Friday, February 24, 2012

Hot Links

Spain has won a court challenge to claim sunken treasure from the wreck of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk off the Portugese coast during the Napoleonic Wars. I found it interesting that the Peruvian government tried to make a last-minute claim to the treasure based on the fact the precious metal was mined in Peru.

Endangered San Joaquin kit foxes make themselves at home in Bakersfield. They're so cute.

The Wisconsin legislature considers allowing the hunting of sandhill cranes.

The cool kids in Denver participate in the Rock n Roll Spelling Bee on Monday nights. Try the bacon popcorn. I must confess, until I saw this picture I didn't know they still made Hamm's Beer.

Genetic researchers believe some of the earliest populations in the New World may have had their origins in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.

3 comments:

Peculiar said...

Seems to me that if it's not going to the salvagers, the gold ought to go to the Brits who won the fight, maybe as retroactive prize money to the descendents of the sailors. I don't suppose that's a popular stance these days, though. 17 tons of coins represents how much of modern Spain's GDP?

Reid, I occasionally drink Hamms (with lime) on the rivers in the summer, though I prefer the Oly, redesigned can or no.

Gil said...

Too bad Lucky Jack Aubrey couldn't have captured the ship as a prize...

Reid Farmer said...

News report I saw today said the Spanish Air Force loaded two C-130s in Tampa with the loot.

As far as shares to the descendents - it'd probably be just like 1804 with some scrub of an admiral conniving to cheat the crew out of their shares.

Back in the 70s, Hamm's was a regional beer restricted to the upper Midwest. Went we went canoeing in the Ozarks we bought it in Missouri as an "exotic" beer. Coors was the same - you couldn't buy it east of Kansas. I brought five cases of Coors home from ROTC camp at Ft Riley and sold them for 3 times what I paid. I had never even heard of Oly until I moved to Boulder in 1974.