were only lifeboats for 1,178 people – it was simply not considered a necessity because the Titanic was truly believed to be unsinkable….until it sank.

Death toll: 1,517 people mostly men, but also women and children.
Cause: peacetime sinking due to collision with an iceberg.

2. R.M.S. Lusitania

The Lusitania was built by John Brown and Company on the Clyde, Scotland and was designed by Leonard Peskett for the Cunard Line. She entered service with the Cunard fleet on August 26, 1907 and plied the Liverpool-New York passenger route (Liverpool was at that time a major British port on the North West coast of England long before it became famous for The Beatles and soccer teams).

The name ‘Lusitania’ came from the name of the Roman Province in what is now Portugal. The Lusitania also held the Blue Riband, the prize for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing (as did her sister-ship, the lesser known, but slightly faster, Mauretania.

With the outbreak of the First World War in Europe, the United States initially remained neutral and cruise liners and commercial maritime traffic continued to work the routes between North America and Europe. However, the Germans commenced blockading trade routes across the Atlantic, particularly on the main routes exiting British and Irish waters.

On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat (Unterseeboot), U-20 came across the Lusitania, and after identifying her as a British cruise liner proceeded to fire torpedoes. The Lusitania was hit 11 miles off the Irish coast and sank in less than 18 minutes with 1,959 people on board.

The public outrage over the sinking of a civilian, non-combatant liner, and with a large number of US citizens aboard, many of whom perished, ushered in the entry of the United States into the war against Germany.

Death toll: 1,198 people – men, women and children.
Cause: wartime action by the German Navy.

3. S.S. Morro Castle

The S.S. Morro Castle was an American-built cruise liner, operated by Ward Line for the New York-Havana, Cuba run – she was actually named for the Morro Castle, which was a fortress guarding the entrance to the Havana harbor.

An ominous omen was that her captain, Captain Robert Wilmott died of an apparent cardiac arrest on the day before final disaster struck. Command of the S.S. Morro Castle passed to Chief Officer William Warms.

In the pre-dawn hours of September 8, 1924, a Saturday, In sight of the Jersey shore a scant 8 miles away and while en route from Havana returning to New York, a fire started on board less than a day’s sail from her home port.

The fire quickly took hold of the ship, killing over a hundred passengers and crew. Half of her lifeboats were launched, however many were not used to capacity and the crew occupied many of the seats – in stark, courageous contrast, many brave crew members sought to help passengers evacuate and fought the flames.

Many deaths were caused due to passenger ignorance of use of their life preservers. Many drowned due to being knocked unconscious from the impact of hitting the water after leaping from the blazing ship. In some instances, the life preservers broke the necks of the passengers as they hit the water, killing them instantly.

The Morro Castle was eventually beached off the Jersey coast, near Asbury Park, approximately 30 miles south of New York City. The burned hulk rested on the beach for several months as a major investigation commenced to identify the cause of the fire and the failure of safety precautions. Such was the concern at this maritime disaster, especially when large numbers of Americans frequently traveled to then-friendly Cuba, that a raft of new safety regulations was introduced, and for the first time started taking into account the flammability of materials used in the construction of ships.

Many of the regulations and construction standards for ship-building find their origin in the Morro Castle fire, such as the extensive use of ship fire alarms, imposition of compulsory fire drills and safety procedures, such as passenger and crew evacuation, as well as the introduction of the mandatory use of fire retardant construction materials.
After several months, the burned out hulk was eventually towed off the beach and was scrapped.

Death toll: 135 deaths from a total compliment of 549 passengers and crew.
Cause: accidental fire, aggravated by lax crew discipline, poor construction standards and safety procedures.

4. M.S. Explorer

(originally the M.S. Lindblad Explorer and the M.S. Society Explorer)

The Motor Ship Explorer was specifically designed for use in polar waters and extreme cold conditions. The designation ‘Motor Ship’ or ‘M.S.’ refers to a ship powered by a diesel engine (most usually, though technically any internal combustion engine qualifies).

The M.S. Explorer was initially commissioned by Lars-Eric Lindblad, a noted Swedish-American explorer who was the pioneer of polar tourism. Built by Uudenkaupungin Telakka in Finland, she was launched on December 14, 1969.

The M.S. Lindblad Explorer, as it was initially, made the first cruising tour of Antarctica in 1969 – she is also noted as being the first such cruise ship to be lost there too.

On November 23, 2007, the M.S. Explorer hit an iceberg after visiting the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) and South Georgia. While passing by the South Shetland Islands, a loud “bang” was heard throughout the ship, and a tear had been ripped in the hull which was 10 inches by 4 inches – a small hole, but nevertheless one which allowed a substantial volume of water into the ship.

