Ask Maxy

Dear Maxy,
I have three wonderful young adult children . The oldest 2  girls both recently graduated  from college  and are living at home  working and saving money .
The girls were not particularly interested  in dating  until recently .
The oldest met a guy  at work  and has fallen hard . She's always been family oriented , but for the past three months, all she wants  to do is be with this guy 24/7 . She spends  most nights  at his place  and we don't see her at all on the weekends .
This behavior does not sit well with me . I don't think it's a good idea to spend the night with your boyfriend  so early in the relationship . I also don't like that she disregards her family , especially her younger sister  with whom she had a special relationship .
My position is , if she's still living at home, she should come home to sleep . She can run round with this guy the rest of the day .
I understand I may have some old fashioned values, but allowing my daughter  to live  with her boyfriend  on a part-time basis shows no respect  for my position  and is hard for me  to swallow . I normally have a great relationship with her, but I haven't seen or spoken to her in more that three weeks .
I'm concerned  that if I ask her to have dinner  with us  more often  and spend time with family on weekends , she will resent it and it willl make  matters worse . Am I out of line ?
Concerned Dad
Dear Dad,
be careful , Dad . Your daughter is now a grown woman . The lack of prior dating could be one reason why she is so over the moon  for the new boyfriend . You apparently don't object to her having sex . You simply miss the girl  she used to be .
It's OK for you to say you don't wish to subsidize  her living  with her boyfriend, but I hope you will do so in a loving way, letting her know  you miss her at dinnertime . But I also recommend  you invite the boyfriend to join  you for meals  and weekend activities . This will not only encourange  your daughter's participation , but it will allow  you to get to know the man who may become your son-in-law .
Maxy

Dear Maxy,
My oldest sister is very selfish . She has three children  but never wants to spend time with them . My sister is in her early forties  and acts as if she is 16 . She is only concerned  with herself  and what others can do for her .
She and her husband  are always going out  and foisting their children on everyone else . When we don't watch her  kids , she gets angry and then tells the kids we don't love them . Unfortunately , my sister  lives in the same town as my parents . I'll like to visit my folks , but I'll like to avoid my sister . Is that wrong ?
Helpless Sibling
Dear  Sibling ,
I know it will be difficult, but I urge you to remain civil  to your sister  for the sake of her children . They need you . Since you don't live nearby , her selfishness  should be manageable  in small doses  on rare occasions . Please try .
Maxy

Dear Maxy ,
I am in an inter-racial relationship . I date  a black woman  with kids . We've been together for almost two years  and my family doesn't agree with the relationship .
They think we should break up . We really love each other  and her family seems to like me  and is accepting  of the relationship . My family doesn't feel the same way  and wishes things were different . I don't know what to do . Any suggestions ?
Heartbroken
Dear Heartbroken,
It is embarrassing  to learn that people  in our country  continue  to have discriminatory thoughts  and feelings  about people of other  races . I can only imagine how challenging  this is for you .
Because  it is your family  that is against your relationship, I can see  how tough it must be  for you to build  your relationship and have peace .
You need to figure out what you want . If you believe that you, your girlfriend  and her children  have a future  together, claim that  and let your family know . Speak frankly to them so they know exactly how much she and the children mean to you. If they love you and want you to be happy, they may come around to accepting your choice of a partner. If, given time, they don't accept her and you are sure you want to spend your life with her, you may have to consider distancing yourself from your family to avoid  incidents that might hurt or humiliate you and/or your girlfriend.
Maxy

TIGHAR Believes They Have Found Amelia's Plane

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) suggests it has found Amelia Earhart’s Plane

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The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) suggests it has found Amelia Earhart’s plane, which disappeared July 2, 1937.

In the summer of 2012, the non-profit organization devoted to aviation history embarked on a $2.2 million expedition to solve the mystery of the aviator’s disappearance 75 years ago.

Researchers headed to a remote island in the Pacific with hopes of finding Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. The working theory, as described at the time by the Washington Post, was that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan landed on a reef near the Kiribati atoll where they survived for a short time.

