Most of this month, the blog was on semi-hiatus, so I missed the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on 15 April 2012. There are some amazing pictures of the Titanic to commemorate the anniversary at the Boston Globe, here and an interview with one of the last survivors, Eva Hart, here. Hart described the moment when the ship hit the iceberg as a slight bump, like a train pulling into a station. For years, the Titanic has been synonymous with the beauty, power and folly of hubris, especially undue pride in the heights of human technology. The historic lesson of the Titanic, as with Chernobyl or Fukushima, is that the gods punish those who challenge nature without humility. It is all the more strange, then, that Australian billionaire Baby Boomer Clive Palmer is building a modern replica of the Titanic; the announcement was part of the publicity associated with his bid to run for the Australian parliament. Titanic II will make its maiden voyage from England to New York City in 2016. Today on Twitter, one of his followers asked Millennial guru Deepak Chopra, "what is karma?" Chopra answered: "It is an echo of the past."
The bow, broken in half from the shattered stern (see it here). Image: COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI.
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