Great picture from July 1992 issue of CAR. Re-discovered this recently when clearing some things out of the loft. The article was a feature about running a bargain Jag E-Type for a week. I forget the price paid now, but it wasn't a pristine example!

 

The Jag was last taxed in June 2002. Could still exist in a barn somewhere I guess; if it does I suspect it'll be worth significantly more now than when it came off the road.

 

The Escort (a 1.3 L) managed until Feb '96. Looks like it has one of those backflash stickers.

 

The road looks vaguely familiar - possibly the M4 heading into London?

An article by me on 121 clicks "15 tips to take water Drops with refraction"

Pls click the link and Give your valuable opinions please........

 

The link 121clicks.com/tutorials/15-tips-to-take-water-drops-with-...

        

taken withTamron 90mm

 

www.taggalaxy.de/

 

My Blog aroonkalandy.blogspot.com/

 

To visit my Redbubble blog

Click Here

   

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This Image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed,

republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or trasmitted

in any forms or by any means, including electronic,

mechanical, photocopying & recording without My written

permission.

                 

New Update

 

Article presented in Man Cave Event!

 

Kamix Shirt & Jockstrap are available in 4 versions via Fatpack HUD

 

Signature Gianni · Belleza Jake · Legacy Male

 

Copy - No Mody - No Transfer

 

Remember, try the demo first!

 

BUY: rodexsl.com/

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Down%20town/

X-ray data from Chandra combined with the visible and near-infrared Hubble mosaic. Light from x-rays tends to occupy the places where voids have formed, likely as a result of hot winds and supernova shock waves impacting the walls of the cavity.

 

There is an article at the Chandra website regarding this object and what is being illustrated. You may read it here, if you wish:

chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/n1929/

 

The Hubble only version is here:

flic.kr/p/21xLgJx

 

I would like to thank Jonathan McDowell for showing me that the lowest and highest energy levels must be filtered out using the event file because they are too noisy, and Brian Wolven for tagging him into the Twitter thread that resulted in the discussion. I don't often ask for help because I feel like I am bothering people, but small things like this really make a difference for me.

 

Data from Observation ID 3356 from Proposal Number 03910326 were used to create the x-ray overlay.

X-ray Emission Mechanisms and Evolution of Superbubbles

 

Data from Proposal 14689 were used to create the Hubble image.

MYSST: Mapping Young Stars in Space and Time - The HII Complex N44 in the LMC

 

Violet and Magenta overlay: ACIS .30-7.00 keV

Red: WFC3/UVIS F814W

Green: Pseudo

Blue: WFC3/UVIS F555W

 

North is NOT up. It is 19.6° counter-clockwise from up.

 

An article in the Lapland University's Kide (Quartz) magazine about the "Northern Impressions" illustration series.

www.behance.net/gallery/Northern-impressions/2050095 my photo looks nice too, very Finnish ;)...

Check out my Night Time and Low Light Photography article in Issue 8 of Gimp Magazine here: gimpmagazine.org/issue8/

 

Here are the photos featured in the article: www.flickr.com/photos/imuttoo/sets/72157650318570766/

 

Article by RSPB

Blackbird indulging in behaviour known as sunning. This usually involves the bird adopting an unusual posture and deliberately positioning itself in sunlight. It may spread or raise its wings, fan its tail feathers, sit down, fluff the feathers on the head and back, and hold the head to one side, looking directly into the sun with one eye. In this country, sunning has been observed in blackbirds more often than any other species (Simmons, K.E.L. The Sunning Behaviour of Birds, Bristol Ornithologists Club, 1986).

No-one knows for certain the reasons birds do this and several theories have been proposed. However, sunning would appear to perform two separate functions: maintaining the bird's feathers in good condition, and helping to regulate it's temperature. There is even a suggestion that they do it simply because they enjoy it!

Precisely how sunning assists with the maintenance of feathers is not known, despite being widely studied. All birds have a gland on the rump, called an oil gland. The 'preen-oil' that this gland produces helps to keep the feathers flexible and hygienic. It has been suggested that the sun affects the preen-oil in the feathers in some beneficial manner, or that it helps to synthesize the Vitamin D from the preen-oil. This preen-oil also aids with waterproofing the birds' feathers. Additionally, the heat from the sun may stimulate activity in parasites within the feathers, making them more accessible when the bird starts to preen. Preening usually occurs directly after sunning.

 

I had the honor of writing an article for my favorite Lego blog on my recent experiences at various cons and why you should go to one. Give it a read and join the discussion if you're so inclined.

 

And if you haven't read the Manifesto before, you really should. It's some of the best-written commentary (present company excluded) on the Lego community you're likely to find anywhere.

 

Article link: keithlug.com/2017/09/15/convoluted/

 

I swear I will actually post a MOC one of these months.

Bill

I am featured as a part of an article on Flickr in the March issue of What Digital Camera magazine. I was thrilled when approached about doing an interview for the feature. Now, seeing the results, I am filled with emotions- happiness, amazement, shock and joy (just to name a few). It is still hard for me to believe and I can’t wait to get a ‘real’ copy in my little hands! Being in a magazine is a lifelong dream for me and I am so excited to share this experience with me Flickr friends and fans. Without all of you this would have remained only a dream! I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for helping to make this girl’s dream a reality!

 

I copied the text below for those of us who do not have superhero eyes. I hope some of you enjoy learning a little more about me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Carolina is a graphic artist and self-confessed 'computer geek' who has one of the most unusual Flickr photostreams, in that all of the photographs are of her. Her stunning looks and often provocative poses has also made it one of the most visited too, with nearly three million views. It isn't an original idea of course, but what elevates Carolina's work is the skill and artistry involved in their creation.

 

'I love having my photo taken' confesses Carolina, who discovered Flickr through a friend. 'In the beginning I thought it would be fun to post photos of myself wearing my collection of Juicy Couture clothing. After my photos began to get more popular I started pursuing a lifelong dream of modeling. I grew up in a family that was always taking photos and I have always loved being on both sides of the camera'

Carolina studied photography at college, and is an avid consumer of fashion photography. Some of her pictures are self-portraits but most are a collaboration with her partner Allen. 'We work well together,' she continues. 'I come up with most of the ideas, including styling, locations and poses. I also do any Photoshop post processing. Allen is great at directing and shooting.'

Carolina is very prolific. 'I like to post a new photo everyday. It keeps me motivated. My mind is always thinking of new ideas. At weekends we go out to locations I've thought of during the week.'

Carolina and Allen use an Olympus E1 and E500. 'I love the Four-Thirds system and have several lenses,' she enthuses. 'We are also lucky enough to have a studio in our home, with both continuous and flash lighting systems, and a 10ft backdrop which is kept erected all of the time, as if it were furniture. That motivates us for those unplanned shots too.'"

 

www.whatdigitalcamera.com/

Fredrick ‘Mickey’ Hill said killed by masked policemen

 

www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/McNeill--JFJ-call-for-invest...

 

A very sad but common story in Jamaica, about the killing of a young man name Sonnieko Williams by the Jamaican Police. The article was written by someone making a concern appeal for help on Facebook.

 

The last time we spoke, Sonnieko told me that he wanted to go down to Pulse and see if he could become a model. He asked me if i had a link.

 

He had been doing menial jobs to send himself to school since he was 9 years old. At 20, we were having our final conversation as we both walked off the hill. He had been heading to Heart Trust NTA to register for school which was to begin for him in January where he was to pursue his talent in the culinary arts.

 

The first few times i encountered Sonnieko, it was because he would hail me by name long before I knew his. "Wahgwaan (My Name)" he would say to me and i would acknowledge him, but i remember asking few people around me repeatedly' "Who is that youth; he always calls me by name and i dont even know him." Eventually i came to understand that he worked for a prominent family on the hill, doing odd jobs in the yard.

 

Other than his vibrant smile and his consistent hail, Sonnieko never had much to say. He was a great listener; a young man who was only a few steps from greatness. There is not one member of the community of Skyline Drive who did not love him; including those who did not know him well.

 

Skyline Drive is divided by a chasm which was created in heavy rains many years ago. As a result, through way traffic has come to a halt on this hill. The only vehicles that drive here belong to persons that live here or visitors of persons that live here.

 

A half hour before his death, his friends who were on my side of the chasm called him and told him to forward and linkup. He had told them he was stewing a pot; indulging in the one thing which would have freed him in life; his desire to feed people. His friends on his side of the chasm told me that he had then finished making breakfast, from which some of them had eaten.

 

There is a wanted man who lives in Jacks Hill. I will not disclose his alias. Apparently the police received intelligence that this particular wanted man had ventured out and was headed toward the chasm. Whomever called the police also stated that the wanted man had been dressed in a grey hoodie.

 

Hoodie's are commonplace dress on Skyline Drive. Not only because of threat of Tomas, but because the weather here on any normal day is a bit chilly. Sonnieko ventured out of his house to go meet up with his friends. He passed a crowd of people by the corner shop who he greeted cheerfully. He had a small comb in the front of his hair as he usually did, and was wearing a grey hoodie.

 

Having left the shop he continued down the road.

 

Maybe thirty seconds later persons at the shop saw one police van come hurtling around the corner skidding in the mud as they went. On the other side of the chasm, two police vans parked and officers dressed completely in blue with knee guards on scampered into Rita Marley's front garden, which is the only way to get to the other side.

 

Unawares, Sonnieko kept walking toward the chasm.

 

Sitting in my house, on my side of the chasm, I heard four gunshots. I wondered to myself who could possibly be shooting on the hill. As soon as that thought was completed i heard six more shots fired, and then another five, the last five sounding like that of a heavier firearm and the first ten sounding like those of smaller arms.

 

I called a friend of mine who lives across the chasm, and he told me that he had been further up the road, but that he had seen some police vehicles pass him. He said when they passed him they slowed beside him and he heard one of them say, " No anno him dat"

 

I put on my shoes and went next door to the music studio where I spoke with the producer who said he had heard nothing. Continuing outside i reached up onto the road to see a police van speeding down the road. The other was sitting at the edge of the chasm, still throttling, with no-one in it. A policeman shouted: "We kill one a dem, and we not makin the rest of them get weh!" A group of police then walked out of Rita's garden into their vehicles and drove away.

 

I walked through the garden.

 

The last time i saw Sonnieko, I was walking through the garden. My head was down as i was carefully observing the (treacherous when wet) terrain. Hearing footsteps i lifted my head to see Sonnieko walking toward me. He broke into a smile. With an outstretched hand he said' "Wah Gwaan (My Name)!" I replied, "Big up youself mi yout" He said, "Dont say a word" and continued along as i went on my way.

 

When i got to the other side of the garden, I walked around the first bend in the road and saw a group of people up ahead. They were gathering around a particular area. As i got closer, i saw a small pink comb with blood and brain marrow spattered across and around it. There were two feet of blue slippers as well with blood dribbled across them.

 

I got there just in time to see his mother come running out of her house and down the road from the other direction headed toward the crowd. She screamed at the crowd asking them: "Who see dem!" Who see!" "Nobody dont see mama", was the reply. She crumbled into a heaving heap, with a cry that cut the sky open.

 

The rain began to fall. The people wished Tomas had come. If Tomas had come, someone said; this would never happen.

The friend i called who had seen the police pass up the road was there, dressed also in a hoodie. His hoodie though was black.

 

After shooting the innocent 20 yr old whom they had mistaken for someone who did not even slightly fit his description, they scooped up his remains and drove hastily out of the community, pointing their guns in the direction of persons who stuck their heads out of their homes hoping to figure out what had just happened.

 

I gave my tv away one month before World Cup. I do not own a radio. Some persons wonder why and have asked me. Hopefully the following paragraph will tell why.

 

Four new police vehicles arrived on the scene of the crime, cordoned off the area and began to take pictures. They told the community members that they received a report that the team who had been there earlier were doing a patrol through the hill, came upon a group of men and came under heavy gunfire. Does this sound too familiar? When i found myself speaking to these new officers, their response to me was to ask me if it does not seem illogical that the highly trained police would just drive up and shoot an innocent man; i told them that was exactly the point of what took place. They told me not to swear his innocence. They told me that I am not with this young man every minute of the day and therefore can not state that he did not have a gun on him. I told them that in as much as they were asking me to be objective in my assesment, they should be objective enough in theirs to also accept the possibility that my friend, Sonnieko was killed in cold blood..

 

CVM arrived on the scene but not on the side of the chasm where the people were. The police had cordoned off the road and would not allow the media to cross the crime scene. I wonder what the news report on CVM will say tonight.

 

Even more so, i wonder if justice will come to this humble family of the hills who have done nothing but respect each other and their community, and occasionally wear grey hoodie's when going to look for a friend.

 

It could very well have been me, coming home from a trip to the corner shop. I too own a hoodie. But that day, maybe my life would have been saved as my hoodie is brown. But maybe if I had seen Sonnieko at the shop, as is typical I would have told him to wait on me, and together we would have been walking back around. And I am sure the story would have been that two cronies were killed. I almost wish I was among the dead, so persons could clearly see that someone they knew well had been killed as well. Someone who more persons of in positions of power could vouch for in a personal way. Some have been heard to be saying that my story is one side of the story. I know Sonnieko. Maybe if they killed me too, some of you would take another look at this case.

 

After a trip to Maddens Funeral Home, Sonnieko's mother found that he had recieved three shots. Two to his back, and one to his head. The shot that hit him in the head from the back pushed his forehead out of his body just above his eye.

 

The family needs a lawyer to represent their case. They CAN NOT afford one. If anyone in such capacity has read this letter and is moved to acting, whether through funding the process or giving legal aid pro-bono. Please. Contact me.

 

Let it not be said that this is a moving story. Let it be said that this was a spark, and that cumulatively we began a fire that forever changed the course of our nation’s history. Without that, this story would not have been moving, nor would it have moved anything or anyone into action.

   

I WRITE THESE NOTES FULLY COGNIZANT THAT MY ACTIONS COULD MAKE ME A TARGET. I HOWEVER AM WILLING TO STAND FOR CHANGE.

 

The bigger issue is that, by law, when the police shoot someone, they are supposed to carry them to hospital immediately. There was no crime scene cordoned off immediately with police left on scene. Due to this, considering the fact that when the investigating officers arrived on scene they told the community that they were informed that the unit had been fired upon, i surmise a gun will be produced. I also surmise that the gun will have Sonnieko's fingerprints on it, probably placed there on the journey from the hill to KPH, by putting his dead hands on to the gun.

 

Sonnieko died for a reason. He died because he has the right friends, in the right positions of power, and with the ability to make things happen. The bigger issue is that the system is designed to accomodate the possiblity of corruption in the JCF. This system is the (My Name)e system which has caused the unlawful deaths for numerous youths across the island, none of whom had the voice to speak for them after their passing.

 

Sonnieko's death was not just an isolated unlawful act. It is the product of a flawed system of justice, or might i say a perfected system of injustice, which allows officers of the (law) to cover their tracks when they make poor judgement and without accosting their victims, murder them from many metres away.

 

Sonnieko's death is a spark. We are the fire. We must be the change that will affect the history of our island going forward. I knew Sonnieko was destined for greatness. There could be no greater outcome than this, for Sonnieko's passing. Let us unite to achieve this end.

 

Join the group for updates at the following link:

www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_174337319244302

  

The Trango Towers are a group of dramatic granite spires located on the north side of the Baltoro Glacier, in Baltistan, a district of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan (formerly Northern Areas). They are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. The Towers offer some of the largest cliffs and most challenging rock climbing in the world. The highest point in the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower, 6,286 m (20,608 ft). (Note: all elevations in this article are subject to significant uncertainty: it is not clear if they have ever been determined precisely, and sources vary.) The east face of the Great Trango Tower features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop.

  

Illustrated 1881 article in The Graphic. Cromer in Norfolk.

Discarded, for the moment, until the puppies return.

 

We're Here, still, ordinary.

 

Hand-held with remote triggered strobe & auto focus. A macro would have been perfect for today.

 

USS Wasp (CV-7)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other ships of the same name, see USS Wasp.

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2010)

USS Wasp (CV-7).jpg

USS Wasp entering Hampton Roads

Class overview

Name: Wasp-class aircraft carrier

Operators: United States Navy

Preceded by: Yorktown class

Succeeded by: Essex class

Built: 1936–40

In commission: 1940–42

Planned: 1

Completed: 1

Lost: 1

History

United States

Name: Wasp

Namesake: USS Wasp (1814)

Ordered: 19 September 1935

Builder: Fore River Shipyard

Laid down: 1 April 1936

Launched: 4 April 1939

Sponsored by: Mrs. Charles Edison[1]

Commissioned:

 

25 April 1940

(first Commanding Officer: Captain John W. Reeves, Jr.)

 

Struck: 15 September 1942

Honors and

awards: American Defense Service Medal ("A" device) / American Campaign Medal/European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (1 star) / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star) / World War II Victory Medal

Fate: Sunk by IJN I-19, 15 September 1942

General characteristics

Type: Aircraft carrier

Displacement:

 

As built: 14,700 long tons (14,900 t) (standard)

19,116 long tons (19,423 t) (full load)

 

Length:

 

688 ft (210 m) (waterline)

741 ft 3 in (225.93 m) (overall)

 

Beam:

 

80 ft 9 in (24.61 m) (waterline)

109 ft (33 m) (overall)

 

Draft: 20 ft (6.1 m)

Installed power: 70,000 shp (52,000 kW)

Propulsion:

 

2 × Parsons steam turbines

6 × boilers at 565 psi

2 × shafts

 

Speed: 29.5 kn (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph)

Range: 12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)

Complement:

 

1,800 officers and men (peacetime)

2,167 (wartime)

 

Sensors and

processing systems: CXAM-1 radar[2]

Armament:

 

As Built:

8 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns

16 × 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 cal anti-aircraft guns

24 × .50 in (13 mm) machine guns

 

Armor:

 

As Built:

60 lb (27 kg) STS conning tower

3.5 in side and 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)50 lb deck over steering gear

 

Aircraft carried: As built: Up to 100

Aviation facilities:

 

3 × elevators

4 × hydraulic catapults (2 flight deck, 2 hangar deck)

 

USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940 and lost in action in 1942. She was the eighth ship named USS Wasp, and the sole ship of a class built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time. As a reduced-size version of the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier hull, Wasp was more vulnerable than other United States aircraft carriers available at the opening of hostilities. Wasp was initially employed in the Atlantic campaign where Axis naval forces were perceived as less capable of inflicting decisive damage. After supporting the occupation of Iceland in 1941, Wasp joined the British Home Fleet in April 1942 and twice ferried British fighter aircraft to Malta. Wasp was then transferred to the Pacific in June 1942 to replace losses at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. After supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal, Wasp was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-19 on 15 September 1942.

 

Contents

 

1 Design

2 Service history

2.1 Inter-war period

2.2 World War II

2.2.1 Atlantic Fleet

2.2.2 Pacific Fleet

3 Loss

4 Awards

5 References

6 External links

 

Design

 

Wasp was a product of the Washington Naval Treaty. After the construction of the carriers Yorktown and Enterprise, the U.S. was still permitted 15,000 long tons (15,000 t) to build a carrier.

Wasp was the first carrier fitted with a deck edge elevator.

 

The Navy sought to squeeze a large air group onto a ship with nearly 25% less displacement than the Yorktown-class. In order to save weight and space, Wasp was constructed with low-power machinery (compare Wasp's 75,000 shp (56,000 kW) machinery with Yorktown's 120,000 shp (89,000 kW), Essex-class's 150,000 shp (110,000 kW), and the Independence-class's 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)).

 

Additionally, Wasp was launched with almost no armor, modest speed and, more significantly, no protection from torpedoes. Absence of side protection of the boilers and internal aviation fuel stores "doomed her to a blazing demise". These were inherent design flaws that were recognized when constructed but could not be remedied within the allowed tonnage.[3] These flaws, combined with a relative lack of damage control experience in the early days of the war, were to prove fatal.[citation needed]

 

Wasp was the first carrier fitted with a deck edge elevator. The elevator consisted of a platform for the front wheels and an outrigger for the tail wheel. The two arms on the sides moved the platform in a half-circle up and down between the flight deck and the hangar deck.

Service history

Inter-war period

 

She was laid down on 1 April 1936 at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts; launched on 4 April 1939, sponsored by Carolyn Edison (wife of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison), and commissioned on 25 April 1940 at the Army Quartermaster Base, South Boston, Massachusetts, Captain John W. Reeves, Jr. in command.

 

Wasp remained at Boston through May, fitting out, before she got underway on 5 June 1940 for calibration tests on her radio direction finder gear. After further fitting out while anchored in Boston harbor, the new aircraft carrier steamed independently to Hampton Roads, Virginia; anchoring there on 24 June. Four days later, she sailed for the Caribbean in company with destroyer Morris.

 

En route, she conducted the first of many carrier qualification tests. Among the earliest of the qualifiers was Lieutenant, junior grade David McCampbell, who later became the Navy's top-scoring "ace" in World War II. Wasp arrived at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in time to "dress ship" in honor of Independence Day.

 

A fatal incident marred the carrier's shakedown. On 9 July, one of her Vought SB2U-2 Vindicator dive bombers crashed 2 nautical miles (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) from the ship. Wasp bent on flank speed to close, as did the plane-guarding destroyer Morris. The latter's boats recovered items from the plane's baggage compartment, but the plane itself had gone down with its crew of two.

 

Wasp departed Guantanamo Bay on 11 July and returned to Hampton Roads four days later. There, she embarked planes from the 1st Marine Air Group and took them to sea for qualification trials. Operating off the southern drill grounds, the ship and her planes honed their skills for a week before the Marines and their planes were disembarked at Norfolk, and the carrier moved north to Boston for post-shakedown repairs.

 

While at Boston, she fired a 21-gun salute and rendered honors to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose yacht, Potomac, stopped briefly at the Boston Navy Yard on 10 August.

 

Wasp departed the Army Quartermaster Base on the 21st to conduct steering drills and full-power trials. Late the following morning, she got underway for Norfolk, Virginia. For the next few days, while destroyer Ellis operated as plane guard, Wasp launched and recovered her aircraft: fighters from Fighter Squadron 7 (VF-7) and scout bombers from Scouting Squadron 72 (VS-72). The carrier put into the Norfolk Navy Yard on 28 August for repair work on her turbines – alterations which kept the ship in dockyard hands into the following month. Drydocked from 12–18 September, Wasp ran her final sea trials in Hampton Roads on 26 September 1940.

 

Now ready to join the fleet and assigned to Carrier Division 3, Patrol Force, Wasp shifted to Naval Operating Base, Norfolk (NOB Norfolk) from the Norfolk Navy Yard on 11 October. There she loaded 24 Curtiss P-40 fighters from the Army Air Corps' 8th Pursuit Group and nine North American O-47A reconnaissance aircraft from the 2nd Observation Squadron, as well as her own spares and utility unit Grumman J2F Duck flying boats on the 12th. Proceeding to sea for maneuvering room, Wasp flew off the Army planes in a test designed to compare the take-off runs of standard Navy and Army aircraft. That experiment, the first time that Army planes had flown from a Navy carrier, foreshadowed the use of the ship in the ferry role that she performed so well in World War II.

 

Wasp then proceeded on toward Cuba in company with destroyers Plunkett and Niblack. Over the ensuing four days, the carrier's planes flew routine training flights, including dive-bombing and machine gun practices. Upon arrival at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Wasp's saluting batteries barked out a 13-gun salute to Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis, Commander, Atlantic Squadron, embarked in battleship Texas on 19 October.[1]

 

For the remainder of October and into November, Wasp trained in the Guantanamo Bay area. Her planes flew carrier qualification and refresher training flights, while her gunners sharpened up their skills in short-range battle practices at targets towed by the new fleet tug Seminole.

Wasp on 27 December 1940

 

Her work in the Caribbean finished, Wasp sailed for Norfolk and arrived shortly after noon on 26 November. She remained at the Norfolk Navy Yard through Christmas of 1940. Then, after first conducting degaussing experiments with the survey ship Hannibal, she steamed

independently to Cuba.

 

Arriving at Guantanamo Bay on 27 January 1941, Wasp conducted a regular routine of flight operations into February. With destroyer Walke as her plane guard, Wasp operated out of Guantanamo and Culebra, conducting her maneuvers with an impressive array of warships—battleship Texas, carrier Ranger, heavy cruisers Tuscaloosa, Wichita, and a host of destroyers. Wasp ran gunnery drills and exercises, as well as routine flight training evolutions into March. Underway for Hampton Roads on 4 March, the aircraft carrier conducted a night battle practice into the early morning hours of the 5th.

 

During the passage to Norfolk, heavy weather sprang up on the evening of 7 March. Wasp was steaming at standard speed, 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h). Off Cape Hatteras, a lookout spotted a red flare at 22:45, then a second set of flares at 22:59. At 23:29, with the aid of her searchlights, Wasp located the stranger in trouble. She was the lumber schooner George E. Klinck, bound from Jacksonville, Florida, to Southwest Harbor, Maine.

