From the awesome children’s book – Where Albatross Soar – a beachside story of waves & storms.
Happy Birthday Golden Gate Bridge – 75th anniversary festivities, history, and solar beacon
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge “possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world”.
via Wikipedia
…it was a larger than life engineering project undertaken against dangerous odds and it opened 75 years ago on Sunday against vehement protest, at the cost of 11 lives.
One of the most astonishing and admired man-made wonders of the world, gracing millions of postcards, featured in countless films, the bridge was not at first welcomed with open arms.
Ferry operators and environmentalists opposed it, and many engineers doubted such a daring leap over a treacherous Pacific Ocean strait could be built. The military worried a collapsed Golden Gate span could block access to the Bay in war time.
read the full article – Reuters
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The 75th anniversary celebration will have a fireworks show, bands, artist exhibitions, history tours, and more.
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Solar Beacon
Solar Beacon is an art installation on top of the Golden Gate Towers that reflects the Sun’s light throughout the Bay Area, calling attention to the man-made structure’s 75th anniversary using the brightest natural light available. Observers of Solar Beacon will see two points of light, one on each tower top, that are bright as the Sun, but much smaller in size.
Through an online interface, the public can schedule a time-based performance, during which the observed spots of light will appear to turn on and off. Because the reflected light is projected in a narrow beam a half degree across, the performance only appears to a region around the observer (e.g. 12m at 2 km), but it can be seen by anyone in the Bay Area who has a direct view of the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge tower.
Why the name?
The Golden Gate Strait is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The strait is approximately three-miles long by one-mile wide with currents ranging from 4.5 to 7.5 knots. It is generally accepted that the strait was named “Chrysopylae”, or Golden Gate, by John C. Fremont, Captain, topographical Engineers of the U.S. Army circa 1846. It reminded him of a harbor in Istanbul named Chrysoceras or Golden Horn.
How long did it take to build?
Just over four years. Construction commenced on January 5, 1933 and the Bridge was open to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937.
When did the Golden Gate Bridge open?
May 27, 1937. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1964, and had the tallest suspension towers until 1998.
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Flight Search – Google adds Kayak-like search to results
- See a simple list of convenient flights
- Explore travel options
- Find low prices
Flight Search helps you explore air travel options and plan your trip with just a few clicks of the mouse. You can find and book flights within the US, and from the US to many international destinations.
Access Flight Search at google.com/flights, or type a flight-related search into Google then click “Flights” on the left hand side of your search results page.
Surfbreak Rentals – accommodations based on specific beaches and surf breaks
Whether the origin of the term “couch surfing” had anything to do with traveling surfers is a mystery, but surfers have been crashing at each other’s pads since they first started spanning the globe in search of new breaks and foreign adventures. So it’s only natural that Surfbreak Rentals, a new website dedicated to connecting traveling surfers with great beach rentals, carries on this long standing tradition by launching their “Stay With a Surfer” feature.
How it Works
- A room in a house or apartment near a surf break can now be listed for FREE.
- You do not HAVE to be a surfer to list a room, but it is recommended that you have some local knowledge about the surfing conditions in your area.
- All of the arrangements and details are up to the host and traveler to work out between themselves.
About
Surfbreak Rentals was founded by a group of Northern California surfers with a passion for traveling and technology. After years of struggling to find great places to stay near their favorite destination surf breaks, they finally decided to do something about it by creating surfbreakrentals.com. The entire site design and navigation is based on more than 1,600 global surf breaks, which makes it the first vacation rental site that allows users to search for accommodations based on specific beaches and surf breaks.
via SurfWire
My favorite feature – “Sort By: Distance to break”.
Sneak peek – awesome size of Super Aircraft Carrier – Gerald R. Ford
This is something you can’t usually see: the bow of an American nuclear aircraft supercarrier, the new Gerald R. Ford—the lead ship of a new class that will start replacing the Nimitz-class in 2015.
It was just put in place at Huntington Ingalls’s Newport News shipyard, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, along the James River, Virginia.
American aircraft supercarriers are some of the biggest structures built by humankind. I remember the first time I saw one in person and it blew my mind.
via Gizmodo
Comprising six steel sections, the lower bow is more than 60 feet tall and is one of the heaviest superlifts to be placed on the ship. Construction of the lower bow superlift, the last major section of the ship below the waterline, began last year.
Gerald R. Ford represents the next-generation class of aircraft carriers. The first-in-class ship features a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults, improved weapons movement, an enhanced flight deck capable of increased aircraft sortie rates, and growth margin for future technologies and reduced manning. The keel for Ford was laid in November 2009. The ship is on track to meet its scheduled launch in 2013 and delivery to the U.S. Navy in 2015.
via Huntington Ingalls Industries
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Award-winning short about legendary surfer – ‘Another Day in the Life of Wayne Lynch’
Wayne Lynch is a surfing legend, blazing individualistic pathways in both the performance and the lifestyle. Ascending during a time of great change and experimentation, Wayne took up the mantle personally, redefining what a surfboard should look like and how it should be ridden. Much of this innovation done outside of surfing’s athletic or institutional complexes.
