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Today in Titanic History - with Searching
Today in
Titanic History

Monday, December 2, 2024
1889 - 3rd class passenger Mr Edvard A. Larsson-Rondberg was born to Lars Persson (farmer) and Maria Nilsdotter in Ransbysäter, Lysvik, Värmland, Sweden.

1890 - 3rd class passenger Mr Johannes Halvorsen Kalvik was born to Halvard Gotskalkson Halleland and Severine Nilsdotter Kalvik.

1872 - 3rd class survivor Mr Franz Karun was born to Janez Karun and Marija Treljec in Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia).

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1999: September


Hello all of you!
I am sorry for the delay. I had the September issue ready to be posted the first of September, but then in the end of august my computer broke down and I lost everything I had on it.... Anyway, I hope you will enjoy the rest of this issue, because we got lost of stuff to read and enjoy! First I will start off with telling a little about what you will find in this month's issue!

1. Newsletter News

2. Back to Titanic news

3. Staff introductions

4. Copal's Inspection Queue

5. King of the Iceberg

6. Monthly stuff

7. Titanic through history

8. The Titanic Exhibit

9. The monthly game

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NEWSLETTER NEWS

I am so exited about this issue. It got lots of new things. I truly hope you will enjoy it!
You can now read Corey Ann's interview with the King of the iceberg, you know who I am pointing to, THE Robert D. Ballard!
Luckily we have Copal with us this time too, she teaches us how to make webpages and all that, now she talks about thumbnails. A "must" for all webmaster and everyone else too.
And Shelly gives us a review of the Titanic Exhibit, very interesting and touching.

Of course we have our Monthly Game, where you will find the winners of the last game + a new game. You will also find the Titanic Happenings, where you will see what happened to Titanic, the movie or some of the passengers in September.

Thank you for being a member of this newsletter, I hope you will stay it for a long time and that you will encourage others to join too!

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BACK TO TITANIC NEWS

If you haven't visited Back to Titanic recently, I recommend you should, because many different things has been added.

The image gallery has now opened, here you will find some really rare and wonderful pictures. The gallery itself sure looks great too. Copal made it and we are lucky to have such a great designer in the staff.
The Fan Fiction section, which now has changed name to writings is always updated. You will now find many new sections there.
If you didn't get the previous newsletter, you can read it in the Making Waves section, where all newsletters will be posted.
The Movie Clips section has been added, and ... what can I say. This is heaven for Titanic fans!

We got lots of new things that will be added in the near future, so keep coming back!

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STAFF INTRODUCTION

Shelly - stewarsy@home.com

"Hello, I'm Shelly, and I joined the B2T staff in hopes of creating a large fan fiction library filled with quality reading material about this great film. I have been in the fan fiction arena for about a year now, beginning with my involvement as webmaster of "The Kate and Leo Cafe" and then beginning my own story, "Reunion: A Rose Dawson Story," which is still in progress. I am also working on my own non-Titanic related novel and hope to have it finished within the next year."  
 
Copal - copal@back-to-titanic.com

"I originally became interested in Titanic December of 1997 with the release of the movie. Since I've been running my own website and visiting countless Titanic sites. Through all of this time I've seen a lot of talented people dedicating themselves to the movie and history surrounding Titanic. I want those people to be acknowledged too. I have been developing this site and helping new staff members. I am dedicated to this project and am prepared to make it the best it can be."

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Copal's Inspection Queue:

THUMBNAILS THAT AREN'T

What makes a thumbnail a thumbnail? If you write the width and height of an image to be about 80 or 100, is it a thumbnail? Nope! I've surfed (maybe more than) my fair share of Titanic sites, and far too often I've come across a very time-consuming problem. A thumbnail is only a thumbnail when they are two different images and one is much smaller than the other. If you are using the same URL (http://www.geocities.com/.../titanic.jpg) for your thumbnail and the image, it's not a thumbnail, because you have to wait for all of the full images to load. What to do?

If you have a graphics program such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro all you really need to do is save a separate version of the image that is much smaller. Even if you don't have a graphics program, if you have AOL you can edit it by opening it in AOL and changing the size. Otherwise, your visitors have to wait for every image to load. That's no fun. A step above making them load, but below thumbnails, would be text links to them. Be sure you give them accurate titles, and you will have happier visitors.

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THE KING OF THE ICEBERG

"...I woke up early the next morning, anxious for the day to get going. I went off the work, and talked about my upcoming meeting with Dr. Ballard to anyone who would listen, ok, I settled for anyone with ears. I am a receptionist, so that made for an even larger audience! Finally, at 5 o'clock I was out the door and on my way home for a speedy dinner before hitting the road. I stuffed my face, and off I went!

On the way to Akron University, I prepared myself by popping 'Back To Titanic' in the CD player, and humming along...with the windows down. I am sure some people really thought I ought to be locked up! I arrived at my destination two hours before the talk, so I had a lot of time to kill. I drive up to the parking lot, and discover that it is already FULL! Never to fear, I whipped out my fake-o parking pass that was a scan from my fiance's and parked in a student parking lot, which was even closer than the parking lot that us "Titanic People" had to PAY to park.

Walking up to E.J. Thomas hall I was giddy. I was wondering if Harry was really a nutcase that was going to kill me... I was wondering if I would even MEET Dr. Ballard... I was wondering what was going to happen next. I got to the stoplight, and crossed over to the hall. Not even two seconds later, I hear, 'Corey Ann!' and see an elderly gentleman coming towards me with a book in his hand."

by Corey Ann

If you want to read the previous part of the interview, just check the Making Waves section on B2T.

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MONTHLY STUFF

Quote:
"Please dress warmly, it's quite cold out tonight."

Chosen by Sophie because: "I don't know what it is about this quote, I just can't get it out of my head. When I was asked to do the wallpaper, I just knew that this is what I wanted it to say."

Wallpaper:
http://back-to-titanic.com/dl/wall/waves/sep_warmly.jpg

Fact:
Upon the death of Eleanor Shuman (at age 87) on March 7, 1998, there where only six living survivors of Titanic; Barbara West (age 90) and Milvina Dean (age 86) in England. Louise LaRoche (age 87) and Michael Navratil (age 90) in France. Lillian Aspelund (age 92) and Winnifred Vatongerloo (age 94) in the United States.

Picture:
http://back-to-titanic.com/waves/pic-month/sep_cheeks.jpg

Book review:
James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay

The screenplay is well-written with lots of interesting details. The pictures are beautiful and James Cameron has added many comments to explain why he did certain things. The photos take you inside the making of the film, and give you insight to the editing process. I found it extremely interesting to read why the scenes were cut out, and I also enjoyed the never-before-seen pictures of scenes which didn't make it to the final cut.
That is why I would highly recommend this book to any Titanic fan.

Download:
After a suggestion from one of the readers, we have now added a download of the month. This month we have a wave file, with a very short interview with Kate and Leo + a few lines from the movie.
48 sec. long
500 kb
http://back-to-titanic.com/audio/waves/sep99_wins-dicap.wav

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TITANIC THROUGH HISTORY

1. September 1985: Discovery of Titanic wreckage by Robert D. Ballard's American and French team.

8. September 1995: James Cameron makes his first dive to Titanic in Russian submersible Mir 1.

9. September 1911: Wedding of Colonel John Jacob Astor and Madeline Talmadge Force, Newport, Rhode Island.

20. September 1911: Cruiser HMS Hawke rams Olympic.

26. September 1934: Newly formed Cunard-White Star Line, Limited, launches the Queen Mary.

If you know about anything that happened to Titanic in October, let me know.

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THE TITANIC EXHIBIT

"Ahoy mates! I just returned from an amazing trip back in time, sailing on the maiden voyage of the grandest ship in the world - Titanic! Well, all right, not really. But I did the only thing this modern day, land loving gal can do. I visited the "Titanic: Ship of Dream" exhibition in Orlando, Florida this summer.

The exhibit is tucked away inside the Mercado shopping center on International Drive, the heart of Orlando tourism. You would never guess from the rustic Spanish architecture of the buildings that it houses the first permanent collection of historical artifacts from the doomed British ship.

There were six people traveling in our party: my three children, my mother, my good friend, Holly and me. When purchasing our tickets, we were each assigned an identity, the identity of a person who actually sailed on the ship. A first class steward, dressed in his formal best, greeted us at the entrance and brought us aboard in grand style. We were ushered into a small room that told us of the planning and building stages of Titanic, and given a short speech from Mr. Bruce Ismay himself. (All right, you caught me again. It was merely an actor portraying Mr. Ismay.)

