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| DON McLEAN PLAYLIST |
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| WINTER |
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| Hyselodoris bennetti |
 ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO) NUMBER THIRTY-NINE |
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| DISTANT VIEW OF KINRYUZAN TEMPLE AND AZUMA BRIDGE |
| A gust of spring wind carries a shower of cherry petals over the roof of a pleasure boat setting out from the Mukojima side of the Sumida and heading across to the mouth of the San'ya Canal.
Beyond the boat we see the "distant view" of the title. To the right is the huge main hall and the towering five-story pogoda of Asakusa Kannon Temple (formally known as the Kinryuzan Sensoji), the most ancient and popular temple in the city. To the left is Azuma Bridge, also known as Okawa Bridge. It was built in 1774, the last and northernmost of the four bridges spanning the Sumida in Edo (not counting Senju Bridge to the north). |
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| BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL, SOUTH CAROLINA (November 1862) |
| The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War--a major Union victory that demonstrated how difficult it would be for the Confederacy to defend its coastline.
Port Royal is one of the best natural harbors on the Atlantic coast of America. The entrance to the bay was protected by two forts. To the north was Fort Beauregard, at Bay Point on Philips Island. This fort contained nineteen guns and a garrison of 149 men, although in the event only seven of those guns were able to fire effectively on the Union fleet. To the south was Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island, with 23 guns, 18 facing to sea, and a garrison that peaked at 255 men at the height of the action. The defenders were massively outnumbered by the Federal force sent to attack them. Flag Officer Samuel du Pont had a fleet of seventeen warships and 600 marines and was supported by an army 12,000 strong. The fleet alone massively outgunned the Confederate forts. However, it was widely believed that guns on ships were not the equal of guns in land based fortifications. Du Pont’s fleet was not expected to take on the two forts -- that was the job of the army. On November 1, as the fleet passed Cape Hatteras (itself the sight of a Union victory in August 1861), a storm scattered the fleet, sinking several key transport ships. The intended landings on the two islands had to be abandoned. That left the success or failure of the expedition in Du Pont's hands. He decided to use a similar strategy to the one that had been adopted by flag-officer Silas Stringham in the attack on Hatteras. Du Pont would use the maneuverability of his steam ships to counter the advantages enjoyed by the forts. When sailing ships had wanted to bombard land fortifications, they had had to anchor offshore, in order to maintain their position. Du Pont ordered his ships to keep moving, forming an oval. Each ship would fire on the land batteries in turn, then repeat the maneuver as many times as required. They would present the Confederate gunners with a moving target, much reducing their vulnerability to the Fort's guns. Du Pont's tactics had worked brilliantly. The Union fleet had only lost 31 men (8 dead and 23 wounded) in four hours of fighting. Confederate losses were twice that (11 dead, 48 wounded and 7 missing, for a total of 66 casualties), but were still relatively low. However, Fort Walker was effectively disarmed, while the Union fleet was still intact. The occupation of Port Royal Bay gave the U.S. Navy an invaluable base for the rest of the war. The bay was used as a supply depot and coaling station--essential facilities if a fleet of steamships is to maintain a close blockade of a long coast. The attack on Port Royal demonstrates well how the civil war split families. The Confederate forces were commanded by Brigadier General Thomas F. Drayton. His brother, Percival Drayton, was captain of the U.S.S. Pocahontas, one of the ships in the Federal fleet. Many similar examples of divided family loyalty can be found in every theatre of the civil war. |
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| HAYFIELD--NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND |
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| The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), called tailor in Australia, is a species of popular marine game-fish found in all climates. It is the sole species of the Pomatomidae family.
In South Africa, this fish is commonly known as shad on the east coast, and elf on the west coast. The bluefish is a moderately proportioned fish, with a broad, forked tail. The spiny first dorsal fin is normally folded back in a groove, as are its pectoral fins. Coloration is a grayish blue-green dorsally, fading to white on the lower sides and belly. Its single row of teeth in each jaw are uniform in size, knife-edged and sharp. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven-inch (18 cm) "snappers" to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as forty pounds (18 kg), though fish heavier than twenty pounds (9 kg) are exceptional. Bluefish are found off Florida in the winter months. By April they have disappeared, heading north. By June, they may be found off Massachusetts; in years of high abundance, stragglers may be found as far north as Nova Scotia. By October, they leave New England waters, heading south. They are also present in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the year. |
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| TROLLING FOR BLUEFISH |
| Photographer, conservationist; born in San Francisco. A commercial photographer for 30 years, he made visionary photos of western landscapes that were inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite. He won three Guggenheim grants to photograph the national parks (1944--58). Founding the f/64 group with Edward Weston in 1932, he developed zone exposure to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film. He served on the Sierra Club Board (1934--71). |  |
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| SAND BAR, RIO GRANDE, BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS |
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| CANYON |
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| WATER FOUNTAIN IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK |
| The Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus, is a species of Australasian parrot found in Australia, eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In Australia, it is common along the eastern seaboard, from Queensland to South Australia and northwest Tasmania. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. |
| The Rainbow Lorikeet is very colorful as its name suggests. Almost every color of the rainbow is found on the feathers of the rainbow lorikeet. They are not large birds, with a height ranging from 25-30 cm (9.8-11.8 in) in size, and with a wingspan of about 17 cm (6.7 in). They vary significantly in coloration between the numerous subspecies. The eponymous markings of the best known subspecies T. h. moluccanus are particularly striking: A dark blue or violet-blue head and stomach, a bright green back, tail and vent, and an orange breast and beak. Several subspecies have darker scalloped markings across the orange or red breast and the Weber's Lorikeet (T. h. weberi) is predominantly green. |
| The Rainbow Lorikeet was accidentally released into the southwest of the state of Western Australia from the University of Western Australia in the 1960s and they have since been classified as a pest.