Now, TIGHAR has released a sonar image from that island that they believe is the remains of Electra. Here’s how the group heralds its news on its website:

“It’s exciting. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening. There is a sonar image in the data collected during last summer’s Niku VII expedition that could be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. It looks unlike anything else in the sonar data, it’s the right size, it’s the right shape, and it’s in the right place.”

“There is no other sonar return like it in the entire body of data collected,” Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, told Discovery News. ”It is truly an anomaly.” Gillespie believes Earhart survived for at least five days on the atoll.

You can read all about the search on a site dedicated to raising money for the mission. The group allows that the image might show a coral feature or a sunken boat not mentioned in literature: “Maybe it’s pure coincidence that it‘s the right size and shape to be the Electra wreckage – the Electra that so much other evidence suggests should be in that location.”

Gillespie tells Discovery Magazine that it will take some $3,000,000 “to put together an expedition that can do what needs to be done.” It’s a lot of money, he agrees. “But it’s a small price to pay for finding Amelia.”

Rob Ford update: Everything is not fine at Toronto City Hall

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Rob Ford slipped into a committee room here at city hall yesterday, escaping a blast of camera shutters and one reporter yelling “WILL YOU ADDRESS THE LATEST –” before the door shut behind him.

Inside the hushed confines of Committee Room 1, with its concentric horseshoes of public servants, politicians and gadflies, you could almost pretend everything is fine. Ford and his inner circle was considering a typical pile of doomed endeavours: de-funding the Pride parade on account of anti-Israeli marchers, getting rid of half of city council and debating whether drivers should be required to give cyclists a metre’s leeway when passing.

Life made a passable impression of going on. It was Ford’s 44th birthday, and at lunch he’d served cake to reporters, and even apologized for the moment of indiscretion on his radio show when he called them a bunch of maggots. Suburban councillors spoke at length about how little they wanted to change lanes for cyclists. De-funding the parade turned out to be futile because the city never specifically pays for the parade in the first place. A report on shrinking council was requested, so as later to be ignored. It was one of Ford’s campaign planks. It may be the last he addresses.

Everything is not fine. The scope and implications of this scandal grows every day.

Here’s where it stands now: The mayor has been pictured posing with three young men. One of them appears to be Anthony Smith, who was killed at the end of March in an execution-style shooting downtown. A second young man in the same photo has been shot as well. Meanwhile, a video purporting to show the mayor smoking crack, which the mayor strenuously denies exists, is the subject of a police investigation. The mayor’s staff are reported to have worried that the drug dealers who were shopping the video around may have killed someone to get it. A link between Smith and the video is the subject of much speculation now, to say nothing of the link between Smith and the mayor.

Then there is the old Ford family friend named David Price, hired by the mayor’s office in early April, about a week after the Smith shooting. The Globe, in an investigation that charges Doug Ford with having dealt hashish as a teenager, tagged Price as a former participant in Doug’s enterprise. (Doug Ford has strongly denied ever dealing drugs.) Price is reported to have had information on the nature or whereabout of the video, which he passed along to then-chief-of-staff Mark Towhey, who, aghast, called the police. Asked to explain Price’s hire, Doug simply remarked “you can’t teach loyalty.”

So Rob Ford now finds himself sharing headlines with homicide detectives and killings. A young man is dead. Others have been shot. A video of the mayor smoking crack might still be out there, now with a $200,000 bounty on its head, and potentially in the hands of people who aren’t just drug dealers, but murderers as well. (This may give Crackstarter boosters some extra pause.) Just to underline that earlier point: Everything is really, definitively not fine.

Yesterday, Ford could only keep the outside world out for so long. His executive committee meeting went almost until 6 p.m. When the meeting wrapped up, Ford walked out the side doors of the room, where he came face to face with a gaggle of reporters at the exit. There was a brief moment of confusion as Ford paused at the threshold, as if about to speak. "Aw, I left my phone in there,” he groaned, patting down his suit pockets. The mayor and handlers ducked into a private back-passage around to his glass-walled office suite, where the press gallery was waiting for him to speak. He was scheduled to issue a condemnation of the new taxes that the province wants to levy to pay for transit expansion, but none of the press wanted to talk about revenue tools.

