On this day in history.

[scifan57]

If you do decide to visit, book ahead as available tickets for a particular day are usually sold out in advance.

 

[scifan57]

Oh yes, Alcatraz - Al Capone was an early occupant and may have been on that first boatload - for those not aware of its location, the island is in the beautiful San Francisco Bay (see map below) - easily seen from the pier area and also from the towns of Sausalito & Tiburon (connected red arrow) - Susan & I have been to the latter towns many times for shopping & lunching (usually via ferry) - Alcatraz is now a National Park and can be visited - been there a few times and recommended; of course, Bay cruises pass near the former penitentiary. Dave
.
View attachment 66548

Thanks for the additional information. Al Capone wasn't on the first boatload of prisoners but arrived a few months later. I've been to Alcatraz once, back in 1983.

 

[giradman]

Thanks for the additional information. Al Capone wasn't on the first boatload of prisoners but arrived a few months later. I've been to Alcatraz once, back in 1983.

Thanks for the the above - did not remember his exact arrival date but was soon after Alcatraz opened - I was curious about his prison cell there, so found the first pic below - actually one of his earlier places of imprisonment (quote below) was relatively luxurious, as seen in the second attachment. Dave

Capone's cell as it exists today at the now closed Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where he spent about nine months starting in May 1929.

.

 

[J. A.]

August 11, 2014:
Robin Williams, actor and comedian, dies
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams

 

[giradman]

August 11, 2014:
Robin Williams, actor and comedian, dies
View attachment 66553

Thanks for the reminder - there was a short article in USA Today about his family still coping w/ the loss - one of Robin's comedic mentors was Jonathan Winters - below a link to a You Tube video of the two improvising - for those not familiar w/ Winters, there are plenty of other videos - take a look @ a few. Dave

Jonathan Winters & Robin Williams

 

[giradman]

Well, a couple days late but was reading a short, concise, & clear article about the current woes of the Social Security system in the United States in our Sunday paper (from the Associated Press) - on August 14, 1935, the signing of this Act by President Franklin Roosevelt occurred making this the 80th birthday of this federal program. For those interested, the article can be read HERE - Dave
.

 

[giradman]

Sunday morning and listening to the Bob Edwards radio show - his first interview was w/ Greg Walter who was hired in 1969 to help create a music festival in upstate New York southwest of the town of Woodstock - Walter published a book years later w/ photographs of the event that he took.

Woodstock, the outdoor rock musical festival took place on August 15-17, 1969 (brief quote below from a Wiki Article) - nearly a half million attended - WOW! Susan & I were still students at the U. of Michigan in Ann Arbor, engaged to be married the following June. And for the record, we did not attend the event - Dave

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair—informally, the Woodstock Festival or simply Woodstock—was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre (240 ha; 0.94 sq mi) dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to 18, 1969. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.

During the sometimes rainy weekend, 32 acts performed outdoors before an audience of 400,000 young people.[2] It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history. Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.[3]

The festival is also widely considered to be the definitive nexus for the larger counterculture generation.[4][5]

The event was captured in the Academy Award winning 1970 documentary movie Woodstock, an accompanying soundtrack album, and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

.

 

[giradman]

Lusitania Sunk 100 years ago on May 7, 1915!

Sorry, I'm a few months late, but is the 100th anniversary year of this tragedy - in the process of reading Dead Wake by Erick Lawson and published earlier this year - book is on my iPad as a Kindle edition and is highly recommended, if you're are interested in the topic - all historic aspects of the period are covered, including the ship & its passengers, U-boat construction & their function/crews, and American & British involvement - below a brief opening description (Source). Dave

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, holder of the Blue Riband, and briefly the world's largest passenger ship. She was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. In 1915, she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.

German shipping lines were agressive competitors in the transatlantic trade, and Cunard responded by trying to outdo them in speed, capacity, and luxury. Lusitaniaand her running mate Mauretania were fitted with revolutionary new turbine engines, able to maintain a service speed of 25 knots. Equipped with lifts, wireless telegraph and electric light, they provided 50% more passenger space than any other ship, and the first class decks were noted for their sumptuous furnishings.

.

 

[giradman]

Hurricane Katrina - 10th Anniversary, end of August 2005

The 10th anniversary of the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States in addition to the worst engineering disaster (i.e. failure of the levees causing flooding of 80% of New Orleans); the destruction was more widespread w/ the Mississippi Gulf and the Mobile, Alabama area hit hard w/ massive destruction - selected quotes below from a Wiki Article.

The French Quarter was virtually spared (site of the original city where the highest ground had been chosen back then) which Susan & I visited about 4-5 years ago to instill some money into the economy - we took several Katrina tours and one of our older lady guides had loss everything when her house was near completely covered w/ water - we're planning on returning soon - below some pics shown the devastation (the circle I drew on the hurricane map covers New Orleans, the MS Gulf, and the Mobile area). Dave

Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. The storm is currently ranked as the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone, behind only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Overall, at least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest United States hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. Total property damage was estimated at $108 billion (2005 USD),[1] roughly four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.[3] Later, Hurricane Ike in 2008 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 caused more damage than Hurricane Andrew, but both were far less destructive than Katrina.

Katrina caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most significant number of deaths occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as its levee system failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland.[4] Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishesbecame flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks.[4] However, the worst property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as Mississippi beachfront towns; over 90 percent of these were flooded.

The hurricane surge protection failures in New Orleans are considered the worst civil engineering disaster in U.S. history,[5]and prompted a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965. Responsibility for the failures and flooding was laid squarely on the Army Corps in January 2008 by Judge Stanwood Duval, U.S. District Court,[6] but the federal agency could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928.

.

 

[scifan57]

Hurricane Katrina - 10th Anniversary, end of August 2005

The 10th anniversary of the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States in addition to the worst engineering disaster (i.e. failure of the levees causing flooding of 80% of New Orleans); the destruction was more widespread w/ the Mississippi Gulf and the Mobile, Alabama area hit hard w/ massive destruction - selected quotes below from a Wiki Article.

The French Quarter was virtually spared (site of the original city where the highest ground had been chosen back then) which Susan & I visited about 4-5 years ago to instill some money into the economy - we took several Katrina tours and one of our older lady guides had loss everything when her house was near completely covered w/ water - we're planning on returning soon - below some pics shown the devastation (the circle I drew on the hurricane map covers New Orleans, the MS Gulf, and the Mobile area). Dave


.
View attachment 67136 View attachment 67137 View attachment 67138 View attachment 67139

This us something we certainly cannot forget as it could easily happen again. Of course the developers and the city are in a way responsible because low lying areas such as the lower 9th ward should never have been developed for housing.

 

[giradman]

This us something we certainly cannot forget as it could easily happen again. Of course the developers and the city are in a way responsible because low lying areas such as the lower 9th ward should never have been developed for housing.

Well, the Army Corps of Engineers claims that they have nearly completed a 'bullet-proof' hurricane protection system for New Orleans - story on NPR today or yesterday - sounds quite impressive but who knows what the future may bring? But, New Orleans is an extremely important city on this continent and always a fun visit (been there at least a dozen times).

The Mississippi River is such a natural force and its attempted control over the centuries has been a fantastic story, a gamble, and at times a colossal failure - as to the latter, talking about the 'Flood of 1927' (quote below from the start of a Wiki article) - for those interested, Rising Tide is an excellent read. Greenville, MS was a major disaster area from this flood - my son and I did a 'Mississippi Trip' when he was a teenager (our interest in the Blues) and was an experience visiting the river towns, including Greenville - the levee looked like a dam in the downtown area (reminded me of a trip to the Netherlands w/ the sea level above the adjacent fields) - some road signs below around the Greenville area. Dave

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States,[1] with 27,000 square miles inundated up to a depth of 30 feet. To try to prevent future floods, the federal government built the world's longest system of levees and floodways.

Ninety-four percent of the more than 630,000 people affected by the flood lived in the states of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, most in the Mississippi Delta. More than 200,000 African Americans were displaced from their homes along the Lower Mississippi River and had to live for lengthy periods in relief camps. As a result of this disruption, many joined the Great Migrationfrom the South to northern and midwestern industrial cities rather than return to rural agricultural labor. [2] This massive population movement increased from World War II until 1970 (Source).

.

 

[scifan57]

Well, the Army Corps of Engineers claims that they have nearly completed a 'bullet-proof' hurricane protection system for New Orleans - story on NPR today or yesterday - sounds quite impressive but who knows what the future may bring? But, New Orleans is an extremely important city on this continent and always a fun visit (been there at least a dozen times).

The Mississippi River is such a natural force and its attempted control over the centuries has been a fantastic story, a gamble, and at times a colossal failure - as to the latter, talking about the 'Flood of 1927' (quote below from the start of a Wiki article) - for those interested, Rising Tide is an excellent read. Greenville, MS was a major disaster area from this flood - my son and I did a 'Mississippi Trip' when he was a teenager (our interest in the Blues) and was an experience visiting the river towns, including Greenville - the levee looked like a dam in the downtown area (reminded me of a trip to the Netherlands w/ the sea level above the adjacent fields) - some road signs below around the Greenville area. Dave



.
View attachment 67148 View attachment 67149 View attachment 67150

Thanks, it was quite interesting to learn something about the history of the levee system on the Mississippi River.

 

[scifan57]

September 11, 2001;
Hijacked planes are flown into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the deadliest ever terrorist attack.

 

[giradman]

September 11, 2001;
Hijacked planes are flown into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the deadliest ever terrorist attack.
View attachment 67548

USA Today had a feature article on the World Trade Center (click the link, if interested) in today's edition - an ongoing major building project is in progress - quoted below a description of the multiple new skyscrapers, plus a picture of the eventual appearance - Susan & I last visited Manhattan in 2009 (we did not go to 'Ground Zero' - had so much else planned in our 5-night stay) - BUT, we are certainly due for a trip back and will definitely go to lower Manhattan to view the site. Dave

Five huge office towers were designed to replace the Twin Towers’ combined 10 million square feet of space. (For comparison, the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet high and has 2.8 million square feet of rentable space):

• 4 WTC (977’ high, 2.5 million sq. ft.) opened in 2013 and is 62% leased. The largest tenant is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the Trade Center site. This summer the building announced deals with several new tenants, including ones in communications, accounting and medical research.
• 1 WTC (1776’, 3 mill. sq. ft.) received its first office workers in November and opened its observation deck in May. The office space is 63% leased. Conde Nast publications occupies 25 floors (1 million square feet). Moody’s reportedly is negotiating a lease for about 80,000 square feet.
• 3 WTC (1079’, 2.5 mill sq. ft.), now under construction, should be finished in about three years. The largest committed tenant is GroupM, which has taken about 500,000 square feet.
• 2 WTC (1270’, 2.8 mill sq. ft.) is being redesigned by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels to accommodate the Murdoch companies, which have signed a letter of intent to rent the lower half of the 100-story building. Anticipated opening: 2020.

 

[giradman]

Yogi Berra (1925-2015) has just died at the age of 90 years old - he is considered arguably the greatest American baseball catcher and was just as famous off the field as on for his sayings - one of his last ones is quoted below; other 'sayings' can be found HERE - for more information, see his NY Times Obit - Dave

His wife once asked Berra where he wanted to be buried, in St. Louis, New York or Montclair.

"I don't know," he said. "Why don't you surprise me?"

.