A tsunami is usually started by an earthquake,
But might be caused by other things by total mistake…
A volcanic eruption, a meteor strike,
A change in air pressure, a major landslide.
A tsunami is made up of what is called ‘a wave train’,
The waves get stronger and hit again and again.
If you live within 160 miles of it’s source, you’re at risk of mortality,
Thirty metres from the coast in an earthquake – move from the locality.
The Indonesian earthquake of 2004,
Released more energy than any for 25 years before.
A Californian-sized piece of the deep sea floor,
Moved upward and seaward for 30 feet or more!

Thomas Jefferson sent several men in 1803,

To buy some land from the French, if not a city.

New Orleans was the place they were bargaining for,

But the French came up trumps, giving them so much more,

New Orleans was secured, the French wouldd agree,

Thus doubling the size of this young country.

Louisiana amounted to 15 odd states,

A fact that a Frenchman now probably hates,

But the price of the land? $15 million or so,

A fortune indeed, especially that long ago.

I remember….
When this house was full of laughter,
We partied and drank to the ever after.
Each room was filled with love and light,
Each day a discovery, a new delight.

I remember…
This bench, where you used to sit,
You said there was nowhere quite like it.
Solid, strong and made of oak,
The memories that this seat evoke…

I remember…
You called this your home base,
Your safety net, your thinking space.
This is where you sat when sore impugned,
This is where you came to lick your wounds.

And now…
This beautiful spot has been betrayed,
Our home is empty and decayed.
Each one of us drained a bitter cup,
And so the house is boarded up.

And yet…
The bench is still sitting, waiting there,
To welcome your precious derrière!
And even amidst this Autumn chill,
I swear I can hear the laughter still…

This is the latest photo in the Seth Snap Your Story series. Go to:
http://sethsnap.com/

Who was W.H. McCarty, I hear you say,
Well, hoodlum might be on his résumé,
‘Cause he’d rustle your horse, or gamble all day.

He was better known as Billy the Kid,
As a folk hero, he made his bid,
But killing 9 men, that’s what he did.

William Bonney was also his name,
Used the most, at the height of his fame,
As a marksman he really found acclaim.

He was 5’ 8″, a blue-eyed blonde,
Of wearing sombreros he was fond,
And his trusty rifle was his bond.

Because of Billy’s rate of needless bloodshed,
New Mexico’s governor put a price on his head,
For any gunslinger who could shoot him dead.

Step up Pat Garrett, a county lawman,
Who thought he had the thing in the can,
But Billy escaped once before Pat could fulfil his plan.

Billy the Kid died at 21,
With a bullet fired from Garrett’s gun,
He died July 14, 1881.

Pat Garett

Charles A. Lindbergh went to famous from zero,
Becoming an all-American, all-conquering hero,
By flying a single seat, single engine monoplane,
Across the Atlantic with sang froid and legerdemain.
Flying through both the day and night,
He made the very first solo non-stop flight.
For this effort he won the Orteig Prize,
Which labelled him the king of the skies,
He set off from Long Island on 20 May,
And landed in France on the following day.
He flew combat missions in the Second World War,
But Spirit of St Louis is what he’s best known for…

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Let’s hear it for the wonderful Zaha Hadid,
Who by a clear mile, can make a bid,
For being the most successful female architect,
A designer with style and deep intellect.
Awarded a Dame Commander of the BE*
She has earned her place in history,
Working in London but born in Iraq,
This school was created for the charity ARK,
Which runs Brixton’s Evelyn Grace Academy,
With discipline and ardour – that’s a guarantee.
A beautiful, intelligent, use of space,
When confined to the smallest place.
Squeezed onto the tiniest of urban sites,
From every angle there’s a sight that delights.
In 2011 this won the Stirling Prize,
But then that really is no surprise.
She won the Pritzker Prize** in 2004,
Something a woman had not done before.
So now I ask at the tender age of 62,
Is there nothing this woman cannot do?

*British Empire.
**The most important architectural award.

Alexander the Great was an extraordinary man
A scholar, a warrior, no flash in the pan,
By thirty his empire was so incredibly huge,
That even India wasn’t a safe refuge.
Taught by Aristotle, Philip of Macedon’s son,
The fame of this king lives on and on,
As does the fame of his famous horse,
Bucephalus, who was scared of his shadow of course!
He died a month before he reached 33,
One of the greatest soldiers in history.

The little mermaid is a small, iconic, bronze statue,
Sitting on a rock in Copenhagen harbour with an ocean view.
The head of the sculpture’s the dancer, Ellen Price,
But for the nude body, the sculptor’s wife sufficed!
Edvard Eriksen created this work of art,
So Hans Christian Andersen could be taken to heart,
And celebrated as a fairy tale writer, who’s key,
She was paid for by the founder of Carlsberg Brewery…

Here is something of an archaeological brain teaser,
How did they construct the Great Pyramid at Giza?
It was erected in 2467 BC,
A stellar point in history.
It was built for Pharaoh Kufu and it took 20 years,
The architect was perhaps Hemon, his vizier, and some engineers.
In order to build it so quickly, that size and that height,
They had to lay 12 blocks an hour, both by day and by night.
They used their knowledge of the constellations,
To construct these extraordinary installations,
Ursas Major and Minor mapped the north, south, east and west,
And accuracy to less than half a degree, was their behest.
They used the merkhet, a sort of astrolabe,
And a sighting tool made from a palm leaf, called the bay.
A system of ramps and blocks lifted the slabs into space,
For this, the Pharaoh’s last, splendid resting place.

The date is December 1983,
An ad is about to make history,
The advert is known as “1984”,
A computer is what this ad is for,
Directed by one Mr Ridley Scott,
The ad portrayed a wee snapshot,
Of the future of IBM as per Orwell’s book,
Total destruction was the advert’s hook,
A new computer would trample and squash
IBM into the ground. Who? Apple Macintosh.
Costing $1.5 million, and shown again in January ’84,
During Super Bowl when it was seen by millions more,
The ad had people wanting to get it somehow,
This brilliant, beautiful piece of computer knowhow!