View allAll Photos Tagged buildup
Photographs of clouds in the afternoon, during the buildup to a thunderstorm. Maleny, Queensland, Australia.
Shot for the Jdmstyletuning 2010 Calendar.
200W Lightbank powered by 700W 2 stroke Generator.
Image buildup info - brasherphotos.blogspot.com/
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Abandoned Abused Street Dogs.
Nikon D300 DX Camera.
Nikkor 17-55 2.8 Lens.
October 29th 2014.
Back Story ............
Ride out and back was fairly nice but on the western horizon was a buildup of large cumulus clouds. I kept an eye on them.
Ding Bat, Mama and Mr Brown didn't show up by the old rusty gate at the entrance to The Dog Palace.
Seemed odd but certainly not unusual.
Dismounted, tied my helmet into the scooters basket so the monkeys wouldn't steal it.Started to sort myself out when here comes Ding Bat and it was easy to see she had been running for some distance.
She had just touched my hand when here comes Mama & Mr Brown full of excitement and appeared as if they too had been running a marathon.
All 3 dogs do a touch and go, racing right back into The Dog Palace and disappearing up the old decrepit cement stairs leading to the 2nd and 3rd floors.
No big deal, figured they would be back soon enough cuz I'm holding the big food bag in my hands.
All the sudden monkeys come flying off the roof, some landing in tree tops to my right with a couple others landing, splat, in the swamp !
At that point three brown K9 heads are peaking over the 2 foot wall that runs the distance around the 3rd floor roof.
I let out a sharp whistle and with in 30 seconds the same 3 brown heads were all waiting for me to fill their trays.
About 20 minutes later all of us were crossing The DMZ.
Food bag under my arm, Mr Brown in the lead with Mama and Ding Bat bringing up the rear.
Lots of monkeys today but for some reason they didn't want to interact with The Browns !
Any monkey that did stay on the ground stayed real close to a tree for escape reasons only they could describe to you !
Next photo shows Mama & Ding Bat clearing the way by the walking bridge that comes in the backside of The DMZ.
Mr Brown is walking close to my side....
So over all there was some excitement as The Browns kept the primates on their toes.
The Leroy Crew was fed as usual, nobody drew first blood or lost any body parts.
Rain hadn't started and the sun was still shinning, after a couple hours I went home.
............. The End ..............
Thank You.
Jon&Crew.
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www.gofundme.com/saving-thai-temple-dogs.
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Indian River quarterback Dominique Brooks beats his old school… sweet revenge!
All week long, he heard the buildup surrounding the big Southeastern District showdown between No. 2 Indian River and No. 1 Oscar Smith. He also was going against his former team as he was the starting quarterback during the Tigers’ run to a third consecutive state championship game last season.
But Brooks handled the pressure as he threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Braves to a 28-16 win over Oscar Smith in front of more 5,000 fans. It was the Braves’ first win over the Tigers since 1998. And the win also put Indian River in the driver’s seat to the district title, which they haven’t won since 1996. The Braves finish the season against Grassfield (4-4) and Western Branch (0-8).
Brooks overcame early jitters that included two penalties and back-to-back incompletions on his team's first possession, but he settled down with throws of 25, 15 and 24 yards.
Ahshawn Moore completed the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to help the Indian River take a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers, who have lost just two Southeastern District games since 2007, answered when quarterback Cam’Ron Kelly threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Etheridge.
Indian River (8-0, 7-0) regained the lead in the second quarter when Brooks threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Rasheen Brooks for a 14-7 lead.
Oscar Smith cut the deficit to 14-10 on Austin Benoit’s 27-yard field goal with 3:04 left in the half.
The Braves added to their lead before the half on Carmello Sweat's 69-yard touchdown run to make it 21-10.
The second half started well for Indian River as the Braves capitalized on a muffed snap on a punt to get the ball on the Oscar Smith 31. Three plays later, Brooks threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Moore, who made an incredible one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone. The Braves led 28-10 with 5:33 left in the third quarter.
But Indian River coach Glenwood Ferebee couldn’t relax. He remembered 2015 when the Braves led 14-2 in the fourth quarter, only to watch Oscar Smith score 13 points in the final 3:24 to beat them.
He thought about it even more after Kelly's 24-yard touchdown pass to Etheridge to help cut the deficit to 28-16 with 6:08 left in the game.
And the Braves held on as Ferebee beat Oscar Smith for the first time in his career.
All of the pictures were taken by Kirk Allen of RWM Sports | Red Weasel Media. Sponsored by King Neppy Clothing www.kingneppy.com
Indian River quarterback Dominique Brooks beats his old school… sweet revenge!
All week long, he heard the buildup surrounding the big Southeastern District showdown between No. 2 Indian River and No. 1 Oscar Smith. He also was going against his former team as he was the starting quarterback during the Tigers’ run to a third consecutive state championship game last season.
But Brooks handled the pressure as he threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Braves to a 28-16 win over Oscar Smith in front of more 5,000 fans. It was the Braves’ first win over the Tigers since 1998. And the win also put Indian River in the driver’s seat to the district title, which they haven’t won since 1996. The Braves finish the season against Grassfield (4-4) and Western Branch (0-8).
Brooks overcame early jitters that included two penalties and back-to-back incompletions on his team's first possession, but he settled down with throws of 25, 15 and 24 yards.
Ahshawn Moore completed the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to help the Indian River take a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers, who have lost just two Southeastern District games since 2007, answered when quarterback Cam’Ron Kelly threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Etheridge.
Indian River (8-0, 7-0) regained the lead in the second quarter when Brooks threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Rasheen Brooks for a 14-7 lead.
Oscar Smith cut the deficit to 14-10 on Austin Benoit’s 27-yard field goal with 3:04 left in the half.
The Braves added to their lead before the half on Carmello Sweat's 69-yard touchdown run to make it 21-10.
The second half started well for Indian River as the Braves capitalized on a muffed snap on a punt to get the ball on the Oscar Smith 31. Three plays later, Brooks threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Moore, who made an incredible one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone. The Braves led 28-10 with 5:33 left in the third quarter.
But Indian River coach Glenwood Ferebee couldn’t relax. He remembered 2015 when the Braves led 14-2 in the fourth quarter, only to watch Oscar Smith score 13 points in the final 3:24 to beat them.
He thought about it even more after Kelly's 24-yard touchdown pass to Etheridge to help cut the deficit to 28-16 with 6:08 left in the game.
And the Braves held on as Ferebee beat Oscar Smith for the first time in his career.
All of the pictures were taken by Kirk Allen of RWM Sports | Red Weasel Media. Sponsored by King Neppy Clothing www.kingneppy.com
BattleMech Technical Readout
Type/Model: Werewolf
Tech: Clan / 3067
Config: Quad BattleMech
Rules: Level 3, Custom design
Mass: 45 tons
Chassis: Endo Steel
Power Plant: 225 Fusion
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h (5 hexes)
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h (8 hexes)
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor Type: Ferro-Fibrous
Armor Factor 169 (maximum )
Heat Sinks: 13 Double [26]
Max Heat Buildup 28
Armament:
2 ER Medium Lasers
2 Adv. Tact. Msl. 3s
1 TAG
1 ER Large Laser
Ammunition:
Long Range ATM 1 ton (10 reloads)
Standard ATM 1 ton (10 reloads)
High Explosive ATM 1 ton (10 reloads)
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CASE II Equipment.
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 5,578,440 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,453
7-31-2012
We did get an additional inch of rain last night about 8:00. The storm brought high winds which at times were 60 mph. We didn't get any damage except some of my canna lily blooms were snapped. Suzy and I grabbed the three bullies and spent about a half hour in the storm room in the basement. Exciting!
This picture shows a picture of Highway 108 that was closed for five months two years ago as our 10 years of wet weather had put it under water. It is hard to believe that some areas just a short distance from us are still suffering from the severe drought that is gripping our country.
Photographs of clouds in the afternoon, during the buildup to a thunderstorm. Maleny, Queensland, Australia.
Ice buildup at the bottom of Niagara Falls as a bird sores through the mist. A small rainbow hovered down below.
Too bad I didn't know about HDR back then.
The G20 was the biggest police buildup Hamburg has ever seen. 23.000 riot police from all over Germany and numerous anti-terror squads from Germany and Austria were also on scene. Around 45 high tech water- cannons , armoured police SUVs as well as dozens of helicopters and patrol boats were also deployed. In Hamburg-Harburg a detention center for 400 people was erected at costs of about 3 Million Euro.
Weeks before the summit police conducted training with helicopters, road-blocks and anti-terror practice. During the summit-week police, beside establishing the red zone near the summit center, also installed a blue zone as a demonstration and gathering free area that stretched out about one thirds of the city area and covered 38km².
