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The ride on the “car” or that’s what I call it, was certainly bumpy. It’s an Aston Martin, designed time be four seated. Similar to a certain one in those fantasy books...but nothing I know of. With the current technology she has (and stole), it does allow lots of people in.
However everyone’s looks are just a bit unsettled, considering it was a lot to take in. I see Edris’ face showing uncertainty. Even Terry doesn’t even know what’s going on anymore. Makes me being in the habit terrible mood as of right now, but nevertheless I nudge Prez, who was almost falling asleep, to give her pep talk.
Prez: “Kid, you doing good? It’s a lot to take in right now. Adults are talking.”
Edris: “I’m 23, but probably god knows how fucking long is that in fairy years…and I wanna go home…or at least, fly back if I could
Prez: “First off, that’s still pretty young by magic standards . Tough luck seems it might not give you that at the moment, but sure. We’ll get there…”
Edris: “Ok…but what about Magnus?”
Prez: “Hm. I dunno. That’s what we’re doing, no? What’s the last trick he showed ya?”
Edris: “How to manipulate glass shards. This one requires concentration, years of practice...”
Prez: “Nah I’ve seen you done better. You don’t need years or months, a week or a couple days and you’re doing a great job. At least your magic is much stronger...just don’t let the feelings consume you too much. Been an insomniac myself, but with the meds I’m much better. If I can control my emotions, why can’t you? You got this.”
Edris: “Thanks, Prez.”
Prez: “Anytime.”
Terry: “That was great..right, we almost there, no?”
Florence: “Not yet, though we’re close. Gaskin’s really fucking big after the teleporting. We’re almost in Prague. Just give it a while when I’m carrying a bunch of supposed criminals on board…”
Sean: “I’m pretty sure you’d be apprehending us if you were with Vertex right now; you wouldn’t even be present driving this thing.”
Florence: “I would. There’s punishments for breaking the magical laws. Just because I’m laying off the grid doesn’t mean I’ll change my ways.”
Sean: “I bet you’d do that in a heartbeat. But I’d be a defendant for everyone. You’re as guilty as the rest...just like Rowie and Mags. We’re all the same.”
Florence: “Touché. We’re minutes away so strap on when the conversation continues.”
***
We land in Prague—with a even misty, clouded layer of fogs. It’s basically half of what Japan could look like now. The same could be argued for how onis could mask their presence like that when I fought em multiple times.
The Aston Martin is led through the tightly guarded Dancing House as the followers of Eltrocus order us off. Most of the weapons are confined except the ones we carry on. We go through the first floor and the old man greets us, his bald head radiating in slight brightness with a gaunt smile. The room feels like a boaton, where it rots and smells upon entering.
Koles: “Here to negotiate? Just in time.”
Sean: “Pretty much, considering we all went through hell because Mags betrayed us.”
Koles: “Right.”
Sean: “Did you know?!”
Koles: “…”
Terry: “C’mon, just answer it. Forge gave the order right?”
Koles: “Precisely. I wish I could explain on how much, but we’re here for the sole purpose of my lost apprentice. And you need help, don’t you?”
Sean: “We could extradite you right now based off on the recent things, we trashed the Louvre when the Serpent came. Did you even know he was a foil?”
Koles: “Of course. The magic rules…I’ve been a layover for it.”
(He snaps his fingers, and Forge arrives with another book)
Koles: “This is the second book. Given the occultist I am, I would have naturally alerted to one of my gifted pupils; for he was fluent in Nordic and me in Russian, so we converged. The queen is hungry and I can sense it; the mentors and Brim as vessels…”
Forge: “Daintly fucking twat. I should have been there. But the history is that, fucking demons were crawling up. They’re mutated, because god knows if Satan exists. The King’s a literal antichrist.”
Luc: “Then it’s basically an offshoot cult. Whatever happened to you, I don’t care much. You tell me where they are in Prague.”
Forge: “In her native home. But we had to cut a deal with Vertex so we could interfere on a limited basis; they offered a great sum of money.”
Florence: “You corrupted them with dark magic didn’t you? Blinding and misdirection?”
Koles: “That’s why you’re the switch, just like how they called you. Just like your sister. Sometimes the game rules have to be leveraged. Give me a good reason why we should offer the book, because this is definitely a negotiation.”
My fists grip harder as the conversation continues. Now I know why Callan was acting very off in the first place, he was pretending to be sober, drugged under the influence while me and Terry were gone. And they took my love.
I can’t believe this to be another encounter of betrayal for a second book of curses, but unless someone’s taken over their mind, it’s probably likely. I step forward, spraying powder in the faces of everyone. It’s the influence.
Sean: “You had our friends under control too. You’re playing the big game, aren’t you?”
Koles: “I will do whatever it is best to make it sufficient for our species; so long that we will continue the traditions of Vlad the Impaler. Your United Kingdom will fall further under the hands of us, Irishman.”
Terry: “You could have taken the book straight away, but you haven’t, why?”
Luc: “Everything’s under the illusion it’s hard to tell what’s true anymore, and I’m dubious you could look through the lenses, you bitch. The book you have is a fake. We smuggled the one when you forget the Irishman is a lawyer.”
Sean: “Give me back my friends or we’ll deal with you.”
Koles: “Too late, my plot will continue to further and haste, the seeds will spread and sow. Take them and the book!”
In another terrible effort of unnecessary fights, some of Forge and Koles’ men start warping into a swarm of bats, attempting to charge at us. Terry sets and invisible field, but the followers start clawing and attempt to penetrate it. Prez tries shielding Edris while Callan tries finding cover. We are left helpless with our powers, not even Florence could hold them off.
Luc, under the amplified stress, starts cursing in Latin and elven tongue again, his eyes flaring in yellow as he teleports in front of the possessed Koles, but Forge blocks him off with a dynamite—and it gets redirected into his face, causing him to fall on the sides. He plunges his fingers onto the old man’s head, chanting loudly as he tries to purge the evil influences that infiltrated Koles mind.
A blinding flash engulfs the two in which I can hear the last words translated to “banishing your mind”, but I’m not entirely sure if that was right. Luc emerges unscathed, and takes out a potion containing mabaerf. He forces it down Koles’ throat as he tries reaching for his whip, but we restrain him with the rest of the team stopping the fight as the bats revert back to humans.
Luc: “This will cleanse him and drain him of his powers…his manipulates chakra. I guess we’ll see what needs to be done next.”
Florence: “Where is the actual book then?”
Luc: “I may have foreseen it, it’s somewhere in the top floors, but, you need the stronger amulets—niikaams to sense it.”
Callan: “Wait, the book he’s got is a fake?”
Luc: “Yes. It was half a ploy and distraction because I did precognition; but we gotta look for it when everyone’s out cold.”
***
Vampire: “Wake up.”
Rowena: “Where am I this time?”
Vampire: “Processing. For the sake of our races.
Rowena: “No, no...”
Vampire: “Please comply, human. Or I will not tolerate further action.”
Rowena: “I fucking swear—no, we’re not going there again, no....no!”
Glossary:
Niikam: An alternate term for amulet
Mabaerf: Purging chemical, can be for soul cleansing
Boaton: Something poorly made.
I rejoined CrossFit after a 7 months lay off. I needed the motion, the movement, the balance, and the friendship of the folks I work out with.
I work out with a class called Legends. It is for older folks like myself, who want to keep moving, to keep doing the things we love. The coach adjusts our workouts according to our abilities.
Our classes folks are from ages 50 to 85. We have a fantastic time.
For me? My goal is to be able to continue hiking!
Obviously!
Pink and Pip celebrate movement in life, even though they are robots!
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
After the demise of the Austin-Healey 3000 in 1967, Kjell Qvale, the largest distributor of Austin-Healeys in the western United States, decided he needed a good replacement - around the same time Donald Healey was thinking the same thing.
Healey went to Jensen, who had built bodies for the now-discontinued Austin-Healey and made a larger GT of their own - the Interceptor. Qvale took a controlling interest in Jensen in 1970, and all three parties worked together to come up with the new car.
Donald (and son Geoffrey) Healey designed the chassis of what would become the Jensen-Healey, Hugo Poole and William Towns did the styling, with towns updating the car to include impact bumpers, then becoming mandatory in what would be the car's main market - the United States.
As with previous Healeys dating back to the forties, a proprietary engine was used. Various powerplants were tried - the Vauxhall 2.3, the Ford "Cologne" V6, the straight six from the BMW E9, but these powerplants couldn't be provided in time or numbers sufficient to build the cars, and the Vauxhall engine couldn't delivery the requisite performance. Saab and Porsche engines were also pondered.
After a chance meeting on a commuter train between some Jensen and Lotus executives, Colin Chapman was approached and volunteered his new 907 twin cam engine, which was still being developed. The 907 fit the car well and delivered good performance. This would prove a fateful decision.
The Jensen-Healey was introduced at the 1972 Geneva show, and was in production four months later. A year after that, almost 4,000 of them had been built.
And then came a one-two punch.
First came the 1973/1974 Opec crisis, which greatly impacted the sales of Jensen's lineup of sports cars, particularly the senior Interceptor, a big car that ran a Chrysler 440 V8 - an insanely thirsty vehicle by U.K. standards in the era of the three-day week.
Then came the unreliability of the Lotus 907, which, like the Triumph Stag V8, wasn't "fully cooked" at the time it was shopped to Jensen. The result of this was that the Jensen-Healey effectively beta-tested (to use a modern term) the engine for Lotus. The first year and a half of production saw many teething issues, largely centered on this engine.
By mid-1974, production was being cut back, and even the 1975 introduction of a closed coupe - the fastback Jensen GT - couldn't help lift sales. Half the workforce was layed off in 1975, and within a year Jensen was done.
The Jensen-Healey's teething troubles plagued it for many years with a bad reputation - and it isn't cheap to service, but it is a pretty good car when kept tuned and serviced, as were most of Jensen's products.
Jensen was briefly revived in the eighties for a small run of Interceptors, but this didn't amount to sustained production. In 2001, a new car, the S-V8, and a new version of the company appeared, but just 12 cars were made before that, too, went under - a victim of the early 2000s recession.
Special thanks to Ben J. for the photo op.
©2015 A. Kwanten.
I think he needs to lay off the sunflower seeds I been feeding them :)
Not sure if he will be in shape for summer at this rate :)
Website: www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/chubby-blue-tit-royalt...
A small girder bridge on the Great Allegheny Passage between milepost 95 and 96 in Franklin Township. Originally built for the P&LE Railroad. Some rails that were on the bridge still lay off the side of the trail in the woods. Furnace Run meets the Youghiogheny River just behind me in the photo.
Research/survey vessel built 2013 by Tebma Shipyard,Chennai India
I.M.O. 9600360
Call sign 9V3888
Length/beam 82.9m x 21.8m
Gross tons 4644t
Deadweight 2500t
Net weight 2500t
Owned managed by Fugro Singapore
Flag Singapore
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and it's wonderful Bridges, reflected, at dusk, quite a sight for sure, always wanted to take shots around here.
From the front, The Tyne Bridge, Swing Bridge,High Level Bridge and Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, spanning the River Tyne, taken at dusk. It was nice to get out and about with my camera again, after a long lay off with a leg fracture, thanks to my family and friends, and everyone on here for their support :)
Nikon D5100 18-55mm lens @ 45mm
100 ISO/F18
2 second exposure
Post Production in Lightroom 3.5/Minor levels and Curves adjustment in Adobe PS.
Web link:
Wont be around much next few days.. Gotta lay off on the sitting for so long, but wish you ALL a Happy Easter with your loved ones. xo
In two hundred yards time, despite a sprint finish by all four of these runners they would all finish in the positions they held at this point.
Megan has been suffering with a knee and calf problem so has had to lay off racing for a little while. Parkruns have been a way of testing herself but this was her first race in a long while.
It was a good course over a reasonable 10k distance through some cracking North Yorkshire Moors scenery. Great weather made for generally good underfoot conditions and the big hill, all 3k of it was near enough at the start. So those who made good progress up the hill put themselves in a fine position to achieve a good time.
She finished in 50 mins and 28 seconds and was rightly chuffed with herself. It was a good PB over the distance and placed her 39th out of 206 female runners.
Meanwhile the bloke walking his dog goes about his usual Sunday morning constitutional with no consideration for the race competitors.
Okay, I suck. I haven't been updating Flickr and my pain in the neck store manager is on my case - she even made a spreadsheet!. Please go to Nuke's flickr page and tell her to lay off poor, overworked, tired Sliye. Extra points and maybe free stuff if you call her a hobag. xox
This is the [RnR] Montana Bench - it was released at our beloved Cosmo two weeks ago, but now you can pick it up in store :)
It comes with menu-based texture changes, and they're interchangeable, so you can have dark wood with light leather, or light wood with dark leather or inbetween or all dark or all light! Fancy!
Rhyme nor Reason Main Store:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Paracosm/40/194/28
Don't forget, RnR is running a photo comp, any photo containing an RnR item that tags us on flickr is eligible to enter and voting will be done at the end of month live music event in the Paracosm club beneath the store. Last Friday of the month at 7am SLT. Lovely L$ and lots of fun stuff up for grabs. :)
Now were past the McIngvale overpass, and looking at the end of the on-ramp onto 269. Hopefully that's not a radiator over there laying off on the edge of the ramp - if it fell off a vehicle while in use, don't see how that vehicle would have gotten much further down the road in the blistering heat :P
‘The Magazine Hotel’ was built in 1759, but, over the years, several alterations have been carried out. The pub was originally called ‘The Black Horse’. before being named the Magazine after the area surrounding it. The hotel has a concealed cellar which was used by the old Press Gang to hold victims before forcing them to sail. There was also once a cock-fighting pit behind the hotel which had circular wooden seating for sailors and locals who would arrange and bet on bird fights. (thank you to www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/Magazine/index.html for this information)
The Magazines itself (which was across the road) was a fortified building used by the owners of sailing ships, which were compelled to carry guns to fight pirates. Before the ships arrived at Liverpool, they were required to lay off at the Magazines to offload their powder.
[Edinburgh, UK. January 05, 2018] Mark Bennett makes his long awaited debut for Edinburgh Rugby after a ten month injury lay-off against Southern Kings in the Guinness Pro14 at Myreside, Edinburgh. (c) ALASTAIR ROSS | Novantae Photography
Photo Credit: Alastair Ross / Novantae Photography
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
Here’s a long overdue outing for this lovely Seamstress of Bloomsbury skirt. The button detail is a nice touch, although there’s a hidden zip and only the top one functions as designed. Otherwise, this was a little tight the last time I wore it, but it fits perfectly now. I knew there would eventually be a benefit to laying off the pies!
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. It was referred to as Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover in bills passed by Congress during its construction, but was named Boulder Dam by the Roosevelt administration. The Hoover Dam name was restored by Congress in 1947.
Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium named Six Companies, Inc., which began construction of the dam in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned the dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume when full. The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.
As the United States developed the Southwest, the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Though water from the Imperial Canal allowed for the widespread settlement of the valley, the canal proved expensive to operate. After a catastrophic breach that caused the Colorado River to fill the Salton Sea, the Southern Pacific Railroad spent $3 million in 1906–07 to stabilize the waterway, an amount it hoped in vain would be reimbursed by the federal government. Even after the waterway was stabilized, it proved unsatisfactory because of constant disputes with landowners on the Mexican side of the border.
As the technology of electric power transmission improved, the Lower Colorado was considered for its hydroelectric-power potential. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). However, at the time, the limit of transmission of electric power was 80 miles (130 km), and there were few customers (mostly mines) within that limit. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam.
In the following years, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), known as the Reclamation Service at the time, also considered the Lower Colorado as the site for a dam. Service chief Arthur Powell Davis proposed using dynamite to collapse the walls of Boulder Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of the eventual dam site, into the river. The river would carry off the smaller pieces of debris, and a dam would be built incorporating the remaining rubble. In 1922, after considering it for several years, the Reclamation Service finally rejected the proposal, citing doubts about the unproven technique and questions as to whether it would, in fact, save money.