“It’s no secret that I’ve been fighting for new subway lines for Toronto since Day 1 …”  said Ford, reading his statement. “What I do not support is the province’s plan to slap new taxes on the back of hard-working families in this great province.”

It’s murder and revenue tools this week; death and taxes. With every subsequent revelation, you can hear the gasps of “surely this will shake Ford Nation’s support.” Yet a tracking poll over the weekend showed Ford’s lousy numbers are at least holding steady. Rob Ford was sent to City Hall to hold the line on taxes and disrupt the scene, and that’s what he did. The collateral damage, which mounts day by day, is incidental. The fact that business as usual looks like it might never return doesn’t faze the faithful. The entire premise of Rob Ford was to rail against the inevitable.

Reporters let the mayor finish with the tax speech before they lit into him again.

“Everyone in the country is talking about these new allegations in the Star and the Globe this morning,” came the first question. “Do you have any thing to say about that?”

“I’ve addressed those concerns. If you have any questions about what I just talked about I’d be more than happy to answer questions,” said Ford.

“How do you know Anthony Smith?” yelled someone else, the only audible question in the cacophony that erupted. Ford peered around, looking momentarily hopeful that someone might want to ask about taxes.

“Anyways, thank you very much,” said Ford, and was gone.

'Crackstarter' hits $200K

Gawker hits its goal of $200,000, but says it has not managed to reconnect with the alleged drug dealers at the heart of the controversy.

2 more staff members leave

Press secretary George Christopoulos and deputy press secretary Isaac Ransom resign from their positions in Ford's office.

Video deadline

Gawker editor-in-chief says he'll give the alleged video's owners a month to claim the crowdfunded $200,000 and provide the video before looking at giving the money to a non-profit.

 

 

 

Shattered Ground...What the Frack Are We Doing?

              

 

Shale gas deposits and fracking areas in the US

 

At least 38 earthquakes in Northeastern B.C. over the past few years were caused by hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, according to a report by the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission. Studies have found quakes are common in many places where that natural gas extraction process is employed.

It’s not unexpected that shooting massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into the earth to shatter shale and release natural gas might shake things up. But earthquakes aren’t the worst problem with fracking.

“Fracking”, or Hydraulic Fracturing, is a new technology that has opened up immense resources of natural gas buried in deep shale beds. The process involves injection of highly-pressurized water, sand and chemicals to shatter underground layers of shale and extract previously inaccessible natural gas.  But the process and its sudden spread across the North American landscape, has become an incredibly divisive issue, ripping apart communities. The backlash to the gas industry is unprecedented, with some countries, Canadian provinces and American states adopting fracking bans and moratoriums.

 Some see fracking as a great opportunity for money and jobs, and one that provides cheap, clean fuel. But, for others, the possible human health costs of this new drilling technology have motivated a large and vociferous anti-fracking movement. Fracking’s critics consider the industry a potential environmental disaster, citing chemical contamination of air and water. With pipelines proposed, terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) requiring billions of dollars of investment, and huge shale beds lying underneath highly-populated areas of the Canada and the US (including southern Ontario), fracking is an issue that could affect every one of us.
 

Must there be a choice between health and wealth, or is it possible to find a balance? The gulf between proponents and opponents appears so wide, it’s difficult to find common ground. 

Hydraulic fracturing requires massive amounts of water. Disposing of the toxic wastewater, as well as accidental spills, can contaminate drinking water and harm human health. And pumping wastewater into the ground can further increase earthquake risk. Gas leakage also leads to problems, even causing tap water to become flammable! In some cases, flaming tap water is the result of methane leaks from fracking. And methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide!