In many ways the police build-up was exceptional in a dense populated City like Hamburg. The lessons learnt after the Genua G20 riots in 2001 in summit policing did not much apply in Hamburg. Instead Hamburg minister of the interior proclaimed a “festival of democracy” and a police acting with low threshold of intervention.
The Hamburg police tactic can for sure be described as “zero tolerance”. Order was given for a hardline approach, preventing any breach of law promptly. This lead to a series of confrontations and feelings of besiegement among protesters and citizens of Hamburg - all in advance of the actual summit-riots. Weeks before the summit people all around the city were stopped and strip-searched, because “they looked suspicious”. Days before the summit, protest- camps, in some cases legally approved by courts, were blocked and disturbed by the police. For days police helicopters were hoovering above the city day and night. Main streets were blocked for “convoy-practise” and during the summit deliveries of goods and services were significantly disturbed.
During the summit-protests, police stuck to their hardline approach, leading to a significant escalation at the “welcome to hell” demonstration on Thursday the 6th, when police stopped and broke up the demonstration, before any physical violence occurred on side of the protesters.
From this point on, Hamburg saw 3 days of massive peaceful protests, as well as significant rioting and looting, which lead to the deployment of special forces (SEK) with hand held grenade launchers and assault rifles against rioters on the night of the 7th and 8th of July.
Police claims about 500 injured policemen, half of them probably due to friendly teargas fire, exhaustion and illness, others through injuries on duty and in riot. Many police had insufficient accommodation and many were on duty for 3 days without sleep.
There are no official numbers of injured protesters so far, but it is estimated that it must be more than a thousand, some with life threatening conditions, many broken limbs and head- injuries.
The question wether police could have prevented the worst is now widely discussed. Also in question is the fact that riots in the Schanzenviertel could spread for hours without any police present on Friday night. Also no police was on the scene when a group of hundred marched through the City of Altona burning cars and smashing shops on Friday morning. People of Hamburg are asking why 23.000 police were not able to prevent what was happening and why the police was conducting violence on peaceful protesters too.
The Hamburg Senate coalition of Social-Democrats and Green Party, so far, see no evidence of a failed police- tactic nor any evidence of police violence. It will be to the civil rights movements to investigate.
The promised “Festival of Democracy” and the safety of the citizens of Hamburg was a joke. The police failed to prevent mass riots and failed to handle the situation in many cases. The costs of all this is not just a money issue, but also an issue of basic democratic rights, that have been suspended for the safety of 20 world leaders.
Around 100.000 peaceful protesters on more than 80 events, were basically not represented in the public view. Instead police and media reports, in most cases, only focused on the riots.
Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries. It is also known as the Canadian Falls. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York.
Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m (160 ft). During peak daytime tourist hours, more than 168,000 m3 (5.9 million cu ft) of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate. Niagara Falls is famed for its beauty and is a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Balancing recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century.
Niagara Falls is 27 km (17 mi) northwest of Buffalo, New York, and 69 km (43 mi) southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York. Niagara Falls was formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path over and through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean.
Horseshoe Falls is about 57 m (187 ft) high, while the height of the American Falls varies between 21 and 30 m (69 and 98 ft) because of the presence of giant boulders at its base. The larger Horseshoe Falls is about 790 m (2,590 ft) wide, while the American Falls is 320 m (1,050 ft) wide. The distance between the American extremity of Niagara Falls and the Canadian extremity is 1,039 m (3,409 ft).
The peak flow over Horseshoe Falls was recorded at 6,370 m3 (225,000 cu ft) per second. The average annual flow rate is 2,400 m3 (85,000 cu ft) per second. Since the flow is a direct function of the Lake Erie water elevation, it typically peaks in late spring or early summer. During the summer months, at least 2,800 m3 (99,000 cu ft) per second of water traverse the falls, some 90% of which goes over Horseshoe Falls, while the balance is diverted to hydroelectric facilities and then on to American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. This is accomplished by employing a weir – the International Control Dam – with movable gates upstream from Horseshoe Falls.
The water flow is halved at night and during the low tourist season winter months and only attains a minimum flow of 1,400 cubic metres (49,000 cu ft) per second. Water diversion is regulated by the 1950 Niagara Treaty and is administered by the International Niagara Board of Control. The verdant green color of the water flowing over Niagara Falls is a byproduct of the estimated 60 tonnes/minute of dissolved salts and rock flour (very finely ground rock) generated by the erosive force of the Niagara River.
The Niagara River is an Important Bird Area due to its impact on Bonaparte's gulls, ring-billed gulls, and herring gulls. Several thousand birds migrate and winter in the surrounding area.
The features that became Niagara Falls were created by the Wisconsin glaciation about 10,000 years ago. The retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater (see Lake Algonquin, Lake Chicago, Glacial Lake Iroquois, and Champlain Sea) that filled up the basins that the glaciers had carved, thus creating the Great Lakes as we know them today. Scientists posit there is an old valley, St David's Buried Gorge, buried by glacial drift, at the approximate location of the present Welland Canal.
When the ice melted, the upper Great Lakes emptied into the Niagara River, which followed the rearranged topography across the Niagara Escarpment. In time, the river cut a gorge through the north-facing cliff, or cuesta. Because of the interactions of three major rock formations, the rocky bed did not erode evenly. The caprock formation is composed of hard, erosion-resistant limestone and dolomite of the Lockport Formation (Middle Silurian). That hard layer of stone eroded more slowly than the underlying materials. Immediately below the caprock lies the weaker, softer, sloping Rochester Formation (Lower Silurian). This formation is composed mainly of shale, though it has some thin limestone layers. It also contains ancient fossils. In time, the river eroded the soft layer that supported the hard layers, undercutting the hard caprock, which gave way in great chunks. This process repeated countless times, eventually carving out the falls. Submerged in the river in the lower valley, hidden from view, is the Queenston Formation (Upper Ordovician), which is composed of shales and fine sandstones. All three formations were laid down in an ancient sea, their differences of character deriving from changing conditions within that sea.
About 10,900 years ago, the Niagara Falls was between present-day Queenston, Ontario, and Lewiston, New York, but erosion of the crest caused the falls to retreat approximately 6.8 miles (10.9 km) southward. The shape of Horseshoe Falls has changed through the process of erosion, evolving from a small arch to a horseshoe bend to the present day V-shape. Just upstream from the falls' current location, Goat Island splits the course of the Niagara River, resulting in the separation of Horseshoe Falls to the west from the American and Bridal Veil Falls to the east. Engineering has slowed erosion and recession.
Future of the falls
The current rate of erosion is approximately 30 centimeters (0.98 feet) per year, down from a historical average of 0.91 m (3.0 ft) per year. At this rate, in about 50,000 years Niagara Falls will have eroded the remaining 32 km (20 mi) to Lake Erie, and the falls will cease to exist.
Preservation efforts
In the 1870s, sightseers had limited access to Niagara Falls and often had to pay for a glimpse, and industrialization threatened to carve up Goat Island to further expand commercial development. Other industrial encroachments and lack of public access led to a conservation movement in the U.S. known as Free Niagara, led by such notables as Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church, landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, and architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Church approached Lord Dufferin, governor-general of Canada, with a proposal for international discussions on the establishment of a public park.
Goat Island was one of the inspirations for the American side of the effort. William Dorsheimer, moved by the scene from the island, brought Olmsted to Buffalo in 1868 to design a city park system, which helped promote Olmsted's career. In 1879, the New York state legislature commissioned Olmsted and James T. Gardner to survey the falls and to create the single most important document in the Niagara preservation movement, a "Special Report on the preservation of Niagara Falls". The report advocated for state purchase, restoration and preservation through public ownership of the scenic lands surrounding Niagara Falls. Restoring the former beauty of the falls was described in the report as a "sacred obligation to mankind". In 1883, New York Governor Grover Cleveland drafted legislation authorizing acquisition of lands for a state reservation at Niagara, and the Niagara Falls Association, a private citizens group founded in 1882, mounted a great letter-writing campaign and petition drive in support of the park. Professor Charles Eliot Norton and Olmsted were among the leaders of the public campaign, while New York Governor Alonzo Cornell opposed.