Soon after the dam was authorized, increasing numbers of unemployed people converged on southern Nevada. Las Vegas, then a small city of some 5,000, saw between 10,000 and 20,000 unemployed descend on it. A government camp was established for surveyors and other personnel near the dam site; this soon became surrounded by a squatters' camp. Known as McKeeversville, the camp was home to men hoping for work on the project, together with their families. Another camp, on the flats along the Colorado River, was officially called Williamsville, but was known to its inhabitants as "Ragtown". When construction began, Six Companies hired large numbers of workers, with more than 3,000 on the payroll by 1932 and with employment peaking at 5,251 in July 1934. "Mongolian" (Chinese) labor was prevented by the construction contract, while the number of black people employed by Six Companies never exceeded thirty, mostly lowest-pay-scale laborers in a segregated crew, who were issued separate water buckets.
As part of the contract, Six Companies, Inc. was to build Boulder City to house the workers. The original timetable called for Boulder City to be built before the dam project began, but President Hoover ordered work on the dam to begin in March 1931 rather than in October. The company built bunkhouses, attached to the canyon wall, to house 480 single men at what became known as River Camp. Workers with families were left to provide their own accommodations until Boulder City could be completed, and many lived in Ragtown. The site of Hoover Dam endures extremely hot weather, and the summer of 1931 was especially torrid, with the daytime high averaging 119.9 °F (48.8 °C). Sixteen workers and other riverbank residents died of heat prostration between June 25 and July 26, 1931.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), though much-reduced from their heyday as militant labor organizers in the early years of the century, hoped to unionize the Six Companies workers by capitalizing on their discontent. They sent eleven organizers, several of whom were arrested by Las Vegas police. On August 7, 1931, the company cut wages for all tunnel workers. Although the workers sent the organizers away, not wanting to be associated with the "Wobblies", they formed a committee to represent them with the company. The committee drew up a list of demands that evening and presented them to Crowe the following morning. He was noncommittal. The workers hoped that Crowe, the general superintendent of the job, would be sympathetic; instead, he gave a scathing interview to a newspaper, describing the workers as "malcontents".
On the morning of the 9th, Crowe met with the committee and told them that management refused their demands, was stopping all work, and was laying off the entire work force, except for a few office workers and carpenters. The workers were given until 5 p.m. to vacate the premises. Concerned that a violent confrontation was imminent, most workers took their paychecks and left for Las Vegas to await developments. Two days later, the remainder were talked into leaving by law enforcement. On August 13, the company began hiring workers again, and two days later, the strike was called off. While the workers received none of their demands, the company guaranteed there would be no further reductions in wages. Living conditions began to improve as the first residents moved into Boulder City in late 1931.
A second labor action took place in July 1935, as construction on the dam wound down. When a Six Companies manager altered working times to force workers to take lunch on their own time, workers responded with a strike. Emboldened by Crowe's reversal of the lunch decree, workers raised their demands to include a $1-per-day raise. The company agreed to ask the Federal government to supplement the pay, but no money was forthcoming from Washington. The strike ended.
Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. To accomplish this, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were 56 ft (17 m) in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 ft, or more than 3 miles (5 km). The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. To meet the deadline, Six Companies had to complete work by early 1933, since only in late fall and winter was the water level in the river low enough to safely divert.
Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly afterward, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base, or invert, was poured. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Movable sections of steel forms were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is 3 feet (1 m) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15 m). The river was diverted into the two Arizona tunnels on November 13, 1932; the Nevada tunnels were kept in reserve for high water. This was done by exploding a temporary cofferdam protecting the Arizona tunnels while at the same time dumping rubble into the river until its natural course was blocked.
Following the completion of the dam, the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and halfway through the tunnels with large concrete plugs. The downstream halves of the tunnels following the inner plugs are now the main bodies of the spillway tunnels. The inner diversion tunnels were plugged at approximately one-third of their length, beyond which they now carry steel pipes connecting the intake towers to the power plant and outlet works. The inner tunnels' outlets are equipped with gates that can be closed to drain the tunnels for maintenance.
To protect the construction site from the Colorado River and to facilitate the river's diversion, two cofferdams were constructed. Work on the upper cofferdam began in September 1932, even though the river had not yet been diverted. The cofferdams were designed to protect against the possibility of the river's flooding a site at which two thousand men might be at work, and their specifications were covered in the bid documents in nearly as much detail as the dam itself. The upper cofferdam was 96 ft (29 m) high, and 750 feet (230 m) thick at its base, thicker than the dam itself. It contained 650,000 cubic yards (500,000 m3) of material.
When the cofferdams were in place and the construction site was drained of water, excavation for the dam foundation began. For the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove accumulated erosion soils and other loose materials in the riverbed until sound bedrock was reached. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. During this excavation, approximately 1,500,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m3) of material was removed. Since the dam was an arch-gravity type, the side-walls of the canyon would bear the force of the impounded lake. Therefore, the side-walls were also excavated to reach virgin rock, as weathered rock might provide pathways for water seepage. Shovels for the excavation came from the Marion Power Shovel Company.
The men who removed this rock were called "high scalers". While suspended from the top of the canyon with ropes, the high-scalers climbed down the canyon walls and removed the loose rock with jackhammers and dynamite. Falling objects were the most common cause of death on the dam site; the high scalers' work thus helped ensure worker safety. One high scaler was able to save a life in a more direct manner: when a government inspector lost his grip on a safety line and began tumbling down a slope towards almost certain death, a high scaler was able to intercept him and pull him into the air. The construction site had become a magnet for tourists. The high scalers were prime attractions and showed off for the watchers. The high scalers received considerable media attention, with one worker dubbed the "Human Pendulum" for swinging co-workers (and, at other times, cases of dynamite) across the canyon. To protect themselves against falling objects, some high scalers dipped cloth hats in tar and allowed them to harden. When workers wearing such headgear were struck hard enough to inflict broken jaws, they sustained no skull damage. Six Companies ordered thousands of what initially were called "hard boiled hats" (later "hard hats") and strongly encouraged their use.
The cleared, underlying rock foundation of the dam site was reinforced with grout, forming a grout curtain. Holes were driven into the walls and base of the canyon, as deep as 150 feet (46 m) into the rock, and any cavities encountered were to be filled with grout. This was done to stabilize the rock, to prevent water from seeping past the dam through the canyon rock, and to limit "uplift"—upward pressure from water seeping under the dam. The workers were under severe time constraints due to the beginning of the concrete pour. When they encountered hot springs or cavities too large to readily fill, they moved on without resolving the problem. A total of 58 of the 393 holes were incompletely filled. After the dam was completed and the lake began to fill, large numbers of significant leaks caused the Bureau of Reclamation to examine the situation. It found that the work had been incompletely done, and was based on less than a full understanding of the canyon's geology. New holes were drilled from inspection galleries inside the dam into the surrounding bedrock. It took nine years (1938–47) under relative secrecy to complete the supplemental grout curtain.
The first concrete was poured into the dam on June 6, 1933, 18 months ahead of schedule. Since concrete heats and contracts as it cures, the potential for uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were to be built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would take 125 years to cool, and the resulting stresses would cause the dam to crack and crumble. Instead, the ground where the dam would rise was marked with rectangles, and concrete blocks in columns were poured, some as large as 50 ft square (15 m) and 5 feet (1.5 m) high. Each five-foot form contained a set of 1-inch (25 mm) steel pipes; cool river water would be poured through the pipes, followed by ice-cold water from a refrigeration plant. When an individual block had cured and had stopped contracting, the pipes were filled with grout. Grout was also used to fill the hairline spaces between columns, which were grooved to increase the strength of the joints.
The concrete was delivered in huge steel buckets 7 feet high (2.1 m) and almost 7 feet in diameter; Crowe was awarded two patents for their design. These buckets, which weighed 20 short tons (18.1 t; 17.9 long tons) when full, were filled at two massive concrete plants on the Nevada side, and were delivered to the site in special railcars. The buckets were then suspended from aerial cableways which were used to deliver the bucket to a specific column. As the required grade of aggregate in the concrete differed depending on placement in the dam (from pea-sized gravel to 9 inches [230 mm] stones), it was vital that the bucket be maneuvered to the proper column. When the bottom of the bucket opened up, disgorging 8 cu yd (6.1 m3) of concrete, a team of men worked it throughout the form. Although there are myths that men were caught in the pour and are entombed in the dam to this day, each bucket deepened the concrete in a form by only 1 inch (25 mm), and Six Companies engineers would not have permitted a flaw caused by the presence of a human body.
A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 cubic meters) of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. In addition, 1,110,000 cu yd (850,000 m3) were used in the power plant and other works. More than 582 miles (937 km) of cooling pipes were placed within the concrete. Overall, there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. Concrete cores were removed from the dam for testing in 1995; they showed that "Hoover Dam's concrete has continued to slowly gain strength" and the dam is composed of a "durable concrete having a compressive strength exceeding the range typically found in normal mass concrete". Hoover Dam concrete is not subject to alkali–silica reaction (ASR), as the Hoover Dam builders happened to use nonreactive aggregate, unlike that at downstream Parker Dam, where ASR has caused measurable deterioration.
With most work finished on the dam itself (the powerhouse remained uncompleted), a formal dedication ceremony was arranged for September 30, 1935, to coincide with a western tour being made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The morning of the dedication, it was moved forward three hours from 2 p.m. Pacific time to 11 a.m.; this was done because Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes had reserved a radio slot for the President for 2 p.m. but officials did not realize until the day of the ceremony that the slot was for 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Despite the change in the ceremony time, and temperatures of 102 °F (39 °C), 10,000 people were present for the President's speech, in which he avoided mentioning the name of former President Hoover, who was not invited to the ceremony. To mark the occasion, a three-cent stamp was issued by the United States Post Office Department—bearing the name "Boulder Dam", the official name of the dam between 1933 and 1947. After the ceremony, Roosevelt made the first visit by any American president to Las Vegas.
Most work had been completed by the dedication, and Six Companies negotiated with the government through late 1935 and early 1936 to settle all claims and arrange for the formal transfer of the dam to the Federal Government. The parties came to an agreement and on March 1, 1936, Secretary Ickes formally accepted the dam on behalf of the government. Six Companies was not required to complete work on one item, a concrete plug for one of the bypass tunnels, as the tunnel had to be used to take in irrigation water until the powerhouse went into operation.
There were 112 deaths reported as associated with the construction of the dam. The first was Bureau of Reclamation employee Harold Connelly who died on May 15, 1921, after falling from a barge while surveying the Colorado River for an ideal spot for the dam. Surveyor John Gregory ("J.G.") Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, in a flash flood while looking for an ideal spot for the dam was the second person. The official list's final death occurred on December 20, 1935, when Patrick Tierney, electrician's helper and the son of J.G. Tierney, fell from one of the two Arizona-side intake towers. Included in the fatality list are three workers who took their own lives on site, one in 1932 and two in 1933. Of the 112 fatalities, 91 were Six Companies employees, three were Bureau of Reclamation employees, and one was a visitor to the site; the remainder were employees of various contractors not part of Six Companies.
Ninety-six of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. Not included in the official number of fatalities were deaths that were recorded as pneumonia. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from carbon monoxide poisoning (brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels), and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims. The site's diversion tunnels frequently reached 140 °F (60 °C), enveloped in thick plumes of vehicle exhaust gases. A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia and were not included in the above total; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning. No deaths of non-workers from pneumonia were recorded in Boulder City during the construction period.
The initial plans for the facade of the dam, the power plant, the outlet tunnels and ornaments clashed with the modern look of an arch dam. The Bureau of Reclamation, more concerned with the dam's functionality, adorned it with a Gothic-inspired balustrade and eagle statues. This initial design was criticized by many as being too plain and unremarkable for a project of such immense scale, so Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, then the supervising architect to the Bureau of Reclamation, was brought in to redesign the exteriors. Kaufmann greatly streamlined the design and applied an elegant Art Deco style to the entire project. He designed sculpted turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona—both states are in different time zones, but since Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the clocks display the same time for more than half the year.
At Kaufmann's request, Denver artist Allen Tupper True was hired to handle the design and decoration of the walls and floors of the new dam. True's design scheme incorporated motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region. Although some were initially opposed to these designs, True was given the go-ahead and was officially appointed consulting artist. With the assistance of the National Laboratory of Anthropology, True researched authentic decorative motifs from Indian sand paintings, textiles, baskets and ceramics. The images and colors are based on Native American visions of rain, lightning, water, clouds, and local animals—lizards, serpents, birds—and on the Southwestern landscape of stepped mesas. In these works, which are integrated into the walkways and interior halls of the dam, True also reflected on the machinery of the operation, making the symbolic patterns appear both ancient and modern.
With the agreement of Kaufmann and the engineers, True also devised for the pipes and machinery an innovative color-coding which was implemented throughout all BOR projects. True's consulting artist job lasted through 1942; it was extended so he could complete design work for the Parker, Shasta and Grand Coulee dams and power plants. True's work on the Hoover Dam was humorously referred to in a poem published in The New Yorker, part of which read, "lose the spark, and justify the dream; but also worthy of remark will be the color scheme".
Complementing Kaufmann and True's work, sculptor Oskar J. W. Hansen designed many of the sculptures on and around the dam. His works include the monument of dedication plaza, a plaque to memorialize the workers killed and the bas-reliefs on the elevator towers. In his words, Hansen wanted his work to express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment", because "the building of Hoover Dam belongs to the sagas of the daring." Hansen's dedication plaza, on the Nevada abutment, contains a sculpture of two winged figures flanking a flagpole.
Surrounding the base of the monument is a terrazzo floor embedded with a "star map". The map depicts the Northern Hemisphere sky at the moment of President Roosevelt's dedication of the dam. This is intended to help future astronomers, if necessary, calculate the exact date of dedication. The 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze figures, dubbed "Winged Figures of the Republic", were both formed in a continuous pour. To put such large bronzes into place without marring the highly polished bronze surface, they were placed on ice and guided into position as the ice melted. Hansen's bas-relief on the Nevada elevator tower depicts the benefits of the dam: flood control, navigation, irrigation, water storage, and power. The bas-relief on the Arizona elevator depicts, in his words, "the visages of those Indian tribes who have inhabited mountains and plains from ages distant."
Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. The excavation of this U-shaped structure located at the downstream toe of the dam was completed in late 1933 with the first concrete placed in November 1933. Filling of Lake Mead began February 1, 1935, even before the last of the concrete was poured that May. The powerhouse was one of the projects uncompleted at the time of the formal dedication on September 30, 1935; a crew of 500 men remained to finish it and other structures. To make the powerhouse roof bombproof, it was constructed of layers of concrete, rock, and steel with a total thickness of about 3.5 feet (1.1 m), topped with layers of sand and tar.
In the latter half of 1936, water levels in Lake Mead were high enough to permit power generation, and the first three Allis Chalmers built Francis turbine-generators, all on the Nevada side, began operating. In March 1937, one more Nevada generator went online and the first Arizona generator by August. By September 1939, four more generators were operating, and the dam's power plant became the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world. The final generator was not placed in service until 1961, bringing the maximum generating capacity to 1,345 megawatts at the time. Original plans called for 16 large generators, eight on each side of the river, but two smaller generators were installed instead of one large one on the Arizona side for a total of 17. The smaller generators were used to serve smaller communities at a time when the output of each generator was dedicated to a single municipality, before the dam's total power output was placed on the grid and made arbitrarily distributable.
Before water from Lake Mead reaches the turbines, it enters the intake towers and then four gradually narrowing penstocks which funnel the water down towards the powerhouse. The intakes provide a maximum hydraulic head (water pressure) of 590 ft (180 m) as the water reaches a speed of about 85 mph (140 km/h). The entire flow of the Colorado River usually passes through the turbines. The spillways and outlet works (jet-flow gates) are rarely used. The jet-flow gates, located in concrete structures 180 feet (55 m) above the river and also at the outlets of the inner diversion tunnels at river level, may be used to divert water around the dam in emergency or flood conditions, but have never done so, and in practice are used only to drain water from the penstocks for maintenance. Following an uprating project from 1986 to 1993, the total gross power rating for the plant, including two 2.4 megawatt Pelton turbine-generators that power Hoover Dam's own operations is a maximum capacity of 2080 megawatts. The annual generation of Hoover Dam varies. The maximum net generation was 10.348 TWh in 1984, and the minimum since 1940 was 2.648 TWh in 1956. The average power generated was 4.2 TWh/year for 1947–2008. In 2015, the dam generated 3.6 TWh.
