Daily Pic 08/17/18 (Porto Venere)

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Peter Sampson/Alamy

Illuminations on the Gulf of Poets

Each year on Aug 17, the northern Italian fishing village of Porto Venere is illuminated with more than 2,000 torches for the festival of the White Madonna, a tribute to the town’s patron saint. The lights extend onto this rocky spur, which juts into the Gulf of La Spezia, also known as the Gulf of Poets. With views like this, we can easily see how it inspired poets and artists throughout history–including Lord Byron, who is said to have swum across this body of water to visit fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Daily Pic 08/17/17

© mbbirdy/E+/Getty Images

Zlatni Rat on Brač Island, Croatia



Today in History 08/17 (Hurricane Camille)

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A shopping center and motel complex in Biloxi, Mississippi, after high winds and tides slashed the Mississippi gulf coast on Aug 18, 1969 (© AP)(1969) America’s Gulf Coast is slammed by monster storm
A monstrous Category 5 hurricane, whose vortex of clouds fills almost the entire Gulf of Mexico, packs 175-mph winds and pushes a storm surge 24 feet high as it rages into the US at the mouth of the Mississippi River. In the end, Camille will kill 259 and cause $1.42 billion in damage.
Hurricane Camille was the second-most intense tropical cyclone to strike the United States on record. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille formed as a tropical depression on August 14 south of Cuba from a long-tracked tropical wave. Located in a favorable environment for strengthening, the storm quickly intensified into a Category 2 hurricane before striking the western part of the nation on August 15. Emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, Camille underwent another period of rapid intensification and became a Category 5 hurricane the next day as it moved northward towards the Louisiana–Mississippi region. Despite weakening slightly on August 17, the hurricane quickly re-intensified back to a Category 5 before it made landfall in Pass Christian, Mississippi early on August 18 with a pressure of 900 mbar. This was the second-lowest pressure recorded for a U.S. landfall; only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane had a lower pressure at landfall. As Camille pushed inland, it quickly weakened and was a tropical depression by the time it was over the Ohio Valley. Once it emerged offshore, it was able to restrengthen to a strong tropical storm, before it became extratropical, being absorbed by a cold front over the North Atlantic on August 22.
Damages: $1.43 billion USD (1969)
Formed: Aug 14, 1969
Dissipated: Aug 22, 1969
Total fatalities: 259
Lowest pressure: 900 mbar (hPa), 26.58 inHg
Affected areas: Mississippi · Cuba · Louisiana · Alabama · Southern United States

Hurricane Camille 16 aug 1969
Hurricane Camille on August 16, 1969. Image capture by NASA’s ATS III satellite
wiki/Hurricane_Camille
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(1969) America’s Gulf Coast is slammed by monster storm.
Also on this day,

1908 | Paris smiles at history’s first animated film
For 1 minute and 20 seconds, Parisians gaze on a fanciful figure seemingly drawn from chalk who morphs and leaps, changing form in amusing and amazing ways in ‘Fantasmagorie,’ a stream-of-consciousness silent film that will come to be regarded as the first animated cartoon.
1945 | Dutch face a revolution in a long-held colony
An end to more than three centuries of Dutch colonization and control is declared by the Indonesian National Revolution and its leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta. WWII had weakened the Netherlands’ hold on the Southeast Asian archipelago and now Indonesia heads towards independence.
1959 | Miles Davis remakes jazz music with a landmark album
A new cool modality unfurls on Miles Davis’ latest album, ‘Kind of Blue.’ Davis’ brilliant horn playing, and his sublime supporting ensemble, including Bill Evans and John Coltrane, will make the disc an enduring success, and it will be considered by some the greatest jazz record of all time.

Today in History 08/17/17

Sukarno, leader of the Indonesian National Party, addresses a rally in Macassar, demanding independence from the Netherlands in an undated photo (© AFP/Getty Images)(1945) Dutch face a revolution in a long-held colony
An end to more than three centuries of Dutch colonization and control is declared by the Indonesian National Revolution and its leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta. WWII had weakened the Netherlands' hold on the Southeast Asian archipelago and now Indonesia heads towards independence.
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution following the postwar and postcolonial Indonesia. It took place between Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the Dutch recognition of Indonesia's independence at the end of 1949. The Indonesian independence movement began in May 1908, which is commemorated as the "Year of National Awakening".
Start date: Aug 17, 1945
End date: Dec 27, 1949
RI Transfer Signing
The signing ceremony recognizing Indonesian sovereignty in The Hague, 27 December 1949

wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution
4.4.j17


Daily Pic 08/16/18 (Roller Coaster)