Preservationists' efforts were rewarded on April 30, 1885, when Governor David B. Hill signed legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park. New York State began to purchase land from developers, under the charter of the Niagara Reservation State Park. In the same year, the province of Ontario established the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park for the same purpose. On the Canadian side, the Niagara Parks Commission governs land usage along the entire course of the Niagara River, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
In 1887, Olmsted and Calvert Vaux issued a supplemental report detailing plans to restore the falls. Their intent was "to restore and conserve the natural surroundings of the Falls of Niagara, rather than to attempt to add anything thereto", and the report anticipated fundamental questions, such as how to provide access without destroying the beauty of the falls, and how to restore natural landscapes damaged by man. They planned a park with scenic roadways, paths and a few shelters designed to protect the landscape while allowing large numbers of visitors to enjoy the falls. Commemorative statues, shops, restaurants, and a 1959 glass and metal observation tower were added later. Preservationists continue to strive to strike a balance between Olmsted's idyllic vision and the realities of administering a popular scenic attraction.
Preservation efforts continued well into the 20th century. J. Horace McFarland, the Sierra Club, and the Appalachian Mountain Club persuaded the United States Congress in 1906 to enact legislation to preserve the falls by regulating the waters of the Niagara River. The act sought, in cooperation with the Canadian government, to restrict diversion of water, and a treaty resulted in 1909 that limited the total amount of water diverted from the falls by both nations to approximately 56,000 cubic feet per second (1,600 m3/s). That limitation remained in effect until 1950.
Erosion control efforts have always been of importance. Underwater weirs redirect the most damaging currents, and the top of the falls has been strengthened. In June 1969, the Niagara River was completely diverted from American Falls for several months through construction of a temporary rock and earth dam. During this time, two bodies were removed from under the falls, including a man who had been seen jumping over the falls, and the body of a woman, which was discovered once the falls dried. While Horseshoe Falls absorbed the extra flow, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened any faults they found; faults that would, if left untreated, have hastened the retreat of American Falls. A plan to remove the huge mound of talus deposited in 1954 was abandoned owing to cost, and in November 1969, the temporary dam was dynamited, restoring flow to American Falls. Even after these undertakings, Luna Island, the small piece of land between the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, remained off limits to the public for years owing to fears that it was unstable and could collapse into the gorge.
Commercial interests have continued to encroach on the land surrounding the state park, including the construction of several tall buildings (most of them hotels) on the Canadian side. The result is a significant alteration and urbanisation of the landscape. One study found that the tall buildings changed the breeze patterns and increased the number of mist days from 29 per year to 68 per year, but another study disputed this idea.
In 2013, New York State began an effort to renovate Three Sisters Islands located south of Goat Island. Funds were used from the re-licensing of the New York Power Authority hydroelectric plant downriver in Lewiston, New York, to rebuild walking paths on the Three Sisters Islands and to plant native vegetation on the islands. The state also renovated the area around Prospect Point at the brink of American Falls in the state park.
Toponymy
Theories differ as to the origin of the name of the falls. The Native American word Ongiara means thundering water; The New York Times used this in 1925. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, Niagara is derived from the name given to a branch of the local native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area. According to George R. Stewart, it comes from the name of an Iroquois town called Onguiaahra, meaning "point of land cut in two". In 1847, an Iroquois interpreter stated that the name came from Jaonniaka-re, meaning "noisy point or portage". To Mohawks, the name refers to "the neck", pronounced "onyara"; the portage or neck of land between lakes Erie and Ontario onyara.
History
Many figures have been suggested as first circulating a European eyewitness description of Niagara Falls. The Frenchman Samuel de Champlain visited the area as early as 1604 during his exploration of what is now Canada, and members of his party reported to him the spectacular waterfalls, which he described in his journals. The first description of the falls is credited to Belgian missionary, Father Louis Hennepin in 1677, after traveling with the explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, thus bringing the falls to the attention of Europeans. French Jesuit missionary Paul Ragueneau likely visited the falls some 35 years before Hennepin's visit while working among the Huron First Nation in Canada. Jean de Brébeuf also may have visited the falls, while spending time with the Neutral Nation. The Finnish-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm explored the area in the early 18th century and is credited with the first scientific description of the falls. In 1762, Captain Thomas Davies, a British Army officer and artist, surveyed the area and painted the watercolor, An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara, the first eyewitness painting of the falls.
During the 19th century, tourism became popular, and by the mid-century, it was the area's main industry. Theodosia Burr Alston (daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr) and her husband Joseph Alston were the first recorded couple to honeymoon there in 1801. Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Jérôme visited with his bride in the early 19th century. In 1825, British explorer John Franklin visited the falls while passing through New York en route to Cumberland House as part of his second Arctic expedition, calling them "so justly celebrated as the first in the world for grandeur".
In 1843, Frederick Douglass joined the American Anti-Slavery Society's "One Hundred Conventions" tour throughout New York and the midwest. Sometime on this tour, Douglass visited Niagara Falls and wrote a brief account of the experience: "When I came into its awful presence the power of discription failed me, an irrisistible power closed my lips." Being on the Canadian border, Niagara Falls was on one of the routes of the Underground Railroad. The falls were also a popular tourist attraction for Southern slaveowners, who would bring their enslaved workers on the trip. "Many a time the trusted body-servant, or slave-girl, would leave master or mistress in the discharge of some errand, and never come back." This sometimes led to conflict. Early town father Peter Porter assisted slavecatchers in finding runaway slaves, even leading, in the case of runaway Solomon Moseby, to a riot in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. Much of this history is memorialized in the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center. After the American Civil War, the New York Central Railroad publicized Niagara Falls as a focus of pleasure and honeymoon visits. After World War II, the auto industry, along with local tourism boards, began to promote Niagara honeymoons.
In about 1840, the English industrial chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson traveled to Canada, stopping at Niagara Falls long enough to make the earliest known photograph of the falls, a daguerreotype in the collection of Newcastle University. It was once believed that the small figure standing silhouetted with a top hat was added by an engraver working from imagination as well as the daguerreotype as his source, but the figure is clearly present in the photograph. Because of the very long exposure required, of ten minutes or more, the figure is assumed by Canada's Niagara Parks agency to be Pattinson. The image is left-right inverted and taken from the Canadian side. Pattinson made other photographs of Horseshoe Falls; these were then transferred to engravings to illustrate Noël Marie Paymal Lerebours' Excursions Daguerriennes (Paris, 1841–1864).[55]
On August 6, 1918, an iron scow became stuck on the rocks above the falls. The two men on the scow were rescued, but the vessel remained trapped on rocks in the river, and is still visible there in a deteriorated state, although its position shifted by 50 meters (160 ft) during a storm on October 31, 2019. Daredevil William "Red" Hill Sr. was particularly praised for his role in the rescue.
After the First World War, tourism boomed as automobiles made getting to the falls much easier. The story of Niagara Falls in the 20th century is largely that of efforts to harness the energy of the falls for hydroelectric power, and to control the development on both sides that threaten the area's natural beauty. Before the late 20th century, the northeastern end of Horseshoe Falls was in the United States, flowing around the Terrapin Rocks, which were once connected to Goat Island by a series of bridges. In 1955, the area between the rocks and Goat Island was filled in, creating Terrapin Point. In the early 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filled in more land and built diversion dams and retaining walls to force the water away from Terrapin Point. Altogether, 400 ft (120 m) of Horseshoe Falls were eliminated, including 100 ft (30 m) on the Canadian side. According to author Ginger Strand, the Horseshoe Falls is now entirely in Canada. Other sources say "most of" Horseshoe Falls is in Canada.
The only recorded freeze-up of the river and falls was caused by an ice jam on March 29, 1848. No water (or at best a trickle) fell for as much as 40 hours. Waterwheels stopped, and mills and factories shut down for having no power. In 1912, American Falls was completely frozen, but the other two falls kept flowing. Although the falls commonly ice up most winters, the river and the falls do not freeze completely. The years 1885, 1902, 1906, 1911, 1932, 1936, 2014, 2017 and 2019 are noted for partial freezing of the falls. A so-called ice bridge was common in certain years at the base of the falls and was used by people who wanted to cross the river before bridges had been built. During some winters, the ice sheet was as thick as 40 to 100 feet (12 to 30 m), but that thickness has not occurred since 1954. The ice bridge of 1841 was said to be at least 100 feet thick. On February 12, 1912, the ice bridge which had formed on January 15 began breaking up while people were still on it. Many escaped, but three died during the event, later named the Ice Bridge Tragedy.
Bridge crossings
A number of bridges have spanned the Niagara River in the general vicinity of the falls. The first, not far from the whirlpool, was a suspension bridge above the gorge. It opened for use by the public in July 1848 and remained in use until 1855. A second bridge in the Upper Falls area was commissioned, with two levels or decks, one for use by the Great Western Railway. This Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge opened in 1855. It was used by conductors on the Underground Railroad to escort runaway slaves to Canada. In 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway took over control of the second deck after it absorbed the Great Western company. Significant structural improvements were made in the late 1870s and then in 1886; this bridge remained in use until 1897.
