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| BOB VOGT PLAYLIST NUMBER ONE |
 ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO) NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE |
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| Original Fuji, Meguro |
| Constructed in 1812, this mini-Fuji preceded the "new" one we have just seen by 27 years, and in short order earned a reputation for its spectacular setting, far more dramatic than any of the previous replicas of Fuji.
It lay along the same bluff overlooking the Meguro River (which may be implied by the blue along the ridge here) as the New Fuji, some 500 yards farther north. The concern for a scenic setting seems to have led to the careful planting of a row of pine trees along the path to this mini-Fuji, as suggested by the scattered trees in the foreground. The "Original Fuji" was dismantled in 1878, and its stone markers were removed to a Hikawa shrine about one mile north along the bluff, where they remain today. The spectacular site itself became the villa first of the Meiji statesman Iwakura tomomi, and then of the enterprising businessman-politician Nezi Kaichiro. Today it is a superluxury apartment building, King Homes, inhabited largely by foreigners, and the site of the Original Fuji itself has been replaced by a swimming pool--an ironic fate for a sacred peak. |
 | An ancient working breed, the Samoyed is very close to the primitive dog -- no mixture of wolf or fox runs through the breed's gene pool.
He was developed by the Samoyede people of Siberia. They used the dogs for herding reindeer, hunting and hauling sledges as well as guard work. The breed was cherished by these people -- they even allowed them to sleep in their tents -- because they depended on the dogs for their survival. |
| The Samoyed tail is one of the breed's more distinguishing features.
Like the Alaskan Malamute, their tail is carried curled over their backs; however, unlike the Malamute, the Samoyed tail is held actually touching the back. It should not be a tight curl or held "flag" like, it should be carried lying over the back and to one side. In cold weather, Samoyeds may sleep with their tails over their noses to provide additional warmth. Almost all Samoyeds will allow their tails to fall when they are relaxed and at ease, as when being stroked or while eating, but will return their tails to a curl when more alert. |
| The Samoyed dog takes its name from the Samoyedic peoples of Siberia. An alternate name for the breed, especially in Europe, is Bjelkier. These nomadic reindeer herders bred the fluffy, white dogs to help with the herding and to pull sleds when they moved. |  |
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| Samoyeds' friendly disposition makes them poor guard dogs; an aggressive Samoyed is rare. With their tendency to bark, however, they can be diligent watch dogs, barking whenever something approaches their territory. Samoyeds are excellent companions, especially for small children or even other dogs, and they remain playful into old age. When Samoyeds become bored they may begin to dig. |
 | With their sled dog heritage, a Samoyed is not averse to pulling things, and an untrained Samoyed has no problem pulling its owner on a leash rather than walking alongside. Samoyeds were also used to herd reindeer. They will instinctively act as herd dogs, and when playing with children, especially, will often attempt to turn and move them in a different direction. |
| The breed is characterized by an alert and happy expression which has earned the nicknames "Sammy smile" and "smiley dog." |
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| The Battle of Aquia Creek took place from May 29 to June 1, 1861, in Stafford County, Virginia, as part of the Confederate effort to block Union vessels from moving in the Chesapeake Bay and along the lower Potomac River during the American Civil War. The battle was tactically inconclusive in that each side inflicted little damage and no casualties on the other. The Union vessels were unable to dislodge the Confederates from their batteries. The battle is notable for the first use of naval mines during the war. |
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| Three Union naval vessels bombarded Confederate batteries near the mouth of Aquia Creek that were built to protect the northern terminus of the railroad to Richmond. Confederates feared a landing of troops, but this did not materialize. Results of the bombardment were inconclusive, although the batteries were later withdrawn. |
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| Following the battle the Confederates reinforced the defenses constructing a third battery on the bluff and fourth across the mouth of Aquia Creek at Brent Point. On July 7, mines were placed off Aquia Creek in the river, marking the first such use in the war. The mines were spotted by the Pawnee and later removed by the Resolute. The batteries were abandoned in the spring of 1862 when General Joseph E. Johnston recalled their garrison in preparation to defend Richmond at the start of the Peninsula Campaign. |
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| COWHERD AND BOYS IN MEADOW |
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What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. |
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| BRUCE WILLIS (Caricature) |
 | One of the most fascinating yet enigmatic figures of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was William Clark's slave York. As with many members of the expedition, little information survives about York to present his life in a great amount of detail. The presence of York on the expedition also raises many philosophical questions about African-American heritage and the treatment of African Americans throughout our history.