 

The sea, in the meantime, worsened from a state 5 to a state 7. Wasp lay to, maneuvering alongside at 00:07 on 8 March. At that time, four men from the schooner clambered up a swaying Jacob's ladder buffeted by gusts of wind. Then, despite the raging tempest, Wasp lowered a boat, at 00:16, and brought the remaining four men aboard from the foundering 152 ft (46 m) schooner.[1]

 

Later that day, Wasp disembarked her rescued mariners and immediately went into drydock at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The ship received vital repairs to her turbines. Portholes on the third deck were welded over to provide better watertight integrity, and steel splinter shielding around her 5 in (130 mm) and 1.1 in (28 mm) batteries was added. Wasp was one of 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar.[2] After those repairs and alterations were finished, Wasp got underway for the Virgin Islands on 22 March, arriving at St. Thomas three days later. She soon shifted to Guantanamo Bay and loaded maritime supplies for transportation to Norfolk.[1]

 

Returning to Norfolk on 30 March, Wasp conducted routine flight operations out of Hampton Roads over the ensuing days, into April. In company with Sampson, the carrier conducted an abortive search for a downed patrol plane in her vicinity on 8 April. For the remainder of the month, Wasp operated off the eastern seaboard between Newport, Rhode Island, and Norfolk conducting extensive flight and patrol operations with her embarked air group. She shifted to Bermuda in mid-May, anchoring at Grassy Bay on the 12th. Eight days later, the ship got underway in company with the heavy cruiser Quincy and the destroyers Livermore and Kearny for exercises at sea before returning to Grassy Bay on 3 June. Wasp sailed for Norfolk three days later with the destroyer Edison as her anti-submarine screen.

 

After a brief stay in the Tidewater area, Wasp headed back toward Bermuda on 20 June. Wasp and her escorts patrolled the stretch of the Atlantic between Bermuda and Hampton Roads until 5 July, as the Atlantic Fleet's neutrality patrol zones were extended eastward. Reaching Grassy Bay on that day, she remained in port a week before returning to Norfolk, sailing on 12 July in company with heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa and destroyers Grayson, Anderson, and Rowan.

 

Following her return to Norfolk on 13 July 1941, Wasp and her embarked air group conducted refresher training off the Virginia Capes. Meanwhile, the situation in the Atlantic had taken on a new complexion, with American participation in the Battle of the Atlantic only a matter of time, when the United States took another step toward involvement on the side of the British. To protect American security and to free British forces needed elsewhere, the United States made plans to occupy Iceland. Wasp played an important role in the move.

 

Late on the afternoon of 23 July, while the carrier lay alongside Pier 7, NOB Norfolk, 32 Army Air Forces (AAF) pilots reported on board "for temporary duty". At 06:30 the following day, Wasp's crew watched an interesting cargo come on board, hoisted on deck by the ship's cranes: 30 P-40Cs and three PT-17 trainers from the AAF 33rd Pursuit Squadron, 8th Air Group, Air Force Combat Command, home-based at Mitchel Field, New York. Three days later, four newspaper correspondents – including the noted journalist Fletcher Pratt — came on board.

 

The carrier had drawn the assignment of ferrying those vital army planes to Iceland because of a lack of British aircraft to cover the American landings. The American P-40s would provide the defensive fighter cover necessary to watch over the initial American occupying forces. Wasp slipped out to sea on 28 July, with the destroyers O'Brien and Walke as plane guards. The heavy cruiser Vincennes later joined the formation at sea.

 

Within a few days, Wasp's group joined the larger Task Force 16—consisting of the battleship Mississippi, the heavy cruisers Quincy and Wichita, five destroyers, the auxiliary Semmes, the attack transport American Legion, the stores ship Mizar, and the amphibious cargo ship Almaack. Those ships, too, were bound for Iceland with the first occupation troops embarked. On the morning of 6 August, Wasp, Vincennes, Walke, and O'Brien parted company from Task Force 16 (TF 16). Soon thereafter, the carrier turned into the wind and commenced launching the planes from the 33rd Pursuit Squadron. As the P-40s and the trio of trainers droned on to Iceland, Wasp headed home for Norfolk, her three escorts in company. After another week at sea, the group arrived back at Norfolk on 14 August.

 

Wasp put to sea again on 22 August for carrier qualifications and refresher landings off the Virginia capes. Two days later, Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, shifted his flag from the light cruiser Savannah to Wasp while the ships lay anchored in Hampton Roads. Underway on the 25th, in company with Savannah and the destroyers Monssen and Kearny, the aircraft carrier conducted flight operations over the ensuing days. Scuttlebutt on board the carrier had her steaming out in search of the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which was reportedly roaming the western Atlantic in search of prey. Suspicions were confirmed for many on the 30th when the British battleship HMS Rodney was sighted some 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) away, on the same course as the Americans.

 

In any event, if they had been in search of a German raider, they did not make contact with her. Wasp and her escorts anchored in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad on 2 September, where Admiral Hewitt shifted his flag back to Savannah. The carrier remained in port until 6 September, when she again put to sea on patrol "to enforce the neutrality of the United States in the Atlantic".

 

While at sea, the ship received the news of a German U-boat unsuccessfully attempting to attack the destroyer Greer. The U.S. had been getting more and more involved in the war; American warships were now convoying British merchantmen halfway across the Atlantic to the "mid-ocean meeting point" (MOMP).

 

Wasp's crew looked forward to returning to Bermuda on 18 September, but the new situation in the Atlantic meant a change in plans. Shifted to the colder climes of Newfoundland, the carrier arrived at Placentia Bay on 22 September and fueled from the oiler Salinas the following day. The respite in port was a brief one, however, as the ship got underway again, late on the 23rd, for Iceland. In company with Wichita, four destroyers, and the repair ship Vulcan, Wasp arrived at Hvalfjörður, Iceland, on the 28th. Two days earlier, Admiral Harold R. Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations had ordered American warships to do their utmost to destroy whatever German or Italian warships they found.

 

With the accelerated activity entailed in the US Navy's conducting convoy escort missions, Wasp put to sea on 6 October in company with Vincennes and four destroyers. Those ships patrolled the foggy, cold, North Atlantic until returning to Little Placentia Bay, Newfoundland on the 11th, anchoring during a fierce gale that lashed the bay with high winds and stinging spray. On 17 October, Wasp set out for Norfolk, patrolling en route, and arrived at her destination on the 20th. The carrier soon sailed for Bermuda and conducted qualifications and refresher training flights en route. Anchoring in Grassy Bay on 1 November, Wasp operated on patrols out of Bermuda for the remainder of the month.

 

October had seen the incidents involving American and German warships multiplying on the high seas. The Kearny was torpedoed on 17 October, the Salinas on the 28th, and in the most tragic incident that autumn, Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life on 30 October. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, tension between the U.S. and Japan increased almost with each passing day.

 

Wasp slipped out to sea from Grassy Bay on 3 December and rendezvoused with Wilson. While the destroyer operated as plane guard, Wasp's air group flew day and night refresher training missions. In addition, the two ships conducted gunnery drills before returning to Grassy Bay two days later, where she lay at anchor on 7 December 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.[1]

World War II

Atlantic Fleet

Wasp and the heavy cruiser Wichita in Scapa Flow.

 

Meanwhile, naval authorities felt considerable anxiety that French warships in the Caribbean and West Indies were prepared to make a breakout and attempt to get back to France. Accordingly, Wasp, the light cruiser Brooklyn, and the destroyers Sterett and Wilson, departed Grassy Bay and headed for Martinique. Faulty intelligence gave American authorities in Washington the impression that the Vichy French armed merchant cruiser Barfleur had gotten underway for sea. The French were accordingly warned that the auxiliary cruiser would be sunk or captured unless she returned to port and resumed her internment. As it turned out, Barfleur had not departed after all, but had remained in harbor. The tense situation at Martinique eventually dissipated, and the crisis abated.

 

With tensions in the West Indies lessened considerably, Wasp departed Grassy Bay and headed for Hampton Roads three days before Christmas, in company with the Long Island, and escorted by the destroyers Stack and Sterett. Two days later, the carrier moored at the Norfolk Navy Yard to commence an overhaul that would last into 1942.

 

After departing Norfolk on 14 January 1942, Wasp headed north and touched at NS Argentia, Newfoundland, and Casco Bay, Maine. On 16 March, as part of Task Group 22.6 (TG 22.6), she headed back toward Norfolk. During the morning watch the next day, visibility lessened considerably; and, at 06:50, Wasp's bow plunged into the Stack's starboard side, punching a hole and completely flooding the destroyer's number one fireroom. Stack was detached and proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where her damage was repaired.

 

Meanwhile, Wasp made port at Norfolk on the 21st without further incident. Shifting back to Casco Bay three days later, she sailed for the British Isles on 26 March, with TF 39 under the command of Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr., on the Washington. That force was to reinforce the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy. While en route, Rear Admiral Wilcox was swept overboard from the battleship and drowned. Although hampered by poor visibility conditions, Wasp planes took part in the search. Wilcox's body was spotted an hour later, face down in the raging seas, but it was not recovered due to the weather and the heavy seas.[1]

 

Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, who flew his flag on the Wichita, assumed command of TF 39. The American ships were met by a force based around the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh on 3 April. Those ships escorted them to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. While there, a Gloster Gladiator flown by Captain Henry Fancourt of the Royal Navy made the first landing of the war by a British plane on an American aircraft carrier when it landed on Wasp.[citation needed]

 

While the majority of TF 39 joined the British Home Fleet — being renumbered to TF 99 in the process — to cover convoys routed to North Russia, Wasp departed Scapa Flow on 9 April, bound for the Clyde estuary and Greenock, Scotland. On the following day, the carrier sailed up the Clyde River, past the John Brown Clydebank shipbuilding facilities. There, shipyard workers paused long enough from their labors to accord Wasp a tumultuous reception as she passed. Wasp's impending mission was an important one – one upon which the fate of the island bastion of Malta hung. That key isle was then being pounded daily by German and Italian planes. The British, faced with the loss of air superiority over the island, requested the use of a carrier to transport planes that could wrest air superiority from the Axis aircraft. Wasp drew ferry duty once again to participate in Operation Calendar, one of many Malta Convoys.

Spitfires and Wildcats aboard Wasp on 19 April 1942.

 

Having landed her torpedo planes and dive bombers at Hatston in Orkney, Wasp loaded 47 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V fighters of No. 603 Squadron RAF at Glasgow on 13 April, then departed on the 14th, this was the start of "Operation Calendar". Her screen consisted of Force "W" of the Home Fleet – a group that included the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the anti-aircraft cruisers HMS Cairo and Charybdis. Madison and Lang also served in Wasp's screen.

 

Wasp and her consorts passed through the Straits of Gibraltar under cover of the pre-dawn darkness on 19 April, avoiding the possibility of being discovered by Spanish or Axis agents. At 04:00 on 20 April, Wasp spotted 11 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters on her deck and quickly launched them to form a combat air patrol (CAP) over Force "W". Meanwhile, the Spitfires were warming up their engines in the hangar deck spaces below. With the Wildcats patrolling overhead, the Spitfires were brought up singly on the after elevator, spotted for launch, and then given the go-ahead to take off. One by one, they roared down the deck and over the forward rounddown, until each Spitfire was aloft and winging toward Malta.

HMS Eagle accompanies Wasp on her second voyage to Malta

 

When the launch was complete, Wasp retired toward Gibraltar, having safely delivered her charges. However, those Spitfires, which flew in to augment the dwindling numbers of Gladiator and Hurricane fighters, were tracked by efficient Axis intelligence and their arrival pinpointed. Most of the Spitfires were destroyed by heavy German air raids which caught many planes on the ground.

 

As a result, it looked as if the acute situation required a second ferry run to Malta. Accordingly, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, fearing that Malta would be "pounded to bits", asked President Roosevelt to allow Wasp to have "another good sting." Roosevelt responded in the affirmative. Wasp loaded another contingent of Spitfire Vs at King George V Dock Glasgow and sailed for the Mediterranean on 3 May. Again, Wasp proceeded unmolested. This time, the British carrier HMS Eagle accompanied Wasp, and she, too, carried a contingent of Spitfires bound for Malta. The Spitfires for Eagle had been loaded at Greenock, James Watt Dock, from lighters. This was the start of Operation Bowery.

 

The two Allied carriers reached their launching points early on Saturday, 9 May, with Wasp steaming in column ahead of Eagle at a distance of 1,000 yards (910 m). At 06:30, Wasp commenced launching planes – 11 Wildcats of VF-71 to serve as CAP over the task force. First, Eagle flew off her 17 Spitfires in two waves; then Wasp flew off 47 more. The first Spitfire took off at 06:43, piloted by Sergeant-Pilot Herrington, but lost power soon after takeoff and plunged into the sea, with loss of pilot and aircraft. The other planes flew off safely and formed up to fly to Malta. An auxiliary fuel tank on another aircraft failed to draw; without the additional fuel the pilot could not make Malta, and his only alternatives were to land on board Wasp – with no tailhook – or to ditch and take his chances in the water.

 

Pilot Officer Jerrold Alpine Smith chose the former. Wasp bent on full speed and recovered the plane at 07:43. The Spitfire came to a stop just 15 feet (4.6 m) from the forward edge of the flight deck, making what one Wasp sailor observed to be a "one wire" landing. With her vital errand completed, Wasp set sail for the British Isles while a German radio station broadcast the startling news that the American carrier had been sunk; on 11 May, Prime Minister Churchill sent a message to Wasp: "Many thanks to you all for the timely help. Who said a wasp couldn't sting twice?"[1]

Pacific Fleet

 

Early in May 1942, almost simultaneously with Wasp's second Malta run—Operation Bowery—the Battle of the Coral Sea had been fought, then the Battle of Midway a month later. These battles reduced the U.S. to three carriers in the Pacific, and it became imperative to transfer Wasp.

 

Wasp was hurried back to the U.S. for alterations and repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard. During the carrier's stay in the Tidewater region, Captain Reeves – who had been promoted to flag rank – was relieved by Captain Forrest P. Sherman on 31 May. Departing Norfolk on 6 June, Wasp sailed with TF 37 which was built around the carrier and the battleship North Carolina and escorted by Quincy, San Juan and six destroyers. The group transited the Panama Canal on 10 June, at which time Wasp and her consorts became TF 18, the carrier flying the two-star flag of Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes.

 

Arriving at San Diego on 19 June, Wasp embarked the remainder of her complement of aircraft, Grumman TBF-1 Avengers and Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses, the former replacing the old Vindicators. On 1 July, she sailed for the Tonga Islands as part of the convoy for the five transports carrying the 2nd Marine Regiment.

 

Meanwhile, preparations to invade the Solomon Islands were proceeding to disrupt the Japanese offensive to establish a defensive perimeter around the edge of their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

Wasp's flight deck, 1942.

 

On 4 July, while Wasp was en route to the South Pacific, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal. Allied planners realized Japanese operation of land-based aircraft from that key island would imperil Allied control of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia area. Plans were made to evict the Japanese before their Guadalcanal airfield became operational. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley — with experience as Special Naval Observer in London— was detailed to take command of the operation; and he established his headquarters at Auckland, New Zealand. Since the Japanese had a foothold on Guadalcanal, time was of the essence; preparations for an allied invasion proceeded with secrecy and speed.

 

Wasp — together with the carriers Saratoga and Enterprise — was assigned to the Support Force under Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. Under the tactical command of Rear Admiral Noyes, embarked on Wasp, the carriers were to provide air support for the invasion and initiation of the Guadalcanal campaign.

 

Wasp and her airmen practiced day and night operations to hone their skills until Captain Sherman was confident that his airmen could perform their mission. "D-day" had originally been set for 1 August, but the late arrival of some of the transports carrying Marines pushed the date to 7 August.[1]

 

En route, Wasp's engines became a problem with a 14 July message from CTF 18 to CINCPAC reporting that she had suffered a casualty to her starboard high pressure turbine that even at lowest speeds was making a loud scraping noise limiting speed to only fifteen knots under her port engine thus making air operations entirely dependent on favorable wind. The ship's company was undertaking repairs, including lifting the turbine casing. Repairs to the rotor itself were proposed at "BLEACHER" (Tongatapu, Tonga Islands),[4] where the destroyer tender USS Whitney (AD-4) was stationed, with four days estimated for the work there. Wasp arrived 18 July for those repairs and on 21 July (21 0802 July) CTF 18 reported Wasp had successfully completed a trial making turns for twenty-seven knots with pre-casualty twenty-five knot operations possible with reduced reliability. Replacement blades available at Pearl Harbor and replacement of all three rows of blading was recommended after the ongoing operations were completed.[1][5][6]

 

Wasp, screened by the heavy cruiser San Francisco and Salt Lake City, and four destroyers, steamed westward toward Guadalcanal on the evening of 6 August until midnight. Then, she changed course to the eastward to reach her launch position 84 nautical miles (97 mi; 156 km) from Tulagi one hour before dawn. Wasp's first combat air patrol fighter took off at 05:57.

 

The early flights of Wildcats and Dauntlesses were assigned specific targets: Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, Halavo, Port Purvis, Haleta, Bungana, and the radio station dubbed "Asses' Ears".

 

The Wildcats, led by Lieutenant Shands and his wingman Ensign S. W. Forrer, patrolled the north coast toward Gavatu. The other two headed for the seaplane facilities at Tanambogo. The Grummans, arriving simultaneously at daybreak, surprised the Japanese and strafed patrol planes and fighter-seaplanes in the area. Fifteen Kawanishi H8K "Emily" flying boats and seven Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane fighters were destroyed by Shands' fighters during low-level strafing passes. Shands was credited with four "Rufes" and one "Emily", while his wingman, Forrer, was credited with three "Rufes" and an "Emily". Lieutenant Wright and Ensign Kenton were credited with three patrol planes apiece and a motorboat tending the "Emilys"; Ensigns Reeves and Conklin were each credited with two and shared a fifth patrol plane between them. The strafing Wildcats also destroyed an aviation fuel truck and a truck loaded with spare parts.

 

Post-attack assessment estimated that the antiaircraft and shore battery sites pinpointed by intelligence had been destroyed by the Dauntless dive bombers in their first attack. None of Wasp's planes was shot down; but Ensign Reeves, landed his Wildcat aboard Enterprise after running low on fuel.

 

At 07:04, Wasp launched 12 Avengers loaded with bombs for use against land targets, and led by Lieutenant H. A. Romberg. The Avengers silenced resistance by bombing Japanese troop concentrations east of the knob of land known as Hill 281, in the Makambo-Sasapi sector, and the prison on Tulagi Island.

 

Some 10,000 men had been put ashore during the first day's operations against Guadalcanal, and met only slight resistance. On Tulagi, however, the Japanese resisted stoutly, retaining about 1⁄5 of the island by nightfall. Wasp, Saratoga, and Enterprise — with their screens – retired to the southward at nightfall.

F4Fs launching off Guadalcanal, 7 August 1942.

 

Wasp fighters led by Lieutenant C. S. Moffett maintained a continuous CAP over the transport area until noon on 8 August. Meanwhile, a scouting flight of 12 Dauntlesses led by Lieutenant Commander E. M. Snowden searched a sector to a radius of 220 nautical miles (250 mi; 410 km) from their carrier, extending it to include all of the Santa Isabel Island and the New Georgia groups.

 

The Dauntless pilots made no contact with the Japanese during their two hours in the air; but at 08:15, Snowden sighted a "Rufe" some 40 nautical miles (46 mi; 74 km) from Rekata Bay and shot the plane down with fixed .50 in (13 mm) machine guns.

 

Meanwhile, a large group of Japanese planes approached from Bougainville to attack the transports off Lunga Point. Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner ordered all transports to get underway and to assume cruising disposition. Eldridge was leading a formation of Dauntlesses from VS-71 against Mbangi Island, off Tulagi. His rear seat gunner, Aviation Chief Radioman L. A. Powers, assumed the formation of Japanese planes were friendly until six Zeroes bounced the first section with 12 unsuccessful firing passes.

 

Meanwhile, the leader of the last section of VS-71 – Lieutenant, junior grade Robert L. Howard – unsuccessfully attacked twin-engined Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" medium bombers heading for the American transports, and was engaged by four Zeroes escorting the bombers. Howard shot down one Zero with his fixed .50 in (13 mm) guns while his rear gunner, Seaman 2nd Class Lawrence P. Lupo, discouraged Japanese fighters attacking from astern.[1]

 

Wasp's casualties for the entire action on 7 and 8 August were:

 

One fighter pilot, Ens. Thaddeus J. Capowski, missing in action when he was separated from the formation. His parents (Mr and Mrs Walter Capowski of Yonkers NY) were notified of TJC's MIA status in early September 1942; shortly thereafter TJC was found safe and alive.

One scout bomber shot down; pilot Lieut. Dudley H. Adams wounded by explosive bullets and recovered by Dewey; Radioman-gunner Harry E. Elliott, ARM3c, missing, reported to have been killed before the crash.

One fighter landed in the water due to propeller trouble; pilot recovered.

One fighter crashed on deck; pilot injured; plane jettisoned overboard.

One fighter crashed into barrier first day; repaired and flown second day.

 

Total plane losses for Wasp were 3 Wildcat fighters and 1 Dauntless scout bomber. Against these, her planes destroyed 15 enemy flying boats, 8 floatplane fighters, and 1 Zero.[7]

 

At 18:07 on 8 August, Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher recommended to Ghormley, at Nouméa, that the air support force be withdrawn. Fletcher, concerned by the large numbers of Japanese planes that had attacked on the 8th, reported that he had only 78 fighters left (he had started with 99) and that fuel for the carriers was running low. Ghormley approved the recommendation, and Wasp joined Enterprise and Saratoga in retiring from Guadalcanal. By midnight, the landing had attained the immediate objectives. Japanese resistance – except for a few snipers – on Gavutu and Tanombogo had been overcome. Early on 9 August, a Japanese surface force engaged an American one in the Battle of Savo Island and retired with minimal damage after sinking four Allied heavy cruisers off Savo Island, including two that had served with Wasp in the Atlantic: the Vincennes and the Quincy. The early and unexpected withdrawal of the support force, including Wasp, when coupled with Allied losses in the Battle of Savo Island, jeopardized the success of the operation in the Solomons.

 

After the initial day's action in the Solomons campaign, the carrier spent the next month engaged in patrol and covering operations for convoys and resupply units headed for Guadalcanal. The Japanese began transporting reinforcements to contest the Allied forces.

 

Wasp was ordered south by Vice Admiral Fletcher to refuel and did not participate in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August. After fueling on 24 August Wasp hurried to the battle zone. Her total aircraft group was 26 Wildcats, 25 SBD Dauntlesses, and 11 TBF Avengers. (One SBD was earlier lost on 24 August by ditching in the sea because of engine trouble).[8] On the morning of 25 August, Wasp launched a search mission. The SBD of pilot Lieut. Chester V. Zalewski shot down two of Aichi E13A1 "Jake" floatplanes of the Atago (Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō's flagship). But the SBDs sighted no ships. The Japanese fleet had withdrawn out of range. At 13:26 on 25 Augustus, Wasp launched a search/attack mission of 24 SBDs and 10 TBFs against the convoy of Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka that seemed to be still within range. Although the SBDs shot down a flying boat, they couldn't find the enemy ships anymore.[8]

 

During the battle on 24 August Enterprise was damaged and had to return to port for repairs. Saratoga was torpedoed a week later and departed the South Pacific war zone for repairs as well. That left only two carriers in the southwest Pacific: Hornet—which had been in commission for only a year—and Wasp.[1]

Loss

 

On Tuesday, 15 September 1942, the carriers Wasp and Hornet and battleship North Carolina—with 10 other warships—were escorting the transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal as reinforcements. Wasp had drawn the job of ready-duty carrier and was operating some 150 nautical miles (170 mi; 280 km) southeast of San Cristobal Island. Her gasoline system was in use, as planes were being refueled and rearmed for antisubmarine patrol missions; and Wasp had been at general quarters from an hour before sunrise until the time when the morning search returned to the ship at 10:00. Thereafter, the ship was in condition 2, with the air department at flight quarters. There was no contact with the Japanese during the day, with the exception of a Japanese four-engined flying boat downed by a Wasp Wildcat at 12:15.

 

About 14:20, the carrier turned into the wind to launch eight Wildcats and 18 Dauntlesses and to recover eight Wildcats and three Dauntlesses that had been airborne since before noon. Lt. (jg) Roland H. Kenton, USNR, flying a F4F3 of VF-71 was the last aircraft off the deck of Wasp. The ship rapidly completed the recovery of the 11 planes, she then turned easily to starboard, the ship heeling slightly as the course change was made. At 14:44 a lookout reported "three torpedoes ... three points forward of the starboard beam".[1]

 

A spread of six Type 95 torpedoes were fired at Wasp at about 14:44 from the tubes of the B1 Type submarine I-19. Wasp put over her rudder hard to starboard to avoid the salvo, but it was too late. Three torpedoes struck in quick succession about 14:45; one actually broached, left the water, and struck the ship slightly above the waterline. All hit in the vicinity of the ship's gasoline tanks and magazines. Two of the spread of torpedoes passed ahead of Wasp and were observed passing astern of Helena before O'Brien was hit by one at 14:51 while maneuvering to avoid the other. The sixth torpedo passed either astern or under Wasp, narrowly missed Lansdowne in Wasp's screen about 14:48, was seen by Mustin in North Carolina's screen about 14:50, and struck North Carolina about 14:52.[9]

Wasp on fire shortly after being torpedoed.

 

There was a rapid succession of explosions in the forward part of the ship. Aircraft on the flight and hangar decks were thrown about and dropped on the deck with such force that landing gears snapped. Planes suspended in the hangar overheads fell and landed upon those on the hangar deck; fires broke out almost simultaneously in the hangar and below decks. Soon, the heat of the intense gasoline fires detonated the ready ammunition at the forward anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side, and fragments showered the forward part of the ship. The number two 1.1 in (28 mm) mount was blown overboard.

 

Water mains in the forward part of the ship had been rendered inoperable: there was no water available to fight the fire forward, and the fires continued to set off ammunition, bombs, and gasoline. As the ship listed 10-15° to starboard, oil and gasoline, released from the tanks by the torpedo hit, caught fire on the water.

