Cross Sea: When Two Waves Meet

This strange pattern at sea is what happens when two wave systems cross each other at nearly perpendicular angles. This can occur when waves generated by one weather system collides with waves generated by another weather system, usually at a place that is far away from both weather systems.

Waves can travel thousands of kilometers over the surface of the water. Even on the calmest days, storms raging elsewhere on the ocean create rolling waves that radiate away from the storm and washes the shore of distant land. These are called swells, which is different from ocean waves raised by the local wind. Another term for wind waves generated and affected by local winds is “wind sea”. All swells start as wind sea, but after a while the wind ceases to blow and the waves have travelled so far out that it’s no longer generated or significantly affected by the local wind at that time. Then it becomes a swell. When two swells coming from two different directions collide, we get “cross sea”, which is what is happening in this picture.

The above picture is very unique, but cross seas are more common than you think. Sea waves and one or more systems of swell waves are frequently present at the same time. However, they might be difficult to distinguish if the angle between their direction of approach is shallow, in which case they might appear to come from essentially the same direction. Besides, swells gradually lose energy the further out they travel. As the swell wave advances, its crest becomes flattened and rounded and its surface smooth. In such condition a swell might be difficult to perceive.

Another reason why such a perfect grid-shaped cross sea is seldom seen is because of the presence of strong local wind that generates wind waves on top of the swell. This wind can be blowing from any direction and has the potential to break the well defined shape and direction associated with swells.

Finally, a cross sea can only been seen from afar or from the air. They are not easily visible from the beach. Here are a few examples that I have managed to find on the web.

Linkage WIKIPEDIA www.google.com amusingplanet.com

The Thousand Islands of St. Lawrence River

The Thousand Islands is an archipelago consisting of exactly 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 80 km on St. Lawrence Seaway, but the largest clustering of islands falls between Cape Vincent and Alexandria Bay in the United States and Kingston and Rockport in Canada. The islands range in size from over 40 square miles to smaller islands occupied by a single residence, to even smaller uninhabited outcroppings of rocks that are home to migratory waterfowl. The number of islands was determined using the criteria that any island must be above water level all year round, have an area greater than 1 square foot, and support at least one living tree.

The largest of these islands is Wolfe Island which is about 29 km long and 9 km at its widest point. It has a resident population approximately 1400 people. By comparison, the very aptly named “Just Room Enough“ is the tiniest island that squeezes a single house and a couple of wrought-iron benches pushed hard up against the shingles onto its banks.

Another view of Just Room Enough Island

An undated picture of Just Room Enough Island.

A large number of these islands are inhabited, often bearing a single and at times a tiny house, and are serviced by ferry boats from the mainland. Today most of the islands boast of having hydro electric power and telephone service being carried by underwater cable from island to island.

Around twenty of these islands form the Thousand Islands National Park, the oldest of Canada's national parks east of the Rockies. The park hosts campgrounds, inland walking trails, annual family events, as well as a national heritage building. The Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch region was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2002.

Source; haroldbfrancisco@yahoo.com  haroldnesmith@gmail.com  www.google.com.us

      

             amusingplanet.com     http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx

From The Sketchbook of a World War 2 Soldier

Victor A. Lundy is best known for his modernist architecture —the imposing rectangles of the United States Tax Court Building in Washington, D.C., the angular shapes of the Church of the Resurrection Harlem in New York City, and the mushroom-styled umbrellas around the entrance of the Warm Mineral Springs Motel in Sarasota County, Florida. Born in New York City, Victor Lundy had a keen interest in drawing which he nurtured throughout his childhood. He eventually attended New York University to study architecture before he was sent off to the frontlines of World War 2. After returning from the war, Lundy graduated from Harvard University and went to Sarasota to make a name for himself. But a part of his life that deserves more than a passing mention are the years he spent serving as a soldier in the U.S. 26th Infantry Division during World War II.

In 1942, Victor A. Lundy was nineteen year old, studying to be an architect in New York University. The war had got him excited, because it provided him an opportunity to rebuild Europe after the war. Eager not to miss the chance, he and other college men enlisted in the Army Special Training Program (ASTP), only to find themselves thrown into the infantry. Lundy was horrified, and later recalled that during his training, he "never listened, I was busy sketching." But soon, "I sort of took to it. ... war experience just hypnotizes young men."

Lundy sketched his way through the war drawing whatever was around him forced marches, men at rest, and French villages. When a surgeon noticed his sketches while Lundy was getting treated for his war injuries, he was recruited to sketch a new medical

procedure the surgeon was developing, allowing Lundy to miss eight dangerous months on the front.

Lundy filled up more than two dozen spiral bound sketchbooks, 3 inches by 5 inches in size, out of which eight have survived. He donated these, containing a total of 158 pencil sketches, to the Library of Congress in 2009.