Artwork by Michael Haynes http://mhaynesart.com |
| YORK - PART THREE |
| On July 7, York became ill. Clark wrote, "[M]y man York sick, I give him a dosh of Tarter" (to induce vomiting). Lewis later commented, "[H]e was much better in the evening."
There are numerous instances of the members being sick, including Clark, Sacagawea and also her infant. York appears to have enjoyed good health during most of the expedition's 28 months. In Clark's tabulations of "Creeks and Rivers," listed independently of the narrative journals, is the entry, "Yorks 8 Islands," and under remarks is "W.C. on land York tired." The captains followed the practice of naming geographic features after prominent persons who somehow had been connected with the expediton, including President Jefferson and his attributes, viz Philanthropy, Philosphy, and Wisdom Rivers; his cabinet; and as far as can be determined, every Corps member, including Seaman, Lewis's Newfoundland dog. In August, Lewis and a three man party scouted ahead of Clark and the others, who were following in the canoes. Lewis had found the Shoshones, from whom the Corps desperately needed to obtain horses and a guide for the high mountain country that lay ahead. Some of the Indians were skeptical of the strange white men's motives, fearful they "were in league with the Pakees," their word for enemy. Lewis kept stalling them, waiting for Clark and the others to arrive. Lewis related in his journal, "[S]ome of the party [with him] told the Indians that we had a man with us who was black and had short curling hair, this had excited their curiossity very much, and they seemed quite as anxious to see this monster as they were the merchandize which we had to barter for their horses." |
When Clark arrived, Lewis wrote, "[T]o the Indians, every article about us appeared to excite astonishment in ther minds; the appearance of the men, their arms, the canoes, our manner of working them. the black man york and the sagacity of my dog were equally objects of admiration." Through the circumstance that Sacagawea was one of their own -- she was the sister of the chief -- and the captains' fair treatment in the trading, the party obtained sufficent horses to pack their equipment, and a few for riding. When they reached the Flathead Indians, the expedition traded with them and obtained horses for all of the members. York was among those walking until his "feet became so sore that he had to ride on horseback."
York is not mentioned during the 11-day period the explorers spent struggling to survive while passing through the Bitterroot Mountains along the ancient Lolo trail. They encountered fallen timber, bone-chilling cold, and slippery, hazardous travel during an early season snowstorm. Game was virtually nonexistent in the high mountain country. The explorers resorted to eating three colts they had purchased for that contingency. These, together with a supply of "portable soup" -- a common emergency ration during Colonial times -- were not very tasty, but they kept them going. Reaching the villages of the Nez Perce Indians, they were treated to a feast of salmon, roots, and berries. To their dismay, the new diet made them extremely ill. York is not mentioned again until the party reached the tidal waters of the Columbia River. Here he is found "shooting two geese and brant" near a temporary base camp they established on the north (Washington State) shore of the river. Then, joining Clark and several others, he walked 19 miles to see the "main ocean." Standing on beach, he became the first black man to have crossed the continent north of Mexico. |
| General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward people who commit terrorist attacks. What did he say?
