Federal forces spent four years trying to silence Confederate guns on Fort Moultrie, but the massive iron weapons face just as formidable a foe today: the environment.

To protect the 10 historic siege and garrison guns still located at the Sullivans Island fortification, preservationists have turned to technology, including computer sensors, in a bid to defend them from the salt and humidity omnipresent along the South Carolina coast.

The guns of Fort Moultrie are of particular historical significance because they were among the weapons that were used to fire on Fort Sumter April 12-13, 1861, officially beginning the War Between the States.

“The last of the guns, a 7-ton Union rifled Parrott gun suspended in a yellow sling held by a crane, was slowly jockeyed into place onto a new concrete base last week,” according to The Associated Press. “It completes what the fort refers to as Cannon Row, where seven of the heavy guns are lined up next to each other.”

The conservation work, which included coating nearly all the guns in rust-retarding epoxy, is being done through a collaborative effort between the National Park Service and Clemson University’s Restoration Institute.

The price tag for the multi-year conservation effort is $900,000.

Last winter, conservators from the Clemson Restoration Institute visited the site, where they conserved shells that had become embedded in fort walls during the bombardment.

The shells were being preserved in place because removing them would have damaged fragile brickwork, according to The Associated Press.

Now, all but one of Fort Moultrie’s big guns are coated with a modern epoxy, according to Institute conservator Liisa Nasanen.

“The paint that was on them was an oil-based coating. That is historically correct, but it’s not something that necessarily does the trick when it comes to keeping the artifact safe,” she said. “We kind of borrowed ideas, and this epoxy system is something very widely used in the marine industry.”

The one cannon repainted with oil-based paint will allow comparisons as to which system works best, the wire service added.

The project began in 2011, according to the blog To the Sound of the Guns, which described the preservation procedure:

“In the process, the guns are stripped of old paint, then refinished with a modern industrial sealant. Each gun receives a tampion to cover the bore. The staff will periodically check a monitor placed inside each gun bore for humidity readings, in order to arrest further corrosion. When refurbished, the guns return to “cannon row” on new concrete pads. The park also plans to update the older interpretive signage along cannon row as part of this project.”

Sensors, sealed in the barrels of the cannon, store information on humidity and temperature. The data can be downloaded to a computer to provide continuous monitoring of the iron inside the cannon.

The guns were cast in foundries in both the North and South a century and a half ago.

Most of the guns were in good shape when initially checked by conservators, Nasanen said.

“There were variations though. They come from different foundries and have different compositions,” she said. “Some of them that had been on the ground were in worse condition because there would be most exposed to the elements.”

Moultrie’s collection includes some rare Confederate pieces, said Rick Hatcher, historian for the national monument.

It’s extremely rare to have Civil War combat cannon of this size – siege and garrison guns – in one place where visitors can go see them because most such guns did not survive after the war, he added.

“With Confederate-made guns, some were kept as trophies of war but others were considered not in that good of condition or maybe not that well-made and they were sold for scrap,” he said, adding even Union pieces were sold. “We had a $3 billion war debt after the Civil War and they were looking for ways of paying it off.”

(Top: ‘Cannon Row’ at Fort Moultrie, prior to conservation of Civil War-era guns. Photo credit: To the Sound of the Guns.)

Inserted in the opening paragraph of Slate magazine’s story about a Nazi collaborator who was discovered last week to have been living in the US for the past 60-plus years were these two sentences, which would be slightly amusing if not representative of a grave injustice:

“Michael Karkoc now lives in Minnesota and when he entered the United States in 1949 told authorities he had not performed military service during World War II. That wasn’t really accurate.”

No, indeed it wasn’t. Karkoc was a founding member and an officer of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion and later was an officer in the SS Galician Division.

There appears to be plenty of evidence that the company Karkoc commanded massacred civilians, including burning villages filled with women and children, and that he was at the scene of the atrocities, even if there’s no proof Karkoc himself didn’t actually participate.

