8000 Mile Trip By A Plastic Bottle Ship

Sailors hail the good ship 'Plastiki': Boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles completes 8,000-mile Pacific journey

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 12:35 PM on 26th July 2010

 

 

A boat made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles docked in Sydney Harbour today after four difficult months crossing the Pacific Ocean on a journey meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste.

The crew of the Plastiki, a 60ft (18m) catamaran which weathered fierce storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea, left San Francisco on March 20, stopping at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa along the way.

'This is the hardest part of the journey so far - getting it in!' expedition leader David de Rothschild yelled from the boat as the crew struggled to manoeuvre the difficult-to- steer vessel into port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Green message: The 60ft-long Plastiki catamaran, built from plastic bottles, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Excited: Expedition leader David de Rothschild (second on left) and his crew

 

A crowd of about 100 erupted into cheers after the Plastiki finally docked.

De Rothschild - a descendant of the British banking family - exchanged high fives and hugs with his crew, pumping his fists into the air in victory.

'It has been an extraordinary adventure,' he said.

The 31-year-old said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 which said that pollution - and particularly plastic waste - was seriously threatening the world's oceans.

He decided that a good way to prove that rubbish can be effectively recycled was to use some of it to build a boat.

Long journey: The Plastiki completes her 8,000-nautical mile trans-Pacific voyage from San Francisco as she approaches the Sydney Opera House

British adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild sails as the Plastiki arrives at Sydney Harbour

 

The Plastiki - named after the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl - is fully recyclable and gets its power from solar panels and windmills.

The boat is almost entirely made up of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made from sugar cane and cashews, but includes other materials too. The mast, for instance, is recycled aluminium irrigation pipe.

'The journey of the Plastiki is a journey from trash to triumph,' Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, who greeted the team after they docked, said.

During their 128-day journey, the six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20ft (6m) by 15ft (4.5m), took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden.

'Trash to triumph': During their 128-day journey, the six-member crew lived in a cabin of just 20ft (6m) by 15ft (4.5m)

Divers next to the keel of the boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles

 

Along the way, they fought giant ocean swells, 62-knot (70mph) winds, temperatures up to 38c (100f) and torn sails.

The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a fierce storm off the Australian coast.

Skipper Jo Royle also had the particular challenge of being the only woman on board.

'I'm definitely looking forward to a glass of wine and a giggle with my girlfriends, ' she said.

Vern Moen, the Plastiki's film-maker, missed the birth of his first child - although he managed to watch the delivery on a grainy Skype connection. He met his son for the first time after docking in Sydney.

'It was very, very surreal to show up on a dock and it's like, "Here's your kid",' he said with a laugh.

Although the team had originally hoped to recycle the Plastiki, de Rothschild said they were now thinking of keeping it intact, and using it as a way of enlightening people to the power of recycling.

'There were many times when people looked at us and said, "You're crazy",' he said.

'I think it drove us on to say, "Anything's possible".'

Facial Transplant

Face that doctors built: Gun accident victim shows off world's first full facial transplant

By Tom Worden

Last updated at 2:07 AM on 27th July 2010

 

 

Oscar, 31, underwent a full-face transplant in March. He appeared in public today for the first time at a news conference at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain

Oscar (centre) with his sister and Dr Joan Barrett at the press conference. He can now eat a soft food diet and is learning to speak again

Oscar stands beside Dr Joan Barret, left, and is surrounded by his doctors. He was treated by a team of 30 specialists

 

Before the operation: Oscar lost his nose in a hunting accident

 

Medical history: Dr Joan Pere Barret with X-rays showing the shattered face of the man prior to the operation

 

 

 

Quadruplets Survive

Quadruplets Survive

Fab 4 reunited: Quads back home after a six-month fight for their lives

By Claire Ellicott

 



They may look the picture of health, but this awesome foursome have spent six months fighting for their lives.This is the first time the quadruplets have been together since their birth in January. Gillian Holden, who defied odds of 750,000-1 to conceive them naturally, was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia during her pregnancy and doctors were forced to perform an emergency caesarean to deliver the babies when her organs began to fail.


