This is the tale of two very different men, from different places and different times. The first was a Welshman named John Roberts, though he took the name Bartholomew when he began his wildly successful but extremely short career as a pirate in 1719. Within three years of turning pirate, Bartholomew Roberts was dead, his throat blown out by Royal Navy grape shot. In his short career, he and his pirate crews took over 470 prizes, making him the most successful pirate captain in what is considered the Great Age of Piracy.
Robert’s crew signed articles which have become known as the “pirate code” which featured a division of prize money, crew voting rights, and guarantees of fair treatment including payments for lost limbs. This good treatment did not apply to Robert’s victims, however. Roberts was notorious for torturing and killing prisoners.
His career ended when his ship Royal Fortune was surprised by HMS Swallow near Ouidah, on the Atlantic coast of Benin. Roberts legend has outlived him. His exploits were described in A General History of the Pyrates, published a few years after his’ death. He was mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and he inspired the Dread Pirate Roberts in Goldman’s novel, The Princess Bride and its film adaptation.
Which brings us to Ross William Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, an untraceable secret Internet marketplace on which criminals traded drugs, laundered money, and even marketed assassinations. His online nom de web was the Dread Pirate Roberts. Continue reading
Over the weekend, a huge swarm of moon jellyfish shut down the 1,400 megawatt Unit 3 reactor at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant on Sweden’s Baltic Sea coast. The jellyfish clogged the cooling water intakes, located roughly 60′ feet below the surface of the sea. They have since been cleared away and engineers are preparing to restart the reactor, but there is no guarantee the jellyfish will not return. “We hope we have solved the problem regarding the jellyfish, but we are not sure because they can come back,” Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for the operator, Oskarshamns Kraftgrupp AB, said Tuesday.
Back in 2010, we posted
We recently posted about a serious molasses spill in Honolulu harbor which has killed 26,000 fish and may have longer term consequences for the harbor ecology. Rick Austin was kind enough to forward an article about a far larger and more deadly molasses spill, the 
Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s inflatable sculpture, 
What is worse than an oil spill? A molasses spill, apparently. There are ways to clean up after an oil spill, whereas no one knows how clean up spilled molasses. Earlier this month, a 
The comeback by Oracle Team USA has been nothing short of amazing. Oracle appeared to be facing certain defeat, with only one more win needed by Emirates Team New Zealand to clinch the Cup. Nevertheless, Oracle came back with eight wins, completely shutting out the Kiwis in hard fought match-races. An incredible performance. The America’s Cup is staying in America.
For thirty years,