 

Captain Sherman slowed to 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h), ordering the rudder put to port to try to get the wind on the starboard bow; he then went astern with right rudder until the wind was on the starboard quarter, in an attempt to keep the fire forward. At that point, flames made the central station unusable, and communication circuits went dead. Soon, a serious gasoline fire broke out in the forward portion of the hangar; within 24 minutes of the initial attack, there were three additional major gasoline vapor explosions. Ten minutes later, Sherman decided to abandon ship, as all fire-fighting was proving ineffectual. The survivors would have to be disembarked quickly to minimise loss of life.

 

After consulting with Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, Captain Sherman ordered "abandon ship" at 15:20. All badly injured men were lowered into rafts or rubber boats. Many unwounded men had to abandon from aft because the forward fires were burning with such intensity. The departure, as Sherman observed it, looked "orderly", and there was no panic. The only delays occurred when many men showed reluctance to leave until all the wounded had been taken off. The abandonment took nearly 40 minutes, and at 16:00—satisfied that no one was left on board—Sherman abandoned the ship.

 

Although the submarine hazard caused the accompanying destroyers to lie well clear or to shift position, they carried out rescue operations until Laffey, Lansdowne, Helena, and Salt Lake City had 1,946 men embarked. The fires on Wasp, drifting, traveled aft and there were four violent explosions at nightfall. Lansdowne was ordered to torpedo the carrier and stand by until she was sunk.[1] Lansdowne's Mark 15 torpedoes had the same unrecognized flaws reported for the Mark 14 torpedo. The first two torpedoes were fired perfectly, but did not explode, leaving Lansdowne with only three more. The magnetic influence exploders on these were disabled and the depth set at 10 feet (3.0 m). All three detonated, but Wasp remained afloat for some time, sinking at 21:00.[10] 193 men had died and 366 were wounded during the attack. All but one of her 26 airborne aircraft made a safe trip to carrier Hornet nearby before Wasp sank, but 45 aircraft went down with the ship. Another Japanese submarine, I-15, duly observed and reported the sinking of the Wasp, as other US destroyers kept I-19 busy avoiding 80 depth charges. I-19 escaped safely.[1][11]

My article this week is all about Beverage Photography. So here are 3 LIGHTING SETUPS (AND 2 TIPS) FOR TASTY BEVERAGE LIGHTING.

 

Check out the whole article here:

www.diyphotography.net/3-lighting-setups-2-tips-tasty-bev...

 

Strobist info:

Beer

Studiostrobe thru softbox and between scrim subject left @ 1/16

Studiostrobe thru softbox subject back and right for kick @ 1/8

Studiostrobe with yellow gel pointed at background @ 1/4

silver reflector subject right

 

Pepsi

Studiostrobe thru softbox subject left and right @ 1/8

Bare studiostrobe back of subject pointing at white seamless paper @ 1/2

Scrim camera right

 

Coke

Studiostrobe thru softbox subject back left and right @ 1/4

YN-470 speedlight with snoot top of subject @ 1/4

archive of Casa Cuseni, an original newspaper article, preserved by Daphne Phelps, who hosted Danilo Dolci in Taormina.

  

archivio di Casa Cuseni, un articolo di giornale originale, conservato da Daphne Phelps, che ospitò a Taormina Danilo Dolci.

 

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

 

……………………………………………………………………….

  

A story of Sicily: the Sicilian Gandhi (but he was not Sicilian ...).

This photographic story is connected, at least in part, with the previous one, whose link is represented by the nephew of the painter Robert Kitson, Miss Daphne Phelps: in life she was a psychiatric social worker (she collaborated with Anna Freud, daughter by Sigmund Freud), on the death of his uncle in 1948 he moved to Sicily to take care of Casa Cuseni, having inherited it: initially he wanted to sell it and then return to England, instead he ended up falling in love with Taormina and Sicily, deciding to stay there for the rest of his life. Daphne ran Casa Cuseni welcoming paying guests, there are many illustrious names of artists, writers, well-known personalities who have stayed there: Danilo Dolci was one of these guests, and it is precisely about him that I wish to speak. He was born in 1924 in Sesana (Trieste), after a somewhat eventful life, in 1952 he moved to Trappeto (between Palermo and Trapani), a country among the poorest and most disadvantaged in Italy: that same year the first of numerous fasts, going to bed and fasting in the bed of a child who died of malnutrition, a protest that will end only when the authorities undertake to build a sewer. Danilo Dolci continues with numerous initiatives, from the publication of a book ("Banditi a Partinico", which makes public opinion aware of the poor living conditions of western Sicily, to this book and many others will follow), to the "strike at reverses ”, when the workers went on strike, hundreds of unemployed began to work to reactivate an abandoned municipal road, an initiative that was then stopped by the police; Dolci also initiates an activity of denunciation of the mafia phenomenon and its relations with politics. There are numerous certificates of esteem and solidarity that he receives from important personalities from Italy and abroad, but despite this, for others Danilo Dolci is a dangerous subversive, to be hindered, denigrated, locked up in prison. Yet Dolci does not pose as a guru, boss, or teacher, his working method is based on the conviction that change is based on the involvement and direct participation of those concerned, his idea of progress enhances local culture and skills; he tries, working closely with the people and the most disadvantaged and oppressed groups of western Sicily, to free the dormant creativity in every person, calling this research "maieutic", a term coming from philosophy, precisely from Socratic maieutics: it is "the 'art of the midwife ", every educational act is to bring to light all the inner potentialities of the one who wants to learn, like a mother who wants to give birth to her own child from her womb, so no to notions imparted a priori, yes to help the student to bring their knowledge to light, using dialogue as a tool; however, Socratic maieutics is unidirectional, while in Danilo Dolci's "reciprocal maieutics", knowledge comes out of experience and its sharing, therefore it presupposes the reciprocity of communication. During meetings with farmers and fishermen, the idea was born to build the dam on the Jato River, which is important for the economic development of the area, but also to remove a powerful weapon in the hands of the mafia, an instrument of power which controlled the few available water resources; however the request for "water for all" will be heavily hindered, popular mobilizations and long fasts will be necessary to finally see the project realized: now the dam exists, and others have been built, thus modifying the lives of thousands of people, with the development of numerous companies and cooperatives. Among the many activities of Dolci, thanks to the contribution of international experts, the experience of the Mirto Educational Center, attended by hundreds of children, should be mentioned. Returning to Daphne Phelps and Casa Cuseni, here is a lithograph by Tono Zancanaro, dedicated to the birth of one of Danilo Dolci's daughters, but, among the most important, there is a correspondence between the pacifist philosopher Bertrand Russel and Daphne Phelps, in which the English thinker invited Robert Kitson's niece to participate in the gatherings of progressive intellectuals and literary and scientific personalities of the time, among them, besides Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Carlo Levi, there was Danilo Dolci, sociologist, educator, still recognized today as one of the most important figures of nonviolence worldwide.

post Scriptum:

- the images with Danilo Dolci come from the Casa Cuseni archive: they are cuttings from original periodicals, often full pages, from English newspapers, carefully preserved by Miss Daphne Phelps; these images were also taken by photographing some pages of James McNeish's book, "Fire under the ashes - The life of Danilo Dolci";

- the photographs taken in various countries of Sicily, are prior to the covid-19 pandemic;

- thanks to the surgeon colleague dr. Franco Spadaro and his kind wife, Mrs. Mimma Cundari, owners of Casa Cuseni (declared in 1998, Italian National Monument), for their hospitality and availability, having made the Danilo Dolci archive available to me.

  

Una storia di Sicilia: il Gandhi siciliano (ma siciliano non era…).

Questo racconto fotografico, è connesso, almeno in parte, con quello precedente, il cui anello di congiunzione è rappresentato dalla nipote del pittore Robert Kitson, la signorina Daphne Phelps: lei nella vita era una assistente sociale psichiatrica (lei collaborava con Anna Freud, figlia di Sigmund Freud), alla morte dello zio nel 1948 si trasferì in Sicilia per occuparsi di Casa Cuseni, avendola ereditata: inizialmente la voleva vendere per poi ritornarsene in Inghilterra, invece finì con l’innamorarsi di Taormina e della Sicilia, decidendo di restarvi per il resto della sua vita. Daphne gestiva Casa Cuseni accogliendo ospiti paganti, numerosi sono i nomi illustri di artisti, scrittori, note personalità che vi hanno alloggiato: Danilo Dolci è stato uno di questi ospiti, ed è proprio di lui che desidero parlare. Egli nasce nel 1924 a Sesana (Trieste), dopo una vita un po’ movimentata, nel 1952 si trasferisce a Trappeto (tra Palermo e Trapani), un paese tra i più poveri e disagiati d’Italia: quello stesso anno inizia il primo di numerosi digiuni, coricandosi e digiunando nel letto di un bimbo morto per denutrizione, protesta che terminerà solo quando le autorità si impegneranno a costruire una fogna. Danilo Dolci prosegue con numerose iniziative, dalla pubblicazione di un libro (“Banditi a Partinico”, che mette a conoscenza dell’opinione pubblica delle misere condizioni di vita della Sicilia occidentale, a questo libro poi ne seguiranno molti altri), allo “sciopero alla rovescia”, quando i lavoratori fecero sciopero, centinaia di disoccupati si misero a lavorare per riattivare una strada comunale abbandonata, iniziativa però poi fermata dalla polizia; Dolci avvia anche una attività di denuncia del fenomeno mafioso e dei suoi rapporti con la politica. Numerosi sono gli attestati di stima e solidarietà che egli riceve da importanti personalità provenienti dall’Italia e dall’estero, ma nonostante ciò per altri Danilo Dolci è un pericoloso sovversivo, da ostacolare, denigrare, chiudere in prigione. Eppure Dolci non si atteggia né a santone, capo, od un maestro, il suo metodo di lavoro è basato sulla convinzione che il cambiamento è basato sul coinvolgimento e diretta partecipazione degli interessati, la sua idea di progresso valorizza la cultura e le competenze locali; egli cerca, lavorando a stretto contatto con la gente e le fasce più disagiate ed oppresse della Sicilia occidentale, di liberare la creatività sopita in ogni persona, chiamando tale ricerca “maieutica”, termine proveniente dalla filosofia, precisamente dalla maieutica socratica: è “l’arte della levatrice”, ogni atto educativo è far venire alla luce tutte le potenzialità interiori di colui che vuole imparare, al pari di una madre che vuol far nascere la propria creatura dal suo grembo, quindi no a nozioni impartite a priori, si ad aiutare lo studente a portare alla luce la propria conoscenza, usando il dialogo come strumento; però, la maieutica socratica è unidirezionale, mentre nella “maieutica reciproca” di Danilo Dolci, la conoscenza viene fuori dall’esperienza e dalla sua condivisione, quindi presuppone la reciprocità della comunicazione. Nel corso di riunioni con contadini e pescatori, nasce l’idea di costruire la diga sul fiume Jato, importante per lo sviluppo economico della zona, ma anche togliere un’arma potente in mano alla mafia, che faceva del controllo delle poche risorse idriche disponibili uno strumento di potere, però la richiesta di “acqua per tutti” verrà pesantemente ostacolata, saranno necessarie le mobilitazioni popolari, lunghi digiuni, per vedere infine realizzato il progetto: ora la diga esiste, ed altre sono state poi realizzate, modificando in tal modo la vita di migliaia di persone, con lo svilupparsi di numerose aziende e cooperative. Da menzionare, tra le tante attività di Dolci, grazie al contributo di esperti internazionali, l’esperienza del Centro Educativo di Mirto, frequentato da centinaia di bambini. Ritornando a Daphne Phelps e Casa Cuseni, qui è presente una litografia di Tono Zancanaro, dedicata alla nascita di una delle figlie di Danilo Dolci, ma, cosa tra le più importanti, esiste un carteggio tra il filosofo pacifista Bertrand Russel e Daphne Phelps, nel quale il pensatore inglese invitava la nipote di Robert Kitson a partecipare ai raduni di intellettuali progressisti e personalità letterarie e scientifiche dell’epoca, tra di loro, oltre Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre e Carlo Levi, c’era Danilo Dolci, sociologo, educatore, ancora oggi riconosciuto tra le figure di massimo rilievo della nonviolenza a livello mondiale.

 

post scriptum:

- le immagini con Danilo Dolci provengono dall'archivio di Casa Cuseni: sono ritagli di giornali originali dell'epoca, spesso pagine intere, provenienti da quotidiani inglesi, accuratamente conservati dalla signorina Daphne Phelps; tali immagini sono state realizzate fotografando anche alcune pagine del libro di James McNeish, "Fire under the ashes - The life of Danilo Dolci";

- le fotografie realizzate in diversi paesi della Sicilia, sono antecedenti alla pandemia da covid-19;

- si ringrazia il collega chirurgo dott. Franco Spadaro e la sua gentile consorte, signora Mimma Cundari, proprietari di Casa Cuseni (dichiarata nel 1998, Monumento Nazionale Italiano), per la loro ospitalità e disponibilità, avendo messo a mia disposizione l'archivio relativo a Danilo Dolci.

Extract from 'A Day on the Road' article from the Commercial Motor Magazine October 21st 1909.

 

A Motor-transport Contractor's Leyland Steam Wagon on Greasy Stone Setts in Lancashire.

Recounted by a Member of the Editorial Staff.

" It is twenty minutes past three, Sir!" announced the night porter, at the Park Hotel, Preston, one recent Monday morning, after he had already alarmed me by vigorously knocking on the door of my bedroom. I conveyed to him, with as much grace as I could muster at that early hour, an intimation that I was no longer asleep, and that there was no need to awaken

every other visitor in the hotel. I had arrived at Preston not more than four hours previously, after a most tiresome journey, by train and taxicab, from York, and, if my manner was rather short, I sincerely hope that the obliging official who aroused me on that morning has not since been consumed with grief on account of my hastily-spoken words. When I readied the coffee-room, and discovered that he had prepared a tempting breakfast for me, 1 felt more kindly disposed towards him. Having done full justice to the meal. I left the hotel in order to keep an appointment, at the running-shed of H. Viney and Co., Ltd., Motor-transport Engineers, of Strand Road, Preston, whence I was to start with a Levland " steamer " on its usual Monday's round. The Preston Town Council had evidently neglected to settle the previous quarter's account for street lighting, and, as the streets were absolutely deserted at that early hour, I gave up the attempt, unguided, to reach the running shed, and awaited the arrival of the wagon in Fishergate, along which thoroughfare the machine was bound to pass, on its way to Burnley.

This five-ton wagon and trailer are loaded up each Saturday, and the start is made not later than 4 a.m. on the Monday morning following for the places named, where over 200 cases of Whitbread's bottled stout and beer are delivered during 22 calls. This " round " forms part of a large contract, which is to extend over many years, with Whitbread and Co., Ltd. The total distance for this run is about 50 miles, and the total imposed load on the wagon and its trailer is nearly eight tons. When the wagon put in an appearance, in Fishergate, shortly after four o'clock, I made myself as comfortable as possible among the cases of bottled goods, and by 6.15 we had reached Blackburn, and the wagon was climbing the long stonesett-armoured hill on the road to

Burnley. The greasy state of the surface caused the wheels to skid very badly, and, had not the vehicle been skilfully handled by the men in charge, there might have been a serious accident; as it was, we ultimately surmounted the hill after the use of sacks. grit and—nausele. When nearing Church, at 7 a.m., we made our first halt for water, and again, just before entering Burnley, we took in a further supply, not because it was immediately needed, but so that we might be enabled to complete the delivery of the bulk of our cargo in Burnley and Brierfield without making further stops for watering. The first delivery, consisting of 20 cases of bottled stout and ale, was made at Burnley at 8.20 a.m., and at several other places in this town were further deliveries made.

Burnley's streets have an unenviable reputation among drivers of heavy commercial vehicles; many a wagon is forced, by the electric tramcars, on to the excessive side-fall of the roads, and, once its wheels slide into the gutter of a Burnley street, a steel-tired machine is only " pinched" out again with great difficulty. We made the last local delivery in the Burnley district at 10.30, at a point less than eight miles from the boundary line which separates Lancashire from Yorkshire. Brierfield was our next place of call ; here we left over 100 eases of bottled goods, and received the same number of " empties." I took a. photograph of the wagon when in the position to which it was backed, along a narrow lane some 30 yds. long, for unloading, and this view shows how little room there was to spare between the two walls and the sides of the vehicle; a slight error of judgment on the part of the driver, and he would have had the not too-substantially-built walls falling in on his wagon. In addition to this man, " Joe " Ridgley, and the stoker, a. loader accompanies this wagon, and his duties are particularly responsible; lie must not only "do his little bit " so far as the handling of the load is concerned, but he must also, in many cases, collect the aeccents for the goods delivered, and make due allowances for " returned empties," etc. These three men formed a. N cry cheery " crowd," and I was pleased to note that they showed genuine interest in their work, and, when not occupied in the handling of the load, each would find some little duty to perform in connection with the wagon or its trailer-duties which were discharged automatically, and without a grumble; in fact, the stoker's " chuckle" was something to remember for many a day. I was informed that he is an ex-army man who had been through the South-African campaign. I can imagine that such a nature as is habitually displayed by him would make him a very popular man amongst the Tommies after a hard da3's work. Having witnessed the completion of the exchange of full bottles for empty ones, I left the men to partake of their mid-day meal, and sought. out • a satisfying, if not too-appetising, meal for myself at a neighbouring hotel. We were all on the road again by 12.45, and, before leaving Brierfield, we took up more water, from a stone trough at the side of the road. This trough receives its supply from a spring in the side of a neighbouring bill, and, consequently, is " free " water to all comers. Notwithstanding this, the local authorities have posted a notice to the effect that the taking of water is prohibited. How much regard we paid to this notice may be judged by those readers who choose to examine the accompanying illustration of the notice and the tank in question. The " snaky" object at the lower right-hand corner is our suction hose. I may add that a

Yorkshire " was standing near by, also waiting to take in water, and a " limb of the law " was not many yards away. Legal proceedings, I am told, can only be taken if the watering steamer causes any obstruction to the electric trams, the tracks for which take up the greater part of the road. We collected the last of the empties, in Burnley, at three p.m., and made for Preston, via Padtham, Read, Whalley and Mellowbrook, then along the Blackburn road, and through Sandesbury, to Preston. A very large part of the road taken on the return journey is macadam, and, consequently, good time was made.

We arrived at Strand Road, Preston, about 6.30 p.m., and I was there

met by Mr. C. be M. Gosselin, the managing director of H. Viney and Co., Ltd., who very kindly showed me his trading books for the past year, and permitted MB to make certain extracts relating to the cost of running for his Leyland wagons. The vehicle which I accompanied is " No. 6 " of a fleet of similar machines operated by this company over an area bounded by Blackburn, Burnley, Oldham, Manchester and Wigan, a map of which district was reproduced on page 490 of our issue of the 19th August last. " No. 6 " was purchased two years ago, its condition at that time being little better than scrap iron. A considerable sum was expended on repairs, and the replacement of broken and worn-out parts, and thus a good and serviceable machine was created out of the old wreck. The cost of this initial overhaul was, of course, charged to capital account. Since it was put into service, the wagon, which usually draws a loaded trailer behind it, has maintained a weekly average of 161:1 miles, whilst the average weekly mileage for the whole of the company's vehicles of the fleet is 15611

'the total cost per mile run for " No. 6 " is is. 10. per mile, whereas the average for all the vehicles of the fleet is is. 24d. per mile. The latter amount is made up as follows :— This total cast per mile is higher than many of the figures which we have given, from time to time, for wagons in ordinary employment, but it must be noted that, for work of this class, three men are generally needed -hence, the high charge for wages.

Depreciation, too, is necessarily placed at a higher rate by a contractor working in such a district OS Lancashire than would be necessary in the ease of a private owner situated in a district where work is less strenuous. Viney and Co., Ltd., intends to build up a motor-haulage business on sound commercial lines, and the excellent relationship which exists between the management and the men clearly indicates the determination, of both sides, to attain success. It may, therefore, safely be assumed that

the figures we have given are on the liberal side, and take into account every possible charge and contingency against the vehicles. I may add that this company pays the following price for its stores: gear oil, is. per gallon ; cylinder oil, le. 6d_ per gallon ; paraffin for lamps, 5d. per gallon ; and coke, 70. per cwt., or 15s. per ton. The tare weight of " No. 6 " is 4 tons 19 cwt. ; its trailer weighs 1 ton 7 cwt.; and the gross weight to be moved, when both wagon and trailer are loaded, is 15 tons 6 cwt.

First ascent

Main article: First ascent of the Matterhorn

Whymper and party left Zermatt early in the morning of July 13, 1865, heading to the foot of the Hörnli ridge, which they reached 6 hours later (approximately where the Hörnli Hut is situated today). Meanwhile Carrel and six other Italian guides also began their ascent of the Italian ridge.

Despite its appearance, Whymper wrote that the Hörnli ridge was much easier to climb than the Italian ridge:

 

We were now fairly upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which from the Riffel, or even from the Furggen Glacier, looked entirely impracticable, were so easy that we could run about.[40]

 

The first ascent of the Matterhorn, by Gustave Doré

After camping for the night, Whymper and party started on the ridge. According to Whymper:

 

The whole of this great slope was now revealed, rising for 3,000 feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts were more, and others were less, easy; but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or left. For the greater part of the way there was, indeed, no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6.20 we had attained a height of 12,800 feet and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9.55, when we stopped for fifty minutes, at a height of 14,000 feet.[40]

When the party came close to the summit, they had to leave the ridge for the north face because "[the ridge] was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult than the face".[40] At this point of the ascent Whymper wrote that the less experienced Hadow "required continual assistance".[40] Having overcome these difficulties the group finally arrived in the summit area, with Croz and Whymper reaching the top first.

 

The slope eased off, and Croz and I, dashing away, ran a neck-and-neck race, which ended in a dead heat. At 1.40 p.m. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a footstep could be seen.[40]

Precisely at this moment, Carrel and party were approximatively 400 metres below, still dealing with the most difficult parts of the Italian ridge. When seeing his rival on the summit, Carrel and party gave up on their attempt and went back to Breuil.

 

The first descent of the Matterhorn, by Gustave Doré

After building a cairn, Whymper and party stayed an hour on the summit. Then they began their descent of the Hörnli ridge. Croz descended first, then Hadow, Hudson and Douglas, the elder Taugwalder, Whymper, with the younger Taugwalder coming last. They climbed down with great care, only one man moving at a time. Whymper wrote:

As far as I know, at the moment of the accident no one was actually moving. I cannot speak with certainty, neither can the Taugwalders, because the two leading men were partially hidden from our sight by an intervening mass of rock. Poor Croz had laid aside his axe, and in order to give Mr. Hadow greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his feet, one by one, into their proper positions. From the movements of their shoulders it is my belief that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round to go down a step or two himself; at this moment Mr. Hadow slipped, fell on him, and knocked him over.[41]

The weight of the falling men pulled Hudson and Douglas from their holds and dragged them down the north face. The Taugwalders and Whymper were left alive when the rope linking Douglas to the elder Taugwalder broke. They were stunned by the accident and for a time could not move until the younger Taugwalder descended to enable them to advance. When they were together Whymper asked to see the broken rope and saw that it had been employed by mistake as it was the weakest and oldest of the three ropes they had brought. They frantically looked, but in vain, for traces of their fallen companions. They continued their descent, including an hour in the dark, until 9.30 p.m. when a resting place was found. At daybreak the descent was resumed and the group finally reached Zermatt, where a search of the victims was quickly organized. The bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson were found on the Matterhorn Glacier, but the body of Douglas was never found. Although the elder Taugwalder was accused of cutting the rope to save himself and his son, the official inquest found no proof of this. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

La prima ascensione

Dopo avere congedato Michel Croz, impegnato con un altro cliente, Whymper si dispose a effettuare un nuovo tentativo con Jean-Antoine Carrel. Egli però si era impegnato con il Club Alpino Italiano per effettuare un tentativo tutto italiano, fortemente voluto da Quintino Sella. Una squadra italiana, formata da César e Jean-Antoine Carrel, Jean-Joseph Maquignaz e una quarta guida, partì per la vetta l'11 luglio seguendo la via italiana.[12][13] Ritornato a Zermatt, Whymper vi trovò un gruppo di compatrioti: Lord Francis Douglas, D. Hadow, e il reverendo Charles Hudson, accompagnati da tre guide, Peter Taugwalder padre e figlio, e Michel Croz che, rilasciato dal suo precedente cliente, si era unito ai tre britannici. I sette formarono una cordata unica, che il 13 luglio 1865 attaccò la salita per quella che è oggi la via normale svizzera. Dopo avere pernottato all'aperto i sette ripartirono il mattino dopo e arrivarono in vetta alle 13.40 del 14 luglio. Dalla vetta videro la squadra italiana guidata da Carrel, che si trovava alcune centinaia di metri più in basso; gli italiani visti i britannici in vetta, si ritirarono.[12]

 

La discesa fu funestata da un gravissimo incidente. I sette erano tutti legati insieme, con Michel Croz in testa, seguito da Hadow, Hudson, Douglas, Taugwalder padre, Whymper e Taugwalder figlio. Su un passaggio non particolarmente difficile Hadow scivolò e cadde addosso a Croz, che perse l'equilibrio; i due caddero per il precipizio sul versante svizzero, trascinando prima Hudson, poi Douglas. A questo punto la corda tra Douglas e Taugwalder padre si spezzò, e i tre superstiti videro i quattro compagni precipitare per oltre mille metri verso il sottostante ghiacciaio del Matterhorn. I due Taugwalder e Whymper riuscirono a rientrare in serata a Zermatt, dove diedero la notizia. Il 16 luglio una squadra di ricerca trovò le salme dei caduti, tranne quella di Lord Douglas; le salme furono recuperate il 19 luglio.[12]

 

Fu la prima grande tragedia dell'alpinismo moderno ed ebbe notevole eco nell'opinione pubblica.