Because of the volume of traffic, the decision was made to construct a new arch bridge nearby, under and around the existing bridge. After it opened in September 1897, a decision was made to remove and scrap the railway suspension bridge. This new bridge was initially known as the Niagara Railway Arch, or Lower Steel Arch Bridge; it had two decks, the lower one used for carriages and the upper for trains. In 1937, it was renamed the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge and remains in use today. All of the structures built up to that time were referred to as Lower Niagara bridges and were some distance from the falls.
The first bridge in the so-called Upper Niagara area (closer to the falls) was a two-level suspension structure that opened in January 1869; it was destroyed during a severe storm in January 1889. The replacement was built quickly and opened in May 1889. In order to handle heavy traffic, a second bridge was commissioned, slightly closer to American Falls. This one was a steel bridge and opened to traffic in June 1897; it was known as the Upper Steel Arch Bridge but was often called the Honeymoon Bridge. The single level included a track for trolleys and space for carriages and pedestrians. The design led to the bridge being very close to the surface of the river and in January 1938, an ice jam twisted the steel frame of the bridge which later collapsed on January 27, 1938.
Another Lower Niagara bridge had been commissioned in 1883 by Cornelius Vanderbilt for use by railways at a location roughly approximately 200 feet south of the Railway Suspension Bridge. This one was of an entirely different design; it was a cantilever bridge to provide greater strength. The Niagara Cantilever Bridge had two cantilevers which were joined by steel sections; it opened officially in December 1883, and improvements were made over the years for a stronger structure. As rail traffic was increasing, the Michigan Central Railroad company decided to build a new bridge in 1923, to be located between the Lower Steel Arch Bridge and the Cantilever Bridge. The Michigan Central Railway Bridge opened in February 1925 and remained in use until the early 21st century. The Cantilever Bridge was removed and scrapped after the new rail bridge opened. Nonetheless, it was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006.
There was a lengthy dispute as to which agency should build the replacement for the Niagara Railway Arch, or Lower Steel Arch Bridge in the Upper Niagara area. When that was resolved, construction of a steel bridge commenced in February 1940. Named the Rainbow Bridge, and featuring two lanes for traffic separated by a barrier, it opened in November 1941 and remains in use today.
Industry and commerce
The enormous energy of Niagara Falls has long been recognized as a potential source of power. The first known effort to harness the waters was in 1750, when Daniel Joncaire built a small canal above the falls to power his sawmill. Augustus and Peter Porter purchased this area and all of American Falls in 1805 from the New York state government, and enlarged the original canal to provide hydraulic power for their gristmill and tannery. In 1853, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Mining Company was chartered, which eventually constructed the canals that would be used to generate electricity. In 1881, under the leadership of Jacob F. Schoellkopf, the Niagara River's first hydroelectric generating station was built. The water fell 86 feet (26 m) and generated direct current electricity, which ran the machinery of local mills and lit up some of the village streets.
The Niagara Falls Power Company, a descendant of Schoellkopf's firm, formed the Cataract Company headed by Edward Dean Adams, with the intent of expanding Niagara Falls' power capacity. In 1890, a five-member International Niagara Commission headed by Sir William Thomson among other distinguished scientists deliberated on the expansion of Niagara hydroelectric capacity based on seventeen proposals but could not select any as the best combined project for hydraulic development and distribution. In 1893, Westinghouse Electric (which had built the smaller-scale Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant near Ophir, Colorado, two years earlier) was hired to design a system to generate alternating current on Niagara Falls, and three years after that a large-scale AC power system was created (activated on August 26, 1895). The Adams Power Plant Transformer House remains as a landmark of the original system.
By 1896, financing from moguls including J. P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor IV, and the Vanderbilts had fueled the construction of giant underground conduits leading to turbines generating upwards of 100,000 horsepower (75 MW), sent as far as Buffalo, 20 mi (32 km) away. Some of the original designs for the power transmission plants were created by the Swiss firm Faesch & Piccard, which also constructed the original 5,000 hp (3.7 MW) waterwheels. Private companies on the Canadian side also began to harness the energy of the falls. The Government of Ontario eventually brought power transmission operations under public control in 1906, distributing Niagara's energy to various parts of the Canadian province.
Other hydropower plants were being built along the Niagara River. But in 1956, disaster struck when the region's largest hydropower station was partially destroyed in a landslide. This drastically reduced power production and put tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs at stake. In 1957, Congress passed the Niagara Redevelopment Act, which granted the New York Power Authority the right to fully develop the United States' share of the Niagara River's hydroelectric potential.
In 1961, when the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project went online, it was the largest hydropower facility in the Western world. Today, Niagara is still the largest electricity producer in New York state, with a generating capacity of 2.4 GW. Up to 1,420 cubic metres (380,000 US gal) of water per second is diverted from the Niagara River through conduits under the city of Niagara Falls to the Lewiston and Robert Moses power plants. Currently between 50% and 75% of the Niagara River's flow is diverted via four huge tunnels that arise far upstream from the waterfalls. The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines that supply power to nearby areas of Canada and the United States before returning to the river well past the falls. When electrical demand is low, the Lewiston units can operate as pumps to transport water from the lower bay back up to the plant's reservoir, allowing this water to be used again during the daytime when electricity use peaks. During peak electrical demand, the same Lewiston pumps are reversed and become generators.
To preserve Niagara Falls' natural beauty, a 1950 treaty signed by the U.S. and Canada limited water usage by the power plants. The treaty allows higher summertime diversion at night when tourists are fewer and during the winter months when there are even fewer tourists. This treaty, designed to ensure an "unbroken curtain of water" flowing over the falls, states that during daylight time during the tourist season (April 1 to October 31) there must be 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m3/s) of water flowing over the falls, and during the night and off-tourist season there must be 50,000 cubic feet per second (1,400 m3/s) of water flowing over the falls. This treaty is monitored by the International Niagara Board of Control, using a NOAA gauging station above the falls. During winter, the Power Authority of New York works with Ontario Power Generation to prevent ice on the Niagara River from interfering with power production or causing flooding of shoreline property. One of their joint efforts is an 8,800-foot-long (2,700 m) ice boom, which prevents the buildup of ice, yet allows water to continue flowing downstream. In addition to minimum water volume, the crest of Horseshoe falls was reduced to maintain an uninterrupted "curtain of water".
In August 2005, Ontario Power Generation, which is responsible for the Sir Adam Beck stations, started a major civil engineering project, called the Niagara Tunnel Project, to increase power production by building a new 12.7-metre (42 ft) diameter, 10.2-kilometre-long (6.3 mi) water diversion tunnel. It was officially placed into service in March 2013, helping to increase the generating complex's nameplate capacity by 150 megawatts. It did so by tapping water from farther up the Niagara River than was possible with the preexisting arrangement. The tunnel provided new hydroelectricity for approximately 160,000 homes.
Transport
Ships can bypass Niagara Falls by means of the Welland Canal, which was improved and incorporated into the Saint Lawrence Seaway in the mid-1950s. While the seaway diverted water traffic from nearby Buffalo and led to the demise of its steel and grain mills, other industries in the Niagara River valley flourished with the help of the electric power produced by the river. However, since the 1970s the region has declined economically.
The cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and Niagara Falls, New York, United States, are connected by two international bridges. The Rainbow Bridge, just downriver from the falls, affords the closest view of the falls and is open to non-commercial vehicle traffic and pedestrians. The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge lies one mile (1.6 km) north of the Rainbow Bridge and is the oldest bridge over the Niagara River. Nearby Niagara Falls International Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport were named after the waterfall, as were Niagara University, countless local businesses, and even an asteroid.
Over the falls
The first recorded publicity stunt using the Falls was the wreck of the schooner Michigan in 1827. Local hotel owners acquired a former Lake Erie freighter, loaded it with animals and effigies of people, towed it to a spot above the falls and let it plunge over the brink. Admission of fifty cents was charged.
In October 1829, Sam Patch, who called himself "the Yankee Leapster", jumped from a high tower into the gorge below the falls and survived; this began a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the falls. Englishman Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, drowned in 1883 trying to swim the rapids downriver from the falls.
On October 24, 1901, 63-year-old Michigan school teacher Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over the falls in a barrel as a publicity stunt; she survived, bleeding, but otherwise unharmed. Soon after exiting the barrel, she said, "No one ought ever do that again." Days before Taylor's attempt, her domestic cat was sent over the falls in her barrel to test its strength. The cat survived the plunge unharmed and later posed with Taylor in photographs. Since Taylor's historic ride, over a dozen people have intentionally gone over the falls in or on a device, despite her advice. Some have survived unharmed, but others have drowned or been severely injured. Survivors face charges and stiff fines, as it is now illegal, on both sides of the border, to attempt to go over the falls. Charles Stephens, a 58-year-old barber from Bristol, England, went over the falls in a wooden barrel in July 1920 and was the first person to die in an endeavor of this type. Bobby Leach went over Horseshoe Falls in a crude steel barrel in 1911 and needed rescuing by William "Red" Hill Sr. Hill again came to the rescue of Leach following his failed attempt to swim the Niagara Gorge in 1920. In 1928, "Smiling Jean" Lussier tried an entirely different concept, going over the falls in a large rubber ball; he was successful and survived the ordeal.
Annie Edson Taylor posing with her wooden barrel (1901)
In the "Miracle at Niagara", on July 9, 1960, Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over Horseshoe Falls after the boat in which he was cruising lost power; two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river only 20 ft (6.1 m) from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island. Minutes later, Woodward was plucked from the roiling plunge pool beneath Horseshoe Falls after grabbing a life ring thrown to him by the crew of the Maid of the Mist boat. The children's uncle, Jim Honeycutt, who had been steering the boat, was swept over the edge to his death.
On July 2, 1984, Canadian Karel Soucek from Hamilton, Ontario, plunged over Horseshoe Falls in a barrel with only minor injuries. Soucek was fined $500 for performing the stunt without a license. In 1985, he was fatally injured while attempting to re-create the Niagara drop at the Houston Astrodome. His aim was to climb into a barrel hoisted to the rafters of the Astrodome and to drop 180 ft (55 m) into a water tank on the floor. After his barrel released prematurely, it hit the side of the tank, and he died the next day from his injuries.
In August 1985, Steve Trotter, an aspiring stuntman from Rhode Island, became the youngest person ever (age 22) and the first American in 25 years to go over the falls in a barrel. Ten years later, Trotter went over the falls again, becoming the second person to go over the falls twice and survive. It was also the second "duo"; Lori Martin joined Trotter for the barrel ride over the falls. They survived the fall, but their barrel became stuck at the bottom of the falls, requiring a rescue.
On September 28, 1989, Niagara natives Peter DeBernardi and Jeffery James Petkovich became the first "team" to make it over the falls in a two-person barrel. The stunt was conceived by DeBenardi, who wanted to discourage youth from following in his path of addictive drug use. The pair emerged shortly after going over with minor injuries and were charged with performing an illegal stunt under the Niagara Parks Act.
On June 5, 1990, Jesse Sharp, a whitewater canoeist from Tennessee paddled over the falls in a closed deck canoe. He chose not to wear a helmet to make his face more visible for photographs of the event. He also did not wear a life vest because he believed it would hinder his escape from the hydraulics at the base of the falls. His boat flushed out of the falls, but his body was never found. On September 27, 1993, John "David" Munday, of Caistor Centre, Ontario, completed his second journey over the falls. On October 1, 1995, Robert Douglas "Firecracker" Overacker went over the falls on a Jet Ski to raise awareness for the homeless. His rocket-propelled parachute failed to open and he plunged to his death. Overacker's body was recovered before he was pronounced dead at Niagara General Hospital.
Kirk Jones of Canton, Michigan, became the first known person to survive a plunge over Horseshoe Falls without a flotation device on October 20, 2003. According to some reports, Jones had attempted to commit suicide, but he survived the fall with only battered ribs, scrapes, and bruises. Jones tried going over the falls again in 2017, using a large inflatable ball, but died in the process. Later reports revealed that Jones had arranged for a friend to shoot video clips of his stunt.
On March 11, 2009, a man survived an unprotected trip over Horseshoe Falls. When rescued from the river he suffered from severe hypothermia and a large wound to his head. His identity was never released. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the man intentionally enter the water. On May 21, 2012, an unidentified man became the fourth person to survive an unprotected trip over Horseshoe Falls. Eyewitness reports show he "deliberately jumped" into the Niagara River after climbing over a railing. On July 8, 2019, at roughly 4 am, officers responded to a report of a person in crisis at the brink of the Canadian side of the falls. Once officers got to the scene, the man climbed the retaining wall, jumped into the river and went over Horseshoe Falls. Authorities subsequently began to search the lower Niagara River basin, where the man was found alive but injured sitting on the rocks at the water's edge.
Tightrope walkers
Tightrope walkers drew huge crowds to witness their exploits. Their wires ran across the gorge, near the current Rainbow Bridge, not over the waterfall. Jean François "Blondin" Gravelet was the first to cross Niagara Gorge on June 30, 1859, and did so again eight times that year. His most difficult crossing occurred on August 14, when he carried his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back.[114] His final crossing, on September 8, 1860, was witnessed by the Prince of Wales. Author Ginger Strand argues that these performances may have had symbolic meanings at the time relating to slavery and abolition.
Between 1859 and 1896 a wire-walking craze emerged, resulting in frequent feats over the river below the falls. One inexperienced walker slid down his safety rope. Only one man fell to his death, at night and under mysterious circumstances, at the anchoring place for his wire.
Maria Spelterini, a 23-year-old Italian was the first and only woman to cross the Niagara River gorge; she did so on a tightrope on July 8, 1876. She repeated the stunt several times during the same month. During one crossing she was blindfolded and during another, her ankles and wrists were handcuffed.
Among the many competitors was Ontario's William Hunt, who billed himself as "The Great Farini"; his first crossing was in 1860. Farini competed with Blondin in performing outrageous stunts over the gorge. On August 8, 1864, however, an attempt failed and he needed to be rescued.
On June 15, 2012, high wire artist Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk across the falls area in 116 years, after receiving special permission from both governments. The full length of his tightrope was 1,800 feet (550 m). Wallenda crossed near the brink of Horseshoe Falls, unlike walkers who had crossed farther downstream. According to Wallenda, it was the longest unsupported tightrope walk in history. He carried his passport on the trip and was required to present it upon arrival on the Canadian side of the falls.
Tourism
A ring-billed gull flies by a rainbow over the Horseshoe Falls
Peak visitor traffic occurs in the summertime, when Niagara Falls is both a daytime and evening attraction. From the Canadian side, floodlights illuminate both sides of the falls for several hours after dark (until midnight). The number of visitors in 2007 was expected to total 20 million, and by 2009 the annual rate was expected to top 28 million tourists.
The oldest and best known tourist attraction at Niagara Falls is the Maid of the Mist boat cruise, named for an alleged ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, which has carried passengers into the rapids immediately below the falls since 1846. Cruise boats operate from boat docks on both sides of the falls, with the Maid of the Mist operating from the American side and Hornblower Cruises (originally Maid of the Mist until 2014) from the Canadian side. In 1996, Native American groups threatened to boycott the boat companies if they would not stop playing what they said was a fake story on their boats. The Maid of the Mist dropped the audio.
From the U.S. side, American Falls can be viewed from walkways along Prospect Point Park, which also features the Prospect Point Observation Tower and a boat dock for the Maid of the Mist. Goat Island offers more views of the falls and is accessible by foot and automobile traffic by bridge above American Falls. From Goat Island, the Cave of the Winds is accessible by elevator and leads hikers to a point beneath Bridal Veil Falls. Also on Goat Island are the Three Sisters Islands, the Power Portal where a statue of Nikola Tesla (the inventor whose patents for the AC induction motor and other devices for AC power transmission helped make the harnessing of the falls possible) can be seen, and a walking path that enables views of the rapids, the Niagara River, the gorge, and all of the falls. Most of these attractions lie within the Niagara Falls State Park.
The Niagara Scenic Trolley offers guided trips along American Falls and around Goat Island. Panoramic and aerial views of the falls can also be viewed by helicopter. The Niagara Gorge Discovery Center showcases the natural and local history of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge. A casino and luxury hotel was opened in Niagara Falls, New York, by the Seneca Indian tribe. The Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel occupies the former Niagara Falls Convention Center. The new hotel is the first addition to the city's skyline since completion of the United Office Building in the 1920s.
On the Canadian side, Queen Victoria Park features manicured gardens, platforms offering views of American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe Falls, and underground walkways leading into observation rooms that yield the illusion of being within the falling waters. Along the Niagara River, the Niagara River Recreational Trail runs 35 mi (56 km) from Fort Erie to Fort George, and includes many historical sites from the War of 1812.
The observation deck of the nearby Skylon Tower offers the highest view of the falls, and in the opposite direction gives views as far as Toronto. Along with the Tower Hotel (built as the Seagrams Tower, later renamed the Heritage Tower, the Royal Inn Tower, the Royal Center Tower, the Panasonic Tower, the Minolta Tower, and most recently the Konica Minolta Tower before receiving its current name in 2010), it is one of two towers in Canada with a view of the falls. The Whirlpool Aero Car, built in 1916 from a design by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo, is a cable car that takes passengers over the Niagara Whirlpool on the Canadian side. The Journey Behind the Falls consists of an observation platform and series of tunnels near the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. There are two casinos on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.
Touring by helicopter over the falls, from both the US and the Canadian side, was described by The New York Times as still popular a year after a serious crash. Although The New York Times had long before described attempting to tour the falls as "bent on suicide" and despite a number of fatal crashes, the "as many as 100 eight-minute rides each day" are hard to regulate; two countries and various government agencies would have to coordinate. These flights have been available "since the early 1960s."
The G20 was the biggest police buildup Hamburg has ever seen. 23.000 riot police from all over Germany and numerous anti-terror squads from Germany and Austria were also on scene. Around 45 high tech water- cannons , armoured police SUVs as well as dozens of helicopters and patrol boats were also deployed. In Hamburg-Harburg a detention center for 400 people was erected at costs of about 3 Million Euro.
Weeks before the summit police conducted training with helicopters, road-blocks and anti-terror practice. During the summit-week police, beside establishing the red zone near the summit center, also installed a blue zone as a demonstration and gathering free area that stretched out about one thirds of the city area and covered 38km².
In many ways the police build-up was exceptional in a dense populated City like Hamburg. The lessons learnt after the Genua G20 riots in 2001 in summit policing did not much apply in Hamburg. Instead Hamburg minister of the interior proclaimed a “festival of democracy” and a police acting with low threshold of intervention.
The Hamburg police tactic can for sure be described as “zero tolerance”. Order was given for a hardline approach, preventing any breach of law promptly. This lead to a series of confrontations and feelings of besiegement among protesters and citizens of Hamburg - all in advance of the actual summit-riots. Weeks before the summit people all around the city were stopped and strip-searched, because “they looked suspicious”. Days before the summit, protest- camps, in some cases legally approved by courts, were blocked and disturbed by the police. For days police helicopters were hoovering above the city day and night. Main streets were blocked for “convoy-practise” and during the summit deliveries of goods and services were significantly disturbed.
During the summit-protests, police stuck to their hardline approach, leading to a significant escalation at the “welcome to hell” demonstration on Thursday the 6th, when police stopped and broke up the demonstration, before any physical violence occurred on side of the protesters.
From this point on, Hamburg saw 3 days of massive peaceful protests, as well as significant rioting and looting, which lead to the deployment of special forces (SEK) with hand held grenade launchers and assault rifles against rioters on the night of the 7th and 8th of July.
Police claims about 500 injured policemen, half of them probably due to friendly teargas fire, exhaustion and illness, others through injuries on duty and in riot. Many police had insufficient accommodation and many were on duty for 3 days without sleep.
There are no official numbers of injured protesters so far, but it is estimated that it must be more than a thousand, some with life threatening conditions, many broken limbs and head- injuries.
The question wether police could have prevented the worst is now widely discussed. Also in question is the fact that riots in the Schanzenviertel could spread for hours without any police present on Friday night. Also no police was on the scene when a group of hundred marched through the City of Altona burning cars and smashing shops on Friday morning. People of Hamburg are asking why 23.000 police were not able to prevent what was happening and why the police was conducting violence on peaceful protesters too.
The Hamburg Senate coalition of Social-Democrats and Green Party, so far, see no evidence of a failed police- tactic nor any evidence of police violence. It will be to the civil rights movements to investigate.
The promised “Festival of Democracy” and the safety of the citizens of Hamburg was a joke. The police failed to prevent mass riots and failed to handle the situation in many cases. The costs of all this is not just a money issue, but also an issue of basic democratic rights, that have been suspended for the safety of 20 world leaders.
Around 100.000 peaceful protesters on more than 80 events, were basically not represented in the public view. Instead police and media reports, in most cases, only focused on the riots.
Wasting gas by flaring it at oil drilling sites symbolizes questionable oil development. Oil companies burn off natural gas for several reasons: sometimes to prevent a dangerous buildup of methane at a drilling site, but more often because the companies do not have the equipment or the financial incentive to capture and sell it. Hopefully Ecuador, as one of the oil-proving countries in the world, will in the future set better examples of using its resources sustainably. It will be a challenge and matter of wise political decisions for the country to combine its further development of oil (and gas) resources with preserving its pristine and highly diverse natural habitats and increasing its protected areas and nature-based tourism economy. The decision in 2013 to abandon a plan to spare the species-rich Yasuni rain forest in eastern Ecuador from oil development points so far to a wrong direction.
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The buildup of heat due to skin friction during sustained supersonic flight had to be addressed. During a Mach 3 cruise, the aircraft would reach an average of 450 °F (230 °C), with leading edges reaching 630 °F (330 °C), and up to 1,000 °F (540 °C) in engine compartments. NAA proposed building their design out of sandwich panels, with each panel consisting of two thin sheets of stainless steel brazed to opposite faces of a honeycomb-shaped foil core. Expensive titanium would be used only in high-temperature areas like the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer and the nose. To cool the interior, the XB-70 pumped fuel en route to the engines through heat exchangers.
The G20 was the biggest police buildup Hamburg has ever seen. 23.000 riot police from all over Germany and numerous anti-terror squads from Germany and Austria were also on scene. Around 45 high tech water- cannons , armoured police SUVs as well as dozens of helicopters and patrol boats were also deployed. In Hamburg-Harburg a detention center for 400 people was erected at costs of about 3 Million Euro.
Weeks before the summit police conducted training with helicopters, road-blocks and anti-terror practice. During the summit-week police, beside establishing the red zone near the summit center, also installed a blue zone as a demonstration and gathering free area that stretched out about one thirds of the city area and covered 38km².
In many ways the police build-up was exceptional in a dense populated City like Hamburg. The lessons learnt after the Genua G20 riots in 2001 in summit policing did not much apply in Hamburg. Instead Hamburg minister of the interior proclaimed a “festival of democracy” and a police acting with low threshold of intervention.
The Hamburg police tactic can for sure be described as “zero tolerance”. Order was given for a hardline approach, preventing any breach of law promptly. This lead to a series of confrontations and feelings of besiegement among protesters and citizens of Hamburg - all in advance of the actual summit-riots. Weeks before the summit people all around the city were stopped and strip-searched, because “they looked suspicious”. Days before the summit, protest- camps, in some cases legally approved by courts, were blocked and disturbed by the police. For days police helicopters were hoovering above the city day and night. Main streets were blocked for “convoy-practise” and during the summit deliveries of goods and services were significantly disturbed.
During the summit-protests, police stuck to their hardline approach, leading to a significant escalation at the “welcome to hell” demonstration on Thursday the 6th, when police stopped and broke up the demonstration, before any physical violence occurred on side of the protesters.
From this point on, Hamburg saw 3 days of massive peaceful protests, as well as significant rioting and looting, which lead to the deployment of special forces (SEK) with hand held grenade launchers and assault rifles against rioters on the night of the 7th and 8th of July.
Police claims about 500 injured policemen, half of them probably due to friendly teargas fire, exhaustion and illness, others through injuries on duty and in riot. Many police had insufficient accommodation and many were on duty for 3 days without sleep.
There are no official numbers of injured protesters so far, but it is estimated that it must be more than a thousand, some with life threatening conditions, many broken limbs and head- injuries.
The question wether police could have prevented the worst is now widely discussed. Also in question is the fact that riots in the Schanzenviertel could spread for hours without any police present on Friday night. Also no police was on the scene when a group of hundred marched through the City of Altona burning cars and smashing shops on Friday morning. People of Hamburg are asking why 23.000 police were not able to prevent what was happening and why the police was conducting violence on peaceful protesters too.
The Hamburg Senate coalition of Social-Democrats and Green Party, so far, see no evidence of a failed police- tactic nor any evidence of police violence. It will be to the civil rights movements to investigate.
The promised “Festival of Democracy” and the safety of the citizens of Hamburg was a joke. The police failed to prevent mass riots and failed to handle the situation in many cases. The costs of all this is not just a money issue, but also an issue of basic democratic rights, that have been suspended for the safety of 20 world leaders.
Around 100.000 peaceful protesters on more than 80 events, were basically not represented in the public view. Instead police and media reports, in most cases, only focused on the riots.
Article
Robert J. Arrotta--The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps
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Photo by Charles J. Schneider, courtesy of Joanne Schneider
Description: Robert J. Arrotta .Author: Beth Crumley
“Close air support was considered the most important mission of Marine aviation, and the Marine Corps focused the lion’s share of its aviation effort on refining and developing its close air support capabilities. As the senior aviator in the Marine Corps [Major General Keith B. McCutcheon] put it just months before the siege of Khe Sanh, ‘Marine aviation is a tactical air arm. Its sole mission is to provide support to ground forces.’ ”
—LtCol Shawn P. Callahan,
“Close Air Support and the Battle for Khe Sanh”
Marine Corps History Division, 2009
At no time would Major General Keith B. McCutcheon’s words about the importance of close air support ring truer than during the siege of Khe Sanh Combat Base and the surrounding, strategically important hills during the Vietnam War.
By December 1967, the North Vietnamese presence around Khe Sanh Combat Base had grown considerably. The 304 and 325C divisions had crossed into South Vietnam and were approaching from the west. To the east was the 320th Division, operating near the Rockpile, as well as an enemy regiment and an additional battalion whose mission it was to prevent movement along Route 9.
This buildup in enemy strength was monitored closely by Lieutenant General Robert E. Cushman Jr., the commanding general of III Marine Amphibious Force. By 9 Dec., 3d Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment was diverted from another mission and sent to Khe Sanh. Elements of the battalion strengthened key hilltop outposts. Company K, 3/26 was positioned atop Hill 861 and immediately began patrolling west of Khe Sanh.
Farther to the west was Hill 881S. The highest of the surrounding hills, it was key to Khe Sanh Combat Base defense. Khe Sanh was dependent upon resupply and reinforcement by air. Should the NVA hold the hill, aircraft taking off or landing from the west would be extremely vulnerable to enemy fire. The mission of holding the hill fell to the men of “India” Co, 3d Bn, 26th Marines. Among them was Corporal Robert J. Arrotta, who, during the 77-day siege, would earn the title “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps.”
In 1967, Arrotta had finished a disappointing freshman year in college when he received his draft notice. He volunteered for service in the Marine Corps, telling his family, “If I am going to go to Vietnam, I want to go with the best.” He arrived in country 15 Aug. 1967, assigned as a radio operator to Headquarters and Service Co, 3/26. He began training as a tactical air controller.
The North Vietnamese Army had launched a series of assaults against Marine positions in and around the Leatherneck Square area, a roughly square piece of ground bordered by Con Thien and Gio Linh to the north and Cam Lo and Dong Ha to the south. By the end of August, 3d Bn was ordered to Con Thien. Enemy ground activity in the area had increased significantly. It was there, during Operation Kingfisher, that Arrotta had his first real taste of combat. Hit hard in heavy fighting with the 812th NVA Regiment, 3d Bn sustained more than 240 casualties, including 56 killed in action. Arrotta later wrote about his experience:
“On 10 September I was with Mike Company when the battalion was attacked … by an entire NVA regiment. No medevacs could get into my landing zone because of overwhelming enemy firepower. I spent the night in the LZ with the battalion’s most seriously wounded and all of the dead that were able to be brought to the LZ. The next morning we had to retrieve the dead that couldn’t be brought to the LZ. … To carry these bodies and put them on waiting helicopters was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.”
Badly mauled, 3/26 moved to Camp Evans to rebuild. During that time Arrotta received additional training that would make him a legend on Hill 881S. During the heavy fighting near Con Thien, the battalion had lost its forward air controllers. In late September a CH-46 pilot, First Lieutenant John Root, was assigned to 3/26 to serve as a forward air controller. Root used the extended time at Camp Evans for training the radio operators in the fundamentals of bringing in close air support, aiding Marines on the ground. In late 1967, when the battalion deployed to Khe Sanh, Arrotta and his best friend, Cpl Terry L. Smith, both radio operators, were assigned to Hill 881S.
On 20 Jan. 1968, Captain William Dabney, commanding officer of India Co, 3/26, conducted a reconnaissance-in-force up Hill 881N. India Co engaged an entire NVA battalion moving south. The siege of Khe Sanh and the surrounding hills had begun. Both the combat base and the hills were completely dependent on resupply by air and close air support to keep enemy forces at bay.
A few days into the siege, the forward air controller on 881S was hit by shrapnel from an incoming mortar and was medically evacuated. Dabney later stated:
“At about the same time, the weather socked in, and it was several days before [we] could bring in helicopters. When it did clear, we got the radio batteries we needed to talk to the close air support aircraft but no new forward air controller. When I remarked on the lack of a FAC, Bob [Corporal Robert J. Arrotta] told me he could handle it. I had nothing to lose, plenty of targets, and all the CAS aircraft we could use, so I stood by and watched as he ran the first few missions—flawlessly. I was impressed not only with his technical knowledge but also with his demeanor as a corporal giving instructions to officers through the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was assertive and unfailingly professional.”
It wasn’t long before the Marines of India and Mike companies began calling Bob Arrotta “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps” for the vast amount of firepower he could bring down upon the enemy. First Lt Richard Dworsky, Weapons Platoon, I/3/26, recalled: “Bob and a couple of others looked like Energizer bunnies moving around and coordinating multiple air and fire support missions. It was dangerous, but always needed, work. … The hardest part was trying to keep all the fire support in order to prevent midair collisions.”
Despite the skill of the young corporal, there was at least one close call. Both Dabney and Arrotta trusted the close air support skills of Marine Corps pilots. As a rule, however, they usually ran both Air Force and Navy flights on targets two or more kilometers from the hill. Early on during the siege, an Air Force pilot dropped his ordnance without being “cleared hot” by Cpl Arrotta. As Dabney and Arrotta stood together on the hill, someone shouted a warning. The two Marines looked over their shoulders to see the aircraft coming right at them on the hill.
“Just as we caught sight of him, four bombs dropped from under his wings, and we dove for the bottom of the trench with Arrotta calling, ‘Abort! Abort!’ on the radio. Too late. Dust, shrapnel, tree stumps flying all over the place, both of us—and many others—were deaf for hours. Had he been accurate, we’d have lost perhaps 100 Marines. I lost my cool instead,” Dabney remembered.
In February, Arrotta suffered a loss that would impact the rest of his life. In a recording made on Hill 881S he stated, “I grew up a lot today. My best friend died in my arms.”
Cpl Terry Smith was in a bunker with Arrotta when a helicopter approached the landing zone where the North Vietnamese had registered heavy mortars. Approaching the hill without prior notice, the helicopter’s mission was to pick up resupply nets that had been dropped the previous week. The two young Marines usually took turns running out to the landing zone to attach the external slings to the “birds.” Enemy mortars registered on the hill were lethal.
“We could usually hear the [mortar] tube pop, and we had about 25 seconds from pop to impact, so it was vital to get the birds out in 20 seconds maximum, then take cover,” Dabney explained. Realizing the danger to the helicopter crew, Arrotta attempted to contact the pilot by radio, but was unsuccessful. Smith prevented Arrotta from leaving the safety of the bunker and ran across open ground, signaling to the helicopter to take off immediately. As the helicopter took off and before Smith could take cover, he was hit by shrapnel from the incoming mortar rounds.
Many years later Arrotta wrote, “I held onto Terry and yelled and screamed into the radio for the helicopter to come back and pick Terry up. The chopper returned and the corpsman and I picked Terry up and threw him on the chopper while the mortars were impacting all around us. … I don’t believe there has been one day in the last thirty years that I haven’t thought about that horrible day. I remember how helpless I felt and how it should have been me lying there dying, and not Terry.”
Dworsky noted the toll that day took on the young corporal. “I was wounded late in February and had to go to the small hill [where Mike Company was] to get medevacked. Bob and I carried another wounded Marine to the LZ. We all got out, although [we] took quite a bit of fire on the way. I asked Bob … why he went to the new LZ especially since they already had another team there. He told me that he didn’t want the wounded and dead to be alone. He believed that it was part of his duty as a Marine to perform that simple act of faith. He never was satisfied that he could do enough to help.”
Years later, Colonel Dabney, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership on Hill 881S, commented on the service of Arrotta. “During the Siege of Khe Sanh, an operation called Niagara was in place. Essentially, it required that any close air support aircraft returning from aborted missions in the general area check in with the Khe Sanh Direct Air Support Center [DASC] before pickling [dropping] their ordnance.
“Since it was the end of the monsoon season and there were many bombing missions along the DMZ [Demilitarized Zone] and in North Vietnam that had to be aborted because of bad weather, plenty of aircraft with all sorts of ordnance [was available almost] every day. The base at Khe Sanh itself was in a bowl, so [they] couldn’t use [that ordnance] unless they had an airborne forward air controller, so they’d often pass them off to us … sitting atop a 3,000-foot hill, we didn’t need an airborne FAC, and we always had plenty of targets.
