Your isolation explains much about your insolence. You might want to read up on the Japanese and World War II to wipe away that feeling that you are so independent on your island there from the US. ----- Original Message ----- From: "stephen davie" <stephen.davie@sympatico.ca> To: <orcadia@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 7:58 AM Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] New high speed ferry for Orkney > Sian: > > There is something unique about the sense of isolation one feels, > being on an island. As one who actually lives on an outer island in > Orkney, I wonder if you still feel that sense of being off on your > own. For a tourist visiting one of the smaller islands, the ferry > pulling away from the dock and abandoning them, is a subtle sort of > message to say that, "Well, you're going to be here for awhile!" And > "Don't even think about leaving until you see theferry back at the > dock." > > Here, on the Manitoulin, people find being an islander to be somewhat > unique. It is as if being on an island is rather like being a little > micro country, seperated by adjoining > territories by water. Some people refuse to leave for any reason. > There is an insular sense of security in living on an island. The > idea of living on one of the Orkney out islands, particularly in the > winter, makes me think that there must be almost a spiritual > attraction for those tucked away places, that you could only > understand by living there. > > I have read now for years your postings about your life where you > live, and I conclude that you wouldn't want to live anywhere else. > Makes me want to ask what the > list entails, that encompasses the values and ammenities and > lifestyle that keep you there. People lived on those incredible > islets long before there were engines, ferries, and tourists. When > they wern't involved in far away conflicts, or local ones, life was > good. > > I guess that fact is still unchanged. > > Cheers: > > Stepehn > On Jun 17, 2010, at 4:45 AM, Sian Thomas wrote: > >> Many folk move here for a "slower" pace of life, and many tourists >> visit >> for that reason. However for those of us that live and work here - >> sometimes time is of the essence ;-) >> >> Sian >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ORCADIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

All, It seems pretty clear that, though genealogy is an interesting topic to many, it is not the only topic of discussion on this link, but only part of the wider subject of Orkney in general. I also wonder why any one person would be designated the "administrator" among a group of free thinking and speaking individuals, and what "any means necessary" to stop a discussion of a particular topic might be. I, for one, am far more comfortable with a wide ranging and open discussion without such rules. There is plenty to discuss about Orkney - and the rest of the world - to keep us busy. As for the rest of the world, the oil spill in the Gulf is rather like a fellow bleeding profusely from his leg, and when the flow of blood is pointed out he says, "Oh, that's not my problem. That's the leg's problem." The disaster - and it is turning into a disaster of a magnitude way beyond the wildest fears when it first happened, and with no real end in sight - is a world wide problem. We have the seven seas, and they are the only seas we have, and they are the basis of all life on earth. We are fouling them horrendously, not just with an oil leak, but with huge dead zones from fertilizer runoff, and with massive circling wads of garbage, some larger than Texas, in the Pacific and other seas. We have nearly fished cod out of existence, we are drastically reducing stocks of many other species on which we depend for life itself. How far will we go before we, as a species ourselves, wake up and realize all nations, all people need to take stock of what we have done and are continuing to do to our precious waters, and not just seas, but fresh waters as well. Here in Indiana we are very concerned about Asian Carp, an imported species which grows rapidly and voraciously eats nearly all other aquatic life. They are in the Mississippi and getting closer and closer to Lake Michigan, which would be seriously damaged if they get in. The Mississippi and Lake Michigan are connected by a ship canal, and the carp are regularly moving past any barriers set up to stop them, growing closer and closer. But the government will not block the canal and close it permanently because it might cost some shippers some money - never mind the thousands of times more dollars lost if the fish reach the lake. Pay me now or pay me later. This is symptomatic of the cavalier short sighted way we are treating this world, and believe me, Orcadians, it will come to your shores as well, at which point discussions of genealogy will most clearly be upstaged by more urgent concerns. Tuck On Jun 17, 2010, at 10:15 AM, Mike Ridlen wrote: > Your isolation explains much about your insolence. You might want > to read > up on the Japanese and World War II to wipe away that feeling that > you are > so independent on your island there from the US. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "stephen davie" <stephen.davie@sympatico.ca> > To: <orcadia@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 7:58 AM > Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] New high speed ferry for Orkney > > >> Sian: >> >> There is something unique about the sense of isolation one feels, >> being on an island. As one who actually lives on an outer island in >> Orkney, I wonder if you still feel that sense of being off on your >> own. For a tourist visiting one of the smaller islands, the ferry >> pulling away from the dock and abandoning them, is a subtle sort of >> message to say that, "Well, you're going to be here for awhile!" And >> "Don't even think about leaving until you see theferry back at the >> dock." >> >> Here, on the Manitoulin, people find being an islander to be somewhat >> unique. It is as if being on an island is rather like being a little >> micro country, seperated by adjoining >> territories by water. Some people refuse to leave for any reason. >> There is an insular sense of security in living on an island. The >> idea of living on one of the Orkney out islands, particularly in the >> winter, makes me think that there must be almost a spiritual >> attraction for those tucked away places, that you could only >> understand by living there. >> >> I have read now for years your postings about your life where you >> live, and I conclude that you wouldn't want to live anywhere else. >> Makes me want to ask what the >> list entails, that encompasses the values and ammenities and >> lifestyle that keep you there. People lived on those incredible >> islets long before there were engines, ferries, and tourists. When >> they wern't involved in far away conflicts, or local ones, life was >> good. >> >> I guess that fact is still unchanged. >> >> Cheers: >> >> Stepehn >> On Jun 17, 2010, at 4:45 AM, Sian Thomas wrote: >> >>> Many folk move here for a "slower" pace of life, and many tourists >>> visit >>> for that reason. However for those of us that live and work here - >>> sometimes time is of the essence ;-) >>> >>> Sian >>> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> ORCADIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORCADIA-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message

"I also wonder why any one person would be designated the "administrator" among a group of free thinking and speaking individuals, and what "any means necessary" to stop a discussion of a particular topic might be. " ************ Rootsweb List administrators have existed as long as have the lists themselves. One reason for having administrators is to ensure that the Acceptable Use Policy (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/rootsweb/aup.html) established by Rootsweb (the folks who give us these lists at no expense to ourselves). Hateful speech, name calling and just plain ugliness of character are not allowed here. That's one "price" we pay for a free forum. By the way, list administrators are volunteers for the most part. Even when Rootsweb/Ancestry paid staff adopt lists as administrators, they do it as volunteers. No one is paid to administrate a list except for those which have not been officially adopted and require someone to at least "babysit" them to ensure enforcement of the AUP mentioned above. We give hours each day due to our love for genealogy and the enjoyment of participating in the Rootsweb/Ancestry community. Jim