Todas as Pesquisas e Fotos anexas obtidas via Internet

07 de Maio Homenageamos o Dia do Oftalmologista, Brasil

(artigo extenso e complexo, postarei em capítulos)

Parabéns a estes maravilhosos profissionais por este dia brilhante

***

All Research and Photos accompanying obtained via the Internet

We honor the May 7 Day of Ophthalmologists, Brazil

(Article extensive and complex, post in chapters)

Congratulations to these wonderful professionals on this bright day

***

Toutes les recherches et photos accompagnant obtenus via l'Internet

Nous honorons le 7 mai Journée des ophtalmologistes, le Brésil

(Article complet et complexe, après dans les chapitres)

Félicitations à ces merveilleux professionnels sur cette belle journée

***

***

***

YOUTUBE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce7t5FyfYOI

 

Por Deus, Amigos Queridos assinem por MISERICÓRDIA de nossas FLORESTAS...

Por tudo que já SUPLIQUEI e que posto novamente!!

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Amazonia/Pagin...

 

CONTINUO SUPLICANDO, QUANTAS VEZES FOREM NECESSÁRIAS!!

ASSINEM ESTAS PETIÇÕES, POR FAVOR...

- PARA SALVAR A AMAZÔNIA,

 

www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl

 

- PARA SALVAR AS FLORESTAS DO BRASIL,

- PARA VETAR AS MUDANÇAS DO CÓDIGO FLORESTAL !

 

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...

 

VAMOS LUTAR POR NOSSO PLANETA, PELAS NOSSAS FLORESTAS, PELOS INDÍGENAS (NOSSOS IRMÃOS), PELOS NOSSOS FILHOS, NETOS, BISNETOS...PELAS PRÓXIMAS GERAÇÕES...POR UM MUNDO MELHOR...

O PLANETA TERRA PEDE SOCORRO!!

TUDO OU NADA ESTÁ EM NOSSAS MÃOS,... BRASILEIROS!!

 

Muito obrigada,

 

Celisa

***

 

By God, Dear Friends sign of our forests for mercy ...

For all that ever I pleaded and put it back!

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...

 

CONTINUOUS Sulpice, as often as necessary!

Sign these petitions, PLEASE ...

- To save the Amazon,

 

www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl

 

- TO SAVE THE FORESTS OF BRAZIL

- To veto FOREST CODE CHANGES!

 

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...

 

WE FIGHT FOR OUR PLANET, FOR OUR FORESTS, INDIGENOUS BY (OUR BROTHERS), for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren for generations to come ... ... ... FOR A BETTER WORLD

ASKS HELP THE PLANET EARTH!

ALL OR NOTHING IS IN OUR HANDS, ... BRAZILIAN!

 

Thank you so much,

 

Celisa

***

 

Par Dieu, Chers Amis signe de nos forêts pour la miséricorde ...

Pour tout ce que j'ai plaidé et le remettre!

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...

 

Sulpice CONTINUE, aussi souvent que nécessaire!

S'il vous plaît signer ...

- Pour sauver l'Amazonie,

 

www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl

 

- Pour sauver les forêts du Brésil

- De mettre son veto CHANGEMENTS Code forestier!

 

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...

 

Nous luttons pour notre planète, pour nos forêts, AUTOCHTONES PAR (NOS FRÈRES), pour nos enfants, petits-enfants, arrière petits-enfants pour les générations à venir ... ... ... POUR UN MONDE MEILLEUR

DEMANDE AIDE LA PLANETE TERRE!

Tout ou rien est entre nos mains, ... Brésilienne!

 

Je vous remercie,

 

Celisa

***

 

Por Dios, queridos amigos: signo de nuestros bosques por la misericordia ...

Por todo lo que he declarado y poner de nuevo!

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...

 

CONTINUA Sulpice, cuantas veces sea necesario!

Firmar estas peticiones, por favor ...

- Para salvar el Amazonas,

 

www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl

 

- PARA SALVAR LOS BOSQUES DE BRASIL

- De vetar los cambios Código Forestal!

 

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...

 

LUCHAMOS POR NUESTRO PLANETA, PARA NUESTROS BOSQUES, POR INDÍGENAS (NUESTROS HERMANOS), para nuestros hijos, nietos, bisnietos para las generaciones futuras ... ... ... POR UN MUNDO MEJOR

PIDE AYUDA AL PLANETA TIERRA!

TODO O NADA ESTÁ EN NUESTRAS MANOS ... BRASIL!

 

Gracias,

 

Celisa

***

 

Per Dio, cari amici segno delle nostre foreste per pietà ...

Per tutto ciò che mai ho supplicato e rimetterlo!

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/O-que-fazemos/Am azonia/Pagin...

 

Sulpice CONTINUO, ogni qualvolta sia necessario!

SIGN queste petizioni, PER FAVORE ...

- Per salvare l'Amazzonia,

 

www.avaaz.org/po/belo_monte_people_vs_profits/?vl

 

- PER SALVARE LE FORESTE DEL BRASILE

- Per veto modifiche al codice FORESTA!

 

www.greenpeace.org/brasil/pt/Participe/Ciberativista/Codi...

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_sam/?cl=1419482907&v...

 

Lottiamo per IL NOSTRO PIANETA, PER I NOSTRI BOSCHI, indigene da parte (NOSTRI FRATELLI), per i nostri figli, nipoti, pronipoti per le generazioni a venire ... ... ... PER UN MONDO MIGLIORE

CHIEDE AIUTO DEL PIANETA TERRA!

Tutto o niente è nelle nostre mani, ... BRASILIANO!

 

Grazie,

 

Celisa

***

***

***

Dezenas de milhões de câes e gatos são ASSASSINADOS BRUTALMENTE, com INSTINTOS de CRUELDADE na CHINA !!

Amigos Queridos eu suplico, assinem esta PETIÇÃO, é um PEDIDO de Ativistas e Protetores de Animais que estão se mobilizando no MUNDO INTEIRO, em favor das vidas destes MÁRTIRES!!

Em DOIS MINUTOS pode-se assinar!! São seres INDEFESOS, eu ROGO, por Deus!!

 

www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...

Muito obrigada,

 

Celisa

***

 

Tens of millions of dogs and cats are brutally murdered, with instincts of cruelty in CHINA!

Dear Friends, I beg, sign this petition, it is a request for Activists and Animal Protectors who are mobilizing around the world, in favor of the lives of Martyrs!

In two minutes you can sign up! They are helpless, I pray, by God!

 

www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...

Thank you,

 

Celisa

***

 

Des dizaines de millions de chiens et de chats sont brutalement assassinés, avec des instincts de cruauté en Chine!

Chers amis, je vous prie, signez cette pétition, et une demande pour les activistes et les protecteurs des animaux qui se mobilisent autour du monde, en faveur de la vie des martyrs!

En deux minutes, vous pouvez vous inscrire! Ils sont impuissants, je prie, par Dieu!

 

www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...

Je vous remercie,

 

Celisa

***

 

Decenas de millones de perros y gatos son brutalmente asesinados, con los instintos de crueldad en China!

Queridos amigos, os ruego, firmen esta petición, y una petición de activistas y los protectores de animales que se movilizan en todo el mundo, a favor de la vida de los mártires!

En dos minutos se puede firmar para arriba! Están indefensos, te ruego, por Dios!

 

www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...

Gracias,

 

Celisa

***

 

Decine di milioni di cani e gatti vengono brutalmente assassinati, con istinti di crudeltà in CINA!

Cari amici, vi prego, firmare questa petizione e una richiesta di attivisti e protettori degli animali che si stanno mobilitando in tutto il mondo, a favore della vita dei martiri!

In due minuti puoi iscriverti! Sono impotente, io prego, per Dio!

 

www.change.org/petitions/the-chinese-government-stop-the-...

Grazie,

 

Celisa

***

***

***

Que Deus abençoe a todos os Queridos Amigos, principalmente nossas Queridas Amigas @rtbene, Blankita e Mag, e alivie o sofrimento daqueles que tanto necessitam.

Beijos em seus corações,

Celisa

***

May God bless all the Dear Friends, mainly our Dear Friends @rtbene, Blankita and Mag, relieve the suffering of those who so desperately need.

Kisses in your hearts,

Celisa

***

Que Dieu bénisse tous les chers amis, en particulier notre cher ami @rtbene, Blankita et Mag, et soulager la souffrance de ceux qui ont si désespérément besoin.

Bisous dans ton coeur

Celisa

***

Que Dios los bendiga a todos los queridos amigos, en especial nuestro querido amigo @rtbene, Blankita y Mag, y aliviar el sufrimiento de aquellos que tan desesperadamente necesitan.

Besos en tu corazón

Celisa

***

Che Dio benedica tutti i cari amici, soprattutto il nostro caro amico @rtbene, Blankita e Mag, e alleviare le sofferenze di coloro che così disperatamente bisogno.

Baci nel tuo cuore

Celisa

***

***

***

CONTINUO SUPLICANDO, QUANTAS VEZES FOREM NECESSÁRIAS!!

ASSINEM PELO AMOR DE NOSSO PLANETA, PELAS NOSSAS FLORESTAS, PELOS INDÍGENAS (NOSSOS IRMÃOS), PELOS NOSSOS FILHOS, NETOS, BISNETOS...PELAS PRÓXIMAS GERAÇÕES...POR UM MUNDO MELHOR...

O PLANETA TERRA PEDE SOCORRO!!

TUDO OU NADA ESTÁ EM NOSSAS MÃOS,... BRASILEIROS!!

 

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_brazil/?vl

 

***

CONTINUOUS Sulpice, as often as necessary!

SIGNED BY THE LOVE OF OUR PLANET, OUR FORESTS BY, FOR INDIGENOUS (our brothers), for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren for generations to come ... ... ... FOR A BETTER WORLD

ASKS FOR HELP THE PLANET EARTH!

ALL OR NOTHING IS IN OUR HANDS ... BRAZILIAN!

 

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_brazil/?vl

 

***

Sulpice CONTINUE, aussi souvent que nécessaire!

SIGNÉ PAR L'amour de notre planète, notre forêt par, pour les peuples autochtones (nos frères), pour nos enfants, petits-enfants, arrière petits-enfants pour les générations à venir ... ... ... POUR UN MONDE MEILLEUR

DEMANDE D'AIDE DE LA PLANETE TERRE!

Tout ou rien est entre nos mains ... Brésilienne!

 

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_brazil/?vl

 

***

Sulpice CONTINUO, cuantas veces sea necesario!

FIRMADO POR EL AMOR DE NUESTRO PLANETA, nuestros bosques, por indígenas (los hermanos), para nuestros hijos, nietos, bisnietos para las generaciones venideras ... ... ... POR UN MUNDO MEJOR

PIDE AYUDA AL PLANETA TIERRA!

TODO O NADA ESTÁ EN NUESTRAS MANOS ... BRASIL!

 

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_brazil/?vl

 

***

Sulpice CONTINUO, ogni qualvolta sia necessario!

FIRMATO L'AMORE DEL NOSTRO PIANETA, I NOSTRI BOSCHI, ad indigeni (i fratelli), per i nostri figli, nipoti, pronipoti per le generazioni a venire ... ... ... PER UN MONDO MIGLIORE

CHIEDE AIUTO PER IL PIANETA TERRA!

Tutto o niente è nelle nostre mani ... BRASILIANO!

 

www.avaaz.org/po/save_the_amazon_brazil/?vl

An English Electric 50 that is.......20 205 and 20 189 trundle through, a deserted, Witton station with 50 049 Defiance in tow on 0Z50 09.40 Kidderminster S.V.R. to East Grinstead.

Saw this article and it inspired me to find some American Beech to photograph and post:

 

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/urban-jungle/...

 

Excerpt:

Some trees stubbornly cling to their dead leaves throughout the winter. Pin oaks, scarlet oaks and American beeches are among a handful of local species that have marcescent leaves.

 

Marcescence, the persistence of withered tissue on a plant, occurs mostly on younger trees and on the juvenile parts (lower branches) of older trees, as shown at left.

 

Why would a tree evolve with this trait? Scientists think it may deter deer from feeding on a tree's nutritious twigs and buds. Dessicated leaves tend to be low in nutrients and difficult to digest, so their presence might cause a hungry deer to look elsewhere for food. By spring, when herbaceous greens have stolen the deer's attention, strong winds and expanding buds finally force a belated fall for the leaves with an added purpose.

LEAH GARCHIK writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I am informed by ADDA DADA , who never misses a party, that the winner of the Hunky Jesus Contest was TWERKING JESUS. And "Why carry your cross when you can ride it?" is what REBECCA ZITO when she spotted a cyclist so accessorized.'

 

In Wednesday's Leah Garchik column in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Dancing-in-t... ............................................................................................SISTER's of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE's 35th Annual HUNKY JESUS & FOXY MARY fun....The best thing about the Sister's show were the Marijuana 4/20 folks who incorrectly wandered into the Sister's party space...They were like "OMG, This is like , OZ, man."

  

Yes, it was.

 

Probably because it was the Sister's 35th Anniversary and it was an homage to the Wizard of Oz. The lawn in front of the stage was filled with red-paper poppies. There were several 'Cowardly Lions", many "Glenda the Good Witch", a couple of 'Bad Witches" including one on a bike...a very young 6-year old Judy Garland passing out Giradelli Chocolate, an awesome Scarecrow of indeterminate sex, a few Tin Men (and one obviously Tin Woman), and even a couple of 'munchkins'...yes, real little people. Though, ADDA DADA is happy to report that there were no Flying Monkeys.

 

THANK YOU to all the beautiful adults who let ADDA take their photos! (Everyone was properly asked & everyone consented.)

  

(These photos carry copyright protection. Do NOT post them elsewhere! )

============================

THE 'NUDES' ARE PROPERLY MARKED EITHER RESTRICTED OR MODERATE ON ADDA'S SITE! (EVERYONE PHOTOGRAPHED IS OVER 18-YEARS-ONLY!) There is NO stolen PORN on my site!

============================

NOTE: MY photos are NOT to be used or reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Understand clearly these are my photographs and use of them by anyone is an infringement of my copyrights and personal artistic property!

 

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal

*************************************** ***********

NOTE:

 

Viewers should be aware that these photos are viewed by a wide variety of folks and inappropriate X & R rated & RUDE comments shall be removed forthwith

 

Article sur Le jardin d'ébène : ebonygarden.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/le-turk/

Miami

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the city in Florida. For other uses, see Miami (disambiguation).

Miami, Florida

Metropolitan City

City of Miami

A collage of images of Miami.

From top, left to right: Skyline of Downtown, Freedom Tower, Villa Vizcaya, Miami Tower, Virginia Key Beach, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, American Airlines Arena, Port of Miami, the Moon over Miami

Flag of Miami, Florida

FlagOfficial seal of Miami, Florida

Seal

Nickname(s): "Magic City", "The Gateway to the Americas", "Capital of Latin America"[1]

Location in Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida

Location in Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida

Miami is located in Florida MiamiMiami

Show map of Florida

Show map of the US

Show all

Location in Florida and the United States

Coordinates: 25°46′31″N 80°12′32″WCoordinates: 25°46′31″N 80°12′32″W

CountryUnited States

StateFlorida

CountyMiami-Dade

Settled1825

IncorporatedJuly 28, 1896

Named forMayaimi

Government

• TypeMayor–commission

• MayorTomás Regalado (R)

• City ManagerDaniel J. Alfonso

Area[2]

• Metropolitan City55.27 sq mi (143.1 km2)

• Land35.68 sq mi (92.4 km2)

• Water19.59 sq mi (50.7 km2)

• Urban1,116.1 sq mi (2,891 km2)

• Metro6,137 sq mi (15,890 km2)

Elevation6 ft (2 m)

Highest elevation42 ft (13 m)

Population (2010)[3][4][5][6]

• Metropolitan City399,457

• Estimate (2015)441,003

• Rank44th, U.S.

• Density12,360/sq mi (4,770/km2)

• Urban5,502,379 (4th, U.S.)

• Metro5,564,635 (8th, U.S.)

Demonym(s)Miamian

Time zoneEastern (EST) (UTC-5)

• Summer (DST)EDT (UTC-4)

ZIP code(s)33010–33299

Area code(s)305, 786

Websitemiamigov.com

Miami (/maɪˈæmi/; Spanish pronunciation: [miˈami]) is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. As the seat of Miami-Dade County, the municipality is the principal, central, and most populous of its metropolitan area and part of the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States.[7][8] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S., with a population of around 5.5 million.[9][10]

 

Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade.[11][12] In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Group's inventory.[13] In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities.[14] In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs.[15] According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power.[16] Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America"[1] and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.[17]

 

Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises. Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies.[18][19] The Civic Center is a major center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers, and biotechnology industries. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the "Cruise Capital of the World", has been the number one cruise passenger port in the world. It accommodates some of the world's largest cruise ships and operations, and is the busiest port in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.[20][21] Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U.S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach.[22]

 

Contents [hide]

1History

2Geography

2.1Geology

2.2Cityscape

2.2.1Neighborhoods

2.3Climate

3Demographics

3.1Languages

3.2Religion

3.3Civic engagement

4Economy

5Culture

5.1Entertainment and performing arts

5.2Museums and art

5.3Music

5.4Cuisine

5.5Dialect

5.6In popular culture

6Sports

7Parks

8Government

8.1City Commission

9Education

9.1Public schools

9.2Private schools

9.3Colleges and universities

9.4Professional training programs

10Media

11Transportation

11.1Airports

11.2PortMiami

11.3Public transportation

11.4Rail

11.5Road

11.6Bicycling

11.7Walkability

12Notable people

13International relations

13.1Twin and sister cities

13.2Cooperation agreements

14See also

15Notes

16References

17Further reading

18External links

History

Main articles: History of Miami and Timeline of Miami

See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Miami, Florida

 

Approximately 400 men voted for Miami's incorporation in 1896 in the building to the left.

The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous cultures. The Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B.C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River.[23]

 

In 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567. Spain and Great Britain successively "controlled" Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress and remove the Seminole. The Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War.

 

Miami is noted as "the only major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle",[24] a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native. The Miami area was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country" in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness.[25] The area was also characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida."[26] The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as "the mother of Miami."[27][28] Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896 with a population of just over 300.[29] It was named for the nearby Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee.[30]

  

The Freedom Tower, built in 1925, is Miami's historical landmark.

Black labor played a crucial role in Miami's early development. During the beginning of the 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population.[31]:25 Whatever their role in the city's growth, their community's growth was limited to a small space. When landlords began to rent homes to African-Americans in neighborhoods close to Avenue J (what would later become NW Fifth Avenue), a gang of white men with torches visited the renting families and warned them to move or be bombed.[31]:33

 

During the early 20th century, northerners were attracted to the city, and Miami prospered during the 1920s with an increase in population and infrastructure. The legacy of Jim Crow was embedded in these developments. Miami's chief of police, H. Leslie Quigg, did not hide the fact that he, like many other white Miami police officers, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Unsurprisingly, these officers enforced social codes far beyond the written law. Quigg, for example, "personally and publicly beat a colored bellboy to death for speaking directly to a white woman."[31]:53

 

The collapse of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the 1926 Miami Hurricane, and the Great Depression in the 1930s slowed development. When World War II began, Miami, well-situated on the southern coast of Florida, became a base for US defense against German submarines. The war brought an increase in Miami's population; by 1940, 172,172 people lived in the city.

 

After Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba in 1959, many wealthy Cubans sought refuge in Miami, further increasing the population. The city developed businesses and cultural amenities as part of the New South. In the 1980s and 1990s, South Florida weathered social problems related to drug wars, immigration from Haiti and Latin America, and the widespread destruction of Hurricane Andrew.[32] Racial and cultural tensions were sometimes sparked, but the city developed in the latter half of the 20th century as a major international, financial, and cultural center. It is the second-largest US city (after El Paso, Texas) with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.[17]

 

Miami and its metropolitan area grew from just over 1,000 residents to nearly 5.5 million residents in just 110 years (1896–2006). The city's nickname, The Magic City, comes from this rapid growth. Winter visitors remarked that the city grew so much from one year to the next that it was like magic.[32]

 

Geography

 

The mouth of the Miami River at Brickell Key

Miami and its suburbs are located on a broad plain between the Florida Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay to the east, which also extends from Florida Bay north to Lake Okeechobee. The elevation of the area never rises above 40 ft (12 m)[33] and averages at around 6 ft (1.8 m)[34] above mean sea level in most neighborhoods, especially near the coast. The highest undulations are found along the coastal Miami Rock Ridge, whose substrate underlies most of the eastern Miami metropolitan region. The main portion of the city lies on the shores of Biscayne Bay which contains several hundred natural and artificially created barrier islands, the largest of which contains Miami Beach and South Beach. The Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current, runs northward just 15 miles (24 km) off the coast, allowing the city's climate to stay warm and mild all year.

 

Geology

 

View from one of the higher points in Miami, west of downtown. The highest natural point in the city of Miami is in Coconut Grove, near the bay, along the Miami Rock Ridge at 24 feet (7.3 m) above sea level.[35]

The surface bedrock under the Miami area is called Miami oolite or Miami limestone. This bedrock is covered by a thin layer of soil, and is no more than 50 feet (15 m) thick. Miami limestone formed as the result of the drastic changes in sea level associated with recent glaciations or ice ages. Beginning some 130,000 years ago the Sangamonian Stage raised sea levels to approximately 25 feet (8 m) above the current level. All of southern Florida was covered by a shallow sea. Several parallel lines of reef formed along the edge of the submerged Florida plateau, stretching from the present Miami area to what is now the Dry Tortugas. The area behind this reef line was in effect a large lagoon, and the Miami limestone formed throughout the area from the deposition of oolites and the shells of bryozoans. Starting about 100,000 years ago the Wisconsin glaciation began lowering sea levels, exposing the floor of the lagoon. By 15,000 years ago, the sea level had dropped to 300 to 350 feet (90 to 110 m) below the contemporary level. The sea level rose quickly after that, stabilizing at the current level about 4000 years ago, leaving the mainland of South Florida just above sea level.

 

Beneath the plain lies the Biscayne Aquifer,[36] a natural underground source of fresh water that extends from southern Palm Beach County to Florida Bay, with its highest point peaking around the cities of Miami Springs and Hialeah. Most of the Miami metropolitan area obtains its drinking water from this aquifer. As a result of the aquifer, it is not possible to dig more than 15 to 20 ft (5 to 6 m) beneath the city without hitting water, which impedes underground construction, though some underground parking garages exist. For this reason, the mass transit systems in and around Miami are elevated or at-grade.[citation needed]

 

Most of the western fringes of the city extend into the Everglades, a subtropical marshland located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. Alligators have ventured into Miami communities and on major highways.

 

In terms of land area, Miami is one of the smallest major cities in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, the city encompasses a total area of 55.27 sq mi (143.1 km2). Of that area, 35.67 sq mi (92.4 km2) is land and 19.59 sq mi (50.7 km2) is water. That means Miami comprises over 400,000 people in 35 square miles (91 km2), making it one of the most densely populated cities in the United States, along with New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

 

Cityscape

See also: List of tallest buildings in Miami

 

Downtown Miami Skyline (in 2014) as seen from the Rusty Pelican restaurant on Virginia Key.

 

Downtown Miami skyline (in 2008) as seen from South Beach.

 

Downtown Miami skyline (in 2009) as seen from the Port of Miami.

Neighborhoods

 

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Main article: Neighborhoods in Miami

 

The Downtown Miami Historic District is the city's largest historic district, with buildings ranging from 1896 to 1939 in the heart of Downtown.

 

Map of Miami neighborhoods.

 

The Downtown area has the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the city.

Miami is partitioned into many different sections, roughly into North, South, West and Downtown. The heart of the city is Downtown Miami and is technically on the eastern side of the city. This area includes Brickell, Virginia Key, Watson Island, and PortMiami. Downtown is South Florida's central business district, and Florida's largest and most influential central business district. Downtown has the largest concentration of international banks in the U.S. along Brickell Avenue. Downtown is home to many major banks, courthouses, financial headquarters, cultural and tourist attractions, schools, parks and a large residential population. East of Downtown, across Biscayne Bay is South Beach. Just northwest of Downtown, is the Civic Center, which is Miami's center for hospitals, research institutes and biotechnology with hospitals such as Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami VA Hospital, and the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

 

The southern side of Miami includes Coral Way, The Roads and Coconut Grove. Coral Way is a historic residential neighborhood built in 1922 connecting Downtown with Coral Gables, and is home to many old homes and tree-lined streets. Coconut Grove was established in 1825 and is the location of Miami's City Hall in Dinner Key, the Coconut Grove Playhouse, CocoWalk, many nightclubs, bars, restaurants and bohemian shops, and as such, is very popular with local college students. It is a historic neighborhood with narrow, winding roads, and a heavy tree canopy. Coconut Grove has many parks and gardens such as Villa Vizcaya, The Kampong, The Barnacle Historic State Park, and is the home of the Coconut Grove Convention Center and numerous historic homes and estates.

 

The western side of Miami includes Little Havana, West Flagler, and Flagami, and is home to many of the city's traditionally immigrant neighborhoods. Although at one time a mostly Jewish neighborhood, today western Miami is home to immigrants from mostly Central America and Cuba, while the west central neighborhood of Allapattah is a multicultural community of many ethnicities.