Those are all serious cause for concern—but even they don’t pose the greatest threat from fracking. The biggest issue is that it’s just one more way to continue our destructive addiction to fossil fuels. As easily accessible oil, gas and coal reserves become depleted, corporations have increasingly looked to “unconventional” sources, such as those in the tar sands or under deep water, or embedded in underground shale deposits.

And so we end up with catastrophes such as the spill—and deaths of 11 workers—from the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. We turn a blind eye to the massive environmental devastation of the tar sands, including contamination of water, land, and air; destruction of the boreal forest; endangerment of animals such as caribou; and impacts on human health. We blast the tops off of mountains to get coal.

With fracking’s gigantic appetite for water – water permanently removed from the eco-system – what’s at stake may not just be about our supply of natural gas but the one resource none of us can live without: fresh water.  We figure depleted water supplies, a few earthquakes, and poisoned water are the price we have to pay to maintain our fossil-fuelled way of life.

We should, as a civilization, have taken that dwindling supply and rising price as a signal to convert to sun, wind, and other noncarbon forms of energy. It would have made eminent sense, most of all because it would have aided in the fight against global warming, the most difficult challenge the planet faces. If we want to address global warming, along with the other environmental problems associated with our continued rush to burn our precious fossil fuels as quickly as possible, we must learn to use our resources more wisely, kick our addiction, and quickly start turning to sources of energy that have fewer negative impacts.

 

China's Baby 59 Rescued From Sewage Pipe

                        

 

 

 A nurse feeds Baby 59, who is now stable in hospital after being rescued from a sewer pipe. Photograph: Imaginechina/Corbis

He has no name, just a number: Baby 59. But his face is now familiar to millions and wellwishers across China are anxiously monitoring the fate of the tiny newborn after firefighters freed him from a sewage pipe where he was trapped beneath a toilet.

 

Weighing just 5lbs, the boy was found wedged in the pipe beneath a shared bathroom in a residential building in Jinhua, in China's eastern province of Zhejiang. His placenta was still attached.

Early reports suggested residents heard his cries late on Saturday and raised the alarm – but updates suggested his unmarried mother had been the first to call for help, pretending she had merely come across him.

 

The extraordinary footage of his rescue showed firefighters sawing away an L-shaped section of the narrow pipe from the floor beneath the bathroom after attempts to pull him out failed. Medics at Pujiang People's hospital helped them to take it apart piece by piece with pliers and saws – a process that took almost an hour. It reportedly had a diameter of just 10cm.

 

State media said the baby, identified only by the number of his hospital incubator, had a low heart rate when he was admitted and had suffered cuts and bruising, but was now in stable condition.

Police initially said they were looking for his parents and treating the case as one of attempted murder. The Pujiang police bureau later said on its official microblog account that the boy's mother had been located and an investigation was under way.

              

 

 

Agence France-Presse said a police officer told them that the mother had hidden her pregnancy and the baby fell into the toilet after she gave birth unexpectedly.
He said: "The woman was on the scene during the entire rescue process … and admitted [she was the mother] when we asked her." Police had not yet decided whether to file charges and that there was no information on the father.

The single woman, a tenant in the building, told police she could not afford an abortion and secretly delivered the child on Saturday afternoon in the toilet, Associated Press reported. She said the newborn slipped into the sewer pipe and she alerted her landlord after she could not pull the baby out, the state-run news site. The mother told police she cleaned up in the toilet after the delivery. She had managed to hide her pregnancy by wearing loose clothes and tightly wrapping her abdomen.

Bearing a baby outside marriage still carries a stigma in China. The case has provoked horror across China, where footage of the two-hour rescue was broadcast widely. State media said strangers inundated  the hospital with gifts of nappies, baby clothes and milk powder, as well as offers to adopt the little boy. But a doctor at the hospital said he would be handed to social services if his parents did not claim him.