"I believe that forgiving is God's function. Our job is simply arranging a meeting." |
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| BLUE TANG (Paracanthurus hepatus) |
| This series of articles on the Three Gorges Dam in China first appeared in Bitts and Bytes several years ago. It bears repeating. |
| It is said in China that if you haven't traveled up the great Yangtze, you haven't been anywhere. Known to the Chinese as Chang Jiang (the Long River), the Yangtze is one of the great rivers of the world. Only the Nile and the Amazon are longer, and only the Amazon and the Congo feed the ocean with more fresh water. It starts on the high plateaus of Tibet, more than 20,000 feet above sea level, and snakes through almost 4,000 miles of often breathtaking country before finally opening into the Pacific near the 15-million-person megalopolis of Shanghai. |  |
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| Along the way, it pours down the glacial mountains of western China, cuts steep gorges through the lush hills of Hubei, winds through some of China's most fertile valleys and plains, and is fed by dozens of tributaries large and small. It gives life to the millions of acres of fertile land in the Chinese "breadbasket" and enables fishing, tourism, transportation, and trade. To the more than 100 million people who live near it, the Yangtze is China's lifeline. |
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| But what the river gives, it can also take away. The Yangtze and its complex set of tributaries are fed from many sources, making floods commonplace. More than a million people died in Yangtze River flooding in the 20th century, including more than 100,000 in 1911 and more than 200,000 in 1931. River flooding has left millions homeless, spread rampant disease, and done billions of dollars in damage. Even with levees, floodgates, and other technology, the Yangtze takes a major toll on an almost yearly basis. In 2002, for instance, floodwaters ruined 2.5 million acres of farmland and drove a quarter of a million people from their homes. |
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| Satellite Image |
| Heavy Sediment from the Yangtze River--The heavy load of sediments carried by the Yangtze River into the East China Sea colored the waters along the Chinese coastline light brown on April 12, 2002. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra satellite. |
| What the Big Dam Thing Will Do
The Chinese hope to cross the last hydroelectric T's and dot the final engineering I's on the Three Gorges Dam in 2009. But 2003 has been a key year on the dam schedule, too. In June, the dam's sluice gates closed, and the largest man-made reservoir in the world began to fill. In just 10 days, the water level reached its target depth of about 450 feet. By the time the reservoir reaches its final high water mark of 575 feet in 2009, the bottled-up water will stretch for almost 400 miles, submerging former factories, farms, and villages the whole way. |
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| In July 2003 all that water went to work, as the Chinese switched on the first of what will eventually be 26 hydroelectric turbines. When fully operational, they will generate more than 18,000 megawatts of electricity, the equivalent of 18 nuclear power plants. The dam's turbines could supply a full tenth of China's total power needs, significantly reducing the emission of pollutants into the air from burning dirty lumps of coal--China's primary fuel. |
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| Men working coal dumped on river bank. This coal will be inundated. |
| Of course, the most important benefit of the dam ought to be its ability to control flooding. By increasing flow through the dam in the winter, and thereby dropping reservoir levels, the dam can hold back the often torrential flow that accompanies spring. China's dam scientists think flood events that now happen every ten years might occur just once every 100 years. And the prevention of each major event will save thousands of lives, keep hundreds of thousands in their homes, and prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. |
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| Lesser Three Gorges |
| The dam is named for a series of canyons known as The Three Gorges: Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge, and Xiling Gorge. In addition to The Three Gorges, there are three smaller canyons known as the Lesser Three Gorges. The water contributed by these gorges will be impounded by the dam. This picture shows the entrance into the second of the Lesser Three Gorges. |
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What vegetable of the marrow family takes its name from a medieval French word meaning "cooked by the sun"?
??? PASS YOUR MOUSE OVER THE QUESTION MARKS FOR THE ANSWER! |
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| ECHINACEA Ann Telling Photo |
| Echinacea is also known as purple coneflower. Notice the two white spiders. |
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| ANN TELLING PHOTO |
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| The butterfly fish is a generally small-sized species of marine fish, found in tropical and subtropical waters, primarily around coral reefs. |
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| The butterfly fish is well known for its brightly colored body and elaborate markings. There are more than 100 different species of butterfly fish found distributed throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, meaning that the butterfly fish is a salt-water species of (marine) fish. |
| The butterfly fish is most closely related to the marine angelfish which is similar in color, but the marine angelfish is often much larger in size than the butterfly fish. |
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| BLUE-CHEEKED BUTTERFLYFISH |
| Butterfly fish can be distinguished from angelfish by the dark spots on their bodies, dark bands around their eyes and the fact that the mouth of the butterfly fish is more pointed than the mouth of the angelfish. |
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| ANGELFISH |
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| Butterfly fish are diurnal animals which means that they are feeding during the day and resting in the coral during the night. Most species of butterfly fish feed on the plankton in the water, coral and sea anemones and occasionally snack on small crustaceans . Those butterfly fish fish that primarily feed on the plankton in the water are generally the smaller species of butterfly fish and can be seen in large groups. The larger species of butterfly fish are fairly solitary or stay with their mating partner. |
| 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. |  |
