Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Tropical Storm Bill (2003)

Tropical Storm Bill (2003).
Tropical Storm Bill hit the Gulf Coast of the United States in the summer of 2003. The second storm of that Atlantic hurricane season, Bill developed from a tropical wave on June 29 to the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. It slowly organized as it moved northward, and reached a peak of 60 mph (95 km/h) shortly before making landfall in south-central Louisiana. It produced a moderate storm surge, causing tidal flooding. In Montegut in the northeastern portion of the state, a levee was breached, flooding many homes, and in Florida, two swimmers drowned. As Bill accelerated to the northeast, moisture from the storm, combined with cold air from an approaching cold front, produced an outbreak of 34 tornadoes. Moderate winds and wet soil combined to topple trees onto houses and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without electric power. By the time Bill became extratropical on July 2, it was responsible for four deaths and around $50 million in damage.

Tropical Storm Bill (2003)

Tropical Storm Bill (2003).
Tropical Storm Bill hit the Gulf Coast of the United States in the summer of 2003. The second storm of that Atlantic hurricane season, Bill developed from a tropical wave on June 29 to the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. It slowly organized as it moved northward, and reached a peak of 60 mph (95 km/h) shortly before making landfall in south-central Louisiana. It produced a moderate storm surge, causing tidal flooding. In Montegut in the northeastern portion of the state, a levee was breached, flooding many homes, and in Florida, two swimmers drowned. As Bill accelerated to the northeast, moisture from the storm, combined with cold air from an approaching cold front, produced an outbreak of 34 tornadoes. Moderate winds and wet soil combined to topple trees onto houses and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without electric power. By the time Bill became extratropical on July 2, it was responsible for four deaths and around $50 million in damage.

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

White-naped xenopsaris

White-naped xenopsaris.
The white-naped xenopsaris (Xenopsaris albinucha) is a bird in the family Tityridae found in the South American countries of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It lives in open woodland and other open forest habitats, and is mostly sedentary, though some populations may be migratory. The only species in its genus, it is closely related to becards and tityras, and was thought to be either a tyrant-flycatcher or cotinga before it was placed in the Tityridae family. The bird is 12.5 to 13 cm (4.9–5.1 in) in length, with whitish undersides, a black crown and grey-brown upperparts. The sexes are similar in appearance, though the females have duller upperparts. It feeds on insects in the foliage of trees and bushes, and sometimes on the ground. In a simple cup nest in the fork of a tree, both parents incubate the eggs and help feed the chicks. After the chicks have fledged, the parents may divide the brood, each helping one or two chicks. The species is not common and little is known about it, but it is not in danger of extinction.

White-naped xenopsaris

White-naped xenopsaris.
The white-naped xenopsaris (Xenopsaris albinucha) is a bird in the family Tityridae found in the South American countries of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It lives in open woodland and other open forest habitats, and is mostly sedentary, though some populations may be migratory. The only species in its genus, it is closely related to becards and tityras, and was thought to be either a tyrant-flycatcher or cotinga before it was placed in the Tityridae family. The bird is 12.5 to 13 cm (4.9–5.1 in) in length, with whitish undersides, a black crown and grey-brown upperparts. The sexes are similar in appearance, though the females have duller upperparts. It feeds on insects in the foliage of trees and bushes, and sometimes on the ground. In a simple cup nest in the fork of a tree, both parents incubate the eggs and help feed the chicks. After the chicks have fledged, the parents may divide the brood, each helping one or two chicks. The species is not common and little is known about it, but it is not in danger of extinction.

Monday, 26 June 2017

The Well of Loneliness

The Well of Loneliness.
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall that follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. Her "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence". Although its only sexual reference consists of the words "and that night, they were not divided", a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women". In the United States the book survived legal challenges. Publicity over The Well's legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. Gordon's expressions of self-hatred have been faulted for inspiring shame, but the book was for decades the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find.

The Well of Loneliness

The Well of Loneliness.
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall that follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. Her "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence". Although its only sexual reference consists of the words "and that night, they were not divided", a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women". In the United States the book survived legal challenges. Publicity over The Well's legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. Gordon's expressions of self-hatred have been faulted for inspiring shame, but the book was for decades the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find.

Sunday, 25 June 2017

Japanese aircraft carrier Jun'yō

Japanese aircraft carrier Jun'yō.
Jun'yō ("Peregrine Falcon") was a Hiyō-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was laid down as the passenger liner Kashiwara Maru, but was purchased by the navy in 1941 while still under construction and converted into an aircraft carrier. Launched on 26 June 1941 and completed in May 1942, the ship participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign the following month and in several battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign later in the year. Her aircraft were used from land bases during several battles in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands Campaigns. Jun'yō was torpedoed in November 1943 and spent three months under repair. She was damaged by several bombs during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-1944, but quickly returned to service. Lacking aircraft, she was used as a transport in late 1944 and was torpedoed again in December. Jun'yō was under repair until March 1945, when work was cancelled as uneconomical. She was then effectively hulked for the rest of the war. After the surrender of Japan in September, the Americans also decided that she was not worth the cost to make her serviceable for use as a repatriation ship, and she was broken up in 1946 and 1947.