A three hour tour

[Elspode]

More Minnow info...

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Elspode

We are also doing the song which many people think inspired the Stairway hook, a traditional song called "Brigid Flynn".

Cool. The stuff you learn here. Now if only I could find the mando tab and a functional left hand.

[Elspode]

This ought to get you started...

[Griff]

Thank you, bro!

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Balsa-log rafts have so many advantages over boats, not capable of sinking being the most important.

A little bit of Spanish trivia for you: the word BALSA has gone into the language in this hemisphere to mean RAFT. (Even if it is an Army surplus rubber dingey, they call it a balsa.) Because this tree only grows in tropical South America north to parts of Mexico, it would have been the logical choice for the PreColombian civilizations to use if they had really been inclined to ocean voyages. It was perfectly possible for one of their craft to have been blown across the Pacific to Polynesia or even farther. A boat with 3 Mexican fishermen who were given up as lost at sea has showed up in the Marianas, near Australia, after floating for 9 months.

Not just any reed will make a seaworthy raft, as Heyerdahl discovered. His first effort sank after becoming waterlogged to the point that it was unsailable. I have seen documentaries on Univision which show where the "Inca" reeds used for boats come from; the entire villages are floating on mats of reeds in fact. To make his Ra craft with the same materials, Heyerdahl must have stripped that entire swamp of vegitation.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Wasn't Heyerdahl trying to figure out how people got to South America (and it's islands), from Polynesia and from Africa?

[Pangloss62]

Wasn't Heyerdahl trying to figure out how people got to South America (and it's islands), from Polynesia and from Africa?

Actually, no. Heyerdahl was intrigued by iconongraphic similarities he saw between the primitive art of South America and that of the natives of the Polynesian Islands. He surmised, and went on to prove, that people could indeed travel across the Pacific from Peru to the Islands of the South Pacific. I don't think his thesis that Polynesia was settled by South Americans has been accepted, however. Maybe someone on this BBS knows the answer. I few minutes of googling would probably work too.

[Griff]

According to this site Pangloss is right. South America may have had contact, as witnessed by the presence of the sweet potato, but the people came from the west (which is the East ).

[Pangloss62]

Oh God. I feel I'm gonna be torn between work and reading about Polynesian archeology. Thanks (I guess) for the link.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Many folks can sing that verbatim, myself included. One thing I remember, however, is that somewhere into the 4th or 5th season, or maybe it was the first season, they changed "The Professor and Mary Ann" to "and the rest" Like this:

There was Gilligan
The Skipper Too
The Millionaire, and His Wife
A Movie Star
And The Rest
Here on Giligan's Isle.

When it was and/or should have been:

There was Gilligan
The Skipper Too
The Millionaire, and His Wife
A Movie Star
The Professor and Mary Ann
Here on Giligan's Isle.

The Mosquitos Played on Gilligan's Isle. Bob Denver had two roles in that episode.

From here

"And the rest"
In the first season theme song, the Professor and Mary Ann were not mentioned by name or role, but rather referred to as "and the rest". Actors Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were originally considered "second-billed co-stars", but with the growing popularity of their characters, their names were inserted into the later-season lyrics.[1] [2] [3] Dawn Wells tells the story that it was Bob Denver who went to the studio execs and said that Johnson and Wells' names should be in the opening credits. The execs originally refused, stating that it would cost too much to reshoot and rescore the opening. So Denver pointed out that, as the show's star, it was in his contract to have his name anywhere he wanted in the credits, so they could put his name in the end credits with Johnson and Wells'. Obviously the studio HAD to have their star's name appear in the opening, so they capitulated, granting The Professor and Mary Ann a place in the opening credits. Wells said that Denver never mentioned this to anyone in the cast, and she didn't find out until years after the show ended what he had done for them.

[Pangloss62]

Spexxvet!!!

What a sleuth! I feel a great sense of closure on that one.

Thanks!

And thank you too to the late Bob Denver!

[Elspode]

Bob Denver was, by all accounts, a truly decent human being.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Actually, no. Heyerdahl was intrigued by iconongraphic similarities he saw between the primitive art of South America and that of the natives of the Polynesian Islands. He surmised, and went on to prove, that people could indeed travel across the Pacific from Peru to the Islands of the South Pacific. I don't think his thesis that Polynesia was settled by South Americans has been accepted, however. Maybe someone on this BBS knows the answer. I few minutes of googling would probably work too.

Damn, I had it ass backwards. I thought he sailed the kon Tiki from Polynesia toward the Americas. I"ll have to read it one day.