Many years later, after Lundy became a renowned American architect, he donated his visual diary of 158 pencil sketches to the Library of Congress. The eight surviving spiral sketchbooks (some were lost) are 3 x 5 inches and easily fit in his breast pocket. Sketching in pencil from May to November 1944, beginning with his training at For Jackson Carolina to vivid portraits of the frontline in France, Lundy says, “For me, drawing is sort of synonymous with thinking.”

         Source  Haroldbfrancisco@yahoo.com Haroldnesmith@gmail.com Google.com.us

              Amusingplanet.com   http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx

              

              

               

             

The Forgotten Tunnel Under Naples Filled With Vintage Cars

One hundred and fifty meters from the large public square of Piazza del Plebiscito in central Naples, Italy, is an entrance that descends about thirty meters under the ground to the short Bourbon Tunnel, consisting of around 530 meters of giant passageways, huge caves and narrow culverts.

. Built in the middle of the 19th century, the tunnel was largely forgotten after the end of the Second Word War, until its rediscovery in the early 2000s.

The tunnel was conceived as an escape route from the Royal Palace, by the then King of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand II of Bourbon, who was extremely paranoid about being overthrown by the riot-happy populace of Sicily and Naples, during the tumultuous Napoleonic period. Since 1816, there had been three revolutions against the Bourbon rule, and a very violent one in 1848, where the revolutionists seized the kingdom for 16 months. After coming back to power in 1849, Ferdinand II hastily rewrote a new constitution and began making plans for a safe escape should the people rise in revolt again.

The king ordered an escape tunnel to be dug through the volcanic rock beneath the streets of Naples making use of parts of the existing Carmignano aqueduct system the city had since the early 1600s. The tunnel was supposed to connect the Royal Palace to the military barracks on what is now Via Morelli. But before it could be completed, Ferdinand II died, in 1859, and the tunnel was abandoned. Shortly after, Sicily was invaded by a corps of volunteers and incorporated into the new Kingdom of Italy.

The tunnels remained disused until the beginning of the 1930s, when they became a warehouse for impounded and contraband vehicles. During World War II, the subterranean space was converted into a military hospital and a bomb shelter. After the war, the tunnels became a dumping ground of wartime rubble including building debris, old televisions sets and refrigerators, destroyed cars and motorcycles, and pro-fascists marble statues before it was sealed up and forgotten.

Today, these tunnels with their accumulated debris have been turned into a gallery known as Galleria Borbonica, where the public can see interesting displays of vintage cars and motorbikes, old shelter spots, ancient cisterns and much more.

Source: +Harold Nesmith  amusingplanet.com google.com  

             http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx

The Unconditional Surrender

On San Diego’s harbor, right next to the maritime museum aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, stands a 25-foot-tall statue depicting a sailor kissing a nurse. The sculpture titled "Unconditional Surrender” is based on a famous photograph clicked by Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square of New York, on August 14, 1945, after U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced the end of World War II. The photograph appeared on the 1945 issue of Life magazine, and since then it has become one of the most iconic image of America’s victory celebration.

But "Unconditional Surrender”, as well as the original photograph, has been drawing heat from women’s right groups as well as other vocal members of the public, in recent years, for depicting what appears to have been a sexual assault rather than a celebration of love between two willing partners.

As news of Japan's surrender and the end of the brutal conflict spread throughout America, people began to spill out on to the streets to celebrate. Amid joy and relief, booze flowed, people danced, kisses were planted. But some of the jubilation quickly devolved into riots, and some into unprovoked acts of assault, as in the case of 21-year-old Austrian-American and dental hygienist Greta Zimmer Friedman. Like others, Greta too was celebrating the end of World War II in Times Square when a sailor, later recognized as George Mendosa, grabbed her by the waist and delivered a forced kiss.

Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt managed to capture the moment in his camera. Later, Eisenstaedt wrote:

"I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all–young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her."

Controversy ignited in 2012 when a London-based blogger argued that the picture depicted not a moment of romance, but a “sexual assault by modern standards,” pointing to extracts from Greta Friedman’s interview where she said things like — “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed,” and “That

man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me.” Friedman also described his embrace as a “vice-like” grip from which she couldn’t escape. Mendonsa himself admits to having been intoxicated at the time.
Neither Mendonsa nor Friedman were aware of the photograph or their role in history until many decades later. In 1980, when Life put out a request asking the subjects of the photo to come forward, one of Mendonsa’s friend showed him the photograph. Mendonsa recognized himself in the photo and contacted the magazine. Although many had come forward, calming to be the famous sailor, Mendonsa was decisively identified due to his matching scars and tattoos.

Likewise, three women came forward claiming to be the nurse, but Greta Friedman had already recognized herself in the photo when she saw it the 1960s. It was many years later before her identity was confirmed.

Greta Friedman, however, doesn’t believe Mendonsa was sexually assaulting her because she

George Mendosa, the sailor, and Greta Zimmer Friedman, the nurse

understood the circumstances in which the act was performed.

“I was grabbed by a sailor, and it wasn't that much of a kiss, it was more of a jubilant act that he didn't have to go back [to the Pacific]”, she said in an interview to The Library of Congress. “It was just somebody really celebrating,” she added.