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Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Getty Images

Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…

This roller coaster at Skyline Park in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, like all other modern coasters, can trace its lineage back to the engineering work of Russian refugees living in 17th-century Portugal. To recreate the fun of sledding down snow-covered hills, the Russians built ice-bearing wooden platforms and ramps similar to very large playground slides. As the concept of the ‘Russian Mountain’ ride caught on across Europe, mechanical parts came into play, including sled-like vehicles to ride in, and rails to keep the carts on track. Over the centuries, these coaster-like rides grew to resemble the extreme, gravity-challenging thrill rides we see at modern theme parks. Where is your favorite roller coaster?

Daily Pic 08/16/17

© Ian Shive/Tandem Stills + Motion

Avalanche Creek in Glacier National Park, Montana



Today in History 08/16 (Solar Flares)

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Energy leaving the sun's surface photographed at the National Solar Observatory east of Alamogordo in Sunspot, NM (© National Solar Observatory/AP)(1989) Space storms crash a stock market’s computers
All trading is halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange as three disc drives fail and computers crash. Scientists trace the failure to microchip interference from a geomagnetic storm caused by a massive solar flare, even larger than the one that took down Quebec’s power grid months earlier.
A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field. The increase in the solar wind pressure initially compresses the magnetosphere. The solar wind’s magnetic field interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field and transfers an increased energy into the magnetosphere.
Magnetosphere rendition
Artist’s depiction of solar wind particles interacting with Earth’s magnetosphere. Sizes are not to scale.
wiki/Geomagnetic_storm
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(1989) Space storms crash a stock market’s computers.
Also on this day,

1812 | The British score an easy win against America
Recognizing that his enemy is massing forces he can’t take on, and fearing for his family, General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit to the British. The action will result in a death penalty, but Hull’s sentence will be pardoned due to his previous Revolutionary War heroism.
1898 | The vertical loop roller coaster is patented
Edwin Prescott is awarded a patent for an improved roller coaster design using a teardrop-shaped loop. The Loop the Loop will open in Coney Island in 1901, but the trend of looping roller coasters won’t really catch on until decades later.
1974 | Four ‘brothers’ from Queens take the stage in downtown NYC
Johnny, Tommy, Dee Dee, and Joey Ramone play the Bowery’s CBGB club in matching leather jackets, jeans, and attitudes, belting out their set of blistering songs in a style soon to be dubbed ‘punk.’ Rocketing from this first gig, the Ramones will change the course of rock ‘n’ roll.

Today in History 08/16/17

Illustration depicting US General William Hull, surrendering Fort Detroit to British general Sir Isaac Brock during the War of 1812 (© Kean Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1812) The British score an easy win against America
Recognizing that his enemy is massing forces he can't take on, and fearing for his family, General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit to the British. The action will result in a death penalty, but Hull's sentence will be pardoned due to his previous Revolutionary War heroism.
The Siege of Detroit, also known as the Surrender of Detroit, or the Battle of Fort Detroit, was an early engagement in the Anglo-American War of 1812. A British force under Major General Isaac Brock with Native American allies under the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, used bluff and deception to intimidate the American Brigadier General William Hull into surrendering the fort and town of Detroit, Michigan, and a dispirited army which nevertheless outnumbered the victorious British and Native Americans.
Start date: Aug 15, 1812
End date: Aug 16, 1812
Plan of the Town of Detroit and Fort Lernoult, 1792.
Plan of Detroit and its fort, 1792

wiki/Siege_of_Detroit
4.4.j17


Daily Pic 08/15/18 (National Relaxation Day)

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Scotland: The Big Picture/Minden Pictures

Best. Holiday. Ever.

On this most wonderful day—National Relaxation Day—we journey to a rocky, kelp-covered shore in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, where a snoozing Eurasian otter gives an inspiring demonstration of how to properly observe this holiday. Relaxation Day seems to have originated from National Slacker Day, which Britons are celebrating today. There, celebrants are encouraged to ignore the phone and other devices, and simply take it easy. The idea caught on here in the US and, really, who are we to say ‘no’ to a chance to kick back, maybe catch a nap, and just take it easy for one day. Join us, won’t you?

Daily Pic 08/15/17

© Tim Fitzharris/Minden Pictures

Quaking aspens in Gunnison National Forest, Colorado