Several cases of abandonment have been reported recently, including that of a baby dumped in the trash earlier this month, who is thought to have died despite medical care. Earlier this year, the Beijing Youth Daily said the hospital that treats abandoned babies found in the capital had received more than 10,000 in the past decade. Girls and disabled infants are more likely to be abandoned, due to the preference for boys in China.
  
While some have suggested abandonments are linked to China's one-child policy of strict birth controls, which can lead to heavy fines for parents who breach the rules, that alone is unlikely to explain the phenomenon. Abortion is readily available and widely used to end unwanted pregnancies or those that breach the quota. The Zhejiang case has striking similarities to cases seen in the US and other countries where women have left their newborn babies in toilets, having been unaware they were pregnant or apparently in denial.
  

 

                       

The newborn baby that was rescued after being flushed down a toilet is recovering well in hospital in Pujiang, China.   

 

There appeared to be little sympathy for the mother on social media, where users angrily asked how any parent could leave their child in those conditions. "The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe," one user wrote on the Sina Weibo microblog service.

The Swarm - New Orleans

New Orleans was struck by millions of swarming Formosan termites on Wednesday night causing hundreds of thousands of people's skin to crawl.
Resembling something out of a creepy disaster movie, the termites made for any car headlights, streetlights or lit homes they could find in residential or commercial areas.
Usually the termites swarm like clockwork at the beginning of May, but with cooler temperatures in the New Orleans area combined with drier air the termite outbreak was delayed until last night's warmer conditions.

From Violet to the Bywater and Covington to Algiers, reports of termite swarms across the the New Orleans metro area on Wednesday

 

Formosan termites are not native to the United States and were introduced from the Far East in packing crates and other wood products during World War Two.
Massive infestations in and around New Orleans have become endemic along Lake Pontchartrain and at the naval shipyard in Algiers.

Critters be Crawling: The Formosan termites flew across the New Orleans area
 last night

I Need More Bug Spray: One man holds aloft his weapons against the bug infestation last night in New Orleans

The termites took to the skies across the south and were late this year - usually attempting to mate at the beginning of May

The termite swarm set social media abuzz as people shared pictures of the infestation in the night sky

Formosa termites are common in southern states - and their mating season usually begins in late April or early May - this year in New Orleans it began late

 

The reason for the huge swarms of the Formosan termites is because they only are capable of flying 300 yards in search of a mate and then the pair drop to the ground to burrow a nest if successful.
However, the large majority of the termites never manage to find a place to mate and burrow and die on the ground in their thousands as they fail to find shelter.
A termite on nest on average takes about five years to reach a size where the new colony creates versions of the insect with wings to restart the cycle.
Mature termite colonies can have as many as 5 million individual insect members.

There were so many termites in the sky that pigeon were forced to stay on their perches

The termites were brought over from the Far East in wooden containers during the Second World War

The termites can only fly short distances away from their burrows as they attempt to mate

Definitive Collection for Titanic Followers...Photos Never Displayed Before

 

Many of the photos were brought together from various collections  and other pictures display items up for auction in 2012.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic caused the deaths of 1,517 of its 2,229 passengers and crew (official numbers vary slightly) in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The 712 survivors were taken aboard the RMS Carpathia. Few disasters have had such resonance and far-reaching effects on the fabric of society as the sinking of the Titanic. It affected attitudes toward social injustice, altered the way the North Atlantic passenger trade was conducted, changed the regulations for numbers of lifeboats carried aboard passenger vessels and created an International Ice Patrol (where commercial ships crossing the North Atlantic still, today, radio in their positions and ice sightings). The 1985 discovery of the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor marked a turning point for public awareness of the ocean and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. It has become one of the most famous ships in history, her memory kept alive by numerous books, films, exhibits and memorials. -- Paula Nelson (51 photos total)

 



2

The luxury liner Titanic, in this photo dated 1912, as she left Queenstown for New York, on her ill-fated last voyage. Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, such as millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere seeking a new life in America. The disaster was greeted with worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and the regulatory and operational failures that had led to it. The inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic began within days of the sinking and led to major improvements in maritime safety. (United Press International) #