The amount of electricity generated by Hoover Dam has been decreasing along with the falling water level in Lake Mead due to the prolonged drought since year 2000 and high demand for the Colorado River's water. By 2014 its generating capacity was downrated by 23% to 1592 MW and was providing power only during periods of peak demand. Lake Mead fell to a new record low elevation of 1,071.61 feet (326.63 m) on July 1, 2016, before beginning to rebound slowly. Under its original design, the dam would no longer be able to generate power once the water level fell below 1,050 feet (320 m), which might have occurred in 2017 had water restrictions not been enforced. To lower the minimum power pool elevation from 1,050 to 950 feet (320 to 290 m), five wide-head turbines, designed to work efficiently with less flow, were installed.[102] Water levels were maintained at over 1,075 feet (328 m) in 2018 and 2019, but fell to a new record low of 1,071.55 feet (326.61 m) on June 10, 2021[104] and were projected to fall below 1,066 feet (325 m) by the end of 2021.
Control of water was the primary concern in the building of the dam. Power generation has allowed the dam project to be self-sustaining: proceeds from the sale of power repaid the 50-year construction loan, and those revenues also finance the multimillion-dollar yearly maintenance budget. Power is generated in step with and only with the release of water in response to downstream water demands.
Lake Mead and downstream releases from the dam also provide water for both municipal and irrigation uses. Water released from the Hoover Dam eventually reaches several canals. The Colorado River Aqueduct and Central Arizona Project branch off Lake Havasu while the All-American Canal is supplied by the Imperial Dam. In total, water from Lake Mead serves 18 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California and supplies the irrigation of over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) proposed a $3 billion pumped-storage hydroelectricity project—a "battery" of sorts—that would use wind and solar power to recirculate water back up to Lake Mead from a pumping station 20 miles (32 km) downriver.
Electricity from the dam's powerhouse was originally sold pursuant to a fifty-year contract, authorized by Congress in 1934, which ran from 1937 to 1987. In 1984, Congress passed a new statute which set power allocations to southern California, Arizona, and Nevada from the dam from 1987 to 2017. The powerhouse was run under the original authorization by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison; in 1987, the Bureau of Reclamation assumed control. In 2011, Congress enacted legislation extending the current contracts until 2067, after setting aside 5% of Hoover Dam's power for sale to Native American tribes, electric cooperatives, and other entities. The new arrangement began on October 1, 2017.
The dam is protected against over-topping by two spillways. The spillway entrances are located behind each dam abutment, running roughly parallel to the canyon walls. The spillway entrance arrangement forms a classic side-flow weir with each spillway containing four 100-foot-long (30 m) and 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) steel-drum gates. Each gate weighs 5,000,000 pounds (2,300 metric tons) and can be operated manually or automatically. Gates are raised and lowered depending on water levels in the reservoir and flood conditions. The gates cannot entirely prevent water from entering the spillways but can maintain an extra 16 ft (4.9 m) of lake level.
Water flowing over the spillways falls dramatically into 600-foot-long (180 m), 50-foot-wide (15 m) spillway tunnels before connecting to the outer diversion tunnels and reentering the main river channel below the dam. This complex spillway entrance arrangement combined with the approximate 700-foot (210 m) elevation drop from the top of the reservoir to the river below was a difficult engineering problem and posed numerous design challenges. Each spillway's capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m3/s) was empirically verified in post-construction tests in 1941.
The large spillway tunnels have only been used twice, for testing in 1941 and because of flooding in 1983. Both times, when inspecting the tunnels after the spillways were used, engineers found major damage to the concrete linings and underlying rock. The 1941 damage was attributed to a slight misalignment of the tunnel invert (or base), which caused cavitation, a phenomenon in fast-flowing liquids in which vapor bubbles collapse with explosive force. In response to this finding, the tunnels were patched with special heavy-duty concrete and the surface of the concrete was polished mirror-smooth. The spillways were modified in 1947 by adding flip buckets, which both slow the water and decrease the spillway's effective capacity, in an attempt to eliminate conditions thought to have contributed to the 1941 damage. The 1983 damage, also due to cavitation, led to the installation of aerators in the spillways. Tests at Grand Coulee Dam showed that the technique worked, in principle.
There are two lanes for automobile traffic across the top of the dam, which formerly served as the Colorado River crossing for U.S. Route 93. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, authorities expressed security concerns and the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Pending the completion of the bypass, restricted traffic was permitted over Hoover Dam. Some types of vehicles were inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 ft (12 m) long were not allowed on the dam at all, and were diverted to U.S. Route 95 or Nevada State Routes 163/68. The four-lane Hoover Dam Bypass opened on October 19, 2010. It includes a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, 1,500 ft (460 m) downstream from the dam. With the opening of the bypass, through traffic is no longer allowed across Hoover Dam; dam visitors are allowed to use the existing roadway to approach from the Nevada side and cross to parking lots and other facilities on the Arizona side.
Hoover Dam opened for tours in 1937 after its completion but following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was closed to the public when the United States entered World War II, during which only authorized traffic, in convoys, was permitted. After the war, it reopened September 2, 1945, and by 1953, annual attendance had risen to 448,081. The dam closed on November 25, 1963, and March 31, 1969, days of mourning in remembrance of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. In 1995, a new visitors' center was built, and the following year, visits exceeded one million for the first time. The dam closed again to the public on September 11, 2001; modified tours were resumed in December and a new "Discovery Tour" was added the following year. Today, nearly a million people per year take the tours of the dam offered by the Bureau of Reclamation. Increased security concerns by the government have led to most of the interior structure's being inaccessible to tourists. As a result, few of True's decorations can now be seen by visitors. Visitors can only purchase tickets on-site and have the options of a guided tour of the whole facility or only the power plant area. The only self-guided tour option is for the visitor center itself, where visitors can view various exhibits and enjoy a 360-degree view of the dam.
The changes in water flow and use caused by Hoover Dam's construction and operation have had a large impact on the Colorado River Delta. The construction of the dam has been implicated in causing the decline of this estuarine ecosystem. For six years after the construction of the dam, while Lake Mead filled, virtually no water reached the mouth of the river. The delta's estuary, which once had a freshwater-saltwater mixing zone stretching 40 miles (64 km) south of the river's mouth, was turned into an inverse estuary where the level of salinity was higher close to the river's mouth.
The Colorado River had experienced natural flooding before the construction of the Hoover Dam. The dam eliminated the natural flooding, threatening many species adapted to the flooding, including both plants and animals. The construction of the dam devastated the populations of native fish in the river downstream from the dam. Four species of fish native to the Colorado River, the Bonytail chub, Colorado pikeminnow, Humpback chub, and Razorback sucker, are listed as endangered.
During the years of lobbying leading up to the passage of legislation authorizing the dam in 1928, the press generally referred to the dam as "Boulder Dam" or as "Boulder Canyon Dam", even though the proposed site had shifted to Black Canyon. The Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 (BCPA) never mentioned a proposed name or title for the dam. The BCPA merely allows the government to "construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon".
When Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting the building of the railway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17, 1930, he named the dam "Hoover Dam", citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents, though none had been so honored during their terms of office. Wilbur justified his choice on the ground that Hoover was "the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... has done so much to make [the dam] possible". One writer complained in response that "the Great Engineer had quickly drained, ditched, and dammed the country."
After Hoover's election defeat in 1932 and the accession of the Roosevelt administration, Secretary Ickes ordered on May 13, 1933, that the dam be referred to as Boulder Dam. Ickes stated that Wilbur had been imprudent in naming the dam after a sitting president, that Congress had never ratified his choice, and that it had long been referred to as Boulder Dam. Unknown to the general public, Attorney General Homer Cummings informed Ickes that Congress had indeed used the name "Hoover Dam" in five different bills appropriating money for construction of the dam. The official status this conferred to the name "Hoover Dam" had been noted on the floor of the House of Representatives by Congressman Edward T. Taylor of Colorado on December 12, 1930, but was likewise ignored by Ickes.
When Ickes spoke at the dedication ceremony on September 30, 1935, he was determined, as he recorded in his diary, "to try to nail down for good and all the name Boulder Dam." At one point in the speech, he spoke the words "Boulder Dam" five times within thirty seconds. Further, he suggested that if the dam were to be named after any one person, it should be for California Senator Hiram Johnson, a lead sponsor of the authorizing legislation. Roosevelt also referred to the dam as Boulder Dam, and the Republican-leaning Los Angeles Times, which at the time of Ickes' name change had run an editorial cartoon showing Ickes ineffectively chipping away at an enormous sign "HOOVER DAM", reran it showing Roosevelt reinforcing Ickes, but having no greater success.
In the following years, the name "Boulder Dam" failed to fully take hold, with many Americans using both names interchangeably and mapmakers divided as to which name should be printed. Memories of the Great Depression faded, and Hoover to some extent rehabilitated himself through good works during and after World War II. In 1947, a bill passed both Houses of Congress unanimously restoring the name "Hoover Dam." Ickes, who was by then a private citizen, opposed the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with."
Hoover Dam was recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, cited for its engineering innovations.
On a beautiful morning 66164 is seen approaching Inveresk with 4S99. This Intermodal is from Tees Dock and is bound for Mossend. For the last few weeks this Intermodal has been full or nearly full, so hopefully will remain running with DB wanting to lay off a number of staff.
Another shot taken from the fields roundabout my local bridge before the fields are ploughed .
1/11/16 at 0829
The JAS 39 is IMO one of the coolest looking fighters around. Sadly, the same cannot really be said of this model. The small scale generated some unavoidable compromises that don't really do SAAB's engineers justice. It looks decent from above; other angles, not so much.
I actually had this finished before moving, but didn't take photos. After this and my even poorer F-104 I think I'm going to lay off the fighters and concentrate more on heavies.
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
I'm getting used to my fortnightly lobotomy, and I'm even beginning to enjoy it - especially this pioneering new brain access route. And they say I'll have no scars worth mentioning. Can't be bad.
Woot!
Yup.
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Incidentally, I've had a few people ask me if I'm ok, and yes, I'm quite ok. It's just very hard to come up with ideas every day. So er... sometimes you end up trying to make a pretty dull shot more interesting. I'm about to take a holiday so I'll be laying off the portraits for a few days too and may be posting sporadically if at all. Nothing to worry about! :-)
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Anyway...er maybe you'd love to:
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Strobist:
Two Bowens Gemini Pro 500's with big softboxes camera left and right, at 45 degrees, both set on 3.0. Triggered by PC cord cable.
Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, Nr Widnes, taken from Wigg Island, Nr Runcorn at Dawn.
Sometimes the square crop does not work!, I quite like the 5X4 crop in portrait though, and I think this image needed this. I can get quite pre-occupied with the filter images, that I tend to overlook the the shots I took without the 6/10 stop filters, this is one of those, and I think really works in this respect, as gives an indication of the sheer power.
Apologies for uploading older images, due to my enforced lay off, I will be up and about in a couple of weeks (though might only be a trip to Crosby/Southport!), I have been put through hell in the gym/physio today, thank the good lord for the i-pod to help ease the pain (it's doing me good really though :)
Thanks again for all your recent comments and kind words and wishes, lovely peeps, all of you :))
Nikon D5100 18-55mm lens @ 55mm
100 ISO/F18
1/25th second exposure
Post Production in Lightroom 3.5/Minor levels and Curves adjustment in Adobe PS.
Web link:
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. It was referred to as Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover in bills passed by Congress during its construction, but was named Boulder Dam by the Roosevelt administration. The Hoover Dam name was restored by Congress in 1947.
Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium named Six Companies, Inc., which began construction of the dam in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned the dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume when full. The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.
As the United States developed the Southwest, the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Though water from the Imperial Canal allowed for the widespread settlement of the valley, the canal proved expensive to operate. After a catastrophic breach that caused the Colorado River to fill the Salton Sea, the Southern Pacific Railroad spent $3 million in 1906–07 to stabilize the waterway, an amount it hoped in vain would be reimbursed by the federal government. Even after the waterway was stabilized, it proved unsatisfactory because of constant disputes with landowners on the Mexican side of the border.
As the technology of electric power transmission improved, the Lower Colorado was considered for its hydroelectric-power potential. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). However, at the time, the limit of transmission of electric power was 80 miles (130 km), and there were few customers (mostly mines) within that limit. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam.
In the following years, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), known as the Reclamation Service at the time, also considered the Lower Colorado as the site for a dam. Service chief Arthur Powell Davis proposed using dynamite to collapse the walls of Boulder Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of the eventual dam site, into the river. The river would carry off the smaller pieces of debris, and a dam would be built incorporating the remaining rubble. In 1922, after considering it for several years, the Reclamation Service finally rejected the proposal, citing doubts about the unproven technique and questions as to whether it would, in fact, save money.
Soon after the dam was authorized, increasing numbers of unemployed people converged on southern Nevada. Las Vegas, then a small city of some 5,000, saw between 10,000 and 20,000 unemployed descend on it. A government camp was established for surveyors and other personnel near the dam site; this soon became surrounded by a squatters' camp. Known as McKeeversville, the camp was home to men hoping for work on the project, together with their families. Another camp, on the flats along the Colorado River, was officially called Williamsville, but was known to its inhabitants as "Ragtown". When construction began, Six Companies hired large numbers of workers, with more than 3,000 on the payroll by 1932 and with employment peaking at 5,251 in July 1934. "Mongolian" (Chinese) labor was prevented by the construction contract, while the number of black people employed by Six Companies never exceeded thirty, mostly lowest-pay-scale laborers in a segregated crew, who were issued separate water buckets.
As part of the contract, Six Companies, Inc. was to build Boulder City to house the workers. The original timetable called for Boulder City to be built before the dam project began, but President Hoover ordered work on the dam to begin in March 1931 rather than in October. The company built bunkhouses, attached to the canyon wall, to house 480 single men at what became known as River Camp. Workers with families were left to provide their own accommodations until Boulder City could be completed, and many lived in Ragtown. The site of Hoover Dam endures extremely hot weather, and the summer of 1931 was especially torrid, with the daytime high averaging 119.9 °F (48.8 °C). Sixteen workers and other riverbank residents died of heat prostration between June 25 and July 26, 1931.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), though much-reduced from their heyday as militant labor organizers in the early years of the century, hoped to unionize the Six Companies workers by capitalizing on their discontent. They sent eleven organizers, several of whom were arrested by Las Vegas police. On August 7, 1931, the company cut wages for all tunnel workers. Although the workers sent the organizers away, not wanting to be associated with the "Wobblies", they formed a committee to represent them with the company. The committee drew up a list of demands that evening and presented them to Crowe the following morning. He was noncommittal. The workers hoped that Crowe, the general superintendent of the job, would be sympathetic; instead, he gave a scathing interview to a newspaper, describing the workers as "malcontents".
On the morning of the 9th, Crowe met with the committee and told them that management refused their demands, was stopping all work, and was laying off the entire work force, except for a few office workers and carpenters. The workers were given until 5 p.m. to vacate the premises. Concerned that a violent confrontation was imminent, most workers took their paychecks and left for Las Vegas to await developments. Two days later, the remainder were talked into leaving by law enforcement. On August 13, the company began hiring workers again, and two days later, the strike was called off. While the workers received none of their demands, the company guaranteed there would be no further reductions in wages. Living conditions began to improve as the first residents moved into Boulder City in late 1931.
A second labor action took place in July 1935, as construction on the dam wound down. When a Six Companies manager altered working times to force workers to take lunch on their own time, workers responded with a strike. Emboldened by Crowe's reversal of the lunch decree, workers raised their demands to include a $1-per-day raise. The company agreed to ask the Federal government to supplement the pay, but no money was forthcoming from Washington. The strike ended.
Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. To accomplish this, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were 56 ft (17 m) in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 ft, or more than 3 miles (5 km). The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. To meet the deadline, Six Companies had to complete work by early 1933, since only in late fall and winter was the water level in the river low enough to safely divert.
Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly afterward, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base, or invert, was poured. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Movable sections of steel forms were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is 3 feet (1 m) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15 m). The river was diverted into the two Arizona tunnels on November 13, 1932; the Nevada tunnels were kept in reserve for high water. This was done by exploding a temporary cofferdam protecting the Arizona tunnels while at the same time dumping rubble into the river until its natural course was blocked.
Following the completion of the dam, the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and halfway through the tunnels with large concrete plugs. The downstream halves of the tunnels following the inner plugs are now the main bodies of the spillway tunnels. The inner diversion tunnels were plugged at approximately one-third of their length, beyond which they now carry steel pipes connecting the intake towers to the power plant and outlet works. The inner tunnels' outlets are equipped with gates that can be closed to drain the tunnels for maintenance.
To protect the construction site from the Colorado River and to facilitate the river's diversion, two cofferdams were constructed. Work on the upper cofferdam began in September 1932, even though the river had not yet been diverted. The cofferdams were designed to protect against the possibility of the river's flooding a site at which two thousand men might be at work, and their specifications were covered in the bid documents in nearly as much detail as the dam itself. The upper cofferdam was 96 ft (29 m) high, and 750 feet (230 m) thick at its base, thicker than the dam itself. It contained 650,000 cubic yards (500,000 m3) of material.
When the cofferdams were in place and the construction site was drained of water, excavation for the dam foundation began. For the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove accumulated erosion soils and other loose materials in the riverbed until sound bedrock was reached. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. During this excavation, approximately 1,500,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m3) of material was removed. Since the dam was an arch-gravity type, the side-walls of the canyon would bear the force of the impounded lake. Therefore, the side-walls were also excavated to reach virgin rock, as weathered rock might provide pathways for water seepage. Shovels for the excavation came from the Marion Power Shovel Company.
The men who removed this rock were called "high scalers". While suspended from the top of the canyon with ropes, the high-scalers climbed down the canyon walls and removed the loose rock with jackhammers and dynamite. Falling objects were the most common cause of death on the dam site; the high scalers' work thus helped ensure worker safety. One high scaler was able to save a life in a more direct manner: when a government inspector lost his grip on a safety line and began tumbling down a slope towards almost certain death, a high scaler was able to intercept him and pull him into the air. The construction site had become a magnet for tourists. The high scalers were prime attractions and showed off for the watchers. The high scalers received considerable media attention, with one worker dubbed the "Human Pendulum" for swinging co-workers (and, at other times, cases of dynamite) across the canyon. To protect themselves against falling objects, some high scalers dipped cloth hats in tar and allowed them to harden. When workers wearing such headgear were struck hard enough to inflict broken jaws, they sustained no skull damage. Six Companies ordered thousands of what initially were called "hard boiled hats" (later "hard hats") and strongly encouraged their use.
The cleared, underlying rock foundation of the dam site was reinforced with grout, forming a grout curtain. Holes were driven into the walls and base of the canyon, as deep as 150 feet (46 m) into the rock, and any cavities encountered were to be filled with grout. This was done to stabilize the rock, to prevent water from seeping past the dam through the canyon rock, and to limit "uplift"—upward pressure from water seeping under the dam. The workers were under severe time constraints due to the beginning of the concrete pour. When they encountered hot springs or cavities too large to readily fill, they moved on without resolving the problem. A total of 58 of the 393 holes were incompletely filled. After the dam was completed and the lake began to fill, large numbers of significant leaks caused the Bureau of Reclamation to examine the situation. It found that the work had been incompletely done, and was based on less than a full understanding of the canyon's geology. New holes were drilled from inspection galleries inside the dam into the surrounding bedrock. It took nine years (1938–47) under relative secrecy to complete the supplemental grout curtain.
The first concrete was poured into the dam on June 6, 1933, 18 months ahead of schedule. Since concrete heats and contracts as it cures, the potential for uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were to be built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would take 125 years to cool, and the resulting stresses would cause the dam to crack and crumble. Instead, the ground where the dam would rise was marked with rectangles, and concrete blocks in columns were poured, some as large as 50 ft square (15 m) and 5 feet (1.5 m) high. Each five-foot form contained a set of 1-inch (25 mm) steel pipes; cool river water would be poured through the pipes, followed by ice-cold water from a refrigeration plant. When an individual block had cured and had stopped contracting, the pipes were filled with grout. Grout was also used to fill the hairline spaces between columns, which were grooved to increase the strength of the joints.
The concrete was delivered in huge steel buckets 7 feet high (2.1 m) and almost 7 feet in diameter; Crowe was awarded two patents for their design. These buckets, which weighed 20 short tons (18.1 t; 17.9 long tons) when full, were filled at two massive concrete plants on the Nevada side, and were delivered to the site in special railcars. The buckets were then suspended from aerial cableways which were used to deliver the bucket to a specific column. As the required grade of aggregate in the concrete differed depending on placement in the dam (from pea-sized gravel to 9 inches [230 mm] stones), it was vital that the bucket be maneuvered to the proper column. When the bottom of the bucket opened up, disgorging 8 cu yd (6.1 m3) of concrete, a team of men worked it throughout the form. Although there are myths that men were caught in the pour and are entombed in the dam to this day, each bucket deepened the concrete in a form by only 1 inch (25 mm), and Six Companies engineers would not have permitted a flaw caused by the presence of a human body.
A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 cubic meters) of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. In addition, 1,110,000 cu yd (850,000 m3) were used in the power plant and other works. More than 582 miles (937 km) of cooling pipes were placed within the concrete. Overall, there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. Concrete cores were removed from the dam for testing in 1995; they showed that "Hoover Dam's concrete has continued to slowly gain strength" and the dam is composed of a "durable concrete having a compressive strength exceeding the range typically found in normal mass concrete". Hoover Dam concrete is not subject to alkali–silica reaction (ASR), as the Hoover Dam builders happened to use nonreactive aggregate, unlike that at downstream Parker Dam, where ASR has caused measurable deterioration.
With most work finished on the dam itself (the powerhouse remained uncompleted), a formal dedication ceremony was arranged for September 30, 1935, to coincide with a western tour being made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The morning of the dedication, it was moved forward three hours from 2 p.m. Pacific time to 11 a.m.; this was done because Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes had reserved a radio slot for the President for 2 p.m. but officials did not realize until the day of the ceremony that the slot was for 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Despite the change in the ceremony time, and temperatures of 102 °F (39 °C), 10,000 people were present for the President's speech, in which he avoided mentioning the name of former President Hoover, who was not invited to the ceremony. To mark the occasion, a three-cent stamp was issued by the United States Post Office Department—bearing the name "Boulder Dam", the official name of the dam between 1933 and 1947. After the ceremony, Roosevelt made the first visit by any American president to Las Vegas.
Most work had been completed by the dedication, and Six Companies negotiated with the government through late 1935 and early 1936 to settle all claims and arrange for the formal transfer of the dam to the Federal Government. The parties came to an agreement and on March 1, 1936, Secretary Ickes formally accepted the dam on behalf of the government. Six Companies was not required to complete work on one item, a concrete plug for one of the bypass tunnels, as the tunnel had to be used to take in irrigation water until the powerhouse went into operation.
There were 112 deaths reported as associated with the construction of the dam. The first was Bureau of Reclamation employee Harold Connelly who died on May 15, 1921, after falling from a barge while surveying the Colorado River for an ideal spot for the dam. Surveyor John Gregory ("J.G.") Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, in a flash flood while looking for an ideal spot for the dam was the second person. The official list's final death occurred on December 20, 1935, when Patrick Tierney, electrician's helper and the son of J.G. Tierney, fell from one of the two Arizona-side intake towers. Included in the fatality list are three workers who took their own lives on site, one in 1932 and two in 1933. Of the 112 fatalities, 91 were Six Companies employees, three were Bureau of Reclamation employees, and one was a visitor to the site; the remainder were employees of various contractors not part of Six Companies.
Ninety-six of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. Not included in the official number of fatalities were deaths that were recorded as pneumonia. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from carbon monoxide poisoning (brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels), and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims. The site's diversion tunnels frequently reached 140 °F (60 °C), enveloped in thick plumes of vehicle exhaust gases. A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia and were not included in the above total; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning. No deaths of non-workers from pneumonia were recorded in Boulder City during the construction period.
The initial plans for the facade of the dam, the power plant, the outlet tunnels and ornaments clashed with the modern look of an arch dam. The Bureau of Reclamation, more concerned with the dam's functionality, adorned it with a Gothic-inspired balustrade and eagle statues. This initial design was criticized by many as being too plain and unremarkable for a project of such immense scale, so Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, then the supervising architect to the Bureau of Reclamation, was brought in to redesign the exteriors. Kaufmann greatly streamlined the design and applied an elegant Art Deco style to the entire project. He designed sculpted turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona—both states are in different time zones, but since Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the clocks display the same time for more than half the year.
At Kaufmann's request, Denver artist Allen Tupper True was hired to handle the design and decoration of the walls and floors of the new dam. True's design scheme incorporated motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region. Although some were initially opposed to these designs, True was given the go-ahead and was officially appointed consulting artist. With the assistance of the National Laboratory of Anthropology, True researched authentic decorative motifs from Indian sand paintings, textiles, baskets and ceramics. The images and colors are based on Native American visions of rain, lightning, water, clouds, and local animals—lizards, serpents, birds—and on the Southwestern landscape of stepped mesas. In these works, which are integrated into the walkways and interior halls of the dam, True also reflected on the machinery of the operation, making the symbolic patterns appear both ancient and modern.
With the agreement of Kaufmann and the engineers, True also devised for the pipes and machinery an innovative color-coding which was implemented throughout all BOR projects. True's consulting artist job lasted through 1942; it was extended so he could complete design work for the Parker, Shasta and Grand Coulee dams and power plants. True's work on the Hoover Dam was humorously referred to in a poem published in The New Yorker, part of which read, "lose the spark, and justify the dream; but also worthy of remark will be the color scheme".
Complementing Kaufmann and True's work, sculptor Oskar J. W. Hansen designed many of the sculptures on and around the dam. His works include the monument of dedication plaza, a plaque to memorialize the workers killed and the bas-reliefs on the elevator towers. In his words, Hansen wanted his work to express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment", because "the building of Hoover Dam belongs to the sagas of the daring." Hansen's dedication plaza, on the Nevada abutment, contains a sculpture of two winged figures flanking a flagpole.
Surrounding the base of the monument is a terrazzo floor embedded with a "star map". The map depicts the Northern Hemisphere sky at the moment of President Roosevelt's dedication of the dam. This is intended to help future astronomers, if necessary, calculate the exact date of dedication. The 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze figures, dubbed "Winged Figures of the Republic", were both formed in a continuous pour. To put such large bronzes into place without marring the highly polished bronze surface, they were placed on ice and guided into position as the ice melted. Hansen's bas-relief on the Nevada elevator tower depicts the benefits of the dam: flood control, navigation, irrigation, water storage, and power. The bas-relief on the Arizona elevator depicts, in his words, "the visages of those Indian tribes who have inhabited mountains and plains from ages distant."
Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. The excavation of this U-shaped structure located at the downstream toe of the dam was completed in late 1933 with the first concrete placed in November 1933. Filling of Lake Mead began February 1, 1935, even before the last of the concrete was poured that May. The powerhouse was one of the projects uncompleted at the time of the formal dedication on September 30, 1935; a crew of 500 men remained to finish it and other structures. To make the powerhouse roof bombproof, it was constructed of layers of concrete, rock, and steel with a total thickness of about 3.5 feet (1.1 m), topped with layers of sand and tar.
In the latter half of 1936, water levels in Lake Mead were high enough to permit power generation, and the first three Allis Chalmers built Francis turbine-generators, all on the Nevada side, began operating. In March 1937, one more Nevada generator went online and the first Arizona generator by August. By September 1939, four more generators were operating, and the dam's power plant became the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world. The final generator was not placed in service until 1961, bringing the maximum generating capacity to 1,345 megawatts at the time. Original plans called for 16 large generators, eight on each side of the river, but two smaller generators were installed instead of one large one on the Arizona side for a total of 17. The smaller generators were used to serve smaller communities at a time when the output of each generator was dedicated to a single municipality, before the dam's total power output was placed on the grid and made arbitrarily distributable.
Before water from Lake Mead reaches the turbines, it enters the intake towers and then four gradually narrowing penstocks which funnel the water down towards the powerhouse. The intakes provide a maximum hydraulic head (water pressure) of 590 ft (180 m) as the water reaches a speed of about 85 mph (140 km/h). The entire flow of the Colorado River usually passes through the turbines. The spillways and outlet works (jet-flow gates) are rarely used. The jet-flow gates, located in concrete structures 180 feet (55 m) above the river and also at the outlets of the inner diversion tunnels at river level, may be used to divert water around the dam in emergency or flood conditions, but have never done so, and in practice are used only to drain water from the penstocks for maintenance. Following an uprating project from 1986 to 1993, the total gross power rating for the plant, including two 2.4 megawatt Pelton turbine-generators that power Hoover Dam's own operations is a maximum capacity of 2080 megawatts. The annual generation of Hoover Dam varies. The maximum net generation was 10.348 TWh in 1984, and the minimum since 1940 was 2.648 TWh in 1956. The average power generated was 4.2 TWh/year for 1947–2008. In 2015, the dam generated 3.6 TWh.
The amount of electricity generated by Hoover Dam has been decreasing along with the falling water level in Lake Mead due to the prolonged drought since year 2000 and high demand for the Colorado River's water. By 2014 its generating capacity was downrated by 23% to 1592 MW and was providing power only during periods of peak demand. Lake Mead fell to a new record low elevation of 1,071.61 feet (326.63 m) on July 1, 2016, before beginning to rebound slowly. Under its original design, the dam would no longer be able to generate power once the water level fell below 1,050 feet (320 m), which might have occurred in 2017 had water restrictions not been enforced. To lower the minimum power pool elevation from 1,050 to 950 feet (320 to 290 m), five wide-head turbines, designed to work efficiently with less flow, were installed.[102] Water levels were maintained at over 1,075 feet (328 m) in 2018 and 2019, but fell to a new record low of 1,071.55 feet (326.61 m) on June 10, 2021[104] and were projected to fall below 1,066 feet (325 m) by the end of 2021.
Control of water was the primary concern in the building of the dam. Power generation has allowed the dam project to be self-sustaining: proceeds from the sale of power repaid the 50-year construction loan, and those revenues also finance the multimillion-dollar yearly maintenance budget. Power is generated in step with and only with the release of water in response to downstream water demands.
Lake Mead and downstream releases from the dam also provide water for both municipal and irrigation uses. Water released from the Hoover Dam eventually reaches several canals. The Colorado River Aqueduct and Central Arizona Project branch off Lake Havasu while the All-American Canal is supplied by the Imperial Dam. In total, water from Lake Mead serves 18 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California and supplies the irrigation of over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) proposed a $3 billion pumped-storage hydroelectricity project—a "battery" of sorts—that would use wind and solar power to recirculate water back up to Lake Mead from a pumping station 20 miles (32 km) downriver.
Electricity from the dam's powerhouse was originally sold pursuant to a fifty-year contract, authorized by Congress in 1934, which ran from 1937 to 1987. In 1984, Congress passed a new statute which set power allocations to southern California, Arizona, and Nevada from the dam from 1987 to 2017. The powerhouse was run under the original authorization by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison; in 1987, the Bureau of Reclamation assumed control. In 2011, Congress enacted legislation extending the current contracts until 2067, after setting aside 5% of Hoover Dam's power for sale to Native American tribes, electric cooperatives, and other entities. The new arrangement began on October 1, 2017.
