Attempts have been made to raise sheep there. In 1900, a French couple lived there for a year. The soil is thin, and spray often goes right over the island, so the soil is very salty. The island has no fresh water supply for much of the year, and has to rely on shipments, or formerly tanks.
The island's animals are mainly birds, although rabbits are long established here. The island has many puffins and some storm petrels. Although the latter have declined, they used to nest in the cottage's storm loft. Roderick Dobson in "Birds of the Channel Islands" said that puffins had been plentiful for over a century. The "Birds of Guernsey" (1878) by Cecil Smith states likewise. The puffins have had to compete with gulls, and in 1949, hundreds died from red mite infestation. The rabbit holes on the island make good nesting for them.
Amongst the plants noted here are sea spurry, forget-me-nots, scarlet pimpernel, field bugloss, bracken and nettles. E.D. Marquand counted 18 species of plant here in 1909, but by the late twentieth century Frances Le Sueur and David McClintock found 45, which they wrote up in the "Transactions of La Société Guernesiaise"
Oscillation
Something that oscillates is something that "vibrates", or repeats the same pattern. Many things in nature move back-and-forth or up-and down when pushed or struck. In time, natural oscillators slow down and stop because of friction.
Ortac
Ortac is a small uninhabited islet about 5 km West of the coast of Alderney near to the islet of Burhou. It measures about 50 by 70 metres (160 by 230 ft).
A.H. Ewen thinks that the rock's name meant "large rock at the edge" from the Norman language "Or" (edge) + "Etac" (Stack). Alexander Deschamps said that the French used to call it "the Eagle's Nest".
Ortac and Alderney, along with the Casquets, are part of the same sandstone ridge.
Paul Naftel, a Guernsey artist, drew Ortac, and the drawing appeared in Ansted & Latham's book, "The Channel Islands" (1862). The writers themselves commented -
If the sea bottom, which is in very few parts as much as 20 fathoms deep, were elevated 120 feet (37 m), the island of Alderney, the Burhou and Ortac group, and the Casquets would be connected by low land, and form a narrow island around 12 miles (19 km) long.
The 1906 book, "The Channel Pilot" states -
Between Ortac, Verte Tête and Burhou Island, are scattered many dangerous rocks, and ledges among which the streams run with great velocity.
It also supposedly contains a cave known as "the Oven".
Victor Hugo, who lived on Guernsey, and who wrote much about the Channel Islands says in his novel, "The Laughing Man" ("L'Homme qui Rit"):
...on the port bow arose, standing stark, cut out on the background of mist, a tall opaque mass, vertical, right-angled, a tower of the abyss. It was the Ortac rock. The Ortac, all of a piece, rises up in a straight line to eighty feet above the angry beating of the waves... An immovable cliff, it plunges its rectilinear planes apeak into the numberless serpentine coils of the sea. At night it stands an enormous block, resting on the folds of a huge black sheet. In time of storm it awaits the stroke of the axe which is 'the thunderclap'..."To be wrecked on the Casquets is to be cut into ribbons; to strike on the Ortac is to be crushed into powder... On a straight frontage, such of that of the Ortac, neither the wave nor the cannon ball can ricochet... if the wave carries the vessel on the rock she breaks on it, and is lost...
Meanwhile, in another work, "The Toilers of the Sea" ("Les Travailleurs de la mer"), he mentions the curious anecdote that Ortac was inhabited by Saint Malo:
"The Norman fishermen who frequent the Channel have many precautions to take at sea, by reason of the illusions with which Satan environs them. It has long been an article of popular faith that Saint Maclou inhabited the great square rock called Ortac, in the sea between Alderney and the Casquets; and many old sailors used to declare that they had often seen him there, seated and reading a book. Accordingly the sailors, as they passed, were in the habit of kneeling many times before the Ortac rock, until the day when the fable was destroyed, and the truth took its place. For it has been discovered, and is now well established, that the lonely inhabitant Of the rock is not a saint, but a devil. This evil spirit, whose name is Jochmus, had the impudence to pass himself of; for many centuries as Saint Maclou. Even the Church herself is not proof against snares of this kind. The demons Ragubel, Oribel, and Tobiel were regarded as saints until the year 745, when Pope Zachary, having at length exposed them, turned them out of saintly company. This sort of weeding of the saintly calendar is certainly very useful; but it can only be practiced by very accomplished judges of devils and their ways."
Ortac is noted for its large gannet colony. This is of fairly recent origin. On 19 June 1940, Major J.A.A. Wallace was preparing for the evacuation of Alderney, and went there to inspect the kittiwake colony. He found only one gannet. He found none on Les Etacs off Alderney. Now both swarm with the birds.
In 1979, a mission with two naval helicopters was launched to remove nets and rubbish used in nests and which were trapped.
Romeo 41 is an Airway over the English Channel from the Channel Islands Control Area to the Solent Control Area. There is a reporting point named ORTAC at southern boundary between Romeo 41 and the Channel Islands Control Zone. Its position is 49° 59' 57N, 2° 0' 18W, which is about 30 miles north-north-east of Alderney. This is not coincident with the islet named Ortac, but its name is undoubtedly derived from the islet.
Many Standard Instrument Approach and Departure Procedures into Channel Islands airports use ORTAC as part of the procedure. A typical clearance for an Aurigny flight from Alderney to Southampton will read as follows:
"Ayline 123: your clearance is to the Northern Zone boundary via ORTAC, on track Romeo 41."
5.56mm NATO
The 5.56×45mm NATO round, pronounced "five-five-six", is an intermediate cartridge and the main bullet type used by guns made for NATO militaries. It was first used in the Vietnam War as the main bullet used by the US military.
Early in the Vietnam War, the main gun used by American soldiers was the M14. Many soldiers complained that the 7.62mm NATO round used by the M14 was too heavy and that the gun kicked back too hard to shoot accurately when shooting in full-automatic fire. To solve this problem, the US military decided replace the M14 and the 7.62mm NATO by creating a new assault rifle that would shoot lighter bullets with less kickback. That gun would be the M16A1, the first standard issue gun to fire the 5.56mm NATO bullet.
Even though the M16A1 had many design flaws that would cause the gun to jam, the 5.56 bullet performed well in battle. The 5.56 did so well that the Soviet Union made its own intermediate cartridge, the 5.45 x 39mm, to compete with NATO.
Guns that use the 5.56 include the M16, the M4 carbine, the AR-15, the FAMAS, the G36, the SCAR-L, and the Mini-14.
Teatre Sans
Teatre Sans is a small theatre in Palma de Mallorca, capital of the Balearic Islands, Spain, that has been opened for more than 25 years.
The theatre is in a gothic building from the 14th-15th centuries, in the old neighbourhood of the city. In the 15th century it belonged to the island Governor who used it as a marketplace. Later it was used as lodgings. In the 20th century, it became the headquarters of the Republican party where they held political meetings, literary and cultural gatherings and some theatre plays. Later, they also began to offer lectures and talks.