X Marks the Spot

A Dragon drops a Falcon on the Isles of Scilly!

BBC News 27 November 2015:      A large chunk of an American space rocket has been found in the sea off the Isles of Scilly.

The section of the spacecraft, measuring about 10m (32ft) by 4m (13ft), was spotted on the surface between Bryher and Tresco.

Coastguards believe it is from the unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 which exploded after take-off in Florida in June.

However many astronomers believe it is from a different mission due to the size and markings.

Local boatmen towed the section to Tresco where it has now been removed from the beach.

Rocket splits but doesn't disintegrate

Joseph Thomas, from Tresco Boat Services, found the section of rocket while travelling around the north end of the island.

He said: "There were lots of gulls on the water and I thought initially it was a dead whale and the birds were feeding off it."

Mr Thomas found the debris, which was "covered in goose barnacles", at about 14:00 GMT on Thursday about 100m (328ft) from the shore.

"I didn't know what it was. We tried to drag it ashore using a hook, but it bent it.

"First thoughts were that it was part of a plane, but then we scraped the barnacles off and we saw it was part of a rocket.

Definitely not a beached whale

"It's not every day part of a rocket washes ashore at home."

"It was too heavy for us to tow."

Coastguards issued a warning to shipping in the area after the discovery.

Spokesman Martin Leslie said: "The markings show an American flag. It looks like it's an American rocket and seems most likely to be the unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 which blew up shortly after take-off from Cape Canaveral in June.

"We're grateful for all those who helped in its recovery, it was a great example of the community working together."

That rocket, which broke up shortly after take-off and landed in the sea about 4,100 miles from the Isles of Scilly, was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station.

However Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said many experts believed, due to the size and markings which have now been revealed, it was from a different mission.

"All the geeks have been getting together and looking at fine details, and we're pretty sure it's a launch from September 2014 that successfully sent a cargo mission to the space station.

"It didn't look like an exploded rocket to me, it looked like a fairly normal piece of space junk when the lower stage of a rocket falls from a hundred miles up and hits the ocean. Large sections can remain in tact and it's really quite normal," he said.

Islander Pete Hicks, who towed the debris to shore, tweeted: "Towed in and beached a piece of flotsam earlier. Thoughts were could be aviation parts ..didnt imagine space race."

Mirror Mirror?

Beirut, the Paris of the Middle East

Paris by night, the City of Lights

I am reminded of the Marian prophecy of La Salette; visions of the Virgin by two children which began on the mountains of La Salette, France in September 1846 :

“...At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy...”

This is an excerpt of the prophesy first published 'coincidentally' on 15th November 1879 in Lecce, Italy.

Beirut bombing 12th November 2015

Paris bombing 13th November 2015

Enchantment

Marty at the dance

1955 was the year that James Dean got killed and Albert Einstein passed away. It’s the year Marty McFly travelled to in BTTF. It was also the year that one of my favourite actors won his Oscar, funnily enough, for a movie called ‘Marty’, where he played the title role.


Socially awkward McFly

He was always instantly recognisable, though you may have gotten his name wrong. The films he graced included such gems as The Flight of the Phoenix, The Dirty Dozen, Ice Station Zebra, The Poseidon Adventure, The Black Hole, and Escape from New York.

Escape from New York

He enjoyed many years on our TV screens playing character actors in programmes like Little House on the Prairie, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Airwolf, Murder She Wrote, and Touched by an Angel. More recently he voiced the popular children’s’ cartoon character ‘Mermaid Man’ in SpongeBob SquarePants.

I am talking, of course, about Ermes (Hermes) Effron ( bird ) Borgnino (one eye) aka Ernest Borgnine.

Ermes Messenger of the Gods

If you haven’t already noticed, his filmography, as well as his personal life, seem to have wonderful synchronistic overtones for sci-fi fans, movie freaks, and lovers of strange coincidences.


The Cyclops (one-eyed Seer)

Among his many roles, he has links to the navy, ships, and the sea in general. Something he used to his advantage in one of his first TV outings playing the loveable Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale in 62s ‘McHale’s Navy’, a sit-com for Universal.

Marty at the dance

He narrated the TV fantasy film ‘Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders’, which later became part of the ‘Mystery Science Theatre’.


Hell Upside Down!

According to online sources, in 2000, Borgnine received his 50-year pin as a Freemason in Abingdon Lodge No. 48, Abingdon, Virginia. He joined the Scottish Rite Valley of Los Angeles (in the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S.A) in 1964, received the KCCH in 1979, was coroneted a 33° Inspector General Honorary in 1983, and received the Grand Cross of the Court of Honour in 1991. He was also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at that organization's Lodge in Junction City, Oregon.

Life preserver?

Borgnine held the honour of being the oldest living Best Actor Oscar winner around, beating James Dean for the gong. Living to the ripe old age of 95, he even managed to win an Emmy for his role in the last episodes of ER.


Marty in New York City

In the role of Marty, Borgnine plays a butcher who lives in The Bronx with his mother. Unmarried at 34, he’s good-natured but socially awkward, and faces constant badgering from family and friends. Not averse to marriage but disheartened by his lack of prospects, Marty has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood.

After being harassed by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty connects with Clara, a plain schoolteacher, who is quietly weeping on the roof after being callously abandoned at the ballroom by her blind date.


Clara the plain schoolteacher!