Over the years the photograph became an enduring symbol of the joy and relief felt by a nation at the end of the war. The famous image has even been commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

The sculpture “Unconditional Surrender” created in the likeness of the famous kiss was designed by American artist Seward Johnson, who is also responsible for the controversial 26-foot-tall sculpture at Palm Springs, California, of Marilyn Monroe trying to hold down her skirt against a gust of wind. The sculpture titled “Forever Marilyn” was criticized by citizens for its provocative stance which gave viewers the chance to gawk at her lacy underwear.

“Unconditional Surrender” was originally built out of styrofoam for a temporary exhibition in Sarasota, Florida in 2005. Sensing a possible interest in the sculpture, Johnson offered three different versions made out of three different materials —styromfoam, aluminum, and bronze— at three different prices, for any body who would like to have the sculpture installed in their cities or towns. Sarasota bought the aluminum version and installed it in Island Park, on the bay front by the Marina. It was struck down by a car in 2012, but is now replaced.

But the bronze copy that San Diego bought for $1 million is the most famous. Other copies of “Unconditional Surrender” have appeared in Hamilton, New Jersey, Pearl Harbor, and in Caen, France.

Source: google.com - +Harold Nesmith - amusingplanet.com 

             http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx  

The Catacombs of Odessa

Underneath the city of Odessa, in Ukraine, is an extensive network of tunnels believed to be the largest catacomb system in the world. Largely unmapped and spread haphazardly under the city, the huge maze of underground passages extends for over 2,500 kilometers. If it were laid out in a straight line the tunnels would reach all the way to Paris. Incidentally, Paris is also the place where the world's second largest catacombs are located. But Odessa’s catacombs are five times longer than those in Paris.

Underneath the city of Odessa, in Ukraine, is an extensive network of tunnels believed to be the largest catacomb system in the world. Largely unmapped and spread haphazardly under the city, the huge maze of underground passages extends for over 2,500 kilometers. If it were laid out in a straight line the tunnels would reach all the way to Paris. Incidentally, Paris is also the place where the world's second largest catacombs are located. But Odessa’s catacombs are five times longer than those in Paris.

Mining continued throughout the entire 19th century and into the 20th, until the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The mines fell into the hands of criminals and vagabonds who began to use the underground to meet and smuggle goods. At one time these dark and dingy tunnels were even used by slave traders.

When the Nazis arrived in Odessa and began massacring the city’s population, the catacombs served as hiding place for Soviet partisans fighting the axis forces. The hideouts were turned into

comfortable living spaces by the guerilla fighters. There were recreation rooms where men played checkers, chess, or dominoes by candlelight. Rooms for accommodation had shelves cut into the walls where men and women slept. Kitchens were equipped with stoves made of limestone and smoke was vented into empty chambers above. There was even a hospital and an operating theater.

Some of the tunnels have been reconstructed today, allowing visitors to see the exact conditions that the partisans lived in. At the ‘Museum of Partisan Glory’ near Nerubayskoye, there's a kilometer-long section of catacomb neatly arranged with period-costume dummies and rusty WWII weapons.

There are more than a thousand known entrances leading into the mysterious labyrinth filled with hidden caves, where modern explorers routinely discover century-old artifacts such as coins, tools, items of clothing, cooking pots and utensils, rifles from World War II, and old newspapers.

Going into the tunnels without a guide is extremely dangerous. It’s all to easy to wander into the darkness and never return.

Amateur map of a section from the Odessa catacombs.

Source; google.com.us - +Harold Nesmith - amusingplanet.com 

              http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx

Yareta, The 3,000 Years Old Plant

These rocks on the highlands of the Andes looks like they are covered with moss. Actually, they are a type of flowing plant known as Yareta and it lives in colonies which can be thousands of years old.

Yareta (Azorella compacta), also known as "Llareta" in Spanish, is a flowering plant that belongs to the family Apiaceae. It grows in the cold Puna grasslands of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile, and western Argentina at altitudes between 3,200 and 4,500 meters, where the wind blows unceasingly and the cold cracks even granite. To survive the extreme conditions, Yareta grows in packs so dense that its stems can take the weight of a human. The plant keeps close to the ground in order to retain as much heat in as possible. This also helps to resist the powerful high altitude wind, which would tear up the roots of any plant. To prevents moisture loss through evaporation the Yareta has wax covered leaves.

Another trick the Yareta has learned to survive the inhospitable mountains of the Andes is to grow 

extremely slowly, almost at a geological pace of 1.5 cm a year. A large blob of Yareta growing on

the rocks can thus be thousands of years old. Many Yaretas are estimated to be over 3,000 years old.

Because the Yareta is dry and dense, it burns well, like peat, and was traditionally harvested for fuel. The amount of yareta being removed had become so significant that it threatened the very existence of the plant. Yareta is now a protected species and being such a slow grower, it has also made it to the endangered list.

Source; www.google.com +Harold Nesmith amusingplanet.com atlaswonder.com 

              http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tPARAx