3

Workers leave the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury and was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. The ship is visible in the background of this 1911 photograph. (Photographic Archive/Harland & Wolff Collection/Cox) #

4

A 1912 photograph of a dining room on the Titanic. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. (The New York Times Photo Archives/American Press Association) #

5

A 1912 photograph of a second class area on the Titanic. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a "women and children first" protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. (The New York Times Photo Archives/American Press Association) #

6

In this April 10, 1912 photo the Titanic leaves Southampton, England. The tragic sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago can be blamed, some believe, on low grade rivets that the ship's builders used on some parts of the ill-fated liner. (Associated Press) #

7

Captain Edward John Smith, commander of the Titanic. The ship he commanded was the largest afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. Titanic was a massive ship - 883 feet long, 92 feet wide, and weighing 52,310 long tons (a long ton is 2240 pounds). It was 175 feet tall from the keel to the top of the four stacks or funnels, almost 35 feet of which was below the waterline. The Titanic was taller above the water than most urban buildings of the time. (The New York Times Archives) #

8

An undated photo of Titanic First Officer William McMaster Murdoch, who is treated as a local hero in his native town of Dalbeattie, Scotland, but was portrayed as a coward and a murderer in the multi-Oscar winning movie, Titanic. At a ceremony on the 86th anniversary of the ship's sinking, Scott Neeson, the executive vice-president of the film's makers 20th Century Fox, presented a check for five thousand pounds ($8,000 US dollars) to the Dalbeattie school as an apology to the bridge officer's relatives. (Associated Press) #

9

This is believed to be the iceberg that sank the Titanic on April 14-15, 1912. The photograph was taken from the deck of the Western Union Cable Ship, Mackay Bennett, commanded by Captain DeCarteret. The Mackay Bennett was one of the first ships to reach the scene of the Titanic disaster. According to Captain DeCarteret, this was the only berg at the scene of the sinking when he arrived. It was assumed, therefore, that it was responsible for the sea tragedy. The glancing collision with the iceberg caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inward in a number of locations on her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. (United States Coast Guard) #

10

Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. This photograph of Titanic lifeboats approaching the rescue ship Carpathia, was taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden and was on display during a 2003 exhibition of images related to the Titanic disaster (bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord). (National Maritime Museum/London) #

11

Seven hundred and twelve survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by the RMS Carpathia. This photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows Titanic lifeboats approaching the rescue ship, Carpathia. The photo was part of a 2003 exhibition bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord. (National Maritime Museum/London) #

12

Though Titanic had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people – a third of her total passenger and crew capacity. This Sepia photograph depicting the recovery of Titanic passengers is among memorabilia set to go under the hammer at Christies in London, May 2012. (Paul Treacy/ EPA/PA) #

13

Members of the press interview Titanic survivors coming off the rescue ship, The Carpathia, April 17, 1912. (American Press Association) #

14

Eva Hart is pictured as a seven-year-old in this photograph taken in 1912 with her father, Benjamin, and mother, Esther. Eva and her mother survived the sinking of the British liner Titanic on April 14, 1912 off Newfoundland, but her father perished in the disaster. (Associated Press) #

15

People stand on the street during Titanic disaster, awaiting the arrival of the Carpathia. (The New York Times Photo Archives/Times Wide World) #

16

A huge crowd gathered in front of the White Star Line office in New York's lower Broadway to get the latest news on the sinking of the luxury liner Titanic on April 14, 1912. (Associated Press) #

17

The New York Times newsroom at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. (The New York Times Photo Archives) #

18

After the sinking of the Titanic, crowds read bulletins in front of the Sun Building in New York City. (The New York Times Photo Archives) #

19

Two messages that were sent from America to insurers Lloyds of London in the mistaken belief that other ships, including the Virginian, were standing by to help when the Titanic sank. These two messages are among dramatic memorabilia set to go under the hammer at Christies in London, May, 2012. (AFP/ EPA/Press Association) #