 

The northern side of Miami includes Midtown, a district with a great mix of diversity with many West Indians, Hispanics, European Americans, bohemians, and artists. Edgewater, and Wynwood, are neighborhoods of Midtown and are made up mostly of high-rise residential towers and are home to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. The wealthier residents usually live in the northeastern part, in Midtown, the Design District, and the Upper East Side, with many sought after 1920s homes and home of the MiMo Historic District, a style of architecture originated in Miami in the 1950s. The northern side of Miami also has notable African American and Caribbean immigrant communities such as Little Haiti, Overtown (home of the Lyric Theater), and Liberty City.

 

Climate

Main article: Climate of Miami

Miami has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Am)[37][38] with a marked drier season in the winter. Its sea-level elevation, coastal location, position just above the Tropic of Cancer, and proximity to the Gulf Stream shape its climate. With January averaging 68.2 °F (20.1 °C), winter features highs generally ranging between 73–80 °F (23–27 °C). Cool air usually settles after the passage of a cold front, which produces much of the little amount of rainfall during the season. Lows fall below 50 °F (10 °C), an average of 10-15 nights during the winter season following the passage of cold fronts.

  

Typical summer afternoon thunderstorm rolling in from the Everglades.

The wet season begins some time in May, ending in mid-October. During this period, temperatures are in the mid 80s to low 90s (29–35 °C), accompanied by high humidity, though the heat is often relieved by afternoon thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean, which then allow lower temperatures, but conditions still remain very muggy. Much of the year's 55.9 inches (1,420 mm) of rainfall occurs during this period. Dew points in the warm months range from 71.9 °F (22.2 °C) in June to 73.7 °F (23.2 °C) in August.[39]

 

Extremes range from 27 °F (−2.8 °C) on February 3, 1917 to 100 °F (38 °C) on July 21, 1940.[40] While Miami has never officially recorded snowfall at any official weather station since records have been kept, snow flurries fell in some parts of Miami on January 19, 1977.[41][42][43][44]

 

Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, although hurricanes can develop beyond those dates. The most likely time for Miami to be hit is during the peak of the Cape Verde season, which is mid-August through the end of September.[45] Although tornadoes are uncommon in the area, one struck in 1925 and again in 1997.

 

Miami falls under the USDA 10b/11a Plant Hardiness zone.[46]

  

[show]Climate data for Miami (MIA), 1981−2010 normals,[a] extremes 1895−present[b]

Demographics

Historical population

CensusPop.%±

19001,681—

19105,471225.5%

192029,571440.5%

1930110,637274.1%

1940172,17255.6%

1950249,27644.8%

1960291,68817.0%

1970334,85914.8%

1980346,6813.5%

1990358,5483.4%

2000362,4701.1%

2010399,45710.2%

Est. 2015441,003[50]10.4%

U.S. Decennial Census[51]

The city proper is home to less than one-thirteenth of the population of South Florida. Miami is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States. The Miami metropolitan area, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, had a combined population of more than 5.5 million people, ranked seventh largest in the United States,[52] and is the largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States. As of 2008, the United Nations estimates that the Miami Urban Agglomeration is the 44th-largest in the world.[53]

 

The 2010 US Census file for Hispanic or Latino origin reports[54] that 34.4% of the population were of Cuban origin, 15.8% shared a Central American background (7.2% Nicaraguan, 5.8% Honduran, 1.2% Salvadoran, and 1.0% Guatemalan), 8.7% were of South American descent (3.2% Colombian, 1.4% Venezuelan, 1.2% Peruvian, 1.2% Argentinean, and 0.7% Ecuadorian), 4.0% had other Hispanic or Latino origins (0.5% Spaniard), 3.2% descended from Puerto Ricans, 2.4% were Dominican, and 1.5% had Mexican ancestry.

 

As of 2010, those of African ancestry accounted for 19.2% of Miami's population, which includes African Americans. Out of the 19.2%, 5.6% were West Indian or Afro-Caribbean American (4.4% Haitian, 0.4% Jamaican, 0.4% Bahamian, 0.1% British West Indian, and 0.1% Trinidadian and Tobagonian, 0.1% Other or Unspecified West Indian),[55] 3.0% were Black Hispanics,[54] and 0.4% were Subsaharan African.[56][57]

 

As of 2010, those of (non-Hispanic white) European ancestry accounted for 11.9% of Miami's population. Out of the 11.9%, 1.7% were German, 1.6% Italian, 1.4% Irish, 1.0% English, 0.8% French, 0.6% Russian, and 0.5% were Polish.[56][57]

 

As of 2010, those of Asian ancestry accounted for 1.0% of Miami's population. Out of the 1.0%, 0.3% were Indian people/Indo-Caribbean American (1,206 people), 0.3% Chinese (1,804 people), 0.2% Filipino (647 people), 0.1% were other Asian (433 people), 0.1% Japanese (245 people), 0.1% Korean (213 people), and 0.0% were Vietnamese (125 people).[56]

 

In 2010, 1.9% of the population considered themselves to be of only American ancestry (regardless of race or ethnicity.)[56][57] And 0.5% were of Arab ancestry, as of 2010.[56]

 

As of 2010, there were 158,317 households of which 14.0% were vacant. 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.3% were married couples living together, 18.1% have a female head of household with no husband present, and 43.1% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older (4.0% male and 7.3% female.) The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.15.[56][58]

 

In 2010, the city population was spread out with 18.8% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.8 years. For every 100 females there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.[56][58]

 

As of 2010, the median income for a household in the city was $29,621, and the median income for a family was $33,379. Males had a median income of $27,849 versus $24,518 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,745. About 22.2% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.1% of those under age 18 and 32.8% of those aged 65 or over.[59]

 

In 2010, 58.1% of the county's population was foreign born, with 41.1% being naturalized American citizens. Of foreign-born residents, 95.4% were born in Latin America, 2.4% were born in Europe, 1.4% born in Asia, 0.5% born in Africa, 0.2% in North America, and 0.1% were born in Oceania.[57]

  

Plymouth Congregational Church in Coconut Grove.

In 2004, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported that Miami had the highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any major city worldwide (59%), followed by Toronto (50%).

 

In 1960, non-Hispanic whites represented 80% of Miami-Dade county's population.[60] In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Miami's population as 45.3% Hispanic, 32.9% non-Hispanic White, and 22.7% Black.[61] Miami's explosive population growth has been driven by internal migration from other parts of the country, primarily up until the 1980s, as well as by immigration, primarily from the 1960s to the 1990s. Today, immigration to Miami has slowed significantly and Miami's growth today is attributed greatly to its fast urbanization and high-rise construction, which has increased its inner city neighborhood population densities, such as in Downtown, Brickell, and Edgewater, where one area in Downtown alone saw a 2,069% increase in population in the 2010 Census. Miami is regarded as more of a multicultural mosaic, than it is a melting pot, with residents still maintaining much of, or some of their cultural traits. The overall culture of Miami is heavily influenced by its large population of Hispanics and blacks mainly from the Caribbean islands.

 

Miami Demographics

2010 CensusMiami[62]Miami-Dade CountyFlorida

Total population399,4572,496,43518,801,310

Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010+10.2%+10.8%+17.6%

Population density11,135.9/sq mi1,315.5/sq mi350.6/sq mi

White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)72.6%73.8%75.0%

(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)11.9%15.4%57.9%

Black or African-American19.2%18.9%16.0%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)70.0%65.0%22.5%

Asian1.0%1.5%2.4%

Native American or Native Alaskan0.3%0.2%0.4%

Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian0.0%0.0%0.1%

Two or more races (Multiracial)2.7%2.4%2.5%

Some Other Race4.2%3.2%3.6%

Historic Ethnic Makeup of Miami[63][64]

YearWhite

(includes

White Hispanics)Non-Hispanic

WhiteBlackAsianOtherHispanic

(of any race)

191058.7%–41.3%0.1%––

192068.5%–31.3%0.1%––

193077.3%–22.7%0.1%––

194078.5%–21.4%0.1%––

195083.7%–16.2%0.1%––

196077.4%–22.4%0.1%–17.6%

197076.6%41.7%22.7%0.3%0.4%44.6%

198066.6%19.4%25.1%0.5%7.8%55.9%

199065.6%12.2%27.4%0.6%6.4%62.5%

200066.6%11.8%22.3%0.7%5.6%65.8%

201072.6%11.9%19.2%1.0%4.2%70.0%

Languages

As of 2010, 70.2% of Miami's population age five and over spoke only Spanish at home while 22.7% of the population spoke English at home. About 6.3% spoke other Indo-European languages at home. About 0.4% spoke Asian languages or Pacific Islander languages/Oceanic languages at home. The remaining 0.3% of the population spoke other languages at home. In total, 77.3% spoke another language other than English.[56]

 

As of 2000, 66.75% of residents spoke Spanish at home, while those who only spoke English made up 25.45%. Speakers of Haitian Creole (French-based) were 5.20%, French speakers comprised 0.76% of the population, and Portuguese at 0.41%.[65] Among U.S. cities, Miami has one of the highest proportions of residents who speak languages other than English at home (74.55% in 2000).[65]

 

Due to English-speakers moving away from the area, the percentage of residents who speak only English is expected to continue to decline.[66]

 

Religion

Christianity is the most prevalently practiced religion in Miami (68%), according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, with 39% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 27% professing Roman Catholic beliefs.[67][68] followed by Judaism (8%); Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and a variety of other religions have smaller followings; atheism or no self-identifying organized religious affiliation was practiced by 24%.

 

There has been a Norwegian Seamen's church in Miami since the early 1980s. In November 2011, Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened a new building for the church. The church was built as a center for the 10,000 Scandinavians that live in Florida. Around 4,000 of them are Norwegian. The church is also an important place for the 150 Norwegians that work at Disney World.[69]

 

Civic engagement

Organizations such as the Miami-Dade Salvation Army and its iconic Red Kettle Christmas Campaign, Hands On Miami, City Year Miami, Human Services Coalition of South Florida, and Citizens for a Better South Florida, among many other organizations have been working to engage Miamians in volunteerism.

  

This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Apr. 10, 2004.

 

By CAROL JEFFARES HEDMAN

 

LeHeup Hill gets all the glory.

 

It’s thought by most to be the highest point in Pasco County, and at one time it was a contender for the highest point in Florida.

 

The summit, south of Dade City along Fort King Road, doesn't top the list. But it’s the state’s 23rd highest point above sea level, according to America’s Roof, americasroof.com, an organization that records such things.

 

But for a brief time in 1936, another Pasco County “mountain” vied for the title along with LeHeup Hill.

 

“Pasco Claims Highest Points in Florida,” the Jan. 10, 1936 edition of the Dade City Banner proclaimed. But the so-called highest point wasn't LeHeup Hill. It was the farm and grove property three miles northwest of Dade City purchased by L.E. Rowland, principal of Zephyrhills High School. Rowland believed the land was 330 feet above sea level.

 

From his home on the “brow of a hill” accessible via a little traveled road “can be seen a remarkable panorama of the eastern half of the county showing Dade City, the mills of Lacoochee, hills, lakes, groves and homes for miles around,” the article stated.

 

The view from there was unobstructed to the north and south. “But the longest distance can be seen to the east across the low river swamps between Dade City and Orlando,” the Banner said.

 

Rowland had reported seeing smoke from trains between Lakeland and Orlando and, at night, airport lights in Orlando, Lakeland and Plant City. And a “glow in the sky” came from Tampa and Brooksville.

 

But Rowland was most amazed on clear days to see smoke moving in the far distance. From its comparatively slow progress, Rowland believed it came from coastal steamships.

 

Rowland wished he could have measurements taken to measure his property against LeHeup Hill.

 

Many years earlier, Dade City, Clermont and other Florida towns were claiming the highest land in Florida, the Banner said. Dade City’s claim was the property of Gertie M. Dew on Fort King Road. The site, now called LeHeup Hill, overlooks Lake Pasadena and was measured at 330.2 feet above sea level, slightly more than the height given the Rowland property, the article said.

 

But “which ever point is finally proved to be the highest, it is certain that no other section of the state can surpass Pasco County in the height of its hills and beauty of its views,” the Banner said.

 

LeHeup Hill is now designated at 242 feet above sea level, records show. Not making Florida’s Highest Named Summits list is Clay Hill, six miles northwest of Dade City, recorded at 301 feet. That would make it the highest point in both Pasco and Hernando counties. Frazee Hill, at 251 feet above sea level and perhaps where the Rowland property was located, even tops LeHeup Hill.

 

But still the hill named for the family that moved there in 1911 gets the glory as Pasco’s highest point. Its adjoining Nursery Hill, also 242 feet above sea level, and nearby Greer Hill, at 229 feet above sea level, both made the Florida Highest Named Summits list.

 

The highest summit on the list is Britton Hill, at 345 feet above sea level, in Walton County.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

www.anyplaceamerica.com/directory/fl/pasco-county-12101/s...

www.fivay.org/lake_pasadena.html

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

Inspired by my fave lyrics of late: Across the universe written by The Beatles. (I get inspired by music all the time hehe.)

 

(No red carpet but a fleece blanket.)

 

It took me some time to post this because my feet are in full view. To me it's like...going nude or something LOL. (I have ill toenails due to a vascular condition called Raynaud's. They're currently not even growing.)

The positive response to my 149/365 shoot encouraged me. So thanks :)

 

Off to work now :)

 

No group images wanted in my comments.

The three tin foil bowls on the end of the lower arms indicate that this space vehicle has feet and is intended to land somewhere. This is reinforced by the fully-extended digger arm (surface sampler arm in NASA-speak) that today hangs even lower.

 

The Surveyor programme was run by NASA from June 1966 to January 1968, sending seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Seen above is a test article, a full-scale mock-up, which is now suspended from the ceiling in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington DC.

 

The programme's primary goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of soft landings on the Moon. The Surveyor craft were the first American spacecraft to achieve soft landing on an extraterrestrial body. The missions called for the craft to travel directly to the Moon on an impact trajectory, a journey that lasted 63-65 hours, and ended with a deceleration of just over three minutes to a soft landing.

 

The programme was implemented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to prepare for the Apollo programme. JPL selected Hughes Aircraft to develop the spacecraft system which was launched into space aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket. The total cost of the Surveyor programme was officially $469 million.

 

Five of the Surveyor craft successfully soft-landed on the moon, including the first one. The other two failed: Surveyor 2 crashed at high velocity after a failed mid-course correction, and Surveyor 4 was lost to contact (possibly exploding) 2.5 minutes before its scheduled touch-down.

 

All seven spacecraft are still on the Moon; none of the missions included returning them to Earth. Some parts of Surveyor 3 were returned to Earth by the crew of Apollo 12, which landed near it in 1969. The camera from this craft is also on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

 

There is no sense of scale in the picture, but the whole craft is 3m high and 3.5m wide. Its sisters weighed 283 kg as they landed on the moon.

Woordfoto: feestartikel

 

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Androgyny is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics into an ambiguous form. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual identity.

 

When androgyny refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it often refers to intersex people. As a gender identity, androgynous individuals may refer to themselves as non-binary, genderqueer, or gender neutral. As a form of gender expression, androgyny can be achieved through personal grooming or fashion. Androgynous gender expression has waxed and waned in popularity in different cultures and throughout history.

  

Contents

1Etymology

2History

3Symbols and iconography

4Biological

5Psychological

5.1Bem Sex-Role Inventory

5.2Personal Attribues Questionnaire

6Gender identity

7Gender expression

7.1Androgyny in fashion

8Alternatives

9Contemporary trends

10See also

11References

12External links

Etymology[edit]

Androgyny as a noun came into use c. 1850, nominalizing the adjective androgynous. The adjective use dates from the early 17th century and is itself derived from the older French (14th Century) and English (c. 1550) term androgyne. The terms are ultimately derived from Ancient Greek: ἀνδρόγυνος, from ἀνήρ, stem ἀνδρ- (anér, andr-, meaning man) and γυνή (gunē, gyné, meaning woman) through the Latin: androgynus,[1] The older word form androgyne is still in use as a noun with an overlapping set of meanings.

 

History[edit]

See also: Sexuality in ancient Rome § Hermaphroditism and androgyny

Androgyny among humans – expressed in terms of biological sex characteristics, gender identity, or gender expression – is attested to from earliest history and across world cultures. In ancient Sumer, androgynous and hermaphroditic men were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna.[2]:157–158 A set of priests known as gala worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations.[2]:285 Gala took female names, spoke in the eme-sal dialect, which was traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in homosexual intercourse.[3] In later Mesopotamian cultures, kurgarrū and assinnu were servants of the goddess Ishtar (Inanna's East Semitic equivalent), who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples.[3] Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also engaged in homosexual intercourse.[3] Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary Indian hijra.[2]:158–163 In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women.[3]

 

The ancient Greek myth of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis, two divinities who fused into a single immortal – provided a frame of reference used in Western culture for centuries. Androgyny and homosexuality are seen in Plato's Symposium in a myth that Aristophanes tells the audience.[4] People used to be spherical creatures, with two bodies attached back to back who cartwheeled around. There were three sexes: the male-male people who descended from the sun, the female-female people who descended from the earth, and the male-female people who came from the moon. This last pairing represented the androgynous couple. These sphere people tried to take over the gods and failed. Zeus then decided to cut them in half and had Apollo repair the resulting cut surfaces, leaving the navel as a reminder to not defy the gods again. If they did, he would cleave them in two again to hop around on one leg. Plato states in this work that homosexuality is not shameful. This is one of the earlier written references to androgyny. Other early references to androgyny include astronomy, where androgyn was a name given to planets that were sometimes warm and sometimes cold.[5]

 

Philosophers such as Philo of Alexandria, and early Christian leaders such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, continued to promote the idea of androgyny as humans' original and perfect state during late antiquity.”[6] In medieval Europe, the concept of androgyny played an important role in both Christian theological debate and Alchemical theory. Influential Theologians such as John of Damascus and John Scotus Eriugena continued to promote the pre-fall androgyny proposed by the early Church Fathers, while other clergy expounded and debated the proper view and treatment of contemporary “hermaphrodites.”[6]

 

Western esotericism’s embrace of androgyny continued into the modern period. A 1550 anthology of Alchemical thought, De Alchemia, included the influential Rosary of the Philosophers, which depicts the sacred marriage of the masculine principle (Sol) with the feminine principle (Luna) producing the "Divine Androgyne," a representation of Alchemical Hermetic beliefs in dualism, transformation, and the transcendental perfection of the union of opposites.[7] The symbolism and meaning of androgyny was a central preoccupation of the German mystic Jakob Böhme and the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. The philosophical concept of the “Universal Androgyne” (or “Universal Hermaphrodite”) – a perfect merging of the sexes that predated the current corrupted world and/or was the utopia of the next – also plays a central role in Rosicrucian doctrine[8][9] and in philosophical traditions such as Swedenborgianism and Theosophy. Twentieth century architect Claude Fayette Bragdon expressed the concept mathematically as a magic square, using it as building block in many of his most noted buildings.[10]

 

Symbols and iconography[edit]

 

The Caduceus

In the ancient and medieval worlds, androgynous people and/or hermaphrodites were represented in art by the caduceus, a wand of transformative power in ancient Greco-Roman mythology. The caduceus was created by Tiresias and represents his transformation into a woman by Juno in punishment for striking at mating snakes. The caduceus was later carried by Hermes/Mercury and was the basis for the astronomical symbol for the planet Mercury and the botanical sign for hermaphrodite. That sign is now sometimes used for transgender people.

 

Another common androgyny icon in the medieval and early modern period was the Rebis, a conjoined male and female figure, often with solar and lunar motifs. Still another symbol was what is today called sun cross, which united the cross (or saltire) symbol for male with the circle for female.[11] This sign is now the astronomical symbol for the planet Earth.[12]

  

Mercury symbol derived from the Caduceus

 

A Rebis from 1617

 

"Rose and Cross" Androgyne symbol

 

Alternate "rose and cross" version

Biological[edit]

See also: Sex differences in humans

Historically, the word androgynous was applied to humans with a mixture of male and female sex characteristics, and was sometimes used synonymously with the term hermaphrodite.[13] In some disciplines, such as botany, androgynous and hermaphroditic are still used interchangeably.

 

When androgyny is used to refer to physical traits, it often refers to a person whose biological sex is difficult to discern at a glance because of their mixture of male and female characteristics. Because androgyny encompasses additional meanings related to gender identity and gender expression that are distinct from biological sex, today the word androgynous is rarely used to formally describe mixed biological sex characteristics in humans. [14] In modern English, the word intersex is used to more precisely describe individuals with mixed or ambiguous sex characteristics. However, both intersex and non-intersex people can exhibit a mixture of male and female sex traits such as hormone levels, type of internal and external genitalia, and the appearance of secondary sex characteristics.

 

Psychological[edit]

Though definitions of androgyny vary throughout the scientific community, it is generally supported that androgyny represents a blending of traits associated with both masculinity and femininity. In psychological study, various measures have been used to characterize gender, such as the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire.[15]

 

Broadly speaking, masculine traits are categorized as agentic and instrumental, dealing with assertiveness and analytical skill. Feminine traits are categorized as communal and expressive, dealing with empathy and subjectivity.[16] Androgynous individuals exhibit behavior that extends beyond what is normally associated with their given sex.[17] Due to the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics, androgynous individuals have access to a wider array of psychological competencies in regards to emotional regulation, communication styles, and situational adaptability. Androgynous individuals have also been associated with higher levels of creativity and mental health.[18][19]

 

Bem Sex-Role Inventory[edit]

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) was constructed by the early leading proponent of androgyny, Sandra Bem (1977).[20][better source needed] The BSRI is one of the most widely used gender measures. Based on an individual's responses to the items in the BSRI, they are classified as having one of four gender role orientations: masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. Bem understood that both masculine and feminine characteristics could be expressed by anyone and it would determine those gender role orientations.[21]

 

An androgynous person is an individual who has a high degree of both feminine (expressive) and masculine (instrumental) traits. A feminine individual is ranked high on feminine (expressive) traits and ranked low on masculine (instrumental) traits. A masculine individual is ranked high on instrumental traits and ranked low on expressive traits. An undifferentiated person is low on both feminine and masculine traits.[20]

 

According to Sandra Bem, androgynous individuals are more flexible and more mentally healthy than either masculine or feminine individuals; undifferentiated individuals are less competent.[20] More recent research has debunked this idea, at least to some extent, and Bem herself has found weaknesses in her original pioneering work. Now she prefers to work with gender schema theory.

 

One study found that masculine and androgynous individuals had higher expectations for being able to control the outcomes of their academic efforts than feminine or undifferentiated individuals.[22]

 

Personal Attribues Questionnaire[edit]

The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) was developed in the 70s by Janet Spence, Robert Helmreich, and Joy Stapp. This test asked subjects to complete to a survey consisting of three sets of scales relating to masculinity, femininity, and masculinity-femininity. These scales had sets of adjectives commonly associated with males, females, and both. These descriptors were chosen based on typical characteristics as rated by a population of undergrad students. Similar to the BSRI, the PAQ labeled androgynous individuals as people who ranked highly in both the areas of masculinity and femininity. However, Spence and Helmreich considered androgyny to be a descriptor of high levels of masculinity and femininity as opposed to a category in and of itself.[15]

 

Gender identity[edit]

An individual's gender identity, a personal sense of one's own gender, may be described as androgynous if they feel that they have both masculine and feminine aspects. The word androgyne can refer to a person who does not fit neatly into one of the typical masculine or feminine gender roles of their society, or to a person whose gender is a mixture of male and female, not necessarily half-and-half. Many androgynous individuals identify as being mentally or emotionally both masculine and feminine. They may also identify as "gender-neutral", "genderqueer", or "non-binary".[23] A person who is androgynous may engage freely in what is seen as masculine or feminine behaviors as well as tasks. They have a balanced identity that includes the virtues of both men and women and may disassociate the task with what gender they may be socially or physically assigned to.[24] People who are androgynous disregard what traits are culturally constructed specifically for males and females within a specific society, and rather focus on what behavior is most effective within the situational circumstance.[24]

 

Many non-western cultures recognize additional androgynous gender identities. Jewish culture recognizes the Tumtum and Androgynos genders. In Chinese culture exists the Yinyang ren gender. The Bugis of Indonesia recognize five genders, Bissu representing the androgynous category. In Hawaiian culture, the third gender Māhū is recognized. In Oaxacan Zapotec culture, the Muxe are recognized as a third gender. In India, the Hijra is the third androgynous gender. Samoans accept Fa’afafine as a third gender. Native American culture includes Two Spirit as a general third gender.

 

Gender expression[edit]

Gender expression, which includes a mixture of masculine and feminine characteristics, can be described as androgynous. The categories of masculine and feminine in gender expression are socially constructed, and rely on shared conceptions of clothing, behavior, communication style, and other aspects of presentation. In some cultures, androgynous gender expression has been celebrated, while in others, androgynous expression has been limited or suppressed. To say that a culture or relationship is androgynous is to say that it lacks rigid gender roles, or has blurred lines between gender roles.

 

The word genderqueer is often used by androgynous individuals to refer to themselves, but the terms genderqueer and androgynous are neither equivalent nor interchangeable.[25] Genderqueer is not specific to androgynes, and does not denote gender identity. It may refer to any person, cisgender or transgender, whose behavior falls outside conventional gender norms. Furthermore, genderqueer, by virtue of its ties with queer culture, carries sociopolitical connotations that androgyny does not carry. For these reasons, some androgynes may find the label genderqueer inaccurate, inapplicable, or offensive. Androgneity is considered by some to be a viable alternative to androgyn for differentiating internal (psychological) factors from external (visual) factors.[26]

 

Terms such as bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual have less meaning for androgynous individuals who do not identify as men or women to begin with. Infrequently the words gynephilia and androphilia are used, and some describe themselves as androsexual. These words refer to the gender of the person someone is attracted to, but do not imply any particular gender on the part of the person who is feeling the attraction.[citation needed]

  

Louise Brooks exemplified the flapper. Flappers challenged traditional gender roles, had boyish hair cuts and androgynous figures.[27]

Androgyny in fashion[edit]

Throughout most of twentieth century Western history, social rules have restricted people's dress according to gender. Trousers were traditionally a male form of dress, frowned upon for women.[28] However, during the 1800s, female spies were introduced and Vivandières wore a certain uniform with a dress over trousers. Women activists during that time would also decide to wear trousers, for example Luisa Capetillo, a women's rights activist and the first woman in Puerto Rico to wear trousers in public.[29]

  

Coco Chanel wearing a sailor's jersey and trousers. 1928

In the 1900s, starting around World War I traditional gender roles blurred and fashion pioneers such as Paul Poiret and Coco Chanel introduced trousers to women's fashion. The "flapper style" for women of this era included trousers and a chic bob, which gave women an androgynous look.[30] Coco Chanel, who had a love for wearing trousers herself, created trouser designs for women such as beach pajamas and horse-riding attire.[28] During the 1930s, glamorous actresses such as Marlene Dietrich fascinated and shocked many with their strong desire to wear trousers and adopt the androgynous style. Dietrich is remembered as one of the first actresses to wear trousers in a premiere.[31]

  

Yves Saint Laurent, the tuxedo suit "Le Smoking", created in 1966

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the women's liberation movement is likely to have contributed to ideas and influenced fashion designers, such as Yves Saint Laurent.[32] Yves Saint Laurent designed the Le Smoking suit and first introduced in 1966, and Helmut Newton’s erotized androgynous photographs of it made Le Smoking iconic and classic.[33] The Le Smoking tuxedo was a controversial statement of femininity and has revolutionized trousers.

 

Elvis Presley, however is considered to be the one who introduced the androgynous style in rock'n'roll and made it the standard template for rock'n'roll front-men since the 1950s.[34] His pretty face and use of eye makeup often made people think he was a rather "effeminate guy",[35] but Elvis Presley was considered as the prototype for the looks of rock'n'roll.[34] The Rolling Stones, says Mick Jagger became androgynous "straightaway unconsciously" because of him.[35]

 

However, the upsurge of androgynous dressing for men really began after during the 1960s and 1970s. When the Rolling Stones played London's Hyde Park in 1969, Mick Jagger wore a white "man's dress" designed by British designer Mr Fish.[36] Mr Fish, also known as Michael Fish, was the most fashionable shirt-maker in London, the inventor of the Kipper tie, and a principal taste-maker of the Peacock revolution in men's fashion.[37] His creation for Mick Jagger was considered to be the epitome of the swinging 60s.[38] From then on, the androgynous style was being adopted by many celebrities.

  

Annie Lennox was known for her androgyny in the 1980s

During the 1970s, Jimi Hendrix was wearing high heels and blouses quite often, and David Bowie presented his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, a character that was a symbol of sexual ambiguity when he launched the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars.[39] This was when androgyny entered the mainstream in the 1970s and had a big influence in pop culture. Another significant influence during this time included John Travolta, one of the androgynous male heroes of the post-counter-culture disco era in the 1970s, who starred in Grease and Saturday Night Fever.[40]

 

Continuing into the 1980s, the rise of avant-garde fashion designers like Yohji Yamamoto,[41] challenged the social constructs around gender. They reinvigorated androgyny in fashion, addressing gender issues. This was also reflected within pop culture icons during the 1980s, such as David Bowie and Annie Lennox.[42]

 

Power dressing for women became even more prominent within the 1980s which was previously only something done by men in order to look structured and powerful. However, during the 1980s this began to take a turn as women were entering jobs with equal roles to the men. In the article “The Menswear Phenomenon” by Kathleen Beckett written for Vogue in 1984 the concept of power dressing is explored as women entered these jobs they had no choice but to tailor their wardrobes accordingly, eventually leading the ascension of power dressing as a popular style for women.[43] Women begin to find through fashion they can incite men to pay more attention to the seduction of their mental prowess rather, than the physical attraction of their appearance. This influence in the fashion world quickly makes its way to the world of film, with movies like "Working Girl" using power dressing women as their main subject matter.

 

Androgynous fashion made its most powerful in the 1980s debut through the work of Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, who brought in a distinct Japanese style that adopted distinctively gender ambiguous theme. These two designers consider themselves to very much a part of the avant-garde, reinvigorating Japanism.[44] Following a more anti-fashion approach and deconstructing garments, in order to move away from the more mundane aspects of current Western fashion. This would end up leading a change in Western fashion in the 1980s that would lead on for more gender friendly garment construction. This is because designers like Yamamoto believe that the idea of androgyny should be celebrated, as it is an unbiased way for an individual to identify with one's self and that fashion is purely a catalyst for this.[citation needed]

 

Also during the 1980s, Grace Jones's a famous singer and fashion model gender-thwarted appearance in the 1980s which startled the public, but her androgynous style of heavily derivative of power dressing and eccentric personality has inspired many, and has become an androgynous style icon for modern celebrities.[45] This was seen as controversial but from then on, there was a rise of unisex designers later in the 1990s and the androgynous style was widely adopted by many.

 

In 2016, Louis Vuitton revealed that Jaden Smith would star in their womenswear campaign. Because of events like this, gender fluidity in fashion is being vigorously discussed in the media, with the concept being articulated by Lady Gaga, Ruby Rose, and in Tom Hooper's film The Danish Girl. Jaden Smith and other young individuals, such as Lily-Rose Depp, have inspired the movement with his appeal for clothes to be non-gender specific, meaning that men can wear skirts and women can wear boxer shorts if they so wish.[46]

 

Alternatives[edit]

[icon]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2009)

An alternative to androgyny is gender-role transcendence: the view that individual competence should be conceptualized on a personal basis rather than on the basis of masculinity, femininity, or androgyny.[47]

 

In agenderism, the division of people into women and men (in the psychical sense), is considered erroneous and artificial.[48] Agendered individuals are those who reject genderic labeling in conception of self-identity and other matters.[49] [50][51][52] They see their subjectivity through the term person instead of woman or man.[49]:p.16 According to E. O. Wright, genderless people can have traits, behaviors and dispositions that correspond to what is currently viewed as feminine and masculine, and the mix of these would vary across persons. Nevertheless, it doesn't suggest that everyone would be androgynous in their identities and practices in the absence of gendered relations. What disappears in the idea of genderlessness is any expectation that some characteristics and dispositions are strictly attributed to a person of any biological sex.[53]

 

Contemporary trends[edit]

 

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

 

Jennifer Miller, bearded woman

 

X Japan founder Yoshiki is often labelled androgynous, known for having worn lace dresses and acting effeminate during performances[54]

 

South Korean pop star G-Dragon is often noted for his androgynous looks[55][56]

Androgyny has been gaining more prominence in popular culture in the early 21st century.[57] Both fashion industries[58] and pop culture have accepted and even popularised the "androgynous" look, with several current celebrities being hailed as creative trendsetters.

 

The rise of the metrosexual in the first decade of the 2000s has also been described as a related phenomenon associated with this trend. Traditional gender stereotypes have been challenged and reset in recent years dating back to the 1960s, the hippie movement and flower power. Artists in film such as Leonardo DiCaprio sported the "skinny" look in the 1990s, a departure from traditional masculinity which resulted in a fad known as "Leo Mania".[59] This trend came long after musical superstars such as David Bowie, Boy George, Prince, Pete Burns and Annie Lennox challenged the norms in the 1970s and had elaborate cross gender wardrobes by the 1980s.[citation needed] Musical stars such as Brett Anderson of the British band Suede, Marilyn Manson and the band Placebo have used clothing and makeup to create an androgyny culture throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s.[60]

 

While the 1990s unrolled and fashion developed an affinity for unisex clothes there was a rise of designers who favored that look, like Helmut Lang, Giorgio Armani and Pierre Cardin, the trends in fashion hit the public mainstream in the 2000s (decade) that featured men sporting different hair styles: longer hair, hairdyes, hair highlights.[citation needed] Men in catalogues started wearing jewellery, make up, visual kei, designer stubble. These styles have become a significant mainstream trend of the 21st century, both in the western world and in Asia.[61] Japanese and Korean cultures have featured the androgynous look as a positive attribute in society, as depicted in both K-pop, J-pop,[62] in anime and manga,[63] as well as the fashion industry.[64]

 

See also[edit]

List of androgynous people

Bigender

Epicenity

Futanari

Gender bender

Gender dysphoria

Gender neutrality

Gonochorism

Gynandromorph

Gynomorph

Hermaphrodite

List of transgender-related topics

Non-binary gender

Pangender

Postgenderism

Sexual Orientation Hypothesis

Third gender

Transsexualism

Trigender

True hermaphroditism

References[edit]

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^ Johanna Schorn. "Taking the "Sex" out of Transsexual: Representations of Trans Identities in Popular Media" (PDF). Inter-Disciplinary.Net. Universität zu Köln. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2017.

^ Galupo, M. Paz; Henise, Shane B.; Davis, Kyle S. (2014). "Transgender microaggressions in the context of friendship: Patterns of experience across friends' sexual orientation and gender identity". Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. 1 (4): 462. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.708.6228. doi:10.1037/sgd0000075.

^ Sumerau, J. E.; Cragun, R. T.; Mathers, L. A. B. (2015). "Contemporary Religion and the Cisgendering of Reality". Social Currents. 3 (3): 2. doi:10.1177/2329496515604644.

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^ "Move over, Psy! Here comes G-Dragon style". The Independent. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2015.

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^ Wendlandt, Astrid. "Androgynous look back for spring". Reuters. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

^ Peter Hartlaub (24 February 2005). "The teenage fans from 'Titanic' days jump ship as Leonardo DiCaprio moves on". sfgate.com. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

^ Cavendish, Marshall (2010). Sex and Society, Vol 1. Paul Bernabeo. p. 69.

^ "Androgynous look catches on". The Himalayan Times. 13–16 September 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

^ "Harajuku Girls Harajuku Clothes And Harajuku Gothic fashion Secrets". Tokyo Top Guide. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

^ "Profile of Kagerou". jpopasia.com. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

^ Webb, Martin (13 November 2005). "Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo 2005. A stitch in time?". The Japan Times. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

External links[edit]

Look up androgyny in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Androgyny.

Androgyny: study and collection of articles

Androgyne Online

Sandra Bem and androgyny

The Two-Spirit Tradition

  

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) topics

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgyny

November 16, 2019: Remove Trump and Fire Drill Fridays at the Capitol and the White House with Jane Fonda

 

From the Daily Mail, Saturday 16/04/05. This woman - Cathy Jung - achieves a 15" waist by wearing a corset almost 24/7.

 

On a side-note, the paper used the story as a way to debunk the whole 'Kylie-wearing-a-16"-corset' thing. Except that Kylie herself has said that she never wore such a tiny corset, so what's the point?

 

I hate the Daily Mail.

photo google images

  

article courtesy

www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/behead.html

 

(Beheading that will never be forgotten was that of Hazrat Imam Hussain favorite grandson of the Holy Prophet by Shimr under the orders of Yazid of the Ummayad Caliphate at Karbala 1400years back -my words )

Note : Some people may find the images on this page disturbing - they do not load automatically.

 

""Historical background.

Beheading with a sword or axe goes back a very long way in history, because like hanging, it was a cheap and practical method of execution in early times when a sword or an axe was always readily available.

The Greeks and the Romans considered beheading a less dishonourable (and less painful) form of execution than other methods in use at the time. The Roman Empire used beheading for its own citizens whilst crucifying others.

Beheading was widely used in Europe and Asia until the 20th century, but now is confined to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen and Iran. One man was reportedly beheaded in Iran in 2003 – the first for many years. It remains a lawful method in the other two countries, although no executions by this method have been reported.

Beheading was used in Britain up to 1747 (see below) and was the standard method in Norway (abolished 1905), Sweden (up to 1903), Denmark and Holland (abolished 1870), and was used for some classes of prisoners in France (up until the introduction of the guillotine in 1792) and in Germany up to 1938.

China also used it widely, until the communists came to power and replaced it with shooting in the 20th century. Japan too used beheading up to the end of the 19th century prior to turning to hanging.

 

Saudi Arabia - beheading in the 21st century.

Saudi Arabia uses public beheading as the punishment for murder, rape, drug trafficking, sodomy, armed robbery, apostasy and certain other offences. Forty five men and 2 women were beheaded in 2002, a further 52 men and 1 woman in 2003 and 35 men and a woman in 2004. Executions rose in 2005 with 88 men and 2 women being beheaded and then reduced to 35 men and four women in 2006.

The condemned of both sexes are given tranquillisers and then taken by police van to a public square or a car park after midday prayers. Their eyes are covered and they are blindfolded. The police clear the square of traffic and a sheet of blue plastic sheet about 16 feet square is laid out on the ground.

Dressed in their own clothes, barefoot, with shackled feet and hands cuffed behind their back, the prisoner is led by a police officer to the centre of the sheet where they are made to kneel facing Mecca. An Interior Ministry official reads out the prisoner's name and crime to the crowd.

Saudi Arabia uses a traditional Arab scimitar which is 1000-1100 mm long. The executioner is handed the sword by a policeman and raises the gleaming scimitar, often swinging it two or three times in the air to warm up his arm muscles, before approaching the prisoner from behind and jabbing him in the back with the tip of the blade, causing the person to raise their head. (see photo) Then with a single swing of the sword the prisoner is decapitated.

Normally it takes just one swing of the sword to sever the head, often sending it flying some two or three feet. Paramedics bring the head to a doctor, who uses a gloved hand to stop the fountain of blood spurting from the neck. The doctor sews the head back on, and the body is wrapped in the blue plastic sheet and taken away in an ambulance. Burial takes place in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery.

Beheadings of women did not start until the early 1990’s, previously they were shot. Forty women have been publicly beheaded up to the end of 2006.

Most executions take place in the three major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dahran. Saudi executioners take great pride in their work and the post tends to be handed down from one generation to the next.

 

Equipment for beheading.

There were two distinct forms of beheading - by the sword and by the axe. Where a person was to be decapitated with a sword, a block is not used and they are generally made to kneel down although they could, if short, be executed standing up, and in Germany women were sometimes allowed to sit in a chair.

A typical European execution sword was 36-48 inches (900-1200 mm) long and 2 to 2-1/2 inches (50-65mm) wide with the handle being long enough for the executioner to use both hands to give maximum leverage. It will weigh around 4 lbs. (2 Kg.)

Where an axe was the chosen implement, a wooden block often shaped to accept the neck, was required. Two patterns of block were used, the high block, 18-24 inches (450-600 mm) high, where the prisoner knelt in front of it and lent forward so that the neck rested on the top or lay on a low bench with their neck over the block. The neck on a high block presented an easier target due to the head pointing slightly downwards, thus bringing the neck into prominence. It also meant that the axe was at a better angle at that point in the arc of the stroke to meet the neck full on.

The high block was favoured in later times in Britain and was standard in Germany up to the 1930's.

Some countries used a low block where the person lies full length and puts there neck over the small wooden block which is just a few inches high. This arrangement was used in Sweden where some 600 people, including nearly 200 women, were beheaded in the 19th century until manual beheading was replaced by the guillotine in 1903. This drawing is of the execution of 48 year old Anna Månsdotter in Kristianstad, southern Sweden on 7th of August 1890. She was the last woman to be executed in Sweden and had been convicted of strangling her daughter-in-law, Hanna Johansdotter. Anna was having an incestuous relationship with her son, Per, who received a life sentence for his part in the crime.

The low block presented the executioner with certain difficulties. The arc prescribed by the axe as he brought it down meant that the blade was at quite an angle to the prisoner's neck making it more difficult to sever the head with a single blow. In Anna's case, it passed through her lower jaw which was left attached to her neck.

Two patterns of axe were also used - the pattern used in Britain, which was developed from the traditional woodsman's axe, has a blade about one foot 8 inches (500 mm) high by 10 inches (250 mm) wide with a 5 foot (1525 mm) long handle. In Germany, the axe was like a larger version of a butcher's cleaver, again the handle was long enough for the headsman to use both hands.

 

Beheading in Britain.

In Britain, beheading was introduced during the reign of William the Conqueror for the execution of Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland in 1076. It was confined to those of noble birth who were convicted of treason, or in a very few cases murder. Several members of Royalty were beheaded, including Charles 1st, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots and Lady Jane Grey. Many other Earls, Lords and Knights, including Sir Walter Raleigh, and even some Bishops were beheaded.

The majority of English beheadings took place at the Tower of London. Seven were carried out in private within the grounds, of which 5 were of women and just over 100 on Tower Hill outside the walls of the Tower, where there stood a permanent scaffold from 1485. Only a very small number of beheadings were carried out elsewhere, as the Tower was the principal prison for traitors. It should be noted that treason often meant displeasing the monarch, rather than in any way betraying the country.

The spot indicated as "The site of the scaffold" on Tower Green which visitors can see today was not used for all of the 7 private beheadings although the plaque implies this.

Those beheaded in private on Tower Green were Lord Hastings in 1483, Anne Boleyn on the 19th of May 1536, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury on the 28th of May 1541, Catherine Howard and her Lady in Waiting, Jane, Viscountess Rochford on the 13th of February 1542, Lady Jane Grey on the 15th of February 1554 and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex on the 25th of February 1601.

At various times both the low block and the high block have been used . The axe was the normal implement of execution in Britain, although Anne Boleyn was beheaded with a sword (see below).

A replica of the scaffold used for the 1601 execution of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex has been constructed for exhibition in the Tower. The original was set up in the middle of the Parade Ground and was made of oak, some 4 feet high and having a 9 feet square platform (1.2 m high x 2.75 m square) with a waist high rail round it. The prisoner mounted it by a short flight of stairs and was not restrained throughout the execution as it was expected that people of noble birth would know how to behave at their executions! Devereux lay full length on the platform and placed his neck on the low block with his arms outstretched. It is recorded that three strokes of the axe were required to decapitate him. Straw was spread on the scaffold to absorb the blood.

Beheading in public on Tower Hill was used when the government of the day wished to make an example of the traitor (or traitors). Double beheadings were rare, although not unknown, and were carried out in order of precedence of the victims, as occurred with the Jacobite Earls, Kilmarnock and Balmerino, executed in 1746 for treason after the battle of Culloden.

Simon Lord Lovatt became the last person to be beheaded on Tower Hill when he was executed for treason on April the 9th, 1747. The high block used for Lord Lovatt together with the axe were on display in the Tower. (see photo). It was normal for the executioner to pick up the severed head and display to the crowd proclaiming, "Behold the head of a traitor!"

 

The execution of Anne Boleyn.

29 year old Anne, (see photo) Henry VIII's second wife, had been convicted on trumped up charges of adultery and treason and was thus sentenced to death by burning at the stake or beheading at the Kings pleasure. Fortunately for Anne, he chose the latter and perhaps through a pang of conscience imported a skilled headsman from Calais in France to ensure the execution was performed as humanely as possible. British hangmen normally got the job of beheading those condemned but were generally very poor at it due to the rarity of such sentences.

On the 19th May 1536, Anne was led to the Parade Ground within the Tower with an escort of 200 Yeoman of the Guard (Beefeaters). She was wearing a loose, ermine trimmed, grey damask robe over a red underskirt. Her hair was "up" covered with a white coif and a small black cap and she wore a cross on a gold chain at her waist and carried a white handkerchief and a prayer book.

She had to climb 4 feet (1200 mm) up the steps to the scaffold to meet her headsman who was wearing a black suit and half mask covering the upper part of his face. The long two handed execution sword was concealed under the straw on the scaffold.

Anne made a short speech to the assembled witnesses and then removed her cape and her hair coif and cap which was now replaced by a white cap. She knelt on the platform and prayed with her chaplain. When she had finished one of her ladies in waiting blindfolded her with a large handkerchief. All was now ready and the headsman took up the sword and beheaded her with a single blow. (Click here to see a shot of her execution as portrayed in a film). Her ladies in waiting recovered her head and as there was no coffin provided, she was placed in an old arrow box and duly buried in the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vinicula, within the Tower.

 

Lady Jane Grey.

Lady Jane Grey, the daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, was born in October 1537 and was only 16 years old when she was proclaimed Queen on the 10th of July 1553 by Protestant nobles, including her father, after the premature death of Edward VI. She reigned, uncrowned, for just 9 days and was unable to win public acceptance because of her religion in what was a predominately Catholic country. Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) took over the throne and commenced her persecution of Protestants. Thus, Jane was deposed and imprisoned in the Tower for 6 months before being condemned for treason and executed on the 13th of February 1554. She was led to the scaffold erected on Tower Green in front of the White Tower. She made a speech and recited a psalm before using a large white handkerchief to blindfold herself. She knelt on a cushion in front of the high block. Having blindfolded herself she couldn't see the block and fumbling for it said "What shall I do, where is it, where is it?" One of the people on the scaffold guided her down and before the fatal blow she said "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit". (Click here to see an artist's impression of her execution). Earlier on the same day her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, whom she had married on the 21st of May 1553, was beheaded on Tower Hill and her father suffered the same fate 11 days later for his part in the alleged conspiracy to seize the thrown for his daughter. Many others were to be beheaded or burned at the stake under Mary's reign, hence her nickname.

 

Germany.

Beheading with a high block and axe was the normal method of execution in some Länders (provinces) of Germany and was carried out in public up to 1851. Other Länders used the sword or the guillotine. Franz Schmidt, the executioner of Nuremberg from May 1578 to 1617, often tried to persuade the authorities to allow him to behead a condemned woman, rather than hang her, as a mercy to the woman. She was seated in a chair and Schmidt beheaded her with his sword from behind. He executed at least 42 women during his 44 years in office.

The execution of Bertha Zillman on October 31st, 1893 was described by journalists. Zillman had poisoned her husband with arsenic, because he beat her and their children, and was sentenced to death. She was beheaded at Plötzensee prison at 8 a.m. Her dress was cut out at the neck down to her shoulders and her hair put up in a bun. She was given a shawl to wear. When the Inspector of the prison went to fetch her, he found her prostrate with fear and she had to be helped to the high block by two male warders. She silently removed the shawl and with one swing of the axe the executioner had decapitated her. It was all over by 8.03 a.m.

There was a double female execution in 1914 when Pauline Zimmer and Marie Kubatzka were beheaded for murder in Ratibor in the Prussian province of Silesia. The women were executed in turn using a high block. In front of the block was a black cushion on which the manacled woman knelt and then bent forward to put her head on the block which was higher on the body side so that it caused the neck to be slightly bent. The assistant executioner held the women's hair out in front of her to prevent her moving at the crucial moment while the masked executioner beheaded her with a short handled axe, rather like a butcher's cleaver. (Click here to see a picture of an earlier, but similar female beheading in Germany)

Two famous beheadings in Germany were carried out at 6 a.m. on 18th February 1935 when Baroness Benita von Falkenhayn and her friend Renate von Natzner, who had been convicted of spying, were beheaded with the axe by the executioner Carl Gröpler wearing the traditional tail-coat, top hat and white gloves, at Berlin's Plötzensee prison. In 1938, Hitler decreed that all future executions should be by hanging or guillotining. West Germany abolished capital punishment altogether in 1951 and the last execution there was in 1949.

 

The cause of death.

Beheading is effective and is probably as humane as any other modern method if carried out correctly. When a single blow is sufficient to decapitate the prisoner, they lose consciousness within a few seconds. They die from shock and anoxia due to haemorrhage and loss of blood pressure within less than 60 seconds. However, because the muscles and vertebrae of the neck are tough, decapitation may require more than one blow. Death occurs due to separation of the brain and spinal cord, after the transection (cutting through) of the surrounding tissues. Consciousness is probably lost within 2-3 seconds, due to a rapid fall of the “intracranial perfusion of blood" (blood supply to the brain).

It has often been reported that the eyes and mouths of people beheaded have shown signs of movement. It has been calculated that the human brain has enough oxygen stored for metabolism to persist about 7 seconds after the head is cut off.

 

The problem with beheading.

Beheading requires a skilled headsman if it is to be at all humane and not infrequently, several blows are required to sever the head. It took three blows to remove Mary Queen of Scot's head at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587.

The prisoner is usually blindfolded so that they do not see the sword or axe coming and move at the crucial moment. Again, this is why in both beheading and guillotining it was not unusual for an assistant to hold the prisoner's hair to prevent them moving.

In any event, the results are gory in the extreme as blood spurts from the severed arteries and veins of the neck including the aorta and the jugular vein.

All the European countries that previously used beheading have now totally abolished the death penalty.

 

Back to Contents page The guillotine

 

A little while ago Simon Pickard (aka brickspartan) from Blocks magazine approached me about doing a feature article on me (as part of a series of AFOL feature articles). I was chuffed and flattered for the recognition (and a little intimidated at the same time!) Simon and I had a great time during the interview and I'm really pleased with how well Simon put together this feature.

 

Its available in UK stockists WH Smith, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, and others(?). I believe its carried by Barnes and Noble in the US and available globally in digital form from the iTunes Newsstand app.

 

Blocks is a great read with high quality content and production. That should not be come as a surprise since most of the editorial team are mostly AFOLs.

 

Blocks Magazine, July 2015, Issue 9

My latest article for the XEquals photography platform

  

x-equals.com/legit-journalists-using-mobile-photography-t...

article complet sur la FIM à lire ici : militaryphotoreport.blogspot.fr/2015/10/la-defense-lhonne...

BTW I also wrote an article on sketching food which was in the June issue. I never got a copy and with going overseas etc etc forgot to look out for it. Thankful to Jason in the UK for taking these photos for me

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod

 

Cape Cod

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about the area of Massachusetts. For other uses, see Cape Cod (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Cod (disambiguation).

 

Coordinates: 41°41′20″N 70°17′49″W / 41.68889°N 70.29694°W / 41.68889; -70.29694

Map of Massachusetts, with Cape Cod (Barnstable County) indicated in red

Dunes on Sandy Neck are part of the Cape's barrier beach which helps to prevent erosion

 

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is an island and a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. It is coextensive with Barnstable County. Several small islands right off Cape Cod, including Monomoy Island, Monomoscoy Island, Popponesset Island, and Seconsett Island, are also in Barnstable County, being part of municipalities with land on the Cape. The Cape's small-town character and large beachfront attract heavy tourism during the summer months.

 

Cape Cod was formed as the terminal moraine of a glacier, resulting in a peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1914, the Cape Cod Canal was cut through the base or isthmus of the peninsula, forming an island. The Cape Cod Commission refers to the resultant landmass as an island; as does the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in regards to disaster preparedness.[1] It is still identified as a peninsula by geographers, who do not change landform designations based on man-made canal construction.[citation needed]

 

Unofficially, it is one of the biggest barrier islands in the world, shielding much of the Massachusetts coastline from North Atlantic storm waves. This protection helps to erode the Cape shoreline at the expense of cliffs, while protecting towns from Fairhaven to Marshfield.

 

Road vehicles from the mainland cross over the Cape Cod Canal via the Sagamore Bridge and the Bourne Bridge. The two bridges are parallel, with the Bourne Bridge located slightly farther southwest. In addition, the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge carries railway freight as well as tourist passenger services.

Contents

[hide]

 

* 1 Geography and political divisions

o 1.1 "Upper" and "Lower"

* 2 Geology

* 3 Climate

* 4 Native population

* 5 History

* 6 Lighthouses of Cape Cod

* 7 Transportation

o 7.1 Bus

o 7.2 Rail

o 7.3 Taxi

* 8 Tourism

* 9 Sport fishing

* 10 Sports

* 11 Education

* 12 Islands off Cape Cod

* 13 See also

* 14 References

o 14.1 Notes

o 14.2 Sources

o 14.3 Further reading

* 15 External links

 

[edit] Geography and political divisions

Towns of Barnstable County

historical map of 1890

 

The highest elevation on Cape Cod is 306 feet (93 m), at the top of Pine Hill, in the Bourne portion of the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The lowest point is sea level.

 

The body of water located between Cape Cod and the mainland, bordered to the north by Massachusetts Bay, is Cape Cod Bay; west of Cape Cod is Buzzards Bay. The Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1916, connects Buzzards Bay to Cape Cod Bay; it shortened the trade route between New York and Boston by 62 miles.[2] To the south of Cape Cod lie Nantucket Sound; Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, both large islands, and the mostly privately owned Elizabeth Islands.

 

Cape Cod incorporates all of Barnstable County, which comprises 15 towns: Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. Two of the county's fifteen towns (Bourne and Sandwich) include land on the mainland side of the Cape Cod Canal. The towns of Plymouth and Wareham, in adjacent Plymouth County, are sometimes considered to be part of Cape Cod but are not located on the island.

 

In the 17th century the designation Cape Cod applied only to the tip of the peninsula, essentially present-day Provincetown. Over the ensuing decades, the name came to mean all the land east of the Manomet and Scussett rivers - essentially the line of the 20th century Cape Cod Canal. Now, the complete towns of Bourne and Sandwich are widely considered to incorporate the full perimeter of Cape Cod, even though small parts of these towns are located on the west side of the canal. The canal divides the largest part of the peninsula from the mainland and the resultant landmass is sometimes referred to as an island.[3][4] Additionally some "Cape Codders" – residents of "The Cape" – refer to all land on the mainland side of the canal as "off-Cape."

 

For most of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Cape Cod was considered to consist of three sections:

 

* The Upper Cape is the part of Cape Cod closest to the mainland, comprising the towns of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Falmouth is the home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several other research organizations, and is also the most-used ferry connection to Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth is composed of several separate villages, including East Falmouth, Falmouth Village, Hatchville, North Falmouth, Teaticket, Waquoit, West Falmouth, and Woods Hole, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Davisville, Falmouth Heights, Quissett, Sippewissett, and others).[5]

 

* The Mid-Cape includes the towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The Mid-Cape area features many beautiful beaches, including warm-water beaches along Nantucket Sound, e.g., Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from one of the inventors of Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular windsurfing destination was bequeathed to the town of Barnstable by Dr. Kalmus on condition that it not be developed, possibly one of the first instances of open-space preservation in the US. The Mid-Cape is also the commercial and industrial center of the region. There are seven villages in Barnstable, including Barnstable Village, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Craigville, Cummaquid, Hyannisport, Santuit, Wianno, and others).[6] There are three villages in Yarmouth: South Yarmouth, West Yarmouth and Yarmouthport. There are five villages in Dennis including, Dennis Village(North Dennis), East Dennis, West Dennis, South Dennis and Dennisport.[7]

 

* The Lower Cape traditionally included all of the rest of the Cape,or the towns of Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. This area includes the Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park comprising much of the outer Cape, including the entire east-facing coast, and is home to some of the most popular beaches in America, such as Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham. Stephen Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach", named Coast Guard Beach the 5th best beach in America for 2007.[8]

 

[edit] "Upper" and "Lower"

 

The terms "Upper" and "Lower" as applied to the Cape have nothing to do with north and south. Instead, they derive from maritime convention at the time when the principal means of transportation involved watercraft, and the prevailing westerly winds meant that a boat with sails traveling northeast in Cape Cod Bay would have the wind at its back and thus be going downwind, while a craft sailing southwest would be going against the wind, or upwind.[9] Similarly, on nearby Martha's Vineyard, "Up Island" still is the western section and "Down Island" is to the east, and in Maine, "Down East" is similarly defined by the winds and currents.

 

Over time, the reasons for the traditional nomenclature became unfamiliar and their meaning obscure. Late in the 1900s, new arrivals began calling towns from Eastham to Provincetown the "Outer Cape", yet another geographic descriptor which is still in use, as is the "Inner Cape."

[edit] Geology

Cape Cod and Cape Cod Bay from space.[10]

 

East of America, there stands in the open Atlantic the last fragment of an ancient and vanished land. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold.

“

”

Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

Cape Cod forms a continuous archipelagic region with a thin line of islands stretching toward New York, historically known by naturalists as the Outer Lands. This continuity is due to the fact that the islands and Cape are all terminal glacial moraines laid down some 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.

 

Most of Cape Cod's geological history involves the advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet in the late Pleistocene geological era and the subsequent changes in sea level. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers have determined that around 23,000 years ago, the ice sheet reached its maximum southward advance over North America, and then started to retreat. Many "kettle ponds" — clear, cold lakes — were formed and remain on Cape Cod as a result of the receding glacier. By about 18,000 years ago, the ice sheet had retreated past Cape Cod. By roughly 15,000 years ago, it had retreated past southern New England. When so much of Earth's water was locked up in massive ice sheets, the sea level was lower. Truro's bayside beaches used to be a petrified forest, before it became a beach.

 

As the ice began to melt, the sea began to rise. Initially, sea level rose quickly, about 15 meters (50 ft) per 1,000 years, but then the rate declined. On Cape Cod, sea level rose roughly 3 meters (11 ft) per millennium between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. After that, it continued to rise at about 1 meter (3 ft) per millennium. By 6,000 years ago, the sea level was high enough to start eroding the glacial deposits that the vanished continental ice sheet had left on Cape Cod. The water transported the eroded deposits north and south along the outer Cape's shoreline. Those reworked sediments that moved north went to the tip of Cape Cod.

 

Provincetown Spit, at the northern end of the Cape, consists largely of marine deposits, transported from farther up the shore. Sediments that moved south created the islands and shoals of Monomoy. So while other parts of the Cape have dwindled from the action of the waves, these parts of the Cape have grown.

Cape Cod National Seashore

 

This process continues today. Due to their position jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape and islands are subject to massive coastal erosion. Geologists say that, due to erosion, the Cape will be completely submerged by the sea in thousands of years.[11] This erosion causes the washout of beaches and the destruction of the barrier islands; for example, the ocean broke through the barrier island at Chatham during Hurricane Bob in 1991, allowing waves and storm surges to hit the coast with no obstruction. Consequently, the sediment and sand from the beaches is being washed away and deposited elsewhere. While this destroys land in some places, it creates land elsewhere, most noticeably in marshes where sediment is deposited by waters running through them.

[edit] Climate

 

Although Cape Cod's weather[12] is typically more moderate than inland locations, there have been occasions where Cape Cod has dealt with the brunt of extreme weather situations (such as the Blizzard of 1954 and Hurricane of 1938). Because of the influence of the Atlantic Ocean, temperatures are typically a few degrees cooler in the summer and a few degrees warmer in the winter. A common misconception is that the climate is influenced largely by the warm Gulf Stream current, however that current turns eastward off the coast of Virginia and the waters off the Cape are more influenced by the cold Canadian Labrador Current. As a result, the ocean temperature rarely gets above 65 °F (18 °C), except along the shallow west coast of the Upper Cape.

 

The Cape's climate is also notorious for a delayed spring season, being surrounded by an ocean which is still cold from the winter; however, it is also known for an exceptionally mild fall season (Indian summer), thanks to the ocean remaining warm from the summer. The highest temperature ever recorded on Cape Cod was 104 °F (40 °C) in Provincetown[13], and the lowest temperature ever was −12 °F (−24.4 °C) in Barnstable.[14]

 

The water surrounding Cape Cod moderates winter temperatures enough to extend the USDA hardiness zone 7a to its northernmost limit in eastern North America.[15] Even though zone 7a (annual low = 0–5 degrees Fahrenheit) signifies no sub-zero temperatures annually, there have been several instances of temperatures reaching a few degrees below zero across the Cape (although it is rare, usually 1–5 times a year, typically depending on locale, sometimes not at all). Consequently, many plant species typically found in more southerly latitudes grow there, including Camellias, Ilex opaca, Magnolia grandiflora and Albizia julibrissin.

 

Precipitation on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is the lowest in the New England region, averaging slightly less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) a year (most parts of New England average 42–46 inches). This is due to storm systems which move across western areas, building up in mountainous regions, and dissipating before reaching the coast where the land has leveled out. The region does not experience a greater number of sunny days however, as the number of cloudy days is the same as inland locales, in addition to increased fog. Snowfall is annual, but a lot less common than the rest of Massachusetts. On average, 30 inches of snow, which is a foot less than Boston, falls in an average winter. Snow is usually light, and comes in squalls on cold days. Storms that bring blizzard conditions and snow emergencies to the mainland, bring devastating ice storms or just heavy rains more frequently than large snow storms.

[hide]Climate data for Cape Cod

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Average high °C (°F) 2.06

(35.7) 2.5

(36.5) 6.22

(43.2) 11.72

(53.1) 16.94

(62.5) 23.5

(74.3) 26.39

(79.5) 26.67

(80.0) 25.06

(77.1) 18.39

(65.1) 12.56

(54.6) 5.44

(41.8) 26.67

(80.0)

Average low °C (°F) -5.33

(22.4) -5

(23.0) -1.33

(29.6) 2.72

(36.9) 8.72

(47.7) 14.61

(58.3) 19.22

(66.6) 20.28

(68.5) 15.56

(60.0) 9.94

(49.9) 3.94

(39.1) -2.22

(28.0) -5.33

(22.4)

Precipitation mm (inches) 98

(3.86) 75.4

(2.97) 95

(3.74) 92.5

(3.64) 83.6

(3.29) 76.7

(3.02) 62.2

(2.45) 65

(2.56) 74.7

(2.94) 84.8

(3.34) 90.7

(3.57) 92.7

(3.65) 990.9

(39.01)

Source: World Meteorological Organisation (United Nations) [16]

[edit] Native population

 

Cape Cod has been the home of the Wampanoag tribe of Native American people for many centuries. They survived off the sea and were accomplished farmers. They understood the principles of sustainable forest management, and were known to light controlled fires to keep the underbrush in check. They helped the Pilgrims, who arrived in the fall of 1620, survive at their new Plymouth Colony. At the time, the dominant group was the Kakopee, known for their abilities at fishing. They were the first Native Americans to use large casting nets. Early colonial settlers recorded that the Kakopee numbered nearly 7,000.

 

Shortly after the Pilgrims arrived, the chief of the Kakopee, Mogauhok, attempted to make a treaty limiting colonial settlements. The effort failed after he succumbed to smallpox in 1625. Infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza caused the deaths of many other Kakopee and Wampanoag. They had no natural immunity to Eurasian diseases by then endemic among the English and other Europeans. Today, the only reminder of the Kakopee is a small public recreation area in Barnstable named for them. A historic marker notes the burial site of Mogauhok near Truro, although the location is conjecture.

 

While contractors were digging test wells in the eastern Massachusetts Military Reservation area, they discovered an archeological find.[citation needed] Excavation revealed the remains of a Kakopee village in Forestdale, a location in Sandwich. Researchers found a totem with a painted image of Mogauhok, portrayed in his chief's cape and brooch. The totem was discovered on property on Grand Oak Road. It is the first evidence other than colonial accounts of his role as an important Kakopee leader.

 

The Indians lost their lands through continued purchase and expropriation by the English colonists. The documentary Natives of the Narrowland (1993), narrated by actress Julie Harris, shows the history of the Wampanoag people through Cape Cod archaeological sites.

 

In 1974, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was formed to articulate the concerns of those with Native American ancestry. They petitioned the federal government in 1975 and again in 1990 for official recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag as a tribe. In May 2007, the Wampanoag tribe was finally federally recognized as a tribe.[17]

[edit] History

Cranberry picking in 1906

 

Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. It may have been the "Promontory of Vinland" mentioned by the Norse voyagers (985-1025). Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 approached it from the south. He named Martha's Vineyard Claudia, after the mother of the King of France.[18] The next year the explorer Esteban Gómez called it Cape St. James.

 

In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold named it Cape Cod, the surviving term and the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.[19] Samuel de Champlain charted its sand-silted harbors in 1606 and Henry Hudson landed there in 1609. Captain John Smith noted it on his map of 1614 and at last the Pilgrims entered the "Cape Harbor" and – contrary to the popular myth of Plymouth Rock – made their first landing near present-day Provincetown on November 11, 1620. Nearby, in what is now Eastham, they had their first encounter with Native Americans.

 

Cape Cod was among the first places settled by the English in North America. Aside from Barnstable (1639), Sandwich (1637) and Yarmouth (1639), the Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly. The final town to be established on the Cape was Bourne in 1884.[20] Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzards Bay is shown on Southack's map of 1717. The present Cape Cod Canal was slowly developed from 1870 to 1914. The Federal government purchased it in 1928.

 

Thanks to early colonial settlement and intensive land use, by the time Henry Thoreau saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857[21], its vegetation was depauperate and trees were scarce. As the settlers heated by fires, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m³) of wood to heat a home, they cleared most of Cape Cod of timber early on. They planted familiar crops, but these were unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted to wheat. The settlers practiced burning of woodlands to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and intensive farming led to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed their cattle on the grassy dunes of coastal Massachusetts, only to watch "in horror as the denuded sands `walked' over richer lands, burying cultivated fields and fences." Dunes on the outer Cape became more common and many harbors filled in with eroded soils.[22]

 

By 1800, most of Cape Cod's firewood had to be transported by boat from Maine. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the raising of merino sheep that reached its peak in New England around 1840. The early industrial revolution, which occurred through much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of significant water power in the area. As a result, and also because of its geographic position, the Cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center. After 1860 and the opening of the American West, farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape. By 1950 forests had recovered to an extent not seen since the 18th century.

 

Cape Cod became a summer haven for city dwellers beginning at the end of the 19th century. Improved rail transportation made the towns of the Upper Cape, such as Bourne and Falmouth, accessible to Bostonians. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Northeastern mercantile elite built many large, shingled "cottages" along Buzzards Bay. The relaxed summer environment offered by Cape Cod was highlighted by writers including Joseph C. Lincoln, who published novels and countless short stories about Cape Cod folks in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and the Delineator.

 

Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission originating in the United States from Cape Cod, at Wellfleet. The beach from which he transmitted has since been called Marconi Beach. In 1914 he opened the maritime wireless station WCC in Chatham. It supported the communications of Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Admiral Byrd, and the Hindenburg. Marconi chose Chatham due to its vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded on three sides by water. Walter Cronkite narrated a 17-minute documentary in 2005 about the history of the Chatham Station.

 

Much of the East-facing Atlantic seacoast of Cape Cod consists of wide, sandy beaches. In 1961, a significant portion of this coastline, already slated for housing subdivisions, was made a part of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy. It was protected from private development and preserved for public use. Large portions are open to the public, including the Marconi Site in Wellfleet. This is a park encompassing the site of the first two-way transoceanic radio transmission from the United States. (Theodore Roosevelt used Marconi's equipment for this transmission).

 

The Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport was President Kennedy's summer White House during his presidency. The Kennedy family continues to maintain residences on the compound. Other notable residents of Cape Cod have included actress Julie Harris, US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, figure skater Todd Eldredge, and novelists Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut. Influential natives included the patriot James Otis, historian and writer Mercy Otis Warren, jurist Lemuel Shaw, and naval officer John Percival.

[edit] Lighthouses of Cape Cod

Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown (1876)

 

Lighthouses, from ancient times, have fascinated members of the human race. There is something about a lighted beacon that suggests hope and trust and appeals to the better instincts of mankind.

“

”

Edward Rowe Snow

 

Due to its dangerous constantly moving shoals, Cape Cod's shores have featured beacons which warn ships of the danger since very early in its history. There are numerous working lighthouses on Cape Cod and the Islands, including Highland Light, Nauset Light, Chatham Light, Race Point Light, and Nobska Light, mostly operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The exception is Nauset Light, which was decommissioned in 1996 and is now maintained by the Nauset Light Preservation Society under the auspices of Cape Cod National Seashore. These lighthouses are frequently photographed symbols of Cape Cod.

 

Others include:

 

Upper Cape: Wings Neck

 

Mid Cape: Sandy Neck, South Hyannis, Lewis Bay, Bishop and Clerks, Bass River

 

Lower Cape: Wood End, Long Point, Monomoy, Stage Harbor, Pamet, Mayo Beach, Billingsgate, Three Sisters, Nauset, Highland

[edit] Transportation

 

Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges from Bourne and Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s, and a vertical-lift railroad bridge. The limited number of access points to the peninsula can result in large traffic backups during the tourist season.

 

The entire Cape is roughly bisected lengthwise by U.S. Route 6, locally known as the Mid-Cape Highway and officially as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.

 

Commercial air service to Cape Cod operates out of Barnstable Municipal Airport and Provincetown Municipal Airport. Several bus lines service the Cape. There are ferry connections from Boston to Provincetown, as well as from Hyannis and Woods Hole to the islands.

 

Cape Cod has a public transportation network comprising buses operated by three different companies, a rail line, taxis and paratransit services.

The Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal, with the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the background

[edit] Bus

 

Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority operates a year-round public bus system comprising three long distance routes and a local bus in Hyannis and Barnstable Village. From mid June until October, additional local routes are added in Falmouth and Provincetown. CCRTA also operates Barnstable County's ADA required paratransit (dial-a-ride) service, under the name "B-Bus."

 

Long distance bus service is available through Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway, with regular service to Boston and Logan Airport, as well as less frequent service to Provincetown. Peter Pan Bus Lines also runs long distance service to Providence T.F. Green Airport and New York City.

[edit] Rail

 

Regular passenger rail service through Cape Cod ended in 1959, quite possibly on June 30 of that year. In 1978, the tracks east of South Dennis were abandoned and replaced with the very popular bicycle path, known as the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Another bike path, the Shining Sea Bikeway, was built over tracks between Woods Hole and Falmouth in 1975; construction to extend this path to North Falmouth over 6.3 miles (10.1 km) of inactive rail bed began in April 2008[23] and ended in early 2009. Active freight service remains in the Upper Cape area in Sandwich and in Bourne, largely due to a trash transfer station located at Massachusetts Military Reservation along the Bourne-Falmouth rail line. In 1986, Amtrak ran a seasonal service in the summer from New York City to Hyannis called the Cape Codder. From 1988, Amtrak and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation increased service to a daily frequency.[24] Since its demise in 1996, there have been periodic discussions about reinstating passenger rail service from Boston to reduce car traffic to and from the Cape, with officials in Bourne seeking to re-extend MBTA Commuter Rail service from Middleboro to Buzzards Bay[25], despite a reluctant Beacon Hill legislature.

 

Cape Cod Central Railroad operates passenger train service on Cape Cod. The service is primarily tourist oriented and includes a dinner train. The scenic route between Downtown Hyannis and the Cape Cod Canal is about 2½ hours round trip. Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is also planning to return passenger railroad services eventually to the Bourne-Falmouth rail line in the future. An August 5, 2009 article on the New England Cable News channel, entitled South Coast rail project a priority for Mass. lawmakers, mentions a $1.4-billion railroad reconstruction plan by Governor Deval Patrick, and could mean rebuilding of old rail lines on the Cape. On November 21, 2009, the town of Falmouth saw its first passenger train in 12 years, a set of dinner train cars from Cape Cod Central. And a trip from the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts on May 15, 2010 revealed a second trip along the Falmouth line.

[edit] Taxi

 

Taxicabs are plentiful, with several different companies operating out of different parts of the Cape. Except at the airport and some bus terminals with taxi stands, cabs must be booked ahead of time, with most operators preferring two to three hours notice. Cabs cannot be "hailed" anywhere in Barnstable County, this was outlawed in the early nineties after several robbery attempts on drivers.

 

Most companies utilize a New York City-style taximeter and charge based on distance plus an initial fee of $2 to $3. In Provincetown, cabs charge a flat fare per person anywhere in the town.

[edit] Tourism

Hyannis Harbor on Nantucket Sound

 

Although Cape Cod has a year-round population of about 230,000, it experiences a tourist season each summer, the beginning and end of which can be roughly approximated as Memorial Day and Labor Day, respectively. Many businesses are specifically targeted to summer visitors, and close during the eight to nine months of the "off season" (although the "on season" has been expanding somewhat in recent years due to Indian Summer, reduced lodging rates, and the number of people visiting the Cape after Labor Day who either have no school-age children, and the elderly, reducing the true "off season" to six or seven months). In the late 20th century, tourists and owners of second homes began visiting the Cape more and more in the spring and fall, softening the definition of the high season and expanding it somewhat (see above). Some particularly well-known Cape products and industries include cranberries, shellfish (particularly oysters and clams) and lobstering.

 

Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, also berths several whale watching fleets who patrol the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Most fleets guarantee a whale sighting (mostly humpback whale, fin whale, minke whale, sei whale, and critically endangered, the North Atlantic Right Whale), and one is the only federally certified operation qualified to rescue whales. Provincetown has also long been known as an art colony, attracting writers and artists. The town is home to the Cape's most attended art museum, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Many hotels and resorts are friendly to or cater to gay and lesbian tourists and it is known as a gay mecca in the summer.[26]

 

Cape Cod is a popular destination for beachgoers from all over. With 559.6 miles (900.6 km) of coastline, beaches, both public and private, are easily accessible. The Cape has upwards of sixty public beaches, many of which offer parking for non-residents for a daily fee (in summer). The Cape Cod National Seashore has 40 miles (64 km) of sandy beach and many walking paths.

 

Cape Cod is also popular for its outdoor activities like beach walking, biking, boating, fishing, go-karts, golfing, kayaking, miniature golf, and unique shopping. There are 27 public, daily-fee golf courses and 15 private courses on Cape Cod.[27] Bed and breakfasts or vacation houses are often used for lodging.

 

Each summer the Naukabout Music Festival is held at the Barnstable County Fair Grounds located in East Falmouth,(typically) during the first weekend of August. This Music festival features local, regional and national talent along with food, arts and family friendly activities.

[edit] Sport fishing

 

Cape Cod is known around the world as a spring-to-fall destination for sport anglers. Among the species most widely pursued are striped bass, bluefish, bluefin tuna, false albacore (little tunny), bonito, tautog, flounder and fluke. The Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape, from Sandwich to Provincetown, has several harbors, saltwater creeks, and shoals that hold bait fish and attract the larger game fish, such as striped bass, bluefish and bluefin tuna.

 

The outer edge of the Cape, from Provincetown to Falmouth, faces the open Atlantic from Provincetown to Chatham, and then the more protected water of Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, from Chatham to Falmouth. The bays, harbors and shoals along this coastline also provide a robust habitat for game species, and during the late summer months warm-water species such as mahi-mahi and marlin will also appear on the southern edge of Cape Cod's waters. Nearly every harbor on Cape Cod hosts sport fishing charter boats, which run from May through October.[28]

[edit] Sports

 

The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Wareham Gatemen also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby Wareham, Massachusetts in Plymouth County. The league originated 1923, although intertown competition traces to 1866. Teams in the league are the Bourne Braves, Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Anglers (formerly the Chatham Athletics), Cotuit Kettleers, Falmouth Commodores, Harwich Mariners, Hyannis Harbor Hawks (formerly the Hyannis Mets), Orleans Firebirds (formerly the Orleans Cardinals), Wareham Gatemen and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Pro ball scouts frequent the games in the summer, looking for stars of the future.

 

Cape Cod is also a national hot bed for baseball and hockey. Along with the Cape Cod Baseball League and the new Junior Hockey League team, the Cape Cod Cubs, many high school players are being seriously recruited as well. Barnstable and Harwich have each sent multiple players to Division 1 colleges for baseball, Harwich has also won three State titles in the past 12 years (1996, 2006, 2007). Bourne and Sandwich, known rivals in hockey have won state championships recently. Bourne in 2004, and Sandwich in 2007. Nauset, Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard are also state hockey powerhouses. Barnstable and Falmouth also hold the title of having one of the longest Thanksgiving football rivalries in the country. The teams have played each other every year on the Thanksgiving since 1895. The Bourne and Barnstable girl's volleyball teams are two of the best teams in the state and Barnstable in the country. With Bourne winning the State title in 2003 and 2007. In the past 15 years, Barnstable has won 12 Division 1 State titles and has won the state title the past two years.

 

The Cape also is home to the Cape Cod Frenzy, a team in the American Basketball Association.

 

Soccer on Cape Cod is represented by the Cape Cod Crusaders, playing in the USL Premier Development League (PDL) soccer based in Hyannis. In addition, a summer Cape Cod Adult Soccer League (CCASL) is active in several towns on the Cape.

 

Cape Cod is also the home of the Cape Cod Cubs, a new junior league hockey team that is based out of Hyannis at the new communtiy center being built of Bearses Way.

 

The end of each summer is marked with the running of the world famous Falmouth Road Race which is held on the 3rd Saturday in August. It draws about 10,000 runners to the Cape and showcases the finest runners in the world (mainly for the large purse that the race is able to offer). The race is 7.2 miles (11.6 km) long, which is a non-standard distance. The reason for the unusual distance is that the man who thought the race up (Tommy Leonard) was a bartender who wanted a race along the coast from one bar (The Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole) to another (The Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights). While the bar in Falmouth Heights is no longer there, the race still starts at the front door of the Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole and now finishes at the beach in Falmouth Heights. Prior to the Falmouth race is an annual 5-mile (8.0 km) race through Brewster called the Brew Run, held early in August.

[edit] Education

 

Each town usually consists of a few elementary schools, one or two middle schools and one large public high school that services the entire town. Exceptions to this include Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School located in Yarmouth which services both the town of Yarmouth as well as Dennis and Nauset Regional High School located in Eastham which services the town of Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown (optional). Bourne High School is the public school for students residing in the town of Bourne, which is gathered from villages in Bourne, including Sagamore, Sagamore Beach, and Buzzards Bay. Barnstable High School is the largest high school and is known for its girls' volleyball team which have been state champions a total of 12 times. Barnstable High School also boasts one of the country's best high school drama clubs which were awarded with a contract by Warner Brothers to created a documentary in webisode format based on their production of Wizard of Oz. Sturgis Charter Public School is a public school in Hyannis which was featured in Newsweek's Magazine's "Best High Schools" ranking. It ranked 28th in the country and 1st in the state of Massachusetts in the 2009 edition and ranked 43rd and 55th in the 2008 and 2007 edition, respectively. Sturgis offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in their junior and senior year and is open to students as far as Plymouth. The Cape also contains two vocational high schools. One is the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich and the other is Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School located in Bourne. Lastly, Mashpee High School is home to the Mashpee Chapter of (SMPTE,) the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. This chapter is the first and only high school chapter in the world to be a part of this organization and has received much recognition within the Los Angeles broadcasting industry as a result. The officers of this group who have made history are listed below:

 

* President: Ryan D. Stanley '11

* Vice-President Kenneth J. Peters '13

* Treasurer Eric N. Bergquist '11

* Secretary Andrew L. Medlar '11

 

In addition to public schools, Cape Cod has a wide range of private schools. The town of Barnstable has Trinity Christian Academy, Cape Cod Academy, St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, and Pope John Paul II High School. Bourne offers the Waldorf School of Cape Cod, Orleans offers the Lighthouse Charter School for elementary and middle school students, and Falmouth offers Falmouth Academy. Riverview School is located in East Sandwich and is a special co-ed boarding school which services students as old as 22 who have learning disabilities. Another specialized school is the Penikese Island School located on Penikese Island, part of the Elizabeth Islands off southwestern Cape Cod, which services struggling and troubled teenage boys.

 

Cape Cod also contains two institutions of higher education. One is the Cape Cod Community College located in West Barnstable, Barnstable. The other is Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Bourne. Massachusetts Maritime Academy is the oldest continuously operating maritime college in the United States.

[edit] Islands off Cape Cod

 

Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of the Cape have evolved from whaling and trading areas to resort destinations, attracting wealthy families, celebrities, and other tourists. The islands include Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as Forbes family-owned Naushon Island, which was purchased by John Murray Forbes with profits from opium dealing in the China trade during the Opium War. Naushon is one of the Elizabeth Islands, many of which are privately owned. One of the publicly accessible Elizabeths is the southernmost island in the chain, Cuttyhunk, with a year-round population of 52 people. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.

3D red/cyan anaglyph from the glass plate negatives at the Library of Congress, with missing sections restored from the left side of a stereo card version posted online by the Getty Museum.

 

Link to the Library of Congress negatives, “James River, Va. Sailors relaxing on deck of U.S.S. Monitor,” at: www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/item/2018666819/

 

Link to the Getty Museum stereo card, “Crew of the Original "Monitor" on her Deck,” at: www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/1079B2

 

Stereograph Date: July 9, 1862

 

Photographer: James F. Gibson (1828 - )

 

Notes: A stereoscopic portrait of 24 sailors, out of a total crew (including officers) of about 65, posing on the deck of “The Monitor,” while at anchor at Harrison's Landing on the James River. The Monitor was providing protection for the Union army which had retreated to the James, after Lee drove McClellan away from Richmond. This is the original monitor, as improved versions continued to be built during the Civil War, and although these later boats had specific ship names, they were also referred to as “monitors.”

 

This historic stereograph, and a handful of others, were all taken on the same day, July 9, 1862, by photographer James F. Gibson, and are the only known photographs ever taken of this most famous and very first monitor vessel.

 

The ironclad Monitor was revolutionary in design, built in just a little over 3 months, and after battling the Merrimac to a standstill at Hampton Roads in March 1862, the ship and crew were hailed as the saviors of the Union. The crew was an all volunteer crew, and although they were fairly safe inside it during battle, environmental conditions while serving on board could be atrocious, and worst of all, the ship was not sea-worthy. Six months after this photo was taken, the Monitor sank in a gale off Cape Hatteras, taking sixteen crew members with it to the bottom.

 

Some of the lost crew are perhaps pictured here, and after finding the skeletal remains of two sailors within the turret in 2002, there was some research and informed speculation as to exactly which two seamen in this photograph they might be. The tall sailor with his arms crossed at the extreme right was one candidate (Robert Williams), and the other (William Bryan) was thought to possibly be the man facing the camera, in a crouch, with his right arm stretched forth towards the checker board nearest the center. This research to identify the two sailors was found to be inconclusive, although it was determined that they were not officers. The two recovered sailors were from the crew - two of "The Monitor Boys," the moniker the crew (non-officers) gave to themselves.

 

The excerpts and links below provide some additional background information on the recruitment of the crew, the environmental conditions the crew had to endure, the battle with the Merrimac, the Monitor's sinking, and the possible identity of the two sailors, whose remains were found in 2002.

----------------------

Below are excerpts from an article by Commander Samuel Dana Greene, which appeared in an 1885 edition of Century Magazine. The editor makes note of Greene’s recent death – Commander Greene had committed suicide the previous December, at age 44. There was speculation that it was either temporary insanity or that he was upset at some perceived criticisms of his role in the famous battle with the Merrimac. In fact, Greene was really one of the Union heroes in the battle, manning and firing the Monitor’s 11 inch guns (which fired 180-pound shot) and taking over for Captain Worden after he was blinded by a direct hit on the pilot house.

 

It's a wonder that the men in the Monitor’s turret were able to withstand the tremendous noise and force of these huge guns being fired while in that restricted space - and in Greene's case, perhaps he didn’t fare too well. The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) suggests that long term mental health issues can stem from concussions caused by "chronic exposure to low-level blast waves," from the firing of "heavy caliber weapons." If interested, here’s the link: www.dvidshub.net/news/270814/chronic-exposure-low-level-b...

 

In a letter written shortly after the battle, Greene summed up his condition: "My men and myself were perfectly black with smoke and powder. All my underclothes were perfectly black, and my person was in the same condition.... I had been up so long, and been under such a state of excitement, that my nervous system was completely run down. . . . My nerves and muscles twitched as though electric shocks were continually passing through them.... I lay down and tried to sleep - I might as well have tried to fly.”

---------------------

Century Magazine 1885 Vol. 7

In the “Monitor” Turret

By Commander S. Dana Greene

 

"The keel of the most famous vessel of modern times, Captain Ericsson’s first iron-clad, was laid in the shipyard of Thomas F. Rowland, at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in October, 1861, and on the 30th of January, 1862, the novel craft was launched. On the 25th of February she was commissioned and turned over to the Government, and nine days later left New York for Hampton Roads, where, on the 9th of March, occurred the memorable contest with the Merrimac. On her next venture on the open sea she foundered off Cape Hatteras in a gale of wind (December 29). During her career of less than a year, she had no fewer than five different commanders; but it was the fortune of the writer to serve as her only executive officer, standing upon her deck when she was launched, and leaving it but a few minutes before she sank.

 

So hurried was the preparation of the Monitor that the mechanics worked upon her night and day up to the hour of her departure, and little opportunity was offered to drill the crew at the guns, to work the turret, and to become familiar with the other unusual features of the vessel. The crew was, in fact, composed of volunteers. Lieutenant Worden, having been authorized by the Navy Department to select his men from any ship-of-war in New York harbor, addressed the crews of the North Carolina and Sabine., stating fully to them the probable dangers of the passage to Hampton Roads and the certainty of having important service to perform after arriving. The sailors responded enthusiastically, many more volunteering than were required. Of the crew selected, Captain Worden said, in his official report of the engagement, '' A better one no naval commander ever had the honor to command.”

 

We left New York in tow of the tug-boat Seth Low at 11 a. m. of Thursday, the 6th of March. On the following day a moderate breeze was encountered, and it was at once evident that the Monitor was unfit for a sea-going craft. Nothing but the subsidence of the wind prevented her from being shipwrecked before she reached Hampton Roads. The berth-deck hatch leaked in spite of all we could do, and the water came down under the turret like a waterfall. It would strike the pilot-house and go over the turret in beautiful curves, and it came through the narrow eye-holes in the pilot-house with such force as to knock the helmsman completely round from the wheel.

 

The waves also broke over the blower-pipes, and the water came down through them in such quantities that the belts of the blower-engines slipped, and the engines consequently stopped for lack of artificial draught, without which, in such a confined place, the fires could not get air for combustion. Newton and Stimers, followed by the engineer’s force, gallantly rushed into the engine-room and fire- room to remedy the evil, but they were unable to check the inflowing water, and were nearly suffocated with escaping gas. They were dragged out more dead than alive, and carried to the top of the turret, where the fresh air gradually revived them. The water continued to pour through the hawser-hole, and over and down the smoke-stacks and blower-pipes, in such quantities that there was imminent danger that the ship would founder. The steam-pumps could not be operated because the fires had been nearly extinguished, and the engine-room was uninhabitable on account of the suffocating gas with which it was filled.

 

The hand-pumps were then rigged and worked, but they had not enough force to throw the water out through the top of the turret,—the only opening,— and it was useless to bail, as we had to pass the buckets up through the turret, which made it a very long operation. Fortunately, towards evening the wind and sea subsided, and, being again in smooth water, the engine was put in operation. But at midnight, in passing over a shoal, rough water was again encountered, and our troubles were renewed, complicated this time with the jamming of the wheel-ropes, so that the safety of the ship depended entirely on the strength of the hawser which connected her with the tug-boat. The hawser, being new, held fast; but during the greater part of the night we were constantly engaged in fighting the leaks, until we reached smooth water again, just before daylight.

 

It was at the close of this dispiriting trial trip, in which all hands had been exhausted in their efforts to keep the novel craft afloat, that the Monitor' passed Cape Henry at 4 p. m. on Saturday, March 8th. At this point was heard the distant booming of heavy guns, which our captain rightly judged to be an engagement with the Merrimac twenty miles away. He at once ordered the vessel stripped of her sea-rig, the turret keyed up, and every preparation made for battle. As we approached Hampton Roads we could see the fine old Congress burning brightly, and soon a pilot came on board and told of the arrival of the Merrimac the disaster to the Cumberland and the Congress, and the dismay of the Union forces.

 

The Monitor was pushed with all haste, and reached the Roanoke (Captain Marston), anchored in the Roads, at 9 p. m. Worden immediately reported his arrival to Captain Marston, who suggested that he should go to the assistance of the Minnesota, then aground off Newport News. As no pilot was available, Captain Worden accepted the volunteer services of Acting Master Samuel Howard, who earnestly sought the duty. An atmosphere of gloom pervaded the fleet, and the pygmy aspect of the new-comer did not inspire confidence among those who had witnessed the destruction of the day before.

 

Skillfully piloted by Howard, we proceeded on our way, our path illumined by the blaze of the Congress. Reaching the Minnesota, hard and fast aground, near midnight, we anchored, and Worden reported to Captain Van Brunt. Between 1 and 2 a. m. the Congress blew up, not instantaneously, but successively; her powder-tanks seemed to explode, each shower of sparks rivaling the other in its height, until they appeared to reach the zenith — a grand but mournful sight. Near us, too, lay the Cumberland at the bottom of the river, with her silent crew of brave men, who died while fighting their guns to the water’s edge, and whose colors were still flying at the peak.

 

The dreary night dragged slowly on; the officers and crew were up and alert, to be ready for any emergency. At daylight on Sunday the Merrimac and her consorts were discovered at anchor near Sewall’s Point. At about half-past seven o’clock the enemy’s vessels got under way and steered in the direction of the Minnesota. At the same time the Monitor got under way, and her officers and crew took their stations for battle. Captain Van Brunt officially reports, “I made signal to the Monitor to attack the enemy,” but the signal was not seen by us; other work was in hand, and Worden required no signal.....

 

Worden took his station in the pilot-house, and by his side were Howard, the pilot, and Peter Williams, quartermaster, who steered the vessel throughout the engagement. My place was in the turret, to work and fight the guns; with me were Stodder and Stimers and sixteen brawny men, eight to each gun. John Stocking, boatswain’s mate, and Thomas Lochrane, seaman, were gun-captains. Newton and his assistants were in the engine and fire rooms, to manipulate the boilers and engines, and most admirably did they perform this important service from the beginning to the close of the action. Webber had charge of the powder division on the berth-deck, and Joseph Crown, gunner’s mate, rendered valuable service in connection with this duty.

 

The physical condition of the officers and men of the two ships at this time was in striking contrast. The Merrimac had passed the night quietly near Sewall’s Point, her people enjoying rest and sleep, elated by thoughts of the victory they had achieved that day, and cheered by the prospects of another easy victory on the morrow. The Monitor had barely escaped shipwreck twice within the last thirty-six hours, and since Friday morning, forty-eight hours before, few if any of those on board had closed their eyes in sleep or had anything to eat but hard bread, as cooking was impossible; she was surrounded by wrecks and disaster, and her efficiency in action had yet to be proved.

 

Worden lost no time in bringing it to test. Getting his ship under way, he steered direct for the enemy’s vessels, in order to meet and engage them as far as possible from the Minnesota. As he approached, the wooden vessels quickly turned and left. Our captain, to the ‘‘ astonishment” of Captain Van Brunt (as he states in his official report), made straight for the Merrimac which had already commenced firing; and when he came within short range, he changed his course so as to come alongside of her, stopped the engine, and gave the order, Commence firing! ” I triced up the port, ran out the gun, and, taking deliberate aim, pulled the lockstring. The Merrimac was quick to reply, returning a rattling broadside (for she had ten guns to our two), and the battle fairly began. The turret and other parts of the ship were heavily struck, but the shots did not penetrate; the tower was intact, and it continued to revolve. A look of confidence passed over the men’s faces, and we believed the Merrimac would not repeat the work she had accomplished the day before.

 

The fight continued with the exchange of broadsides as fast as the guns could be served and at very short range, the distance between the vessels frequently being not more than a few yards. Worden skillfully maneuvered his quick-turning vessel, trying to find some vulnerable point in his adversary. Once he made a dash at her stern, hoping to disable her screw, which he thinks he missed by not more than two feet. Our shots ripped the iron of the Merrimac, while the reverberation of her shots against the tower caused anything but a pleasant sensation. While Stodder, who was stationed at the machine which controlled the revolving motion of the turret, was incautiously leaning against the side of the tower, a large shot struck in the vicinity and disabled him. He left the turret and went below, and Stimers, who had assisted him, continued to do the work.

 

The drawbacks to the position of the pilot-house were soon realized. We could not fire ahead nor within several points of the bow, since the blast from our own guns would have injured the people in the pilot-house, only a few yards off. Keeler and Toffey passed the captain’s orders and messages to me, and my inquiries and answers to him, the speaking-tube from the pilot-house to the turret having been broken early in the action. They performed their work with zeal and alacrity, but, both being landsmen, our technical communications sometimes miscarried. The situation was novel: a vessel of war was engaged in desperate combat with a powerful foe; the captain, commanding and guiding all, was inclosed in one place, and the executive officer, working and fighting the guns, was shut up in another, and communication between them was difficult and uncertain.....

 

As the engagement continued, the working of the turret was not altogether satisfactory. It was difficult to start it revolving, or, when once started, to stop it, on account of the imperfections of the novel machinery, which was now undergoing its first trial. Stimers was an active, muscular man, and did his utmost to control the motion of the turret; but, in spite of his efforts, it was difficult if not impossible to secure accurate firing. The conditions were very different from those of an ordinary broadside gun, under which we had been trained on wooden ships. My only view of the world outside of the tower was over the muzzles of the guns, which cleared the ports by a few inches only.....

 

The effect upon one shut up in a revolving drum is perplexing, and it is not a simple matter to keep the bearings. White marks had been placed upon the stationary deck immediately below the turret to indicate the direction of the starboard and port sides, and the bow and stern; but these marks were obliterated early in the action. I would continually ask the captain, How does the Merrimac bear ? ” He replied, “ On the starboard-beam,” or on the port-quarter,” as the case might be. Then the difficulty was to determine the direction of the starboard-beam, or port-quarter, or any other bearing. It finally resulted, that when a gun was ready for firing, the turret would be started on its revolving journey in search of the target, and when found it was taken on the fly,” because the turret could not be accurately controlled.

 

Once the Merrimac tried to ram us; but Worden avoided the direct impact by the skillful use of the helm, and she struck a glancing blow, which did no damage. At the instant of collision I planted a solid one-hundred-and-eighty-pound shot fair and square upon the forward part of her casemate. Had the gun been loaded with thirty pounds of powder, which was the charge subsequently used with similar guns, it is probable that this shot would have penetrated her armor; but the charge being limited to fifteen pounds, in accordance with peremptory orders to that effect from the Navy Department, the shot rebounded without doing any more damage than possibly to start some of the beams of her armor-backing....

 

The battle continued at close quarters without apparent damage to either side......Soon after noon a shell from the enemy’s gun, the muzzle not ten yards distant, struck the forward side of the pilot-house directly in the sight-hole, or slit, and exploded,. cracking the second iron log and partly lifting the top, leaving an opening. Worden was standing immediately behind this spot, and received in his face the force of the blow, which partly stunned him, and, filling his eyes with powder, utterly blinded him. The injury was known only to those in the pilot-house and its immediate vicinity. The flood of light rushing through the top of the pilot-house, now partly open, caused Worden, blind as he was, to believe that the pilot-house was seriously injured, if not destroyed; he therefore gave orders to put the helm to starboard and “sheer off.” Thus the Monitor retired temporarily from the action, in order to ascertain the extent of the injuries she had received. At the same time Worden sent for me, and leaving Stimers the only officer in the turret, I went forward at once, and found him standing at the foot of the ladder leading to the pilot-house.

 

He was a ghastly sight, with his eyes closed and the blood apparently rushing from every pore in the upper part of his face. He told me that he was seriously wounded, and directed me to take command. I assisted in leading him to a sofa in his cabin, where he was tenderly cared for by Doctor Logue, and then I assumed command. Blind and suffering as he was, Worden’s fortitude never forsook him; he frequently asked from his bed of pain of the progress of affairs, and when told that the Minnesota was saved, he said, "Then I can die happy.”

 

......During this time the Merrimac, which was leaking badly, had started in the direction of the Elizabeth River; and, on taking my station in the pilot-house and turning the vessel’s head in the direction of the Merrimac, I saw that she was already in retreat. A few shots were fired at the retiring vessel and she continued on to Norfolk. I returned with the Monitor to the side of the Minnesota where preparations were being made to abandon the ship, which was still aground. Shortly afterward Worden was transferred to a tug, and that night he was carried to Washington.

 

The fight was over. We of the Monitor thought, and still think, that we had gained a great victory. This the Confederates have denied. But it has never been denied that the object of the Merrimac on the 9th of March was to complete the destruction of the Union fleet in Hampton Roads, and that in this she was completely foiled and driven off by the Monitor; nor has it been denied that at the close of the engagement the Merrimac retreated to Norfolk, leaving the Monitor in possession of the field.

 

.....For the next two months we lay at Hampton Roads. Twice the Merrimac came out of the Elizabeth River, but did not attack. We, on our side, had received positive orders not to attack in the comparatively shoal waters above Hampton Roads, where the Union fleet could not manoeuvre. The Merrimac protected the James River, and the Monitor protected the Chesapeake. Neither side had an iron-clad in reserve, and neither wished to bring on an engagement which might disable its only armored naval defense in those waters.

 

With the evacuation of Norfolk and the destruction of the Merrimac, the Monitor moved up the James River with the squadron under the command of Commander John Rodgers, in connection with McClellan’s advance upon Richmond by the Peninsula. We were engaged for four hours at Fort Darling, but were unable to silence the guns or destroy the earthworks.

 

Probably no ship was ever devised which was so uncomfortable for her crew, and certainly no sailor ever led a more disagreeable life than we did on the James River, suffocated with heat and bad air if we remained below, and a target for sharp-shooters if we came on deck.

 

With the withdrawal of McClellan’s army, we returned to Hampton Roads, and in the autumn were ordered to Washington, where the vessel was repaired. We returned to Hampton Roads in November, and sailed thence (December 29) in tow of the steamer Rhode Island, bound for Beaufort, N.C. Between 11 p. M. and midnight on the following night the Monitor went down in a gale, a few miles south of Cape Hatteras,. Four officers and twelve men were drowned, fortynine people being saved by the boats of the steamer. It was impossible to keep the vessel free of water, and we presumed that the upper and lower hulls thumped themselves apart.

 

No ship in the world’s history has a more imperishable place in naval annals than the Monitor. Not only by her providential arrival at the right moment did she secure the safety of Hampton Roads and all that depended on it, but the ideas which she embodied revolutionized the system of naval warfare which had existed from the earliest recorded history. The name of the Monitor became generic, representing a new type; and, crude and defective as was her construction in some of its details, she yet contained the idea of the turret, which is to-day the central idea of the most powerful armored vessels."

 

S. D. Greene,

Commander U. S. Navy

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Findagrave link for Samuel Dana Greene: www.findagrave.com/memorial/6017440/samuel-dana-greene

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Link to CNN article and video pertaining to the two sailors whose remains were found in the turret in 2002. Towards the end of the video possible names and faces are matched up. This received a lot of publicity at the time, but note that official sources connected to the recovery and effort to identify the two men seemed to have completely backed away from the possible ID's.

 

CNN Link: www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/us/monitor-sailors-buried/index.html

 

Link to a second article pointing to the two men: www.huffpost.com/entry/uss-monitor-anniversary_b_2372051

 

The two sailors were eventually buried with full military honors as "two unidentified crew members" at Arlington National Cemetery, see link: www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Blog/Post/10995/The-Monitor-Is-...

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Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / American Battlefield Trust. CCWP Link: www.civilwarphotography.org/

This photograph featured in an online article in PRIMA magazine entitled: '' 18 photos THAT PROVE SCOTLAND IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO SOCIAL DISTANCE ON HOLIDAY '' - Transport yourself to the remote beauty of Scotland via these serene viewsby Roshina Jowaheer on 11th August 2020.

  

PRIMA is a UK based online and magazine owned by House of Hearst in London.

  

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©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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Photograph taken at 15:36pm on Tuesday 10th September 2013, past Alexandria on the A82, at a beautiful little village called Aldochlay on the shoreline of Loch Lomond in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, Scotland. This view looks across the Loch towards the island of Inchtavannach.

  

Loch Lomond (Loch Laomainn), a freshwater loch situated on the Highland Boundary fault, is the largest inland stretch of water by surface area in Great Britain, at 39km in length and up to 8km in width with a maximum depth of 190metres. Primary inflows and outflows include Endrick water, Fruin water and the River Leven.

 

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Nikon D800 Focal length: 22mm Shutter speed: 1/250s

Aperture: f/14.0 iso200 RAW (14Bit) Handheld

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Sandisc 32GB Ultra Class 10 30MB/s SDHC. Nikon DK-17a magnifying eyepiece. Hoodman HGEC soft eyepiece cup. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 56d 5m 12.59s

LONGITUDE: W 4d 38m 12.23s

ALTITUDE: 24.0m

  

RAW (FINE) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 27.86MB

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.2.9 18/09/2017). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.