“Several times we got two or three flights of bombers passed off to us simultaneously. Bob got quite adept at ‘stacking’ them based upon how much fuel they had left and using them based on the ordnance they were carrying. Sounds simple, I guess, but under fire, without prior notice, it took superb organizational skills to both manage the air assets and direct the marking rounds our mortars fired to designate the targets for the bomber pilots.
“Bob did all of that in his head, sometimes juggling as many as three flights at once. My input was simply to tell him what targets to hit. He’d take it from there, stack the flights, range the mortar marking rounds and run the bombers in. In effect, he was his own DASC.”
In his 77 days on Hill 881S, Cpl Robert Arrotta had the tactical call sign of “India 14,” identifying him as the close air support representative of the company. During this long siege, he directed some 300 close air support missions, all resupply of the hill by helicopters, and in coordination with the helicopter support team, all medical evacuations.
Arrotta left the Republic of Vietnam in the autumn of 1968. During his tour he was awarded a Bronze Star medal, as well as a Navy Commendation Medal.
The latter’s citation states: “Assigned to Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines as a Forward Air Controller while that unit was located on Hill 881 South during the siege of the Khe Sanh Combat Base, he repeatedly distinguished himself by his courage and composure under fire. On numerous occasions, he fearlessly exposed himself to enemy artillery and mortar fire in order to direct Marine tactical air strikes on hostile positions and coordinate vitally needed helicopter resupply and medical evacuation missions. As a result of his diligent and tireless efforts, the combat effectiveness of his unit was greatly enhanced.”
Years later, still carrying the emotional wounds of Vietnam, Arrotta wanted to be close to a Marine Corps base, and in 1980, he moved to Southern California.
“It was at that time I realized the effect helicopters had on me. All sorts of military aircraft fly up and down this coastal community. But it’s always the Hueys, or the sound of their rotors, that causes me to flash back to Vietnam. I stop whatever I am doing and stare at the sky, waiting to see the ‘bird’ and remembering.”
In 2006, Major William C. Hendricks, assigned to the Air Officer Department, Marine Aviation and Weapons Tactics Squadron 1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., invited Arrotta to speak to the Air Officer Course. Arrotta agreed and suggested that former Sergeant Glenn Prentice, an artillery forward observer, also be included. The presentation, which included a series of photographs depicting life on 881S and the critical role played by close air support in their survival, was successful, and they were invited to speak to numerous classes.
Arrotta was extremely proud of his continued service to the Marine Corps, and, in addition to his work at MCAS Yuma, he addressed a number of fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons prior to their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. To those in the audience, Arrotta “knew what it was like. Having him speak to us tied together the legend of the Marine brotherhood.”
Robert J. Arrotta died unexpectedly in November 2009, at the age of 64. He had been scheduled to speak at MCAS Yuma in April. Instead, prior to a brief given by Glenn Prentice, Maj Thomas Campbell asked everyone in attendance to take a few moments to reflect on the service and sacrifice of “The Mightiest Corporal in the Marine Corps.”
Col John Root said, “Bob was almost relaxed on 881S even as he was dealing with mortar fire, small arms and sniper fire, trying to get helos in and wounded out. He was very composed and a highly professional Marine who lived up to the highest traditions of the Marine Corps.”
Staff Sergeant Nathan Jacobson, who met Arrotta at MCAS Yuma, said simply, “He was a living legend, an inspiration, a real man who did amazing things. I was humbled to be in the same room as Robert J. Arrotta.”
First Lt Richard Dworsky, who also served with India Co, said, “Bob was honored by the love of the people who attended his funeral. All were veterans and Khe Sanh survivors. There was a flow in how Bob lived his life and how he viewed the Marine Corps. Duty, honor and teamwork were bigger than the individual.”
A buildup of thunderstorms just to our east. Thunderstorms were popping up around California thanks to a unique weather setup over the region, let alone the unusually high dew points for our standards here. For days, high pressure was in the middle of the country while a low pressure area was parked just offshore of California, helping to draw in monsoonal moisture from the southeast. Loving this tropical-like weather! Pic taken from around Fremont, CA. (Thursday late afternoon, August 17, 2023; 4:36 p.m.)
London is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile medieval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which today largely makes up Greater London, governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
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These clouds are often referred to as Pop Corn. They dissipate as quickly as the form; such as a pop!
The 4th SteineWahn happens in Berlin last weekend. There was a lot of work to be done previously.
I think this is a very important part of an exhibition for the participants. Everyone is concentrate to make sure that his moc is presented well. But everybody also helps each other. So i take my time to make some pictures of those moments.
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The G20 was the biggest police buildup Hamburg has ever seen. 23.000 riot police from all over Germany and numerous anti-terror squads from Germany and Austria were also on scene. Around 45 high tech water- cannons , armoured police SUVs as well as dozens of helicopters and patrol boats were also deployed. In Hamburg-Harburg a detention center for 400 people was erected at costs of about 3 Million Euro.
Weeks before the summit police conducted training with helicopters, road-blocks and anti-terror practice. During the summit-week police, beside establishing the red zone near the summit center, also installed a blue zone as a demonstration and gathering free area that stretched out about one thirds of the city area and covered 38km².
In many ways the police build-up was exceptional in a dense populated City like Hamburg. The lessons learnt after the Genua G20 riots in 2001 in summit policing did not much apply in Hamburg. Instead Hamburg minister of the interior proclaimed a “festival of democracy” and a police acting with low threshold of intervention.
The Hamburg police tactic can for sure be described as “zero tolerance”. Order was given for a hardline approach, preventing any breach of law promptly. This lead to a series of confrontations and feelings of besiegement among protesters and citizens of Hamburg - all in advance of the actual summit-riots. Weeks before the summit people all around the city were stopped and strip-searched, because “they looked suspicious”. Days before the summit, protest- camps, in some cases legally approved by courts, were blocked and disturbed by the police. For days police helicopters were hoovering above the city day and night. Main streets were blocked for “convoy-practise” and during the summit deliveries of goods and services were significantly disturbed.
During the summit-protests, police stuck to their hardline approach, leading to a significant escalation at the “welcome to hell” demonstration on Thursday the 6th, when police stopped and broke up the demonstration, before any physical violence occurred on side of the protesters.
From this point on, Hamburg saw 3 days of massive peaceful protests, as well as significant rioting and looting, which lead to the deployment of special forces (SEK) with hand held grenade launchers and assault rifles against rioters on the night of the 7th and 8th of July.
Police claims about 500 injured policemen, half of them probably due to friendly teargas fire, exhaustion and illness, others through injuries on duty and in riot. Many police had insufficient accommodation and many were on duty for 3 days without sleep.
There are no official numbers of injured protesters so far, but it is estimated that it must be more than a thousand, some with life threatening conditions, many broken limbs and head- injuries.
The question wether police could have prevented the worst is now widely discussed. Also in question is the fact that riots in the Schanzenviertel could spread for hours without any police present on Friday night. Also no police was on the scene when a group of hundred marched through the City of Altona burning cars and smashing shops on Friday morning. People of Hamburg are asking why 23.000 police were not able to prevent what was happening and why the police was conducting violence on peaceful protesters too.
The Hamburg Senate coalition of Social-Democrats and Green Party, so far, see no evidence of a failed police- tactic nor any evidence of police violence. It will be to the civil rights movements to investigate.
The promised “Festival of Democracy” and the safety of the citizens of Hamburg was a joke. The police failed to prevent mass riots and failed to handle the situation in many cases. The costs of all this is not just a money issue, but also an issue of basic democratic rights, that have been suspended for the safety of 20 world leaders.
Around 100.000 peaceful protesters on more than 80 events, were basically not represented in the public view. Instead police and media reports, in most cases, only focused on the riots.
Probably the best agate I found at Tapado on October 21, 2009. I had just been showing other members of our group how to recognize the better agates and particularly this type and was carrying a handfull of agates back to where I had left my backpack laying on the ground at the edge of the arroyo, when I spotted this agate, only a foot or two from my backpack. Some color was showing throught the pale green skin of this agate, which became more obvious as the sunlight became brighter.
Etna's latest episode of lava fountaining (paroxysm) occurred during the early morning hours of 24 April 2012. It was preceded by an agonizingly long and slow buildup phase (I eventually went home and to bed because I had to get up early), which had its most beautiful moments at nightfall on 23 April. For many hours, lava was ejected in beautiful sprays from two small vents on the southeast flank of the New Southeast Crater cone, and a lava flow issued from the lower vent. Clouds moved in and out of the picture. With a group of colleagues and friends and other spectators, I waited at Piano del Vescovo, a panoramic spot at about 1400 m elevation on the southeast flank. This photo was taken at 17:45 GMT (local time -2) on 23 April 2012