20

Titanic survivors Laura Francatelli, and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, while standing on the rescue ship, Carpathia. Francatelli reported hearing a terrible rumbling noise, then anguished cries for help as her rowboat pulled away from the sinking ocean liner Titanic that dreadful night in 1912. (Associated Press/Henry Aldridge and Son/Ho) #

21

This vintage print shows the Titanic shortly before leaving on her maiden voyage in 1912. (New York Times Archives) #

22

A photograph released by Henry Aldridge & Son/Ho Auction House in Wiltshire, Britain, 18 April 2008, shows an extremely rare Titanic passenger ticket. They were the auctioneers handling the complete collection of the last American Titanic Survivor Miss Lillian Asplund. The collection was comprised of a number of significant items including a pocket watch, one of only a handful of remaining tickets for the Titanic's maiden voyage and the only example of a forward emigration order for the Titanic thought to exist. Lillian Asplund was a very private person and because of the terrible events she witnessed that cold April night in 1912 rarely spoke about the tragedy which claimed the lives of her father and three brothers. (Henry Aldridge & Son/Ho) #

23

An item bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord, shows a Marconi cable form. Miss Edith Russell (Titanic survivor and journalist) to Women's Wear Daily: 'Safe Carpathia, notify mother' Carpathia 18 April 1912 . (National Maritime Museum/London) #

24

An item bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord shows the Titanic luncheon menu signed by survivors of the Titanic. (National Maritime Museum/ London) #

25

R.M.S. Titanic's bow in 1999. (P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology) #

26

This Sept. 12, 2008 image shows one of the propellers of the RMS Titanic on the ocean floor during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. Five Thousand artifacts are scheduled to be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press) #

27

This Aug. 28, 2010 image, released by Premier Exhibitions, Inc.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, shows the starboard side of the Titanic bow. (Premier Exhibitions, Inc.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) #

28

This July 5, 2003 image shows the Titanic's crow's nest. (David Bright) #

29

The Titanic's port bow rail, chains and an auxiliary anchor boom. Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who found the remains of the Titanic nearly two decades ago, returned to the site and lamented damage done by visitors and souvenir hunters. (Institute for Archaeological Oceanography & Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island Grad. School of Oceanography) #

30

The giant propeller of the sunken Titanic lies on the floor of the North Atlantic in this undated photo. The propeller and other portions of the famed ship were viewed by the first tourists to visit the wreck site in September 1998. (Ralph White/Associated Press) #

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This 1998 image shows a 17-ton portion of the hull of the RMS Titanic as it is lifted to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. The piece along with 5,000 other artifacts is set to be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press) #

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This July 22, 2009 image shows the 17-ton section of the RMS Titanic that was recovered from the ocean floor during an expedition to the site of the tragedy, as it was displayed. The piece along with 5,000 other artifacts is set to be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press) #

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A gold plated Waltham American pocket watch, the property of Carl Asplund, is displayed in front of a modern water color painting of the Titanic by CJ Ashford at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The watch was recovered from the body of Carl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic and was part of the Lillian Asplund collection, the last American survivor of the disaster. (Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press) #

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Currency, part of the artifacts collection of the Titanic, is photographed at a warehouse in Atlanta, Aug. 2008. The owner of the largest trove of artifacts salvaged from the Titanic is putting the vast collection up for auction as a single lot in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the world's most famous shipwreck. (Stanley Leary/Associated Press) #

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Photographs of Felix Asplund, Selma and Carl Asplund and Lillian Asplund, at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The photographs were part of the Lillian Asplund collection of Titanic related items. Asplund was 5 years old in April 1912, when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York. Her father and three siblings were among 1,514 people who died. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press) #

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Artifacts on display at "TITANIC The Artifact Exhibit" at the California Science Center: Binoculars, a comb, dishes and a broken incandescent light bulb, Feb. 6, 2003. (Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images,Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times) #

