Sunken WWII Ships -- Future Oil Spill?

"It was a defining moment of World War II. In February 1944, the US Navy attacked Japan's naval forces in the western Pacific.

 

After 48 hours, 200,000 tonnes of Japanese ships, aircraft, trucks and tanks were sunk, creating a haunting undersea graveyard.

Today, the site is a marine wonderland, attracting scuba divers from across the world. But it has also become a ticking timebomb, threatening a fragile Pacific paradise.

Within the rapidly deteriorating shipwrecks lurk tens of millions of litres of thick black oil which scientists say will be released in the next few years, destroying a pristine environment and the island's economy for generations to come." ~ Al Jazeera

Check out the 101 East broadcast above, or go to the Al Jazeera source website.

Plane Down: Crash Survivors Encounter Dani Tribe

In 1945 a US military plane crashed in the mountains of New Guinea. Of 21 on board, 18 were killed. The three survivors found themselves without food and water, unable to contact their base and harried by Japanese snipers. The Dani, a stone age people embroiled in their own war with a neighboring tribe, took them in....

Lost in Shangri-La

Sailing in the Solomon Islands

Check out these beautiful blog posts from the Solomon Islands.  Gorgeous photos. 

First Contact: New Guinea Highlanders Meet Europeans

The video footage has been removed at source due to copyright issues. This has happened several times; each time I've restored the links, but as the blog grows it will be harder for me to keep track of them when they break.  

My best advice is for the curious to type First Contact: New Guinea Highlanders Meet... etc. into the search bar and see what comes up. Here's what you can look forward to:

Australian in khaki pointing to dead swine with a rifle: "We'll do to you what we did to the pigs."
New Guinea Highlander with spear: "Those pigs can't dodge like we can."

New Guinea Highlanders Meet Europeans: Part 2

(Footage removed at source, again. Sorry!)

I wish the footage was in better shape, but in many ways it adds to the eeriness of this piece. The music is hair-raising.  The sense that something utterly new and alien has appeared in the New Guinea Highlands is palpable.  "We thought we were the only people in the world," one old gentleman says.  I say: This footage is creepier than the last scary movie you saw.

First Contact: New Guinea Highlanders Meet Europeans

Missionaries get credit and blame for colonization, but economic interests usually move the whole thing forward.  Check out this footage from the 1930's of Aussies brought to the highlands of New Guinea by the Gold Rush.  I found the Native's recounting their first sighting of white men -- as well as the memories of the white men on first encountering the Highlanders -- especially interesting.  

Of course, it wasn't only mineral resources the Europeans came for.  Since they'd arrived in the lowlands centuries ago, planters were king. If one was in possession of enough land, planted correctly, retaining enough cheap labor to bring it through the growing season to market, you stood to make a few coins. 

No Betel Nut Arrests? What Do We Pay the Cops For, Then?

The gentleman in the above photo is a long-time fan of Betel Nuts. You can tell by those crimson teeth & gums.  The nuts do the staining, while the quick lime the nuts are served with go about their business eroding the teeth, causing fissures in the cheeks and tongue....

On the plus side, pesky tapeworms and other intestinal parasites find Betel Nuts personally offensive.  I bet you thought only western medicine could provide that kind of devil's bargain...am I right?

For those of you who just can't get enough Betel Nut news, here are two related stories from Solomon Times.

Check out this:

http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=3620

and 

http://www.solomonstarnews.com/news/national/9872-no-betel-nut-arrests-over-the-weekend

Sample: "SO far no arrests have yet been made on betel-nut vendors along the streets of Honiara....

A spokesperson for the division told the Solomon Star that they were yet to arrest any street betel-nut vendors, however adding daily patrols were continuing with officers continuously cautioning the street vendors.

“There have been no arrests made over the weekend in relation to betel-nut sellers in town,” the spokesperson said.

“Cracking down on betel-nut is part of our day to day duties."

Note: The add on this blog had featured a beautiful pink cupcake with red frosting.  I was excited at the color synergy that was being set up with the Betel squish.  Then as soon as I posted, away went the cupcake.  Did the advertisers' theme engines trigger on "intestinal parasites," I wonder? 

Photo attribution: By Fcastello (Own work) [GFDL (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html</a>) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons