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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 2, 2011
playground Enter the ‘Devil’s Triangle’ ! Over the years, numerous ships and airplanes have mysteriously disappeared whilst travelling in and around the triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean that has come to be called as the ‘Devil’s Triangle’. A lot has been said and written about it. There are numerous facts, theories, mysteries and myths that have been associated with the infamous Bermuda Triangle, but never one solid consistent explanation!
Crossword
Where is it located? The exact location and boundaries of the triangle varies, as some say its shape is similar to a trapezoid covering the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire Caribbean island area east to the Azores; others add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar, triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits. It is one of the two places on earth where a compass will not point to true, magnetic north.
Devilish disasters
A big bug bit the little beetle but the little beetle bit the big bug back. How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood She sells sea shells on the sea shore The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick
? I run, yet I have no legs. What am I?? A nose The more there is, the less you see Darkness Why don’t lobsters share? They’re shellfish Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red A match
It is believed that numerous mysterious disappearances of aircrafts and ships have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle region, even including gigantic vessels like the USS Cyclops and the SS Marine Sulphur Queen. Famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus jotted down many gripping recordings in his diary during his journey through the ‘Devil’s Triangle’ in 1492. He mentioned weird magnetic deviances in his navigation instruments. Unusual lights were noticed on the horizon. Columbus has also described a ‘great flame of fire’ that crashed into the ocean. Coming to modern times, on December 5, 1945, in the very same region, a training squadron of five US Navy torpedo bombers on Flight 19 went missing. The patrol leader, Lt Charles Taylor had radioed Florida the following strange message — “Control tower, this is an emergency. We seem to be off course. We seem to be lost. We can’t make out where we are.” When instructed to turn the plane towards the west, he replied, “Everything looks wrong, even the ocean looks strange.” A Navy seaplane was sent into the Atlantic in search of the missing squadron, but no trace was ever found of the aircraft or crew. Even the Martin Mariner aircraft that was part of the search team blew up just after 23 minutes into its flight. Three years later, on December 27, 1948, a commercial flight flying from Puerto Rico towards Florida met with a similar fate. It radioed Miami that they were 50 miles out and all set to accept landing instructions. After Miami radioed back the instructions, it waited for a reply of confirmation but none came. After three hours, a search and rescue team was dispatched to trace the missing aircraft. No trace, what so ever, was found!
Inexplicable explanations A lot of authors, who have written on the Bermuda Triangle, have
What is the fruitiest lesson? History, because it’s full of dates! I’d tell you another joke about a pencil. But it doesn’t have any point! What happens when you throw a green stone in the red sea? It gets wet! What makes the leaning Tower of Pisa lean? It doesn’t eat much! A noise woke me up this morning. What was that? The crack of dawn!
Quiz it! 1. a. b. c. d.
What is the other name of Bermuda Triangle? Devil’s Triangle Ghost’s Triangle Dangerous Triangle Free port Triangle
2. a. b. c. d.
Bermuda is associated with which ocean/ sea? Pacific Indian Atlantic Arabian
3. a. b. c. d.
What happened in this Bermuda Triangle? A number of aircraft and surface vessels have appeared A number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared A number of children have appeared A number of movies and cellphones have disappeared
4. Who was the first person to document something strange in the Triangle? a. Lawrence David b. Donald Crowhurst c. Chritopher Columbus d. Charles Berlitz 5. Which enormous Navy ship disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with 309 aboard becoming the largest Navy disappearance ever? a. Mary Celeste b. Witchcraft c. Cyclops d. Victory
Materials needed Piece of paper 2 paper clips
Fold a rectangular sheet of paper in half the long way as in Figure 1.
Now fold down the entire length of both sides of the glider to make its wings as seen in Figure 3. DESIGN AMNA IQBAL
put forward supernatural theories to explain the disappearance of various ships and places in this region. One such explanation theory for Bermuda Triangle episode puts the blame on leftover technology from the lost continent of Atlantis. There are other writers who associate the events in the Bermuda Triangle with Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). This idea was used in the Hollywood film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ by famous director Steven Spielberg. It shows the lost ‘Flight 19’ as having been abducted by aliens. The more scientifically minded believe that it’s all due to weird magnetic disturbances, or the release of poisonous methane gas from the bottom of the ocean. Besides these there are several other theories, stories and explanations for the strange happenings around Bermuda Triangle but till now there hasn’t been any one definite answer to it. Maybe you’ll be the one who finally cracks the mystery of the Devil’s Triangle!
Fold back the corner of one end of the paper. Then fold back the facing corner in just the same way. Notice how these corner folds match in Figure 2
Spread the wings of the glider. Use 2 paper clips to fasten the plane together as seen in Figure 3. The weight of the paper clips will make your plane glide smoothly through the air.