Little fighters: The first time the quadruplets have been together since their birth in January. From left, Bethany, Millie, Ellie and Lucy.


The four were born at only 28 weeks in January and weighed just 7lb 6oz between them.

Doctors separated them at birth to give them specialist care for the first few months of their lives. They were reunited as a foursome after Ellie was allowed home at the weekend to join sisters Lucy, Millie and Bethany. The girls, three of whom are identical, are back with their delighted parents and older sister Abbie, aged nine, in Bolton. Miss Holden, a former nursery nurse, said: 'I'm absolutely over the moon - I couldn't be happier.

Happy family: Gillian Holden and Marc Hanley with their eldest daughter Abigail and (from left to right) Lucy, Bethany, Millie and Ellie after they all finally returned home, seven months since the quads were born
 
'It's been such a long wait and now all my babies are home.' Miss Holden, 35, had been trying for a baby with her partner Marc Hanley, 48, for nine months before she conceived. An 11-week scan showed triplets, but five weeks later doctors revealed there were actually four babies. She added: 'Initially, I was a bit upset. I thought, "How am I going to cope?" 'Marc was shocked, really shocked. But happy. I felt both scared and happy, lots of mixed feelings. 'When we came home we talked about it, comforted each other.' But the pregnancy did not run smoothly. Miss Holden soon became ill with pre-eclampsia and her kidney and liver began failing at 27 weeks, which meant the quads had to be delivered on January 28. Doctors had told her the tiny babies needed to make it to 28 weeks to survive.

Pictured: Gillian (left), Abigail and baby Lucy during one of the family's countless visits to the hospital to see the quads since they were born in January
 
Within three minutes, all four babies were delivered and placed in incubators at St Mary's Children's Hospital in Manchester. Bethany was the first to be born, arriving at 3.12pm on January 28, and weighing 1lb 15oz. Millie (2lb 2oz) and Ellie (1lb 7oz) arrived in the next minute. All three are identical, and Lucy, who throughout the pregnancy had been separated from her sisters by a tiny membrane, was born a minute later, weighing 1lb 14oz. Miss Holden said: 'All you could see were their faces, the size of a 10p piece. So tiny. 'That's all you see because they're covered up. They could have fitted in Marc's hand. We had visited the neonatal unit a couple of weeks before giving birth. We both cried, all the babies were so small and we were so scared.





Newborn: Baby Bethany (left) was born first weighing 1lb 15oz, with sister Millie next at 2lb 2oz








Tiny: Next to be born was baby Ellie weighing 1lb 7oz and last of all was Lucy who tipped the scales at 1lb 14oz


'They gave us the tour because they knew that's where our babies would end up.' Lucy was finally allowed home in May, and Bethany and Millie, who have chronic lung disease and require daily sessions on an oxygen generator, were discharged in June. But baby Ellie, who also has chronic lung disease, was forced to remain at Royal Bolton Hospital until last Friday as doctors helped her overcome her sleep apnoea. The babies were named by their sister Abbie. She said: 'Before, I didn't really have anyone to play with and now I have four sisters. 'I love them. I probably won't love them so much when I'm a teenager when they're getting into my makeup, but I'll always love them really.'

Beach- One Century ago

Beach- One Century ago

This collection of beach photos dates back to 1900-1920s. Modern beach is nothing like the beach on these black and white pictures.

The Biggest Tent In The World

The Biggest Tent In The World

This is Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center located in Astana. It is the biggest tent on our planet that became a sensation in the architecture world since the capital of Kazakhstan has a difficult environment to build such a brave project. The new center is 150 meters tall with 100,000 square meters of striking beauty.

Dollar Tree

Money does grow on the trees. Australian RaboDirect bank has proved it by setting up a hilarious experiment. Bank workers chose a tree in one of the Sydney’s city parks and planted real five-dollar bills on it. They also used a hidden video camera to record people’s reaction to the abnormal dollar tree.

