SS Tjitjalengka

SS Tjitjalengka at Amoy Harbor in China - Robert G. Lloyd

Australian War Memorial

The 16,700 ton British hospital ship Tjitjalengka. Built for the Java-China-Japan-Line in 1939 and owned by a Dutch shipping company, the Tjitjalengka was requisitioned for Admiralty service on 8 July 1942 and was converted in Liverpool, England to accommodate 504 patients. After service in the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans, she was transferred to the British Pacific Fleet. After the Japanese surrender, she carried Allied Prisoners of War (POWs) repatriated from Japan to Australia. On her final voyage, she carried invalids and Naval casualties from Colombo and Durban to Liverpool, England and was then returned to her owners.

Royal Navy Research Archive has a longer history of this ship.

The artist, Robert G. Lloyd has done numerous marine paintings.

Tjitjalengka, Indonesia

Amoy Harbor, China is directly across the strait from Taiwan.

Jakarta is Sinking

Jakarta's land subsidence

I knew a large portion of the Netherlands was below sea level, which is crazy, but the Dutch, at least in most other respects, seem to be fairly level headed. And you don't hear them crying about it, so if they want to indulge in a bit of crazy and live in a place that ought to be underwater, well, go ahead on. I'll let you.

Jakarta & southeast Asia

But I kind of thought it was only place in the world like that. Well, there is Death Valley (280 feet below sea level) and the Dead Sea (1400 feet below sea level), but they are not right up against an ocean that could flood them in a moments notice. In any case Holland isn't the only place. Jakarta Indonesia is slowing sinking and large parts of it are now below sea level. They noticed this a while back and started building a sea wall in 2014.

This video from the Drop A Pin YouTube channel got me started. He uses a curious format. He asks a question of like two dozen people who all get the answer wrong before he finally finds someone who gets it right. He sucked me in the first few dozen videos I saw, but now I skip to the end to find the answer.

Kaboom!

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki spews volcanic materials into the air during an eruption, in Maumere, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 17, 2025 [AP]

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki

Pictures

Tsar Bomba

Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes

Corsairs over San Diego

Sarah Gillis playing the violin in zero-G

B-24 & B-17 over Golden Gate Bridge

Matchbox Cars
What does 2'4 mean?

Reliefs of Indonesian history at Indonesian National Monument

A-10 Warthog

The Razorback, Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, Australia
No, those white blobs are not houses. Nobody lives there.

Roadkill's 56 Chevy & Mount Shasta

Termination Shock - Notes Part 2

Notes on the book Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. The book is set in the not-too-distant future.

Part 2 - Louisiana

Part 1

There is some discussion about people in the mining business and the Paguna Mine in Bougainville comes up: "The place was famous for its hugeness and infamous for political reasons."

Paguna Mine, Bougainville
The central pit is over one mile across.

Excerpted from Wikipedia:

Panguna is one of the largest copper reserves  in the world, having an estimated reserve of one billion tonnes of ore copper and twelve million ounces of gold. The site was at one time the world's largest open-pit copper/gold mine. The mine caused devastating environmental issues on the island, and the company was responsible for poisoning the entire length of the Jaba River, causing birth defects, as well as the extinction of the flying fox on the island. Dissatisfaction with the company led to an uprising in 1988, led by Francis Ona, a Panguna landowner and commander of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. The outcome of the uprising was the Bougainville conflict, between the BRA, who sought secession from PNG, and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. The ten-year conflict resulted in over 20,000 deaths, as well as the eventual closure of the mine on 15 May 1989, and the complete withdrawal of BCL personnel by 24 March 1990. It has remained closed to this day.

There is also an extensive backstory about Willem, one the queen's aides. His family was in Indonesia when WW2 broke out and were imprisoned by the Japanese. Their troubles didn't end when the war did, now we have Sukarno mounting a campaign for independence which meant more chaos and more trouble for, especially for white Europeans.

Sugar Mills

Java Sugar Mills in Action - 2004
blackthorne57
This video reminded me of the sugar mill on Maui I saw when I was there two years ago.

HC&S Puʻunēnē Mill. Photo 2015 by Wendy Osher.
Photo taken back when the mill was still in operation.

Current Google Streetview of the same mill.

The mill wasn't in operation when I was there, but I remember looking it up and Google Streetview still showed plumes of smoke coming from the smokestacks. Supposedly, Google Streetview has an archive feature that allows you to pull up older Streetviews, but evidently it doesn't work everywhere as I couldn't find any archives for this location.

Update January 2024 replaced missing video. At the end of the new video there are some views of Mt. Bromo.