By 3.00am local time, a passenger reported sea water in their cabin. However, it was not until 4.24am that a Mayday call was put out.
An orderly evacuation ensued, with all 91 passengers, 54 crew and 9 polar guides taking to the lifeboats. After drifting on the polar seas for 5 hours, all were rescued by the M.S. Nordnorge later that morning.

Death toll: zero.
Cause: iceberg collision, more specifically collision with old, land ice which is tougher and harder than fresh ice created each year.

5. Star Princess

The Star Princess was operated as a Caribbean cruise liner by Princess Cruises and is a Grand-class cruise liner (there are 3 ships in the class – the remaining two are Grand Princess and Golden Princess). Star Princess was built in Italy in 2002 by Fincantieri of Monfalcone.

On the night of March 23, 2006 at 3am in the morning, a fire started, believed to be from a discarded cigarette, in one of the passenger compartments on the port-side. An alarm was sounded, the passengers were awoken and congregated at the emergency stations, which caused some consternation due to the cramped and unsanitary conditions within which they were held for over 7 hours.

One passenger died from smoke inhalation (asphyxia), Richard Liffidge, a 72 year old from Georgia. Thirteen other passengers were treated for severe distress caused by smoke inhalation, which was made even more dangerous due to the gases noxious and toxic gases produced from the combustion of some of the materials from which the ship was made and outfitted with.

Fire at sea is always deadly, even with such abundance of water, however this must rank as one of the least disastrous disasters – the death toll could have been much greater, and it is mere luck more fatalities did not occur.

The Star Princess limped into harbor at Montego, Jamaica after the fire was contained, but the incident caused the International Maritime Organization to move to require the installation of water-sprinklers and a tightening up of regulations surrounding materials, especially inflammable polycarbonates, which could be used in ship construction.

Death toll: one.
Cause: fire and poor choice of construction materials.

Totally Top 5 Cruise Ship Disasters

Totally Top Five’s Top 5 Mitt Romney Facts

With the Republican presidential nominee race in full swing, front-runner Mitt Romney has emerged as the clear contender to face-off against incumbent, President Obama in the 2012 election.

Mitt Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney, but opted to use Mitt as his moniker which was also the name of a cousin of his father’s, a Chicago Bears football player in the Twenties. Romney’s father is a former governor of Michigan (1963 to 1969) and past chairman and president of American Motors Corporation. Romney himself graduated top 5% at Harvard in law and business and went on to make millions at venture capital firm, Bain.

While some of Mitt Romney’s life is a closely guarded secret (such as his tax returns), we’ve delved into the archives to come up with the top 5 Mitt Romney snippets you may not have heard of:

1. Mitt Romney is DEAD!

In 1968, Romney was on a mission trip to France (Romney is a Mormon) when the car he was driving, along with 5 passengers, was hit head on by a drunk-driver.

One passenger was killed in the accident, and Romney himself was thrown from the vehicle due to the impact. A French police officer on the scene tagged a deeply unconscious Romney as, “Il est mort”, which is French for “He is dead.”

With this giving his family back home a torrid time, a family friend, then US Ambassador to France, Sargent Shriver, tracked down the hospitalized Romney and informed his parents and family that he was indeed, still in the land of the living.

A case of Il n’est pas mort, or maybe he’s really a zombie!

2. Call me Ike

Mitt Romney’s favorite, all-time president is President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and such is his devotion he asked his grandchildren to “Call me Ike.” – the Romney’s have 11 grandchildren in total, but there are sure to be more following.

“Call me Ike” didn’t help Romney with his 2007 run at the Republican nomination, but it’s a case of better luck next time, and 2012 is “next time.”

3. Bishop Romney

While living in upscale Belmont, Massachussetts, Romney was a leader of the local Mormon church and became Bishop of Cambridge and subsequently, Bishop of Belmont.

He was appointed as president of the Boston “diocese” or “stake” as it is referred to in Mormon terminology.

4. Underage Dating

Romney met his wife, Ann Davies in 1965 at a party when he was 18 and she was 15 and sophomore at Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. No hanky panky allowed, but a long-distance relationship blossomed between the two as Romney first attended Stanford for a year, and then went to France (on his mission work where he ended up “dead”).

Ann and Mitt Romney were married on March 21, 1969 when he had recovered and returned from France – Gerald Ford, not then President Ford, attended their wedding.

5. El Presidente Romney

Many of Mitt’s family were born in Mexico and not in the United States – indeed, so many have been born there thta we could speculate on whether Romney’s birth certificate will be made public along with his tax returns

Mitt’s father, George Romney, was born in Mexico and who famoulsy claimed when running (unsuccessfully) for the 1968 presidency, that as both his parents had been born in the USA, “his birthplace didn’t matter!”

Take that Birthers!

In addition, Romney has a whole passel of cousins who won’t be voting for him in the U.S. elections this year, or ever – they all live, and are citizens, of the Great State of Mexico.