The Associated Press broke the story about Karkoc on Friday and provided an exhaustive report on not just the fact he’s been living in the United States for decades, but included background between groups allied with the Nazis and how many individuals avoided being brought to justice under the guise of fighting communism.

It will be hard for Karkoc to plead mistaken identity; in 1995 he published a Ukrainian-language memoir that stated he helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion in 1943 to fight on the side of Germany – and wrote that he served as a company commander in the unit, which received orders directly from the SS, through the end of the war.

The memoir is available at the US Library of Congress, according to The Associated Press.

(Above: A 1944 photo shows head of the SS Heinrich Himmler, center, reviewing troops  of the Galician SS-Volunteer Infantry Division, of which Michael Karkoc was a  member.)

The remains of the first European ship to sink in the upper Great Lakes – built by famed French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle – may be uncovered shortly.

Beginning this weekend, Steve Libert will head a diving expedition to an underwater site in northern Lake Michigan, where archaeologists and technicians will attempt to determine whether timber jutting from the seabed and other items beneath layers of sediment are the wreckage of La Salle’s legendary vessel, the Griffin.

“I’m numb from the excitement,” Libert told The Associated Press. “It’s the Holy Grail for the Great Lakes; it’s No. 1 on the list.”

Libert, 59, recently retired from a position as an intelligence analyst with the US Department of Defense. He’s long had a passion for maritime mysteries and has journeyed from Okinawa to the Florida Keys for diving expeditions.

He’s long been intrigued by stories of 17th Century French explorer La Salle, who journeyed across the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi in a quest for a trade route to the Far East that he hoped would bring riches and renown, according to The Associated Press.

“Particularly intriguing was the tale of the Griffin, a vessel that La Salle built and sailed from Niagara Falls to the shores of present-day Wisconsin before sending it back for more supplies,” the wire service added.

“It departed with a crew of six and a cargo of furs in September 1679 – and was never seen again. Although widely considered the first wreck of a European-type ship in the upper Great Lakes, its fate has never been documented nor its gravesite found.”

Interestingly, the French government claims it still owns the Griffin.

France filed paperwork in 2009 in US District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., to meet a deadline for avoiding loss of rights to the ship, according to The Mining Journal.

Libert has spent the nearly three decades on research, dives and legal hassles to get to where he is today. All for a ship that carried no gold or other treasure.

“Just to know where she went and where she is would be of great interest,” said Matthew Daley, a Grand Valley State University history professor and maritime researcher. “If we’re lucky, it also could open a window into an era that we know very little about.”

La Salle and his team built the Griffin on the Niagara River a few miles from the falls, naming it for the mythological figure with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

Although unimposing by modern standards – an estimated 50 feet long and 13 feet wide – it was an impressive sight on the inland seas, with its three masts, square sails and two cannons.

The vessel traversed Lakes Erie and Huron, then headed west on Lake Michigan, eventually stopping at near the entrance to Green Bay.

La Salle continued south by canoe while the Griffin prepared to retrace its journey. It was never seen again.

“Among theories about its demise: It succumbed to a fierce storm; Native Americans attacked and burned the ship; mutinous crewmen scuttled it and stole the furs,” according to The Associated Press.

Libert, who says he spent years scouring the area and studying the writings of La Salle and Hennepin, is convinced it traveled only a short distance before sinking in a gale.

Libert said the Griffin lies in less than 100 feet of water, not too far from where it was sighted last, but won’t divulge the precise location, saying other divers could loot or damage the wreckage.

(Above: La Salle’s ship The Griffin)

One can’t help but be awe-struck at some of the facts surrounding the life of Sister Teresita Barajuen, a Spanish nun who died this week.

For one, she was 105 years old and had spent almost all of the past 86 years as a cloistered nun in the Buenafuente del Sistal Monastery northeast of Madrid.

Cloistered nuns live contemplative lives in which they spend much of their time praying.

They usually have little or no contact with the outside world and live in structures that prevent them looking outside their enclosures, and also keep neighbors from seeing into the court-yards or gardens used by the nuns.

Sister Teresa, as she was known, entered the Cistercian monastery when she was 19, many years before the onset of the Spanish Civil War which devastated the nation.

Except for the period of 1936-39 conflict which caused the nuns to flee from the fighting, Sister Teresa lived her entire life as a nun in the Buenafuente del Sistal Monastery, according to the website Closisteredlife.com.

She didn’t leave the monastery again until 2011, when visited Pope Benedict XVI.

Amazingly, Sister Teresa entered the monastery on the same day that Benedict was born, April 16, 1927, according to the Associated Press.

Sister Teresa acknowledged in interviews that like many young women of her era, she never intended being a nun but entered the monastery because of family pressure.

The Order of Cistercians is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered monks and nuns.

“They are sometimes also called the Bernardines or the White Monks, due to the color of the habit over which a black scapular is worn, according to The Daily Mail.

“The emphasis of Cistercian life is on manual labor and self-sufficiency,” the publication added. “Many abbeys have traditionally supported themselves through activities such as agriculture and brewing ales.”

If there’s one honor you don’t want, it’s to be recognized as the world’s oldest person.

Without fail, often within months and sometimes even weeks of being declared as the planet’s senior senior citizen, the individual is dead.

The latest to fall victim to this curse: Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura, 116, who died today less than six months after being recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living person.

Kimura did far better than his immediate predecessor, though. Dina Manfredini lasted just 13 as the world’s oldest person before dying late last year.

And of the 32 previous record holders, only seven survived more than a year after being honored for their longevity. Sounds like a curse if I’ve ever heard of one.

In seriousness, one of the interesting aspects of news stories about the extremely aged is that they are almost never quoted. This is almost always, to put it delicately, because the faculties of the extremely aged aren’t quite what they once were.

For one thing, many can’t hear which makes it difficult for reporters to get responses to questions.

But the bigger issue is that especially when one gets past 110-plus-years, the mental faculties tend to deteriorate.

One of the more amusing journalism stories I recall was when a fellow reporter was dispatched to cover the birthday party for a woman who was purported to be 120 years old.

Because the woman in question was black and had lived in the Florida Panhandle her entire life, there was little documentation to back up her family’s claim regarding her age, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

My colleague and a newspaper photographer arrived at the party, being held at an area nursing home, and talked to the family for a short while; then, with the family’s help, attempted to interview the elderly honoree.

After asking several questions and getting absolutely no response, my colleague began to wonder if the woman was even able to speak.

She then tried one last innocuous question, something along the lines of “Do you have any secrets to your longevity?”

To which the 120-year-old birthday girl blurted out clearly and for all to hear: “Get the hell away from me!”

End of interview.

Needless to say, when it came time for my coworker to write her story about how a local woman celebrated her 120^th birthday surrounded by family and friends, there were no quotes from the resident supercentenarian.

Snowflake, the only albino gorilla known to man, was a star at the Barcelona Zoo for decades.

Captured in Equatorial Guinea, Snowflake lived at the zoo from 1966 until his death in 2003, becoming an iconic figure of not only the zoo but the city itself.

Now Spanish researchers say they have determined that Snowflake’s albinism was the result of inbreeding.

After carrying out genome sequencing on Snowflake’s remains, researchers at Barcelona’s Institute of Evolutionary Biology have concluded that his albinism was caused by a “mutation of the SLC45A2 gene” which was transmitted to him by both parents, according to Agence France-Presse.

“Genes causing albinism are recessive. That is, to be albino, you have to have the two chromosomes with the mutation for albinism,” Tomas Marques, the director of the team that carried out the study, told the wire service.

Snowflake’s grandfather probably carried the recessive albino genes, Marques said.

Then two of his descendants probably paired off – a rare case where an animal receives two recessive albino genes, one from each parent – and the result was Snowflake, an albino gorilla.

Snowflake was a Western Lowland Gorilla. He was recognized worldwide and mentioned in tourist guides and put on postcards, becoming the unofficial mascot for the city of Barcelona.

Snowflake was captured in Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, after hunters killed the rest of his clan. He was taken to the Barcelona Zoo in 1966, where he lived until his death from skin cancer in 2003.

Low-grade unprocessed cotton could prove an effective cleanup tool following oil spills at sea, according to recent research.

A study published in the most recent issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research reveals that one pound of low-micronaire cotton can absorb more than 30 pounds of dense crude oil, according to research conducted at Texas Tech’s Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory.

In addition, the natural waxiness of raw, unprocessed cotton fiber keeps water out, making cotton an efficient and effective material for addressing ocean-based oil spills, according to the publication, published by the American Chemical Society.

“The new study includes some of the first scientific data on unprocessed cotton’s use as a crude oil sorbent,” according to Southeast Farm Press.

About 10 percent of the cotton grown in West Texas is low micronaire, according to Seshadri Ramkumar, lead author of the study and manager of the Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech.

“It doesn’t take a dye well, so it has little value as a textile fiber. However, because it is less mature, more of it can be packed into a given area,” he said. “We show through sophisticated testing that low-micronaire cotton is much finer and can pick up more crude oil.

“In contrast to synthetic sorbents, raw unprocessed cotton with its high crude oil sorption capacity and positive environmental footprint make it an ecologically friendly sorbent for oil spill cleanups,” Ramkumar added.

In a generic sense, micronaire is based on both maturity and fineness of cotton fibers, according to the International Trade Centre’s Cotton Exporter’s Guide.

Lower-micronaire fibers break more easily during mechanical action, are more likely to tangle and tend to become more easily caught around particles of trash and leaf, thereby increasing the amount of good fiber removed.

Ron Kendall, director emeritus at Texas Techs’ Institute of Environmental and Human Health, said the Deepwater Horizon disaster demonstrated the need for improved methods of cleaning up oil spills.

“One of the things we realized from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is we didn’t have the best tools for cleanup, and the technology wasn’t right for the booms,” Kendall told Southeast Farm Press.

“This discovery that low-micronaire cotton, which is the least valuable cotton, can absorb as much crude oil as it does is a breakthrough discovery,” he added. “It gives us an excellent tool for cleanup of shorelines, animals and ecologically sensitive areas as well as a new technology for booms that can stop oil sheen moving into wetlands.”

Kater Hake, senior vice-president of Agricultural & Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated, which contributed funds to the research, said the findings are important.

“The use of low-micronaire cotton to combat crude oil spills is another example of how the industry is eliminating waste and maximizing the environmental value of cotton.”

This seems particularly appropriate today.

But then again, when isn’t the wit and wisdom of Homer Simpson appropriate?

About all that stands out in TopGear.com’s review of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S is the end of the second sentence – “ … it’s more powerful than ever, and it’s louder” – along with the accompanying photos of the stylish sports car.

But, then again, power, noise and flashy pics can do much to mask muddled writing.

Yes, for the vast majority of us plebeians, dreaming of owning an Aston Martin is akin to window shopping on Beverly Hill’s Rodeo Drive – except, perhaps, you might get something a little more tangible for your money.

Perhaps that’s why TopGear loaded its review of the V12 Vantage S with jargon that makes it practically incomprehensible at first glance.

For example:

Following on from the Rapide S revealed earlier this year, the new Vantage S replaces the old V12 Vantage, and sports Aston’s new AM28 6-litre V12 engine, producing the same figures as the Vanquish. So you’re looking at 565bhp – up from 510bhp – 457lb-ft of torque and a top speed of 205mph. The old car did a piffling 183mph; positively pedestrian.

Aston hasn’t revealed the 0-62mph time, but if the heavier Vanquish can do it in 4.1s, expect this car, weighing 1,665kg (3,671lbs), to go a fraction quicker. Aston assures us that outside of the One-77 hypercar, this new Vantage S is the fastest road-going AM offered, which is nice.

That 6-litre gets racing tech, too, including CNC machined combustion chambers and hollow cam shafts. Then there’s the new automated manual transmission (for too long a traditional Aston vulnerability), or “Sportshift III,” a development of the ‘box from the V8 Vantage. We’re promised “motorsport-style paddle shift changes for optimum performance delivery” using technology filtered down from the company’s GT4, GT3 and GTE competition cars. We’re crossing our fingers here.

While I loved the line “The old car did a piffling 183 mph; positively pedestrian,” I’m not sure what to make of the likes of, “Aston assures us that outside of the One-77 hypercar, this new Vantage S is the fastest road-going AM offered,” or “We’re promised “motorsport-style paddle shift changes for optimum performance delivery” using technology filtered down from the company’s GT4, GT3 and GTE competition cars.”

Of course, the Aston is British car, so maybe this all makes sense to English car aficionados.

What’s interesting is that Aston Martin’s own press release about the Vantage S is easier to decipher than the car magazine’s story about the vehicle.

Here’s a bit from the company’s release: “Equipped with the new 573 PS Aston Martin AM28 6.0-litre V12 engine, featuring latest generation Bosch engine management, the car is capable of reaching 205 mph.”

That, I can understand easier than “you’re looking at 565bhp – up from 510bhp – 457lb-ft of torque and a top speed of 205mph.”

One supposes that when a car manufacturer comes up with something as elegant and potent as the V12 Vantage S, all any magazine really needs to do to get the point across that it’s writing about one heck of a car is to slap a few snazzy photos up.

In that case, mission accomplished, TopGear.com.

(HT: BBC.com.)

Listening to the babbling and braying emanating from elected officials today one pines for the days of classical antiquity when rhetoric was seen as an essential part a quality education.

There’s no doubt that effective communication – particularly public speaking – has waned in recent decades as leaders of all stripes have sought to tailor remarks (in dumbed-down fashion, in many instances) for television cameras, news reporters and, most recently, Twitter feeds.

The problem is, elegant discourse rarely comes in 140 characters or less. Sometimes, you actually have to give a real genuine speech in order to get a point across.

That also means you often have to listen to an entire talk to get its full meaning, or to understand the genius behind it.

Case in point is a brief speech delivered by a young Mississippi lawmaker in 1952.

Noah S. “Soggy” Sweat, finishing his first and only term in the Mississippi Legislature, delivered what became known as the “Whiskey Speech.”

Although Prohibition had been repealed by the 21st Amendment to the Constitution in 1933, states still had the right to restrict or ban the sale of alcohol.

Mississippi was among states which had opted to continue prohibition after the 21^st Amendment was passed. However, the state collected what was called a “black market” tax on alcohol totaling millions of dollars annually, according to the Jackson Clarion Ledger.

State lawmakers were debating the merits of legalizing alcohol consumption when Sweat, still in his 20s, delivered a masterful example of political doublespeak, also known as the “If By Whiskey” speech:

My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey:

Noah S. ‘Soggy’ Sweat

If, when you say whiskey, you mean the devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of the righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

But, if, when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty, crisp morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life’s great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, than certainly I am for it.

That is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise.

It is said that Sweat spent more than two months working on his speech. That he devoted considerable time is evident from its smooth phrasing and elegant contrasting points, all of which enabled him to avoid taking a stand.

It’s also apparent that Sweat likely overmatched his colleagues while in the Mississippi Legislature. He would go on a distinguished career as a district attorney, judge and professor at the University of Mississippi before dying in 1996.

Years after the Whiskey Speech, a young law student named John Grisham, who would go on to much greater fame as an author than an attorney, clerked for Sweat.

In this clip Grisham not only provides some background for his experiences with Sweat, but also recites Sweat’s “If By Whiskey” speech. It’s worth the time.