Word: shetlander
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...RELENTLESS DAYS, HUGE waves and strong winds mercilessly pounded the oil tanker Braer, grounded on the rocks of Fitful Head in the unspoiled Shetland Islands. Bit by bit, the cargo of 26 million gal. of Norwegian light crude leaked into the sea, turning it chocolate brown. On the seventh day, the pounding caused spouts of oil to gush spasmodically from deck hatches, making the tanker look like some pitiful beached whale blowing black blood in the throes of death. The following day the ship did die, splitting into at least three pieces and releasing all its remaining oil into...
Until last week, gentle ponies and Fair Isle sweaters represented the Shetland Islands: comforting symbols of a place of untamed beauty. Now Shetland is distinguished by 619,000 bbl. of spilling oil. The tanker Braer, owned by a subsidiary of a U.S. firm, ran aground Tuesday after its engines failed during a storm. A few hours before the ship hit the rocks, helicopters took the crew off, so no one was aboard to secure a line to a rescue tug. As rough seas kept salvors from pumping off the remaining crude, the slick threatened to kill thousands of birds...
...soldiering edgily on, recounting their promotions and sackings, their new children and divorces. The trio of public school twits, who in the first film sang Waltzing Matilda in Latin, have mellowed into responsible burghers. Poor Neil, the brilliant child and (last time) the homeless neurotic, has settled in Shetland, Scotland, frail but still alive. That is almost the best to be said for the entire group, and they seem to know it; they speak apologetically of the not very much they have achieved. The mannerly desperation that seeps through is heartbreaking...
...pixilated sleight-of- hand artist puts a bunny in a box (ho-hum), pulls out an air pump (hmmm), attaches same to box and pumps mightily (what?), and finally produces not the expected exploding hare but a live jumbo rabbit who appears to be only slightly smaller than a Shetland. All right, all right -- it's still only a big bunny, but it seems so large because the Chaplin-Thierree inspiration expands audience perception even while teasing...
...animals, along with human outposts, are largely confined to the 2% of Antarctica that is ice-free for part of the year, the world's most sparsely populated continent is, paradoxically, overcrowded. The Antarctic Peninsula is particularly in demand, with 13 stations; King George Island, one of the South Shetland Islands, is home to an additional eight. Planes, helicopters, snowmobiles, trucks and bulldozers are in constant operation throughout the summer. Nearly every base has its own helipad, landing strip, harbor and waste dump...