Next, we entered the busy shipyard where Titanic was being outfitted. The steward turned us over to one of the yard workers who told us a bit about the ship's lavish appointments. After that, we were on our own to explore. From there, we entered the ticket agency and loading docks in Southampton, greeted by several authentic-looking passengers, dressed in the attire of that day. Looking up, we were in awe at the giant wall of the ship rising above us. And with a little imagination, it felt as if we were actually boarding the great ship.

We entered a large room, filled with artifacts, pictures and diagrams. We saw a full-sized replica of a first class suite with a sofa and a fireplace that looked very similar to the one in which Jack drew Rose's picture. After spending some time listening to Mr. Thomas Andrews, with notepad in hand, share interesting details about the ship, we moved into the Verandah Café, the location of the lunch scene where Rose makes the great "Dr. Freud" comment. And from there, we took in the Grand Staircase. It was worth the entire visit just to see its magnificence! And there, we also saw Molly Brown, sharing facts about the staircase's design and construction.

We moved on. There were many rooms filled with interesting items - hand-written letters, clothing, dishes, and luggage, things that had been recovered from the wreckage. The soundtrack from the film played in the background during our journey. It was a very emotional experience, but we weren't prepared for what was to come.

We entered the cargo area, featuring the back end of the Renault. I couldn't resist the temptation of standing on the bumper to get a look inside. But the windows were blacked out, in the name of privacy, I guess. We continued through the cargo area and entered a darkened room with a large chunk of ice that covered the entire length of the long wall. It was an actual piece of ice, at least thirty feet in length and more than six feet tall, shaped in the jagged form of an iceberg. Computer-generated footage of the ship hitting the iceberg and sinking played continuously on television monitors above us. In the middle of the room stood the ship's wheel, and behind sat the telegraph operations area and water-tight door lights. It was very dramatic, but the most intense experience was still ahead of us.

We stepped through double doors onto the freezing cold deck of the ship. In front of us there was nothing but a dark ocean and a sky filled with stars, with an occasional flash of light from the rescue flares. In the background, we heard the voices of the passengers saying their tearful good-byes as the women were lowered in the lifeboats. My children were terribly frightened, crying and begging us to get them out of there. We didn't stay there long. It was very moving for all of us, as we got just a small feel for what the actual passengers had gone through.

Next came another very emotional time as we saw pictures of all the memorials and tombstones of those who had perished. A list of all the actual passengers hung on the wall, engraved in a huge glass monument. It was here that we were able to locate our "assigned" identities to see if we would have lived or died on that fateful night. My mother and my friend, Holly, were first class passengers who survived the ordeal. However, my three children and I were steerage passengers who died. That made a powerful and lasting impression on us as well, reinforcing the cruel reality of the event.

Ending on a lighter note, we entered a gallery that paid tribute to all the films and books that have been made about the Titanic, the biggest and best, of course being James Cameron's. The outfit that Leonardo DiCaprio wore in the film was located in this area, along with many pictures and a television playing highlights from the movie. Then came the gift shop. I think we spent as much time here as we did in the exhibit itself. It was an exceptional collection of beautiful items, especially the jewelry designed after many of the pieces worn in the film. I bought my daughter a small replica of the "Heart of the Ocean" necklace. For my own souvenir, I bought a coffee mug. Yes, I'm the last of the big spenders.

In no way did I cover everything there is to see in this exhibit. That would be impossible because I just can't remember it all. But I hit the high points for you. The real joy is in seeing it for yourself. I encourage you to do just that. Here's the link to the website about the exhibit: http://www.titanicdeckchair.com/dreams/facts.html

by Shelly

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MONTHLY GAME

Last time we had a quiz with seven questions, here you will find the winners of that quiz. But first let me give you a little explanation to the game you can participate in this month!
All you really have to this month is to write something about why you like Titanic. It can be the real story, the movie, one of the actors in the movie or maybe on of the real passengers? You don't need to write, you can also make an artwork. Just send it to harald.johnsen@ah.telia.no If you win, your writing/artwork will be up here and you will receive an award. We will probably give out a first, second and a third place!

The winners of previous game was:

Susan Dupuy and Janis Herbert
They will both receive an award!

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Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter! We hope you enjoyed it. We are looking forward to the next issue of Making Waves, and we hope you are too.
If you have any suggestions, articles etc. that you think should be added to the newsletter, let us know at harald.johnsen@ah.telia.no






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