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Eye glasses found among the debris of the Titanic wreck were among a sampling of Titanic artifacts on display, Jan. 5, 2012 in New York. The complete collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the RMS Titanic will be auctioned by Guernsey's Auction House in April, 100 years after the sinking of the ship in 1912. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press) #

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A golden spoon found among the debris of the Titanic wreck was among a sampling of Titanic artifacts on display, Jan. 5, 2012 in New York. The complete collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the RMS Titanic will be auctioned by Guernsey's Auction House in April. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press) #

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A chronometer from the bridge of the Titanic on display at the Science Museum in London, May 15, 2003. The chronometer, one of more than 200 artifacts raised from the wreck of the Titanic, was on display at the launch of a new exhibition commemorating its ill-fated maiden voyage along with vials of perfume oil. The exhibition took visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its conception and construction, to life on board and its sinking in the Atlantic in April 1912. (Alastair Grant/Associated Press) #

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A logo meter used to measure the Titanic's speed and a Gimbal lamp were among artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic wreck site and displayed at a press preview of a Titanic artifact auction at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, January 5, 2012 in New York City. On April 11, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, Guernsey's will auction the complete collection of more than 5,000 artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

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Artifacts of the Titanic displayed at a media-only preview to announce the historic sale of a complete collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck site of RMS Titanic and showcasing highlights from the collection at the Intrepid Sea, Air & SpaceMuseum, January 2012. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times) #

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A cup and a pocket watch from the RMS Titanic displayed during a news conference by Guernsey's Auction House, Jan. 5, 2012. Guernsey's will auction the largest collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the Titanic as a single lot in an auction timed for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the famed ocean liner. A uniform button stamped with the White Star Line flag and a small porthole displayed at "The Titanic Artifact Exhibit" at the California Science Center, Oct. 2002 in Los Angeles. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images, Brendan McDermid/Reuters, Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images-2) #

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These spoons, salvaged from the wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor, were part of an exhibit at the Maritime Aquarium, in South Norwalk, Conn., Feb. 1, 2002. RMS Titanic, Inc. is the sole salvage company allowed to remove items from the ocean floor where the luxury liner sank in the North Atlantic. (Douglas Healey/Associated Press) #

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A gold mesh purse is among the artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic wreck site shown at a press preview of a Titanic artifact auction at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, January 5, 2012 in New York City. On April 11, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, Guernsey's will auction the complete collection of more than 5,000 artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

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The April 2012 edition of National Geographic magazine (and the on line version available on the ipad) will take your breath away as you see new images and graphics from the wreck of theTitanic that remains on the seabed, gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12, 415 feet (3,784 m). Few disasters have had such far-reaching effects on the fabric of society as the sinking of the Titanic. View more at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/titanic/sides-text (National Geographic) #

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With her rudder cleaving the sand and two propeller blades peeking from the murk, Titanic’s mangled stern rests on the abyssal plain, 1,970 feet south of the more photographed bow. This optical mosaic combines 300 high-resolution images taken on a 2010 expedition. (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) #

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The first complete views of the legendary wreck. Ethereal views of Titanic’s bow offer a comprehensiveness of detail never seen before. The optical mosaics each consist of 1,500 high-resolution images rectified using sonar data. (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI) #

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As the starboard profile shows, the Titanic buckled as it plowed nose-first into the seabed, leaving the forward hull buried deep in mud—obscuring, possibly forever, the mortal wounds inflicted by the iceberg. (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI) #

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Titanic’s battered stern, captured here in profile, bears witness to the extreme trauma inflicted upon it as it corkscrewed to the bottom. (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI) #

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Titanic’s battered stern is captured overhead here. Making sense of this tangle of metal presents endless challenges to experts. Says one, “If you’re going to interpret this stuff, you gotta love Picasso.” (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI) #

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Two of Titanic’s engines lie exposed in a gaping cross section of the stern. Draped in “rusticles”—orange stalactites created by iron-eating bacteria—these massive structures, four stories tall, once powered the largest moving man-made object on Earth. (COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL,