The Real Great Escape

Fascinating stories.  Another case of where reality is better than fiction.

The Three That Got Away - NOVA - Great Escape

"And—oh, hell—she was telling an officer of the German military police to go accost Kirby-Green, and demand to see his papers. Then he became conscious that the bright female eyes were fixed on him. Bram van der Stok moved closer, not farther away. The only way to counter suspicion was to face it. One thing the Escape Committee had not taken into consideration was a female Sherlock Holmes sitting in the Sagan station. Her question was abrupt.

'You are traveling tonight?'

At least he was comfortable with his German. 'Yes, I'm Dutch—you can probably tell from my accent.'

'You know the trains are running late?'

'Yes, I understand that is so.' Bram gave a quick glance at Kirby-Green. He was putting his papers away. The military policeman was satisfied. Thank God for that.

'There are many strangers around these days,' said Bram equably. That seemed to satisfy her. She had done her duty as a good German woman.

The Real Great Escape

Fascinating stories.  Another case of where reality is better than fiction.

The Three That Got Away - NOVA - Great Escape

"And—oh, hell—she was telling an officer of the German military police to go accost Kirby-Green, and demand to see his papers. Then he became conscious that the bright female eyes were fixed on him. Bram van der Stok moved closer, not farther away. The only way to counter suspicion was to face it. One thing the Escape Committee had not taken into consideration was a female Sherlock Holmes sitting in the Sagan station. Her question was abrupt.

'You are traveling tonight?'

At least he was comfortable with his German. 'Yes, I'm Dutch—you can probably tell from my accent.'

'You know the trains are running late?'

'Yes, I understand that is so.' Bram gave a quick glance at Kirby-Green. He was putting his papers away. The military policeman was satisfied. Thank God for that.

'There are many strangers around these days,' said Bram equably. That seemed to satisfy her. She had done her duty as a good German woman.

Nuclear Fish Fry

This afternoon I watched a documentary on this fellow, Christopher Swain, swimming the length of the Hudson River to note its environmental condition (still not very good at points in 2004).  Interesting and nasty to see the pollution being pumped into the river directly by several pipes laid in the bed of the river.  This was some 30 years after Gov. Nelson Rockefeller talked about how the Hudson would be all cleaned up. 

When he went by the Indian Points nuke, a patrol boat came out to greet them.  He noted this was the good news and the bad news.  Good in that someone is responsive to potential incursions.  Bad in that it is inherently dangerous and thus you need to have someone responsive to potential incursions.  He also noted that the Hudson turned into bathwater temperatures after the nuclear waste heat was added and that fish eggs and plankton had been killed in the process of warming the river water.  That reminded me of similar issues with the Duke power plant in Morro Bay.

Swim For a Healthy World
Swim for the River - Bullfrog Films

A couple of colorful nuclear plant thermal plumes I found on-line with their associated pages.

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Thermal Plume [Link]
Unidentified Nuke Plant Thermal Plume [Link]

As an addendum...

The shots of the effluent being pumped out of the stream-imbedded pipes was pretty disgusting. They also made a list of what kinds of nasty stuff was being (or could be) pumped out into the river. It was pretty bad.

The other notes they made on this was that this part of the river was somehow fenced off corporately so it was almost impossible to actually swim through it. It was also "out of sight and out of mind" as an extra corporate benefit.

According to the film, these companies got some kind of special dispensation from cleaning up their act if there was no technology currently available that would allow them to do it (probably in a "cost-effective" manner).

Exxon Mobil got called to the carpet for their huge oil leak in the NYC area that backfeeds up into the Hudson and down into the oceans. Newtown is a river over on the East River side between Queens and Brooklyn. Also used to be the name of the street I used to live on back in old Cape Cod. But I digress. :)

Greenpoint v. Exxon
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to Sue ExxonMobil in Landmark Case

Nuclear Fish Fry

This afternoon I watched a documentary on this fellow, Christopher Swain, swimming the length of the Hudson River to note its environmental condition (still not very good at points in 2004).  Interesting and nasty to see the pollution being pumped into the river directly by several pipes laid in the bed of the river.  This was some 30 years after Gov. Nelson Rockefeller talked about how the Hudson would be all cleaned up. 

When he went by the Indian Points nuke, a patrol boat came out to greet them.  He noted this was the good news and the bad news.  Good in that someone is responsive to potential incursions.  Bad in that it is inherently dangerous and thus you need to have someone responsive to potential incursions.  He also noted that the Hudson turned into bathwater temperatures after the nuclear waste heat was added and that fish eggs and plankton had been killed in the process of warming the river water.  That reminded me of similar issues with the Duke power plant in Morro Bay.

Swim For a Healthy World
Swim for the River - Bullfrog Films

A couple of colorful nuclear plant thermal plumes I found on-line with their associated pages.

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Thermal Plume [Link]
Unidentified Nuke Plant Thermal Plume [Link]

As an addendum...

The shots of the effluent being pumped out of the stream-imbedded pipes was pretty disgusting. They also made a list of what kinds of nasty stuff was being (or could be) pumped out into the river. It was pretty bad.

The other notes they made on this was that this part of the river was somehow fenced off corporately so it was almost impossible to actually swim through it. It was also "out of sight and out of mind" as an extra corporate benefit.

According to the film, these companies got some kind of special dispensation from cleaning up their act if there was no technology currently available that would allow them to do it (probably in a "cost-effective" manner).

Exxon Mobil got called to the carpet for their huge oil leak in the NYC area that backfeeds up into the Hudson and down into the oceans. Newtown is a river over on the East River side between Queens and Brooklyn. Also used to be the name of the street I used to live on back in old Cape Cod. But I digress. :)

Greenpoint v. Exxon
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to Sue ExxonMobil in Landmark Case