The dam is protected against over-topping by two spillways. The spillway entrances are located behind each dam abutment, running roughly parallel to the canyon walls. The spillway entrance arrangement forms a classic side-flow weir with each spillway containing four 100-foot-long (30 m) and 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) steel-drum gates. Each gate weighs 5,000,000 pounds (2,300 metric tons) and can be operated manually or automatically. Gates are raised and lowered depending on water levels in the reservoir and flood conditions. The gates cannot entirely prevent water from entering the spillways but can maintain an extra 16 ft (4.9 m) of lake level.
Water flowing over the spillways falls dramatically into 600-foot-long (180 m), 50-foot-wide (15 m) spillway tunnels before connecting to the outer diversion tunnels and reentering the main river channel below the dam. This complex spillway entrance arrangement combined with the approximate 700-foot (210 m) elevation drop from the top of the reservoir to the river below was a difficult engineering problem and posed numerous design challenges. Each spillway's capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m3/s) was empirically verified in post-construction tests in 1941.
The large spillway tunnels have only been used twice, for testing in 1941 and because of flooding in 1983. Both times, when inspecting the tunnels after the spillways were used, engineers found major damage to the concrete linings and underlying rock. The 1941 damage was attributed to a slight misalignment of the tunnel invert (or base), which caused cavitation, a phenomenon in fast-flowing liquids in which vapor bubbles collapse with explosive force. In response to this finding, the tunnels were patched with special heavy-duty concrete and the surface of the concrete was polished mirror-smooth. The spillways were modified in 1947 by adding flip buckets, which both slow the water and decrease the spillway's effective capacity, in an attempt to eliminate conditions thought to have contributed to the 1941 damage. The 1983 damage, also due to cavitation, led to the installation of aerators in the spillways. Tests at Grand Coulee Dam showed that the technique worked, in principle.
There are two lanes for automobile traffic across the top of the dam, which formerly served as the Colorado River crossing for U.S. Route 93. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, authorities expressed security concerns and the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Pending the completion of the bypass, restricted traffic was permitted over Hoover Dam. Some types of vehicles were inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 ft (12 m) long were not allowed on the dam at all, and were diverted to U.S. Route 95 or Nevada State Routes 163/68. The four-lane Hoover Dam Bypass opened on October 19, 2010. It includes a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, 1,500 ft (460 m) downstream from the dam. With the opening of the bypass, through traffic is no longer allowed across Hoover Dam; dam visitors are allowed to use the existing roadway to approach from the Nevada side and cross to parking lots and other facilities on the Arizona side.
Hoover Dam opened for tours in 1937 after its completion but following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was closed to the public when the United States entered World War II, during which only authorized traffic, in convoys, was permitted. After the war, it reopened September 2, 1945, and by 1953, annual attendance had risen to 448,081. The dam closed on November 25, 1963, and March 31, 1969, days of mourning in remembrance of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. In 1995, a new visitors' center was built, and the following year, visits exceeded one million for the first time. The dam closed again to the public on September 11, 2001; modified tours were resumed in December and a new "Discovery Tour" was added the following year. Today, nearly a million people per year take the tours of the dam offered by the Bureau of Reclamation. Increased security concerns by the government have led to most of the interior structure's being inaccessible to tourists. As a result, few of True's decorations can now be seen by visitors. Visitors can only purchase tickets on-site and have the options of a guided tour of the whole facility or only the power plant area. The only self-guided tour option is for the visitor center itself, where visitors can view various exhibits and enjoy a 360-degree view of the dam.
The changes in water flow and use caused by Hoover Dam's construction and operation have had a large impact on the Colorado River Delta. The construction of the dam has been implicated in causing the decline of this estuarine ecosystem. For six years after the construction of the dam, while Lake Mead filled, virtually no water reached the mouth of the river. The delta's estuary, which once had a freshwater-saltwater mixing zone stretching 40 miles (64 km) south of the river's mouth, was turned into an inverse estuary where the level of salinity was higher close to the river's mouth.
The Colorado River had experienced natural flooding before the construction of the Hoover Dam. The dam eliminated the natural flooding, threatening many species adapted to the flooding, including both plants and animals. The construction of the dam devastated the populations of native fish in the river downstream from the dam. Four species of fish native to the Colorado River, the Bonytail chub, Colorado pikeminnow, Humpback chub, and Razorback sucker, are listed as endangered.
During the years of lobbying leading up to the passage of legislation authorizing the dam in 1928, the press generally referred to the dam as "Boulder Dam" or as "Boulder Canyon Dam", even though the proposed site had shifted to Black Canyon. The Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 (BCPA) never mentioned a proposed name or title for the dam. The BCPA merely allows the government to "construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon".
When Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting the building of the railway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17, 1930, he named the dam "Hoover Dam", citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents, though none had been so honored during their terms of office. Wilbur justified his choice on the ground that Hoover was "the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... has done so much to make [the dam] possible". One writer complained in response that "the Great Engineer had quickly drained, ditched, and dammed the country."
After Hoover's election defeat in 1932 and the accession of the Roosevelt administration, Secretary Ickes ordered on May 13, 1933, that the dam be referred to as Boulder Dam. Ickes stated that Wilbur had been imprudent in naming the dam after a sitting president, that Congress had never ratified his choice, and that it had long been referred to as Boulder Dam. Unknown to the general public, Attorney General Homer Cummings informed Ickes that Congress had indeed used the name "Hoover Dam" in five different bills appropriating money for construction of the dam. The official status this conferred to the name "Hoover Dam" had been noted on the floor of the House of Representatives by Congressman Edward T. Taylor of Colorado on December 12, 1930, but was likewise ignored by Ickes.
When Ickes spoke at the dedication ceremony on September 30, 1935, he was determined, as he recorded in his diary, "to try to nail down for good and all the name Boulder Dam." At one point in the speech, he spoke the words "Boulder Dam" five times within thirty seconds. Further, he suggested that if the dam were to be named after any one person, it should be for California Senator Hiram Johnson, a lead sponsor of the authorizing legislation. Roosevelt also referred to the dam as Boulder Dam, and the Republican-leaning Los Angeles Times, which at the time of Ickes' name change had run an editorial cartoon showing Ickes ineffectively chipping away at an enormous sign "HOOVER DAM", reran it showing Roosevelt reinforcing Ickes, but having no greater success.
In the following years, the name "Boulder Dam" failed to fully take hold, with many Americans using both names interchangeably and mapmakers divided as to which name should be printed. Memories of the Great Depression faded, and Hoover to some extent rehabilitated himself through good works during and after World War II. In 1947, a bill passed both Houses of Congress unanimously restoring the name "Hoover Dam." Ickes, who was by then a private citizen, opposed the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with."
Hoover Dam was recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, cited for its engineering innovations.
After a lay off of 3 years, the Duchy is again receiving cement traffic. Moorswater is visited by Colas traction and PCA tanks. The inaugural train worked down by class 70 70808 on 30th Nov as 6C35 from Aberthaw, and returned next day as 6C36 10.06 from Moorswater.
Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho - July 2012
Ektar 100 4x5, 90mm Caltar lens
15 seconds at f22, polarizing filter
I know it's another waterfall shot but I think I'll lay off of them for a while after this one. It was raining pretty decently as I took this image, it's a bit difficult to use a 4x5 in the rain but it's still workable.
La nébuleuse Oméga / Omega nebula (Messier 17)
[Version française en haut / English version below]
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Note sur la V2 : Un grand merci à Damien Guillard, un ptit gars qu'est pas mauvais en astro, à m'avoir aidé à tirer le meilleur du signal de cette photo.
La différence est un traitement BlurXTerminator sur ma photo, fait par Damien. J'ai utilisé sa sortie affinée comme calque parmi les calques existants pour faire ressortir les nébuleuses.
Note about the V2 : A special thank to Damien Guillard,a young fella who's pretty good at astrophotography, for helping me get the most out of the signal in this photo.
The difference is a BlurXTerminator treatment on my photo, done by Damien. I used his refined output as a layer among the existing layers to bring out the nebulae.
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[Version Française]
J'ai imagé cette nébuleuse les mêmes nuits que celles que j'ai passé pour la galaxie du triangle (M33, voir photo : flic.kr/p/2p21GPo ). Je faisais M17 en première partie de soirée jusqu'à environ 1h du matin, moment où elle disparaissait dans les arbres à l'horizon, puis je passais sur M33 qui était alors assez haute dans le ciel.
En réalité, je voulais imager M16 (la nébuleuse de l'aigle) à la demande de ma fille. J'ai eu un problème la première soirée : mon télescope avait un sérieux problème de parallélisme. La conséquence a été un mauvais pointage et une recherche de la nébuleuse par tatonnements. Je n'avais pas mes jumelles et ne pouvais voir où pointait mon laser. Je suis alors tombé sur M17 que j'ai imagé pensant que c'était M16.
Bref, j'ai donc fait 4 sessions sur M17 : 3 sessions avec un filtre bibande Ha-OIII et une session sans (donc RVB). Je vous raconte tout ça tout à l'heure ; pour l'instant je passe à la description de l'image.
M17 a été découverte en 1745 par le suisse Jean-Philippe. Loys de Cheseaux. Elle a été redécouverte par Charles Messier en 1764. La découverte de Philou était en effet passé inapercue. C'est une nébuleuse qu'on voit très bien avec des jumelles donc elle a pu être assez facilement observée à cette époque.
Pourquoi "Omega" ? parce que John Herschel, ne me demandez pas comment, a dessiné la première fois cette nébuleuse comme une lettre omega (majuscule). Plus tard il y a vu un fer à cheval. M17 porte donc aussi le nom de nébuleuse du fer à cheval. D'autres y voient un cygne, d'autres encore un homard ... Sacré astronomes ! faut arrêter la fumette les gars !
M17 se trouve à une distance comprise entre 5100 et 5900 années lumières. Quand sa lumière est partie de cette lointaine région, l'Homme inventait le tour de potier qui vous permet de boire votre café en lisant ce texte.
La nébuleuse fait environ 30 à 34 années lumières de diamètre.
Ses couleurs : elle est bien rouge sur tout le pourtour ; c'est à cause du gaz, de l'hydrogène, qui éclairé par les étoiles environnantes révèle sa présence. Au milieu, elle est barrée d'une région plus lumineuse de couleur plus bleue/jaune. Ceci est du à l'intense irradiation des gaz environnants par les étoiles du jeune amas (NGC6618) qui se trouve en son centre.
Au dessus à gauche de M17, ont voit une autre région rouge marquée plus fortement en 2 zones. C'est IC4707 en bas et IC4706 en haut. Il s'agit de deux nébuleuses en émission.
L'étoile très brillante à gauche de la nébuleuse, sous IC4707, c'est HIP 89851. Si vous poursuivez vers le coin supérieur gauche de l'image, vous trouverez une autre étoile brillante, HIP 89641. Entre les deux, plutot vers HIP 89641, vous verrez 3 étoiles plutôt brillantes avec un léger éclaircissement. c'est une nébuleuse en emission située à 6520 années lumières de nous : SH 2-47
L'astrométrie se trouve ici : nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/9217421
* Matériel :
Télescope Newton Skywatcher 150/750
Correcteur de coma
Monture Skywatcher AZ-EQ5
Capteur Canon 1200 D modifié (défiltré partiellement)
Filtre Optolong L-Enhance (sur 3 sessions).
Autoguidage Asi 120mm + Kepler 50/162 + Raspberry Pi3 + PhD Guiding
* Réglages :
800 iso ; poses de 90 s espacées de 5 sec.
DOFs systématiquement refaits (Darks et Flats ; Offsets conservés) et constitués de Darks>35, Offsets=30, Flats>45
* sessions et temps d'exposition :
22/08/23 : 76 brutes 90s (1h54) + DOFs - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
06/09/23 : 69 brutes 90s (1h43) + DOFs - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
08/09/23 : 34 brutes 90s (51min) + DOFs - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
09/09/23 : 78 brutes 90s (2h57) + DOFs - pas de filtre (spectre visible -> RVB)
Soit un cumul total de 6h25 (dont 4h28 en Ha+HB+OIII).
* Qualité du ciel : Excellente : la galaxie du triangle (M33, mag 6.27) était bien visible à l'œil nu 3 nuits sur 4. De même pour M4.
* Lune : entre 50% et 20% , seulement présente en fin de nuit.
* Traitement :
J'ai traité chaque session individuellement produisant une image Ha et une image OIII pour chaque session avec filtre, et une image RVB pour la dernière session.
Toute la phase du prétraitement jusqu'à post-traitement des sessions Ha, OIII et RVB séparées a été faite sous Siril. Le traitement complet est le suivant : 1) prétraitement des brutes par les DOFs, 2) retrait de la trame horizontale pour chaque image, 3) extraction du gradient linéaire pour chaque image avec ajout de diffusion d'erreur (dither), 4) extraction Ha / OIII pour les sessions avec filtre 5) alignement des images, 6) empilement, 7) retrait de la trame sur l'image empilée (il en reste un peu), 8) retrait du gradient (non linéaire), 9) déconvolution (PSF des étoiles), 10) étalonnage des couleurs (d'après catalogue pour l'image RVB) sinon manuel, 11) étirement hyperbolique généralisé, 12) histogramme, 13) suppression du bruit vert.
Les images Ha de chaque session ont été alignées puis cumulées (moyenne avec rejet) pour n'en former qu'une. De même pour les images OIII. De là, une image couleur composite HOO (RVB=Ha-OIII-OIII) a été générée.
Les images ont toutes été redécoupées (crop) de 15 pixels sur chaque bord pour enlever les erreurs de bord d'image et de gradient.
L'image HOO et l'image RVB ont été ensuite alignées entre elles sous Siril. Pour chacune de ces images alignées, j'ai généré une starless et un starmask avec Starnet V2.
A partir de là, j'ai fait l'assemblage des quatres images alignées (2 starless et 2 starmasks) sous Gimp (en travaillant avec plusieurs calques duplicant ces images pour faire ressortir tantôt les couleurs, tantôt les contrastes).
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[English version]
I imaged this nebula on the same nights as the ones I spent on the Triangle Galaxy (M33, see photo: [link to photo]). I started with M17 in the early evening until around 1 a.m. when it disappeared behind the trees on the horizon. Then I moved on to M33, which was higher in the sky at that time.
In reality, I wanted to image M16 (the Eagle Nebula) at the request of my daughter. I had a problem on the first evening: my telescope had a serious collimation issue. The consequence was poor pointing and a search for the nebula by trial and error. I didn't have my binoculars, and I couldn't see where my laser was pointing. That's when I stumbled upon M17, which I imaged, thinking it was M16.
So, I ended up doing four sessions on M17: three sessions with a dual-band Ha-OIII filter and one session without (so RGB). I'll tell you all about it later; for now, let's move on to the image description.
M17 was discovered in 1745 by the Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux. It was rediscovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Philou's discovery had indeed gone unnoticed. It's a nebula that can be seen quite well with binoculars, so it could have been relatively easily observed at that time.
Why "Omega"? Because John Herschel, don't ask me how, first drew this nebula as an uppercase omega letter. Later on, he saw it as a horseshoe. So, M17 is also known as the Horseshoe Nebula. Others see it as a swan, while some even see a lobster... Astronomers have quite the imagination! They need to lay off the pipe!
M17 is located at a distance ranging from 5100 to 5900 light-years. When its light left that distant region, humans were inventing the potter's wheel, which now allows you to enjoy your coffee while reading this text.
The nebula is about 30 to 34 light-years in diameter.
Its colors: it's quite red all around, due to the presence of hydrogen gas, which, when illuminated by the surrounding stars, reveals itself. In the center, it is crossed by a brighter region with more of a blue/yellow hue. This is because of the intense irradiation of the surrounding gases by the stars of the young cluster (NGC6618) at its center.
Above and to the left of M17, you can see another red region marked more strongly in two areas. This is IC4707 at the bottom and IC4706 at the top. These are two emission nebulae.
The very bright star to the left of the nebula, below IC4707, is HIP 89851. If you continue towards the upper left corner of the image, you will find another bright star, HIP 89641. Between the two, closer to HIP 89641, you will see 3 rather bright stars with a slight brightening. This is an emission nebula located 6520 light-years away from us: SH 2-47.
The astrometry can be found here: nova.astrometry.net/annotated_full/9217421.
* Equipment:
Skywatcher Newton Telescope 150/750
Coma Corrector
Skywatcher AZ-EQ5 Mount
Modified Canon 1200D Sensor (partially defiltered)
Optolong L-Enhance Filter (across 3 sessions)
Autoguiding with Asi 120mm + Kepler 50/162 + Raspberry Pi3 + PhD Guiding
* Settings:
800 ISO; 90-second exposures spaced 5 seconds apart.
Dark, Offset, and Flat frames systematically taken (Darks > 35, Offsets = 30, Flats > 45).
* Sessions and Exposure Times:
08/22/23: 76 raw 90s exposures (1h54) + Dark, Offset, and Flat frames - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
09/06/23: 69 raw 90s exposures (1h43) + Dark, Offset, and Flat frames - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
09/08/23: 34 raw 90s exposures (51min) + Dark, Offset, and Flat frames - L-Enhance (H-Alpha + H-Beta + O III -> HOO)
09/09/23: 78 raw 90s exposures (2h57) + Dark, Offset, and Flat frames - No filter (visible spectrum -> RGB)
For a total cumulative exposure time of 6h25 (including 4h28 in Ha+HB+OIII).
* Sky Quality: Excellent - The Triangulum Galaxy (M33, mag 6.27) was clearly visible to the naked eye on 3 out of 4 nights. The same applies to M4.
* Moon: Between 50% and 20%, only present in the late night.
* Processing:
I processed each session individually, producing an Ha and an OIII image for each filtered session and an RGB image for the last session.
The entire pre-processing to post-processing phase for separate Ha, OIII, and RGB sessions was done in Siril. The complete processing is as follows: 1) Pre-processing of raw frames using Darks, 2) Removal of horizontal banding for each image, 3) Extraction of the linear gradient for each image with the addition of error diffusion (dithering), 4) Extraction of Ha / OIII for filtered sessions, 5) Alignment of the images, 6) Stacking, 7) Removal of the remaining horizontal banding from the stacked image, 8) Removal of the non-linear gradient, 9) Deconvolution (PSF of stars), 10) Color calibration (based on a catalog for the RGB image) or manual calibration, 11) Generalized hyperbolic stretching, 12) Histogram adjustment, 13) Green noise removal.
The Ha images from each session were aligned and then combined (average with rejection) to create a single Ha image. The same process was applied to the OIII images. From there, a color composite image HOO (RGB=Ha-OIII-OIII) was generated.
All images were cropped by 15 pixels on each side to remove edge and gradient errors.
The HOO and RGB images were then aligned with each other in Siril. For each of these aligned images, I generated a starless image and a starmask using Starnet V2.
From there, I assembled the four aligned images (2 starless and 2 starmasks) in Gimp (working with multiple layers duplicating these images to bring out colors and contrasts as needed).
Some questionable dispatching has backed up trains in all directions at CP 483. 21M still waits on main 1, his head end at CP 485 tucked up behind an I1E. Amtrak 49 has creeped up behind him. Behind me laying off a crossing is Amtrak 29. Coming east is 20N with 4 well cars passing the B08 job working Worthington Steel in the Porter Remote. Who am I to question.
Killer Whales of the west coast of Whalsay, weather conditions were low cloud and mostly calm dry conditions. The Killer Whales (Orcas) were first spotted on the east side of the calf of Linga an Island which is situated of Symbister Harbour. The whales then proceeded into the north west traveling between islands Bruceholm and Hunderholm headed to a bight which lays off mainland Shetland called Bunnydale, here the whales frolicked around breaching and playing swimming upside down etc. Here as you will see in one of the photos the whale also grabbed a tystie for a snack. They then left this location and headed south again around the island of Hunderholm and carried on proceeding south towards nesting and Lerwick area. In the pod there were 2 large Killer Whales and three smaller cubs. The whales travelled at a speed around 6-7 knots into the south.
Not sure what this flower is , but it looks like an eye to me. Maybe I should lay off eating mushrooms though :-)
Aperture ƒ/8.0
Focal length 90.0 mm
Shutter 1/200
ISO 800
Promos for Gates
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models: Gates
photographer: me
camera model: Canon 5D Mark II
lens: Canon EF 24-105mm L
editing done by: me
editing program: Camera Raw 5.6 & Adobe Photoshop CS4
date taken: 1/10/11
Strobist info:
1) AB800 shot through beauty dish boomed above group slightly camera right
*natural rim-lighting
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My sister's boyfriend's band needed some last minute shots for their press kit. Voilà!
I promise I'll lay off the superwarmsunflare shots soon...
(View more photos from this set)
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French postcard by Edition Ross, no. E 4856-1. Photo: Fox.
Alfredo Carlos Birabén (born June 16, 1905 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, died August 24, 1956 in Los Angeles, Hollywood, California), was an Argentine actor, who had a career in the United States under the stage name Barry Norton.
Barry Norton was born in the Belgrano neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, where his parents, Virginia de Bailleul, of French nationality, and the engineer Federico Birabén (1866-1929), who at the beginning of the 20th century held high positions in the public administration and was a precursor of the introduction of decimal classification in librarianship in Argentina, lived. Thanks to the good economic position of his parents, he received a good education, attended prestigious schools in his country and at an early age made extensive trips to other countries.
In 1923 Birabén was one of the many Argentine fans who travelled to the United States to witness the September 14 heavyweight title fight between boxers Jack Dempsey and Luis Ángel Firpo at the Polo Grounds in New York City.
Dazzled by the country, he obtained permission from his parents to stay in that city and complete his studies when he returned to Argentina. In order not to be totally dependent on his parents' contributions, Birabén worked in large New York hotels, taking advantage of his language skills. He also made some appearances in theatre thanks to an association with the Paramount Acting Academy. With his parents' permission, he travelled to the West Coast, and upon learning about the film industry in Los Angeles, he decided to stay in that city, for which he no longer counted on his father's help.
He had to work in jobs to which he was not accustomed, such as labourer in a sawmill and sweeper and even went through very hard times when he had nothing to eat until he could not stand it any longer and asked his parents to send him money to support him for another four months, to which they agreed with the commitment that after that period he would return home. The truth is that at the end of that period, he asked again for financial aid, which was again sent to him with the warning that if he decided to stay in Hollywood he would have to support himself.
A job obtained at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles brought Norton closer to the world of cinema and allowed him to meet actress Pola Negri, who took him into her service and later hired him to work with Douglas Fairbanks for the production company United Artists. Although he performed administrative tasks, this new job brought him closer to his intention to devote himself to acting and so it was that in 1926, on the recommendation of the writer Laura Jansen, he was auditioned and hired to work in the film The Lily, directed by Max de Maigny. That same year (1926) he was hired by 20th Century Fox and acted directed by Richard Deane in The Canyon of Light, starring actor Tom Mix, who at that time was very popular. Norton's appreciated performance in What Price of Glory (1926) transformed him into a quoted figure.
In 1927 Norton worked in the comedy Ankles Preferred, starring the popular actress Madge Bellamy, and returned to drama with The Heart of Salome. He continued acting for Fox Studios until 1928 when he went on loan to Paramount Pictures to play the substantial role of an aviator in the film The Legion of the Condemned (1928), which featured, among others, Gary Cooper and Fay Wray. After other films, he was given a leading role opposite Emil Jannings in Sins of the Fathers (Ludwig Berger, 1928) and returned to Fox in the role of one of the two male acrobats in F.W. Murnau's lost film Four Devils (1928) with a performance that the New York Times described as superb. Even if Latin-American, Norton avoided being typecast as Latin Lover.
The economic crisis of 1929 determined the movie studios to lay off personnel and Norton was left without a job. When, after a period of inactivity, he was about to return to his country, sound cinema had become established worldwide and Paramount began filming a series of Spanish-language films for the Latin American market. Thus Norton returned to work in 1930 in El cuerpo del delito, a thriller based on a book by the famous S. S. Van Dine and directed by Adolph Mahler. It was followed by other Spanish language versions of films such as Amor audaz (1930) in which she acted with Rosita Moreno and Adolphe Menjou, Galas de la Paramount (1930, the Spanish version of Paramount on Parade), where he performed musical numbers with Rosita Moreno -including a song performed by Carlos Gardel-, the Spanish version of the famous Dracula (George Melford, 1930) in which Norton played the part of Jonathan/Juan Harker), and El pasado acusa (1931). In 1931, the production company decided that Norton should return to English-language films, so he acted a small part in the film Dishonored, directed by Josef von Sternberg, with Marlene Dietrich in the leading role. Norton played the soldier who cannot shoot the female spy in the end and is replaced.
With the decline in Spanish-language film production in Los Angeles, Norton's opportunities for leading roles became less and less frequent. Though he had a pleasing voice, his Argentine accent seemed incongruous with his appearance. According to some sources, he never mastered English very well. In 1933, he secured what would be his last important role, playing Jean Parker's Spanish fiancé in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933). In addition to small, even uncredited supporting parts in famous films such as Imitation of Life, Camille, etc., he had the lead in a B-movie, Devil Monster / Sea Fiend (S. Edwin Graham, 1936) and a substantial part in the Universal film Storm over the Andes (1935). Although he would continue to work until his death in 1956, Norton's last credited screen role would be Should Husbands Work? (1939). For the rest of his career, Norton continued to reside in Los Angeles and obtain small roles in films. Many films he appeared in are now considered to be classics.
Norton was married to Josephine Byers, a woman from California by whom he had a daughter, Sharon, and two grandchildren. In her autobiography Being and Becoming, actress Myrna Loy wrote that she briefly dated Norton. Other sources link him romantically with Dorothy Dare and Alice Terry. In the latter's case, they appear to have been friends rather than lovers. On August 24, 1956, Norton died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California. He was 51 years old. He died penniless and his old Hollywood friends – among them Antonio Moreno, Gilbert Roland, Gertrude Astor, Philo McCullough and Charles Morton – took up a collection to pay for his cremation, which required the permission of his brother in Buenos Aires
Sources: Spanish, German and English Wikipedia.
Well I made it to my six weeks from the surgery. I am now splint and sling free. I would have thought that being right handed for 46 years and only left handed for seven weeks that going back to the right hand would have been easy. I first thought I would feed myself using the right hand, the dogs had a hay day with the food that hit the floor. I don't know why I thought shaving would be any better, but I tried. Lost half a side burn and my face looks like me and some cat had a face slapping contest, I lost !! I still have a little recovery work to do, but I'm back on track, I HOPE !!! I am sorry I haven't been a very good contact of late. Work is slow and I spend every minute trying to find work so we don't have to have more lay-offs. This is a hard time of year to be out of work. I will catch up as I can.
The Sacramento Solons were a minor league baseball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Pacific Coast League during several periods (1903, 1905, 1909–1914, 1918–1960, 1974–1976).
The team derived its name from Sacramento's status as capital of California. Solon was an early Greek lawmaker and the term "solons" was often used by journalists as a synonym for "senators." The team was also known at times as the Sacramento Sacts, an abbreviation of the name of the city, and the Sacramento Senators.
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Babe Danzig
Positions: Pinch Hitter and First Baseman / Pitcher
Height: 6' 4" - Weight: 205 lbs
Born: April 30, 1887 in Binghamton, New York
Died: July 14, 1931 (age 44) in San Francisco, California
Batted: Right / Threw: Right
Nicknames: Hal, Babe
Full Name: Harold Paul / Pierce Danzig
MLB debut - April 12, 1909, for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance May 4, 1909, for the Boston Red Sox
MLB statistics:
Games played - 6
At bats - 13
Hits - 2
Teams:
Boston Red Sox (1909)
Link to SABR article - Babe Danzig - written by Bill Nowlin - sabr.org/bioproj/person/a0faa084
Harold Paul "Babe" Danzig (b. April 30, 1887 – d. July 14, 1931 at age 44) was a first baseman in Major League Baseball, playing for the Boston Red Sox in 1909. He stood at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and weighed 205 lbs.
Danzig was born in Binghamton, New York to German immigrants, and started his professional baseball career in 1906. In 1907, Danzig played for the New Bedford Whalers of the New England League. He batted .289 and led the league in slugging percentage, total bases, and triples. The following season, he moved over to the Pacific Coast League and was again one of the premiere hitters. The PCL was not strong offensively that year, and Danzig won the batting title at .298. He also topped the circuit with 39 doubles.
Danzig joined the Red Sox roster for 1909 and made his major league debut on April 12, at the age of 21. He appeared in a total of six MLB games in April and May and got 2 hits in 13 at bats, for a batting average of .154. He was then released by the Red Sox and never played in the majors again. Danzig finished out the season in the New England League, batting .354 in 64 games.
In 1910, Danzig returned to the Pacific Coast League. He played the next two seasons for the Sacramento Sacts, then one season in the Southern Association, and then some semi-pro baseball in Northern California. He was the first baseman and cleanup hitter for the Best Tractors as late as 1919.
Danzig died in San Francisco, California, at the age of 44.
Link to his minor league stats - www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=danzig...
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(Sporting Life, 14 March 1908) - The Portland Club has signed first baseman Danzig, late of New Bedford.
(Morning Oregonian, April 17, 1908) - Hal Danzig continues to clout the ball. McCredie made no mistake when he put the Portland brand on this big fellow. In passing, and for the benefit of those who never make a mistake, it is Harold Danzig, not Jeff. He also answers to the name Babe.
(Morning Oregonian, May 02, 1908) - BABE DANZIG and Cook of Oakland are the first players who have been to bat over 100 times. Including Thursdays' game, they had been up 102 times. Danzig is hitting at a .327 clip.
(The Sunday Oregonian, May 03, 1908) - There are several new faces this year on the infield. Babe Danzig at first and Cooney at shortstop are the new men. Danzig a Promising Player - Of the new men on the infield. Danzig looks the most promising and the one who will probably show to the best advantage when the season is at a close. Danzig is still something of a diamond in the rough, but he can hit the ball and is willing to be taught something about the fielding game. Casey is an invaluable helpmate to the six-footer and more. Already it is remarked that Danzig knows more about first base than he did when the season opened. The inside of baseball was more or less of a puzzle to Harold, but he has been carefully coached. His reach is something of an advantage to him in covering first. He is especially strong, however, at the bat. When he lands on the ball, it goes hard, and once he learns the knack of putting it on the ground, instead of knocking flies, he will have the fielders of the league buffaloed. When the ball does go through the infield with lightning rapidity, there are few who care to go after the leather.
(The Sunday Oregonian, July 12, 1908) - Danzig Good Young Player - A critic has taken up his cudgels to knock Hal Danzig. The clever young first baseman has done nothing to deserve the toasting he received. He has played the game to the best of his ability, and if there are any youngsters in the game who outshine Portland's first sacker in any department, they have not been found. True, he is young and may not possess as practical a knowledge of baseball as some of the more experienced players, but a lad of 10 years can always be depended upon to accumulate that knowledge as he grows older. Danzig is one of the most promising members of the Portland team. His services are of enough value to warrant his being heralded as a possible candidate for the major league. The writer does not believe that Danzig is sufficiently developed this year to take a fling at major league ball, but one more year in the fast company of the Pacific Coast League will fit him for competition with the Chases, the Chances and all the rest of the stars of the faster leagues. Danzig Good as Chase - It will be remembered that Hal Chase broke into the Pacific Coast League a comparatively unknown kid, and before the season was half over had electrified the entire country. The following year he was with the New York Americans and made good. Danzig is capable of doing the same thing, for there is only one department in which he is excelled by Chase, and that is in base running. Being a much larger man than the New Yorker. Danzig could hardly be expected to be the daring base runner that Chase is, yet he is far from being slow on the paths. His general playing ability, together with his cheery disposition, make the Portland first sacker one of the most valuable members of the club.
(Los Angeles Herald, September 14, 1908) - "Babe" Danzig of Portland walked on the field the other day complaining that he had a lame back, and told Manager McCredie that he would like to lay off for the day. Walter told him he could lay off for the rest of the season, if he liked. "For a big husky you get these lame backs very often, and the sooner the club gets rid of you the better it will be for the club," McCredie is reported to have told Danzig, who was rather surprised at Mac's remarks, as he went to the club house to change his uniform, watching the game from the grand stand instead of
the bench.
(Morning Oregonian, November 02, 1908) - Genial Hal Danzig and "Honey Boy" Jack Graney, two stellar lights of the Portland club, have been caught in the Miquel Fisher-Jessica Woods dragnet, and are to participate in an all-star expedition into the Far East. They have enrolled themselves as substitutes for Jerry Freeman and Tyrus Cobb on the Reach team scheduled to sail this week for China, Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines. Freeman and Cobb were dropped from the All-American team because they requested Manager Fisher to pay the expenses of their wives, and Miquel could not see his way clear.
(The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 11, 1908) - Reach's stars will present one of the biggest men playing the national game in "Babe" Danzig, a twenty-year old giant, who stands six feet four inches. Boston has claimed his services for first base next year, and a promising player he is. He led the Portland club in hitting this season and in addition to this he was a star on the field. I feel confident in saying that Honolulu fans have a treat in store when Reach's club appear here next January.
(Sporting Life - 21 November 1908) - It looks very much indeed as if Harold Danzig, originally secured from the New Bedford Club, of the New England League, would be a fixture on first base for the Boston Americans next season. All who saw him play the past season spoke in the highest terms of his work and pronounced him fit in every way, so it looks as if "Jake" Stahl would not be a regular next season, even if he is retained by the club. Danzig is a tall chap, strongly built and can field as well as hit, and is undoubtedly a mighty fast man. He ought to strengthen the club a great deal.
(San Francisco Call, 10 October 1909) - BABE DANZIG DRAWN BY GOTHAM AMERICANS - Sacramento Disappointed Over Baseball Player - [Special Dispatch to The Call] SACRAMENTO, Oct. 9.— Babe Danzig, formerly of Portland, but lately of the Boston Americans and the Lowell club of the New England league, is not to play with Sacramento next year, as was expected. President Taylor, of Boston promised to send Danzig out to the coast to fill in the breach caused by the departure of Hap Myers, but the New York Americans have drafted Danzig from the Lowell club, and have Included him in their reserve list. Taylor will not be able to fulfill his promises.
(The Sunday Oregonian, February 06, 1910) - Babe Danzig, a year ago with Portland, is to be seen In a Sacramento uniform
this year. Charlie Graham has made a deal with the New York Americans, which club drafted Danzig from Lowell. Danzig was drafted from Portland Into the majors, but was sent back to the minors. The big fellow has always been a favorite in California, and the fans will like to see him in action once more. No question but that he will strengthen the Senators.
(Morning Oregonian, May 13, 1910) - CUPID OVERSEAS GETS BABE DANZIG - Infielder to wed girl he met on trip to Orient. Courtship on Shipboard and at Honolulu Continued Successful Through Mails. SACRAMENTO, Cal, May 12. (Special.) - Harold P. (Babe) Danzig, first baseman of the Sacramento Coast League baseball team, procured a license today to wed Miss Jean Allyn Center, of Honolulu, niece of George Center, of San Francisco. Danzig says ho will not be married for several days yet. He was not in the game today. The baseball player met Miss Center when on the trip to the Orient with Miquel Fisher's All-American team a few years ago. The couple became acquainted en route to the islands from San Francisco and in the Hawaiian Islands the courtship progressed. They corresponded until finally the maiden from over the sea came to this country, her arrival causing Danzig's delay in getting into a recent Sunday morning game at Oakland. (By 1920 they were divorced)
(Sacramento Union, 13 May 1910) - DANZIG HITS COUNTY CLERK FOR “HOMER” - “Babe” Danzig, the big first-sacker of the Senators, will be married within a few days. That’s what he says. The probabilities are, however, that he is married by this time, and on his honeymoon. Mrs. Danzig to be, or is, was Miss Jean A. Center of Honolulu, and met Danzig when he visited the islands with Mike Fisher’s all-star band of tossers. Danzig told several friends lately that he was going to be married at the conclusion of the playing season but when he visited County Clerk Billy Hamilton yesterday and took out a marriage license it looked as if he had beat his time. Captain Charley Graham was unaware of the fact that Danzig was to be married, and was given the laugh by several players yesterday when he fell for a note that was sent to the ball grounds stating that Danzig was ill. Although the note was signed by Dr. Dufficy and stated that Danzig was in a serious condition. Captain Graham thinks that some one is playing possum.
(Morning Oregonian, May 25, 1910) - Hal Danzig, the ex-Portlander now with Sacramento, is out of the game because of illness. Hal is with the team, however, and expects to play before the series is concluded. He Is delighted to get back to Portland once more, for he has many friends here.
Link to a newspaper photo of Babe Danzig - chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-10-03/ed-...
(The Sunday Oregonian, January 14, 1912) - Outside of Manager Dillon, of Los Angeles, "Babe" Danzig was probably the highest salaried first sacker in the Coast League, and his wage was probably not in excess of $250 per month. Rapps, of Portland, and Tennant, of San Francisco, drew down in the neighborhood of $225.
(Morning Oregonian, June 18, 1912) - DANZIG WILL QUIT GAME - Former Sacramento First Baseman is in Ill-Health - A dispatch in the St. Louis Sporting News, under a Chattanooga date says that Hal Danzig, erstwhile Sacramento first-sacker, will retire from baseball. Danzig is suffering from enlargement of the liver and will go to his home in Pennsylvania for treatment. Earl Sykes, of Atlanta, will replace him at Chattanooga. Danzig started out this Spring with the St. Louis Americans, but both he and Tennant finally settled back to the minors.
(Morning Oregonian, August 17, 1912) - Babe Danzig, erstwhile Sacramento first-sacker, has finally discovered his proper sphere. He has been tried in the pitching box and made good. Playing with the Montgomery Club, in the Southern League, he essayed the mound the other day, allowed eight hits, walked three, fanned two, uncorked one wild pitch, but won his initial game, 16 to 4. Walter McCredie, of the Beavers, has always maintained that Danzig would develop into a "whale" as a pitcher. He has terrific speed and his enormous perpendicularity something like 6 feet 5 or 6 inches and attendant length of arm. should make him a Walter Johnson
edition deluxe.
(Morning Oregonian, December 07, 1912) - HAL DANZIG DROPS - Former Beaver Runs Gamut of Leagues, Ends in Class B - VANCOUVER BUYS PLAYER - Hard-Hitting First Sacker Expected to Strengthen Brown's Team - "Going down! Next stop, Vancouver, B. C." Tack Hal Danzig's nameplate to the label and the story is complete. The human wireless station first-sacker, star of the Portland Coasters four or five years back, has run the gamut of organized baseball and is back at the beginning, class B. Bob Brown, owner of the Vancouver team, purchased his release outright from Montgomery, of the Southern League, a few days ago and Portland fans will see the tall one in action again next Summer. Danzig was secured by McCredie from the Boston Americans in 1908. Boston exercised Its option that Fall and in 1909 he was under Boston control playing part of the season at Lowell. Later he was turned over to Sacramento, in the Coast League, for further flirting. In the Fall of 1911 the St. Louis Americans drafted him from Sacramento and last year he was sent to Montgomery in class A. Now comes the sale to the Northwest, giving Harold a record of major league, class AA, class A and class B ball, all within one year's time. The former Portland and Sacramento first baseman should be a strong man for Vancouver. In addition to being a fair initial sacker Danzig possesses the happy faculty of being able to slam the ball hard and often. He is always close to the .300 mark and his drives are invariably of the full-grown healthy type, in fact, they have to be, for Hal never broke a speed record in his life unless it was in jumping from one league to another. In 1909 he led the New England league In batting with .345; with Sacramento in 1910 he ranked fourth with .272. Krueger, the leader, batted only .281 that year and in 1911 he clouted at a .292 clip. Walter McCredie, manager of the Beavers, has often remarked that Danzig pulled the prize "bone head" of his adventurous young life when he failed to follow up his start in the pitching game. Hal has a wonderful arm. He twirled, several games last Summer for Montgomery.
(Morning Oregonian, December 07, 1912) - "Babe"' Danzig, former Coast League first sacker, is selling ribbons in a San Francisco department store.
(Morning Oregonian, January 24, 1913) - Now that Bob Brown has secured Walsh from St. Paul he will not take Babe Danzig for first base on the Vancouver club. Danzig is to be turned adrift.
(Morning Oregonian, July 27, 1914) - Sacramento Gets Danzig Back. SACRAMENTO. Cal., July 26. "Babe" Danzig, formerly with the Sacramento Coast League club, but who has been playing semi-professional ball this year, will rejoin the local club tomorrow to be used as a pinch hitter and utility man. Danzig was the property of the Montgomery club in the Southern Association and was bought by Sacramento today.
(The Sunday Oregonian, March 26, 1916) - DANZIG COME-BACK FAILS - Old-Time Coast Leaguer Gives Pitiful Exhibition in Camp with Oakland - OAKS' TRAINING CAMP, Boyes Hot Springs, March 25. - Babe Danzig, old-time Coast Leaguer, who has been trying to do a comeback, has failed miserably. Babe is still there when it comes to stickwork, but he is away out of form as a fielder and can't seem to judge the ball at all. Below the knees he is as good as dead and that would prevent his getting anything in the shape of a grounder or a low-thrown ball. I saw him in a workout one morning this week and the exhibition was rather pitiful. On March 28th "Babe" Danzig, the first-sacker and Francis Hosp, the infielder, received outright releases.
(The Sunday Oregonian, April 02, 1916) - OAKS START FOR SALT LAKE - Surprise Sprung When Danzig, Slated for Release, is Taken - SAN FRANCISCO. April 1. (Special.) Twenty-two players, the hopes of Oakland in the opening series with Salt Lake, departed for the camp of the enemy last night. Manager Rowdy Elliott sprang some surprise, in taking along Babe Danzig, the first-sacker who was slated for his release.
(The Port Gibson Reveille, May 25, 1916) - The Oakland club has released Babe Danzig and Frank Hosp, who failed to show signs of coming back, and returned Catcher Dave Griffith to Wichita.
This is frosh week across Ontario and university students are moving into residences and beginning to experience life away from home. Part of the experience is finding out about the experiences available to students – both university-based services and organizations and those outside the university. It’s always an exciting time with a major buzz taking place in downtown Toronto on Ryerson University’s urban campus.
While I sipped a cup of coffee on a patio and watched the excitement, I noted two young women in big black hats setting up a table with information and even cupcakes. I couldn’t tell what they were promoting (I was seated behind the booth) but I could tell that both were photogenic in their black hats and both were friendly as they greeted visitors to their table, fielded questions, and handed out free homemade cupcakes. I would have been remiss if I didn’t finish up my coffee and at least invite one of them to participate in my Human Family project. I began by asking what they were promoting and then made the project invite which was accepted. Meet Alison who was managing the promotion with her friend Stephanie. Most of my conversation was with Alison and Stephanie was taking care of students asking about their service.
As it turned out, both Alison and Stephanie are students in the Creative Industries program at the university, a program which combines creative undertakings and entrepreneurship. They were representing Stephanie’s company: Origins. (www.originscdc.com) Origins is geared toward motivating and supporting students who have an interest in turning their ideas into self-led businesses through offering a variety of resources on business development, funding, promotion etc. It is a digital company and its very existence is an example of what it aims to do for other students.
Stephanie was kind enough to man the table while I moved Alison across the sidewalk to use the university Image Arts building’s windows as a background for a few photos. We then returned to the table and continued our conversation. Alison is 19 and grew up on a farm an hour or two east of Toronto. She’s in her second year of the Creative Industries program and loving it. Stephanie is her best friend ever since kindergarten and while the idea for Origins was Stephanie’s idea (she is the Founder), Alison serves as Executive Director.
Stephanie described the stresses and pressures young people experience growing up and preparing for careers. “It’s really very stressful and an awful burden for young people. Doing well in school, picking the right major, succeeding at university, and worrying about finding a good job and pleasing your boss – it was not fun for me. Discovering, through Stephanie, that self-employment is an option made a huge difference for me. Getting involved in building the skills for self-employment was a breath of fresh air, and so is the pleasure of helping other students make the discovery of non-traditional employment. I'm no longer the stress-magnet I used to be!”
My impression is that more and more young people will be needing to prepare themselves for self-employment as major companies lay off workers and employ workers on short-term contracts to avoid having to pay out for benefit packages. I think Stephanie and Alison are offering a much-needed service that will benefit many of their fellow students.
Alison’s message to the project? “I urge my fellow students and all young people to reject the stereotype that the millennials are lazy, pampered kids who spend all their time playing video games and relying on their parents. We are highly motivated and willing to use our digital and creative skills to contribute to society and the marketplace.”
I commented that the notion of giving out free cupcakes shows that even though Origins is a digitally-based service, it hasn’t lost sight of the value of good old- fashioned marketing through the stomach. The cupcakes were clearly a popular idea.
I thanked these charming and enterprising (and photogenic) young women for taking a few minutes to explain their work and participate in the Human Family photo project. I wish them every success in school and in life.
This is my 313th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
The poles collided as Jason was forced back. I struck again, only this time much fiercer-but a controlled fierce; I can’t let my emotions get the better of me.
Jason scowled with frustration as he ducked another swing; his shaggy brown hair covered his eyes and I kicked him square in the chest.
Ok. I know I’m not supposed to let my emotions get the better of me, but that felt good, considering the way Jason’s been acting. I found it even harder to put up with him, especially after Connor had-
No. Stay in the present. Think about that later.
We continued fighting, circling around the ring. I nodded to Dick and he jumped in with his batons, taking a stand against me. We circled, silent except for Jason and Dick’s grunts and the clang of the metal poles. Dick got a hit on me and I grimaced; I couldn’t let him do that again.
Don’t let your guard down, Bruce.
I suddenly went fast, testing their skills, before laying off Dick and going at Jason. His poles spun furiously until I swept his feet out from under him. He hit the floor, cursing loudly. Even Alfred looked up from the computer.
“Would you like me to fetch the soap, Master Bruce?” He asked in his British accent. I ignored him.
“You need to focus,” I told Jason. Your enemies are not going to go easy on you.
“Yeah? Well maybe you can remember I’m just a kid,” he spat back. I turned away; I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing my anger bubble to the surface.
“You’re ungrateful. You should be happy I let you stay, after what you pulled while I was gone,” I retorted. “I know you’ve seen violence, bu-”
“You have no clue what I’ve seen! Imagine going home, finding your parents d-” I spun around as something snapped and my mind went blank. I was a blur of fighting and punching. I clipped Jason in the head and kicked him in the chest before flipping him over my shoulder. By the look on his face, I saw he knew he’d gone too far.
“My parents were killed in front of me,” I growled. “I’m not a complete psychopath.” Dick put a hand on my shoulder.
“Easy, Bruce, easy.” Jason stood up, looking disgusted.
“Yeah? Well, I’m not so sure about that.”
Well, it's finally here! I'm excited for this series, I feel like it will really expand the Willcock-Verse, and I can't wait to show you guys the stories I have!
What did you think about this issue?
Seen at the Hesston Steam Museum
Power and Steam Show 2021
County Road E1000N
La Porte County, Indiana. USA.
September 5, 2021
Russell & Company (Steam Tractor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russell & Company of Massillon, Ohio, are best known for manufacturing farm and railroad machinery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most notably 18,000 Steam tractors and Stationary engines, plus 22,000 Threshing machines
In 1838 Nahum and Clement Russell started a general carpentry business in Massillon, Ohio. They used a two-story frame building, and drove the machinery by horse-power. They made ploughs (plows) and agricultural implements, plus building houses, furniture, coffins, and more. The carpentry shop burned down in 1840.
Charles M, Nahum and Clement – formed C.M. Russell & Co. on Jan. 1, 1842, based in an old whitewashed building called the "White Shop". On seeing Hiram and John Pitts' Buffalo Pitts Separator (Thresher) they understood its short-comings such that their improved version took the honours at the Ohio State Fair at Columbus in 1845.
The Russells purchased stock in the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, urged it to come through Massillon, and in 1852 they began producing handcars and stock cars for the railroad company. The business flourished, three more brothers joined and in 1864 it was incorporated as "Russell & Co".
In 1871 the company divided; C. Russell & Co. moved to Canton, Ohio to make agricultural reapers and mowers.
On May 17, 1878, a fire did $150,000 of damage to machinery, wagon stock and 36 years of patterns. Insurance covered only $53,100, a third of the total. Two-thirds of the main building was saved and new machinery was ordered, but 250 men were 'out of work'. A new 250 foot long four-story brick warehouse was built.
Russell & Co reportedly started building Steam Traction Engines after their 1878 incorporation, and by 1880, they employed 425 people on a seven acre site, with their own railroad sidetrack.
By 1884, they had become one of the largest producers of steam traction engines, plus building industrial, railroad and agricultural equipment.
By 1909, the 21 acre plant had produced 18,000 farm, traction and stationary engines, plus 22,000 threshing machines. They also made sawmills, pneumatic stackers, feeders and road rollers.
Merger and demise
By 1912, the company was in decline, and it merged with "Griscom-Spencer" Company of New Jersey. They created parts for Naval vessels during World War I, and earned an Army-Navy “E” for excellence during World War II.
In 1962, the company was purchased by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Company and the Massillon plant closed, laying off 800 employees).
Products
Steam Tractors
Russell steam traction engines ranged from 6 HP to 150 HP.
•The 1887 6 HP Russell had self-adjusting piston rings, which would not require attention if properly lubricated.
•The 1887 10 HP Russells had a patented friction clutch, reverse gear, equilibrium valve and boiler.
•The 1891 10, 13 and 16 HP models, had throttle lever, brake lever, reverse lever, steam chest, cylinder cocks and rod operating the blower, all within reach from the footboard.
•The 1907 single-cylinder Russells were built with cylinder bore and stroke sizes of 6x8 inches, 7.5x10 inches, 8x10 inches, 8.25x12 inches, 9x13 inches and 10x13 inches. They burned coal or wood.
Steam roller
The first Russell steam roller was introduced about 1910, as a combination of a road roller and a hauling engine. The detachable rear wheel cleats enabled rolling use.
Static steam engines
The 1901 catalogue offered static engines for factory /machine shop work. Listed as 4-Valve Automatic Engines.
hi my name is david and i'm a scrabbleholic. i just got this app a couple of days ago and have been playing it for hours since. today i played 2 hours non stop and didn't win a single game. maybe i should consider laying off the letters for a while and actually get some work done?
___________
5d
50mm f/1.4
___________
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Seven hundred years after the birth of Christ, the Arab leader Tarik-Ibn-Zeyad conquered the Rock and named it Jebel-Tarik (Tarik’s mountain). An important military and naval base, it changed hands many times during the following eight centuries of Arab occupation in Spain. In the early part of the fourteenth century Spanish forces occupied Gibraltar for twenty-four years; but in 1333 it reverted to Moorish control after a bloody eighteen week siege. The Rock did not finally become Spanish until 1462 when the Duke of Medina Sidonia recaptured it. The eighteenth century saw another change of ownership. In July 1704, as he lay off Tetuan with a large combined fleet of British and Dutch warships, Admiral Sir George Rooke saw an opportunity to capture the Rock. The city fathers initially refused Rooke’s call to surrender but 15,000 rounds of shot and shell and landings by British marines and sailors persuaded them otherwise.
Since that day, the Rock has played a part in some of the most famous episodes of British history. During the American War of Independence, the combined forces of France and Spain besieged Gibraltar for four and a half years. The body of Nelson, preserved in a barrel of rum, was brought to Gibraltar after his magnificent victory at Trafalgar and in the Second World War the Rock was a key factor in British victories in the Mediterranean.
The Imperial Hotel, a striking two storey brick hotel in the main Street of Ravenswood, is one of a handful of buildings which survive from this once important mining town. Constructed in 1901 for James Delaney and run by members of this family for most of the twentieth century, it is evidence of Ravenswood's prosperity during its boom period.
The discovery of several important goldfields in Queensland in the nineteenth century formed a major component in the development of the North.. The need to access and exploit gold finds determined the path of railways, the establishment of related industries and commerce and the location of settlements. Some of these were short lived 'rushes', where tent and shanty townships disappeared almost as quickly as they rose. Other settlements based on goldfields became established towns with government and civic buildings, shops and family homes and survived as such. A few became important centres, only to fade away as gold yields fell. Ravenswood was one of these.
The area was first settled by Europeans following the establishment of Bowen in 1861. Pastoral runs were soon set up in the hinterland, including the area on which the Ravenswood field was to develop. Gold had been found in north Queensland at Star River in 1865 and this triggered further exploration. Gold was found at Merri Merriwa, the run on which the town of Ravenswood stands, in 1867, although it was reported as being on the adjoining property of Ravenswood, the name by which the field was always known. The first claim made was the 'Perseverance', later to be known as the 'Donnybrook' mine. This has a connection with the Imperial since the success of the mine is said to have provided James Delaney with the capital with which to build the hotel.
Much of the gold initially found was in a triangle in and around three dry creeks which soon formed the focus for a tent and shanty settlement. Ravenswood gold was in reefs and a small battery was first set up in 1869, followed by the Lady Marian Mill in 1870. The settlement was also surveyed at this time, but by then the goldfield itself and the buildings and streets already established had shaped the town and the survey merely formalised what was already in place. This can still be seen clearly in the irregularity of the major streets. Ravenswood was gazetted as a town in 1871 and at this time it had 30 hotels and a population of about 1000.
It was also beginning to have problems as gold at deeper levels proved to be finely distributed in ore containing other minerals and was difficult to separate either by mechanical or chemical means. This required greater capital to fund various technologies for extraction. Many miners left for other fields, such as Charters Towers, discovered in 1871 and which quickly overtook Ravenswood as a gold producer and as the most important inland North Queensland town. Despite this, Ravenswood continued to prosper due to a steady, though reduced, production of gold, the discovery of silver at nearby Totley in 1878 and as a commercial centre. Shanties were replaced by sawn timber buildings and as single miners left, more families moved in. The stability of the town was assisted by linking of Ravenswood to the Townsville/Charters Towers railway line in 1884. In this year the Ravenswood Gold Company was formed and experimented with better means to process local ore. In 1899 the New Ravenswood Company was formed by A.L. Wilson who raised overseas capital, reopened old mines and used modern methods to rework tailings more efficiently. The shareholders recouped their investment in the first two years and this drew world-wide interest. It was the beginning of Ravenswood's most prosperous period.
In 1900 James Delaney applied for a licence for a new 18 bedroom hotel. He had been the licensee of the Commercial Hotel since 1896 when he married Anne Browne, possibly a connection of the owner of the town's most prominent hostelry, Browne's Ravenswood Hotel. The site purchased by Delaney was separated from Browne's by only 2 shops and he opened his splendid two storey Imperial Hotel in early 1901. On the night of the 18 April, 1901, the Imperial burned to the ground taking with it the whole block of buildings, with the exception of Browne's hotel, which had been protected by a brick wall. The damage was estimated at £20,000. The wall had possibly been erected as a firewall as both the Ravenswood Hotel and the shops Browne owned alongside it were timber, as were virtually all of the buildings in Ravenswood. Closely built timber structures and the lack of an adequate water supply for fire fighting made it possible for fires to race along a block until reaching a gap which acted as a fire break, a fact underlined by a similar fire on the opposite side of the street only three months later. The owners agreed to use the same architect, Eaton, Bates and Polin, to redesign the whole block and tenders were called in early May 1901. The shops between the Ravenswood and the Imperial were replaced by 'Browne's Buildings', Trehearn built a new shop for his former tenant, James Tait & Co. and the bakery and Commercial Hotel, both owned by the Estate of Michael Franzman, were replaced by 3 shops.
Ravenswood had produced bricks since its early years and a team of bricklayers is thought to have already been on the field, brought in by A.L. Wilson to rebuild mining structures such as chimneys. It is said that bricks were brought in from Townsville, but these may have been the cream face bricks applied in bands as a feature of the new buildings and seen to striking effect on the Imperial, which became the centrepiece of two rows of handsome shops.
Delaney died in July 1902 but had already made the hotel over the his wife in 1901. The Delaney's had four daughters, Mary Ellen (1896), Kathleen (1898), Teresa (1899) and Johanna (1901) who at the time of his death were aged between six years and eleven months. In the early years Mrs Delaney appears to have employed a manager, but in 1906 took over the management herself, pending a proposed transfer of the license. In the event, she continued to run the hotel, assisted by her daughters as they grew up.
The population of Ravenswood peaked in 1903 at 4700 but after 1908 the town began to decline. As time went by the cost of extraction grew as returns lessened and Wilson lost money searching for 'mother' lodes at deep levels and began to lay off miners. A strike in 1912 dragged out for eight months causing hardship and although judgement eventually favoured the miners, Wilson could no longer afford to employ many of them. The decline of the Ravenswood mines continued with the outbreak of war in 1914 increasing costs and disruptions to the labour supply. Buildings began to be sold for removal and in 1916 rail services were cut. In 1917 the New Ravenswood Company closed.
In the 1920s most of the buildings in Ravenswood were moved away, but the Imperial, being a brick building, could not be moved and continued to trade. Ravenswood Shire ceased to exist in 1929 and was absorbed into Dalrymple Shire. In 1930 Ravenswood became the first Queensland town to lose its railway connection. A small revival occurred during the 1930s and a shaft was sunk next to the hotel, but most gold was gained by applying more modern extraction processes to known sites. This did not make much difference to the life of the town and by the 1960s it had reached its lowest ebb with a population of about 70. At this point, tourists began to take an interest in the town, studies were made of the buildings and work began to conserve them. In the 1980s the whole town was listed by the Australian Heritage Commission and the National Trust of Queensland. In 1987 Carpentaria Gold Ltd opened a new open cut mine using modern heap leaching processes.
Throughout the difficult times in Ravenswood, the hotel continued to trade. Anne Delaney died in 1968 and the hotel was then run by Teresa (Tessa) who died in 1980 and Jo who died in 1989. The hotel then passed to Mary (Maisie), the only married daughter, and her three daughters, Kathleen having died early. In 1994 it was sold to local owners and still operates as a hotel. Ravenswood's two hotels have helped to maintain an economic life in the town and continue to offer accommodation and recreational facilities.
The buildings which flanked the hotel have been demolished, the last bay of Browne's Buildings within recent years, so the hotel now stands alone. The new owners have redecorated some of the bedrooms on the first floor and have removed some of the dining room furniture into storage to create a pool room at the front of the hotel.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
Renault Badge (1932 Renault Monaquatre) - History
AUTOMOTIVE BADGES ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72157631048301272
RENAULT ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690632985...
The Renault corporation was founded in 1899 as Société Renault Frères by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand. While Louis handled design and production, Marcel and Fernand managed the business. There first car was sold on Christmas Eve 1898, from 1903 early cars were powered by De Dion-Bouton engines but in 1903 the company began production of their own engines. The first major volume sale came in 1905 when Société des Automobiles de Place bought Renault AG1 cars to establish a fleet of taxis
From their earliest days Renault participated in the marathon city to city motor races, with Louis and Marcel as drivers. Sadly Marcel was killed in 1903 in an accident during the Paris-Madrid race and Louis never raced again. But the company remained successful participants including Ferenc Szisz winning the first Grand Prix motor racing event in 1906. Louis took full control of the company as the only remaining brother in 1906 when Fernand retired for health reasons dying in 1909. Renault grew rapidly thanks to the quality of their cars and the publicity from the racing exploits and in 1918 introduced mass production techniques.
During World War I, it branched out into ammunition, military aircraft engines alongside vehicles that included the revolutionary Renault FT tank.
Postwar the company continued to prosper and expanded into the manufacture of agricultural machinery, though the factory was beset by industrial relations problems. The bonnet badge changed from circular to the familiar and continuing diamond shape in 1925..During this period Renault set up a London based operation, In 1931 the company introduced its first Diesel engine for commercial vehicles. In the 1930s the company took over the aircraft manufacturer Caudron, focusing its production in small airplanes and acquired a stake in Air France, Renault Caudron airplanes set a number of world speed records during the 1930s and the company continued to develop tanks.
Renault was finally affected by the economic crisis in 1936. The company sold Caudron and spun off its foundry and aircraft engine divisions into related but autonomous operations, keeping its core automotive business, between 1936 and 1938 Renault factories were hit by by labour disputes and strikes, which were dealt with harshly.
Following Frances capitulation in World War 2, Renault produced trucks for the Nazis, and as a result the RAF launched a major bombing campaign in March 1942, dropping 460 tons of bombs on Billancourt, an attempt to rebuild was thwarted by the USAF in September 1943.
Following liberation the Billancourt plant reopened. but progress was slow in a poisonous atmosphere of capitalist collaboration and communist resistance, politically Billancourt was a communist stronghold..
Meanwhile, the provisional government accused Louis Renault of collaborating with the Germans. and as a result of the harsh treatment of workers in the 1936 disputes he was left with few friends. he was arrested on 23 September 1944, and incarcerated at Fresnes prison where he died on 24 October 1944 in questionable circumstances while awaiting trial.
The company was nationalised by de Gaulle's Government in January 1946 and experienced a Commercial revival along with continued labour unrest, that was to continue until 1980, with the introduction of a succession of new models. During the 1950s, Renault absorbed small French heavy vehicles' manufacturers (Somua and Latil) and in 1955 merged them with its own truck and bus division to form the Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Equipements Mécaniques (Saviem). During the mid seventies the already broad-based company diversified into more industries and continued to expand globally, including South East Asia.
By 1980 the company was successful on both road and track, but was losing around a billion francs a month totalling 12.5 billion in 1984. The government intervened and Georges Besse was installed as chairman; he set about cutting costs dramatically, selling many of Renault's non-core assets (Volvo stake, Gitane, Eurocar and Renix), withdrawing almost entirely from motorsports and laying off many employees. By 1986 deficits had halved but Besse was murdered by the communist terrorist group Action Directe in November 1986. He was replaced by Raymond Lévy, who continued Besse's initiatives, slimming the company enough that by the end of 1987, Renault was more or less financially stable, and the company with the help of ever newer models began to return to financial health,
It was eventually decided that the company's state-owned status was a detriment and in 1995 the company was privatised. his new freedom allowed the company to venture once again into markets in Eastern Europe and South America, including a new factory in Brazil and upgrades for its infrastructure in Argentina and Turkey.
Today Renault is listed as the Worlds 10th largest automaker with its headquarters in Bilancourt it sells just over half its produce outside of Europe. With subsidiaries Dacia in Romania and Renault Samsung Motors from South Korea, Renault has a 43.4% controlling stake in Nissan of Japan, a 37% indirectly-owned stake in AvtoVAZ of Russia and a small interest in Daimler-Benz. Renault also owns subsidiaries RCI Banque (automotive financing), Renault Retail Group (automotive distribution) and Motrio (automotive parts). Renault has various joint ventures, including Oyak-Renault (Turkey), Renault Pars (Iran) . .
Diolch am 95,628,897 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr.
Thanks for 95,628,897 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated.
Shot 10.07.2022, at Walsall Classic Car Show, Walsall Arboretum, Walsall REF 161-322
I know, I know, and I agree. It's springtime and it's high time to lay off the all-dark color choices and bring out the warmer color section of my wardrobe. But in my defense, it's been rather cool in Madison lately, and these leggings are insulated.
The editions will continue until morale improves. Or there’s no one left these companies can lay off.
The JAS 39 is IMO one of the coolest looking fighters around. Sadly, the same cannot really be said of this model. The small scale generated some unavoidable compromises that don't really do SAAB's engineers justice. It looks decent from above; other angles, not so much.
I actually had this finished before moving, but didn't take photos. After this and my even poorer F-104 I think I'm going to lay off the fighters and concentrate more on heavies.