Today, Wayne’s life is almost as it was 40 years ago. He still shapes surfboards, still lives simply by the sea. Were it not for his recent heart attack, both the observer and Wayne himself, could be forgiven for thinking things had stayed the same, despite how they change. But serious jeopardy to anyone’s health, our surfing heroes included, can have a way of radically altering everything underneath the surface, appearances be damned. A rebirth into the same skin.
In this portrait, filmmaker Cyrus Sutton provides a window into Lynch’s new life. With a nod to Jack McCoy’s Tubular Swells, Another Day in the Life, is crafted with ultra-fine cinematography and a spare and modernist feel. The viewer is transported back to the Wayne Lynch they grew up idolizing, while making current those admirations and anchoring them in the reality of human mortality.
– Scott Hulet, The Surfer’s Journal
Beach Report Card – iPhone app – monitor the water quality at your beach
Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card app puts the only comprehensive, weekly analysis of coastline water quality for the West Coast at your fingertips. Now, any time and anywhere, you can get access to A to F grades for the health risks of swimming, surfing or playing at more than 650 beach locations in California, Oregon and Washington.
Use the Beach Report Card to find out which beaches are safe and unsafe for you and your family; check the weather; look up water quality history for any beach during dry or rainy seasons; keep your own list of Favorites; view comments, photos or videos from other beach goers; and share your own tips and feedback.
Remember, a day at the beach should never make you sick. Before you dive in, find out if there’s an increased risk of getting a rash, ear infection or even diarrhea at that beach. The lower the beach’s letter grade, the higher your risk of getting sick!
Download Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card, because you can’t tell if your favorite beach is safe just by looking at it.
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Ireland voted and found its favorite painting
After a five-week, extensively publicised campaign during which people were invited to vote for one of 10 shortlisted works, Burton’s came through convincingly with some 22 per cent of votes cast.
The painting is an unusually large, lustrous watercolour from 1864 and derives from an exceptionally blood-spattered Danish ballad with echoes of the Whitney Houston–Kevin Costner blockbuster, The Bodyguard. The ballad relates how heroine Hellelil falls in love with her bodyguard, Hildebrand. Her disapproving father dispatches her seven brothers to kill him, but the tenacious Hildebrand kills her father and six of her brothers before she intercedes to save the life of the last. Hildebrand dies of his wounds and the heartbroken Hellelil also perishes. Burton imagines not the fearsome bloodshed but the lovers’ tender meeting on a turret stairs.
Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ came second to Burton with 16 per cent, followed by William Leech’s cheerfully sunny A Convent Garden.
via Irish Times
The runners-up:
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Scientists have found the loneliest whale in the world
For decades now, scientists at the NOAA have been tracking a mysterious whale song that sounds like the ghostly howls of a drowned tuba player. The sounds have been identified as belonging to a single whale, who sings at a frequency unlike any other whale in the world.
Dubbed “52 Hertz” after the frequency range in which he typically sings, the animal has been called the loneliest whale in the world, since his love songs seem destined to go unanswered. Most other species of baleen whale, such as blue whales and humpbacks, sing at frequencies much lower, between the 15-25 Hertz range.
Not only does 52 Hertz sing at a much higher frequency, but his calls are also shorter and more frequent than those of other whales. It’s as if he speaks his own language– a language of one. Even stranger, 52 Hertz does not follow the known migration route of any extant baleen whale species. He sings alone and travels alone.
Could this individual be the last of a previously unknown species of baleen whale? That’s one possibility. Whale biologists have also proposed that he could be malformed, or maybe a rare hybrid– perhaps a blue whale and fin whale cross. Whatever the explanation, 52 Hertz is one of a kind.
learn more about this lonely whale, and hear his call – 52 Hertz: The Loneliest Whale in the World
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Beach Report Card – for Los Angeles, San Diego, & Orange County (2012)
San Diego County
San Diego continued to exhibit excellent beach water quality, with 93% of all monitoring locations receiving an A grade during summer dry weather.
Winter dry weather water quality was also excellent with 93% A grades. During wet weather 77% of locations received an A or B grade, besting both the five-year average for San Diego (68%) and this year’s statewide average (64%).
Orange County
Water quality in Orange County was excellent this year with 94% A or B grades (89% were A grades). Beach water quality during the winter dry weather was also very good with 87% A or B grades. Wet weather grades were fair (69% A or B grades) and bested the five-year average by 15%. Two Orange County beaches appear on the dreaded Beach Bummer list: Doheny State Beach at San Juan Creek outlet and Poche Beach.
Los Angeles County
Summer dry weather water quality in Los Angeles improved 7% from last year with 82% A or B grades. Winter dry water quality was nearly the same as summer dry water quality with 81% A or B grades (besting the five-year average by 13%). Wet weather water quality in Los Angeles continues to be poor overall with 49% of monitoring locations receiving F grades this year (27% worse than the state average).
Los Angeles County was also host to seven out of the 10 beaches on the statewide Beach Bummer list this year: Topanga State Beach at the creek mouth (No. 10), Escondido State Beach at Escondido Creek (No. 9), Cabrillo Beach harborside (No. 6), Dan Blocker County Beach at Solstice Creek (No. 5), Surfrider Beach at the Malibu Lagoon outlet (No. 4), Puerco Beach at the Marie Canyon storm drain (No. 3) and Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island (No. 1).
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