On this day in history.

[giradman]

September 28, 1953
American astronomer (one of the most important astronomers of all time) Edwin Powell Hubble dies in San Marino, California, USA.
View attachment 87666
Edwin Hubble - Wikipedia

Worth looking at a few images from the Hubble Project - picked out some of the more colorful ones (Source). Dave
.

 

[giradman]

A post that I left last year - worth repeating - a special place!

Yosemite National Park Created October 1 in 1890

On this day in 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed into law the creation of Yosemite National Park, located in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Susan and I have been there just once and stayed at the Ahwahnee Hotel (renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel in 2016) for 3 or 4 nights. There is MUCH to see including Half Dome, waterfalls, lakes, and the giant sequoia trees. Quotes and pics below.

The nature photographer, Ansel Adams, took numerous images in Yosemite Valley and surroundings - many are available for purchase at the still family-runned Ansel Adams Gallery - a number of years ago, we purchased 3 Adams photographs from the 'Special Edition' selection (printed from his original negatives and stunning - see description below, if interested) - a nice option vs. buying his originals which are also offered on the site for thousands of dollars. Dave

P.S. for those wanting more on Ansel Adams, the PBS documentary shown below is outstanding.

On this day in 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison. Native Americans were the main residents of the Yosemite Valley until the 1849 gold rush brought thousands of miners and settlers to the region. In 1864, to ward off commercial exploitation, conservationists convinced President Abraham Lincoln to declare Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias a public trust of California. This marked the first time the U.S. government protected land for public enjoyment and it laid the foundation for the establishment of the national and state park systems. Yellowstone became America’s first national park in 1872. (Source)

In 1889, John Muir discovered that the vast meadows surrounding Yosemite Valley, which lacked government protection, were being overrun and destroyed by domestic sheep grazing. Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson lobbied for national park status for the large wilderness area around Yosemite Valley. On October 1 of the following year, Congress set aside over 1,500 square miles of land for what would become Yosemite National Park, America’s third national park. In 1906, the state-controlled Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove came under federal jurisdiction with the rest of the park.Yosemite’s natural beauty is immortalized in the black-and-white landscape photographs of Ansel Adams (1902-1984), who at one point lived in the park and spent years photographing it. (Source)

.
View attachment 83681 View attachment 83682 View attachment 83683 View attachment 83684 View attachment 83685 View attachment 83686 View attachment 83687 View attachment 83688 View attachment 83689 View attachment 83690 View attachment 83691 View attachment 83692

 

[scifan57]

The scenery is simply magnificent. The Ansel Adams prints are even more so.
One of the most technically arduous rock climbs is at El Capitan in Yosemite. El Capitan - Wikipedia

The current record climb is just under 2 hours. As recently as 1989 the record was 9 days.

 

[Hawker800]

The scenery is simply magnificent. The Ansel Adams prints are even more so.
One of the most technically arduous rock climbs is at El Capitan in Yosemite. El Capitan - Wikipedia
View attachment 87733
The current record climb is just under 2 hours. As recently as 1989 the record was 9 days.

And the record fall is counted in seconds. [emoji51]

 

[giradman]

The scenery is simply magnificent. The Ansel Adams prints are even more so.
One of the most technically arduous rock climbs is at El Capitan in Yosemite. El Capitan - Wikipedia
View attachment 87733
The current record climb is just under 2 hours. As recently as 1989 the record was 9 days.

Earlier this year, we streamed the documentary Free Solo (first paragraph below from its Wiki article) - which shows rock climber Alex Honnold ascending El Capitan using only his hands and feet - the scenes and cinematography are dramatic and breath-taking - have not checked, but may be some YouTube videos? Just a handful of pics below of many on the web. Dave

Free Solo is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin that profiles rock climber Alex Honnold on his quest to perform a free solo climb of El Capitan in June 2017. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018, and also screened at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award in the Documentaries category. It was released in the United States on September 28, 2018, where it received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $21 million. The film received numerous accolades, including winning Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards. (Source)

.

 

[giradman]

Battle of Trafalgar on this day in 1805!

On October 21, 1805, Horatio Nelson led the British fleet off the southern coast of Spain against the combined navies of France and Spain, and achieved a lopsided sea victory destroying over half of the Franco-Spanish force (more below). Nelson was killed, 47 years of age - honors to him include Trafalgar Square in London (have made a couple of visits) w/ his TALL column. For those interested in a bioptic of his 'love affair' w/ Lady Hamilton, the 1941 movie 'That Hamilton Woman' is recommended - I own the Criterion edition which is an excellent restoration. Dave

In one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain. At sea, Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy consistently thwarted Napoleon Bonaparte, who led France to preeminence on the European mainland. Nelson’s last and greatest victory against the French was the Battle of Trafalgar, which began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships. Preparing to engage the enemy force on October 21, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions and signaled a famous message from the flagship Victory: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” (Source)

In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships. No British ships were lost, but 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded. The battle raged at its fiercest around the Victory, and a French sniper shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. The admiral was taken below and died about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. Nelson’s last words, after being informed that victory was imminent, were “Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.” Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain. Nelson, hailed as the savior of his nation, was given a magnificent funeral in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. A column was erected to his memory in the newly named Trafalgar Square, and numerous streets were renamed in his honor. (Source)

.

 

[scifan57]

Here are a couple of photos I took in Trafalgar Square during my visit in 2014.
The church is St. Martin in the Fields.

 

[giradman]

Here are a couple of photos I took in Trafalgar Square during my visit in 2014.
The church is St. Martin in the Fields.
View attachment 87886 View attachment 87887

Hi Scifan.. - thanks for the additional pics, including the church, famous for a number of reasons, including the chamber orchestra known as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (and also the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble) - more info in the quotes below along w/ a link - I own a bunch of their recordings; the twofers on the Decca label are great bargains. Dave

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner (later Sir Neville) founded the orchestra as "The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields", a small, conductorless string group. The ASMF gave its first concert on 13 November 1959, in the church after which it was named. In 1988, the orchestra dropped the hyphens from its full name. (Source)

The orchestra's first recording was for the L'Oiseau-Lyre label on 25 March 1961, and is one of the most recorded chamber orchestras in the world, with over 500 sessions. Other labels the orchestra has recorded for include Argo, Capriccio, Chandos, Decca, EMI, Hänssler, Hyperion, and Philips. The soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, features many of Mozart’s most popular compositions. Recorded by the Academy and Sir Neville Marriner in 1984, the soundtrack to Amadeus reached #1 in the Billboard Classical Albums Chart, and has sold over 6.5 million copies to date and received 13 Gold Discs, making it one of the most popular classical music recordings of all time. (Source)

.

 

[giradman]

Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 - Hidden Past in Need of More Revelation

P.S - repeat of a post that I left in my Carolina Beach travelogue recently - the massacre of dozens of Afro-American Wilmingtonians and the coup to replace the biracial city government by 'white supremacists' occurred today. Dave (some of my own pics in the brief next post)

The Wilmington Race Riot of November 10, 1898 following mid-term elections of that year was the most serious event of racial violence in North Carolina's history (much more quoted below). An event that I had only a foggy recollection until earlier this month when I read the book Cape Fear Rising (1994) by Philip Gerard, a northern transplant (like me) and a Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington - an accurate historic novel w/ several 'fictional' characters added - the read was a shocking 'eye-opener' for me, leading to my PDF download of the 1898 Race Riot Commission Report in 2006 which I'm now reading. Gerard has an excellent 20-min C-Span discussion of the event HERE for those interested.

The pics are all from the web w/ my text insertions and make much more sense if the information below is read and the C-Span video reviewed. In the 1890s, Wilmington was the largest city and port in North Carolina - the aftermath of this illegal cout d'etat by the white leadership of the city was a major factor in the emergence of white supremacy, Jim Crow acts, and suppression of Afro-Americans first in North Carolina and then throughout the south - not until the Civil Rights events of the 1960s - enjoy this sad but fascinating story - Wilmington has erected a monument - I'd like to see a major permanent exhibition in the Cape Fear Museum. Dave

The Wilmington Race Riot of 10 Nov. 1898 was the most serious incident of racial violence in the history of North Carolina. It has been variously called a revolution, a race war, and more accurately a coup d'état. The outbreak stemmed from an editorial published on 18 Aug. 1898 by the Wilmington Daily Record, an African American newspaper edited by Alexander Manly. In response to an appeal for the lynching of black rapists made by crusader Rebecca Felton in Georgia on 11 Aug. 1897, Manly wrote that white women "are not any more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men than are the white men with colored women." Moreover, Manly argued, many accusations of rape were simply cases where a black man was having an affair with a white woman. Because it involved the sensitive issue of interracial sexual relations, the editorial struck a raw nerve with many whites and led to bitter denunciations of Manly in the Democratic press. (Source)

The entire thrust of the white supremacy campaign, in which the Democrats were attempting to regain control of state government, had been racially inflammatory. It was no surprise that after the Democrats, bolstered by bands of armed Red Shirts, overturned Republican-Populist Fusionist control of the state in the 8 November election, the Wilmington Democratic Party leadership decided to discipline Manly and take over the city administration. An order was issued under the name of Alfred M. Waddell, a former congressman and the Democratic candidate for mayor, that editor Manly leave the city with his press and inform Waddell of the action by 7:30 a.m. on 10 November. Unfortunately, Manly had already left Wilmington and the response by local black leaders to Waddell's ultimatum did not reach him in time to forestall the subsequent violence. A white mob of 400-500 people marched on the Daily Record office, smashed the press, and burned down the building. The rioters delayed a black fire company long enough to ensure destruction of the property. Thereafter white bands roamed the city, hunting down Fusionists and indiscriminately shooting into neighborhoods believed to be black political strongholds. Many African Americans fled to the forest outside of town. Waddell, backed by armed men, demanded and received the resignation of the entire city board of aldermen, including Republican mayor Silas P. Wright. Waddell immediately took over as mayor and appointed Democratic aldermen. (Source)

Republican governor Daniel L. Russell belatedly directed the state militia to stop the violence, but Walker Taylor, the Democratic commander of the guard at Wilmington, arrested only blacks. The new all-white city government forced selected white Fusionists, deemed "decidedly persona non grata," to leave town. In his Memoirs, Waddell boasted that the rioting Democrats had "choked the Cape Fear with [black] corpses." In fact, the most-often-cited estimates of black casualties place the number at 11 killed and 25 wounded. Only 3 whites were wounded. Nevertheless, one report noted that at least 2 whites were killed, and another placed the total death toll as high as 250. Most modern accounts of the violence discount contemporary partisan news stories that a black mob, near the corner of Fourth and Harnett or Nixon Streets, fired the first shots in the riot. From the casualties it is clear that white Democrats did most of the shooting, while blacks were largely defending themselves. The Wilmington race riot marked a bloody end to increased black participation in North Carolina politics, which had been made possible by Fusionist control of state government from 1894 to 1898. The emergence of an essentially all-white electorate and one-party Democratic rule was solidified two years later with the adoption of the disfranchisement amendment to the state constitution. (Source)

.
View attachment 87954 View attachment 87955 View attachment 87956 View attachment 87957 View attachment 87958 View attachment 87959 View attachment 87960 View attachment 87961 View attachment 87962 View attachment 87963

 

[giradman]

The '1898 Monument & Memorial Park', Wilmington, North Carolina

On November 8, 2008 (110 years after the election day of 1898), the 1898 Monument and Memorial Park in Wilmington was dedicated. On our recent trip to Wrightsville Beach, we were downtown for a boat ride and also visited the Memorial Park - just a few of my own pics below. Dave

P.S. Susan in one image for perspective on the size of the 'paddles', explained in the plaque below.

 

[scifan57]

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the deadliest volcanic eruption in U.S. history. On May 18th, 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted, killing 57 people and devastating thousands of square miles of land. Volcanic ash from the eruption travelled around the world.
On that day I was in Maple Bay British Columbia about 250 miles away from Mount St. Helens and clearly heard the initial explosion.

Remembering The 40th Anniversary Of The Mount St. Helens Eruption

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mount-st-helens-erupts-2

https://www.history.com/topics/natu...helens?li_source=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-history

 

[scifan57]

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the Navy base at Pearl Harbor.

U.S. observes 80th anniversary of attack on Pearl Harbor

The United States marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Tuesday as the number of Americans belonging to the "greatest generation" who lived through World War Two dwindles.

mobile.reuters.com

The Arizona after the attack.

 

[J. A.]

February 8, 1932 -
John Williams, American composer, pianist and conductor, was born in New York City. He celebrates his 90th birthday today.

John Williams - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[scifan57]

February 8, 1932 -
John Williams, American composer, pianist and conductor, was born in New York City. He celebrates his 90th birthday today.

John Williams - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org