Unique and Special Postage Stamps

Unique & Special Postage Stamps

These are some really unique postage stamps, from a stamp that looks & smells like chocolates to a cloth stamp to even a CD-ROM stamp!



This stamp was printed onsilver foilby the government of Tonga:



(images by Rod Perry,via)

These stamps issued in Malaysia feature a variety of nocturnal animals and actuallyglow in the dark:





In 2004, Switzerland issued thiswoodenstamp made from 120-year-old fir trees:



Switzerland also produced thisembroideredstamp in 2000, celebrating the world-famous embroidery created in St. Gallen, one of the Swiss cantons:




This Austrian stamp from 2005 is similarly made of threads, embroidered into the design of the Edelweiss, the well-known alpine flower. The stamp was issued in honour of the Austrian embroidery industry, which dates back to the eighteenth century. The stamp has a self-adhesive backing, but can even be worn if so desired



Austria Post also produced in the world’s first stamp made ofsoccer ball materialin 2008, to mark the UEFA Euro soccer tournament:


(on the right: famous Lufthansa's soccer ball airplane paint scheme)

In 2006, Austria issued this curious stamp, which could even be said to be out of this world. The stamp contains 0.03 grams ofdust from a meteoritefound in Morocco two years earlier, which was fixed to the stamp with a special adhesive:




Thesecloth stampsfrom Grenada, the Gambia, Sierra Leone and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, honour the humble teddy bear:




The Rock of Gibraltar is one of the world’s most recognized natural features and it appeared on this Gibraltar stamp in more ways than one in 2002. The stamp’s top layer is actually embellished with finely pulverizedpieces of rockfrom the famous landmark:




This 2007 stamp printed onthinly sliced corkis from Portugal, commemorating the country’s cork industry, which produces around 30% of the world supply:




A Singapore souvenir set of $5 stamps from 2008 was covered inbeadson a sheet shaped like a handbag:



Several countries around the world have producedscented stampsoffering a variety of different aromas. The small Himalayan nation of Bhutan was probably the first nation to issue this type of stamp in 1973. These stamps were perfumed to smell like roses:



In celebration of the Year of the Pig in 2007, China really did issue a stamp bearing thearoma of sweet and sour pork(above, right). It is rumoured that the stamp’s adhesive actually tasted a little like the famous Chinese delicacy, but this is far from established fact.

Issued to raise awareness of the dangers of forest fires, these Brazilian stamps smell ofburnt wood:



Also from Brazil, where most of the planet’s supply of coffee beans originates, this stamp is scented with thearoma of coffee, one of the country’s largest exports:




Another country renowned for a product derived from beans is Switzerland, world famous for its chocolate. This stamp was sold in a foil-wrapped booklet, similar to most chocolate bars. However, the stamp merely smells likechocolateand apparently when licked tastes exactly like glue:


(imagevia)

In honor of the centenary of the Nobel Prizes in 2001, the United Kingdom issued this stamp with the scent ofeucalyptus. When the stamp is scratched, eucalyptus aroma, hidden in tiny capsules in the stamp’s top layer, is released:



The stamp shown above right is giving offsandalwoodscent; it comes from India.

Several countries have placedmoving imageson their stamps. This one from Austria includes forty eight images, which allow a three second “movie” to appear when the stamp is viewed from certain angles.


(imagevia)

The small Himalayan nation of Bhutan is famous for its stamps, including the first ever stampmade of steel:



These embossed stamps, depicting famous world leaders, are printed onplastic:



These stamps issued in 1973 by Bhutan are alsoreal phonograph records. They contain traditional folk songs and an oral history of the kingdom, in both English and Bhutanese, and really can be played on a record player:




More recently, Bhutan introduced postage stamps that doubled asactual CD-ROMs. One is entitled “Bhutan: In Harmony with Nature”, the other “Bhutan: 100 Years of Monarchy”.