Rainbow Lorikeets can also be found in New Zealand, particularly around the Auckland area. New Zealand's Department of Conservation has declared them a pest and is using similar methods to control and eradicate them. |
| Many fruit orchard owners consider them a pest, as they often fly in groups and strip trees containing fresh fruit. |
| Rainbow lorikeets are a declared species, and when found outside of the metropolitan area they are removed. |
| Lorikeets have been established in the Perth metropolitan area since the 1960s. It is estimated that more than 20,000 birds currently live in that area. |
| Lorikeets can cause major damage to backyard fruit crops, foul vehicles and outdoor living areas with droppings, compete with other species for food and make a lot of nuisance noise. |
| Rainbow lorikeets are noisy, continuously screeching while in flight and when at a food source. They have a swift direct flight with rapid whirring wing beats, and display flashes of dark green and bright red. |
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| Sunrise in Yosemite Valley |
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| Australian aboriginal stories describe the bunyip as an evil spirit which dwells in creeks, swamps, and billabongs. The bunyip's loud bellowing cry terrifies the aborigines. They avoid water sources where they believe a bunyip might live. Some stories suggest the bunyip emerges at night principally to prey on women and children as well as animals.
Many white settlers also claimed encounters with the bunyip. While descriptions of the bunyip vary, most portray a creature with a hairy horse-like head and large body. |
| In 1994 Australia Post issued a highly popular series of four postage stamps which featured different images of the bunyip.
Aboriginal artist Toogarr Morrison depicted his bunyit as part human and part spirit, and it is the guardian of the waterholes in the southwest of Western Australia which is Morrison's home territory. This bunyit has a flat tail which is used to strike the water and lure passers-by to their doom. |
| David Lancashire drew on a traditional European depiction of the monster in art. He saw his bunyip as something akin to the medieval gargoyle.
Marg Towt depicted what is perhaps the most plausible-looking creature of all in the series. It is based on the reports of settlers last century whose strange experiences in the Australian bush convinced many that bunyips really existed. |
| Ron Brooks's illustration adapted from the 1973 children's picture book, The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek, is now a classic image known to over two generations of young Australians. His amiable and endearing bunyip peers into a mirror asking: "What am I?" |
| Aboriginal stories about the bunyip may reflect oral traditions of the diprotodon, a rhinosceros-sized herbivore. Diprotodon was the largest marsupial ever to have existed. Diprotodon is believed to have become extinct between fifteen and twenty thousand years ago. Memories of encounters between the aborigines and diprotodon might have been passed down through the centuries.
Modern encounters with the bunyip require a different explanation. One is that the diprotodon still exists. Another is that a large unknown animal is responsible for the sightings. A prosaic explanation is that sightings of Bunyips represent encounters with stray seals in inland waterholes and rivers. Another is that Bunyips are actually brigands or bums hiding in the outback. |
| The Bunyip features prominently in children's literature in Australia. The word "bunyip" has also taken on the meaning of "imposter" in Australian English. |
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What tree was located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the corner of Brattle and Story Streets, and was cut down to widen the streets in 1876?
??? PASS YOUR MOUSE OVER THE QUESTION MARKS FOR THE ANSWER! |
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| The year 2000 brought one of the worst fire seasons in half a century to the U.S. By the month of August over 4 million acres (an area greater in size than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined) had been burned by wildfires, and dozens of blazes raged out of control in eleven western states, with nearly half of the conflagrations occurring in Idaho and Montana.
On 6 August 2000, as several fires converged in the Bitterroot National Forest near the town of Sula in western Montana, John McColgan, a fire behavior analyst in the employ of the USDA Forest Service, snapped the spectacular photograph shown above with a digital camera. As McColgan described the experience to a writer for the Western Montana newspaper The Missoulian: "That's a once-in-a-lifetime look there. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I've been doing this for 20 years and it ranks in the top three days of fire behavior I've seen." The day was August 6, the Sunday when several forest fires converged near Sula into a firestorm that overran 100,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes. Temperatures in the flame front were estimated at more than 800 degrees. Nevertheless, McColgan said, the wildlife appeared to be taking the crisis in stride, gathering near the East Fork of the Bitterroot River where it crosses under U.S. Highway 93. "They know where to go, where their safe zones are," McColgan said. "A lot of wildlife did get driven down there to the river. There were some bighorn sheep there. A small deer was standing right underneath me, under the bridge." McColgan snapped the photo with a Kodak DC280 digital camera. Since he was working as a Forest Service firefighter, the shot is public property and cannot be sold or used for commercial purposes After McColgan downloaded his amazing image to an office computer, a friend found it, e-mailed a copy to another friend, and by mid-September 2000 the picture was blazing its way across the Internet. Because many forwarded copies of the image lacked any attribution or explanation, recipients began to circulate rumors about its origins and authenticity. Some claimed that the photo was snapped by a tourist, that it was taken during the extensive Yellowstone National Park of 1988, or that it was yet another digital fake. When a series of forest fires hit British Columbia in August 2003, this picture was sent around again with notes indicating that it was a photograph taken at one of those conflagrations. This same picture was also included in a set of images showing the October 2007 California wildfires. As John McColgan said afterwards, "I couldn't have profited from [the photograph], so I guess I'm glad so many people are enjoying it." We're happy to help him at least receive proper credit for his work. |
| DISCLAIMER: Material used in Bitts and Bytes is gathered from various sources--mainly the World Wide Web.
Authorship cannot always be credited nor the source defined. Authenticity of material is assumed to be correct, but is not guaranteed. |  |
