What Happened August 23rd through September 2nd – Remembering Katrina (Part 2)

Maryann Holloway:

Ten years ago this month, a disaster that everyone will always remember occurred. Today I reblog my two part post from a previous year. This is part 2

Originally posted on IF I ONLY HAD A TIME MACHINE:

This is Part 2 of my two part blog post about this event in history.  Click here to read Part 1.

It is hard to believe that it is the 8th anniversary of the devastating natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina.  She began on August 23, 2005 as the 12th tropical depression of the season forming over the Bahamas and in ten days she became

• the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. (estimated $81 billion)
• one of the five deadliest in United States History.
• the sixth strongest overall of recorded Atlantic hurricanes.
• deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.

HURRICANE KATRINA’S TEN DAY TIMELINE

In this part 2 of 2, I continue the timeline with August 29, 2005

Monday, August 29, 2005

2 a.m.: Hurricane Katrina turns north toward the Louisiana coast, but the storm’s strongest winds have diminished slightly to about 155 miles an hour…

View original 1,267 more words

What Happened August 23rd through September 2nd – Remembering Katrina (Part 1)

Maryann Holloway:

Ten years ago this month, a disaster that everyone will always remember occurred. Today I reblog my two part post from a previous year.

Originally posted on IF I ONLY HAD A TIME MACHINE:

It is hard to believe that it is the 8th anniversary of the devastating natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina.  She began on August 23, 2005 as the 12th tropical depression of the season forming over the Bahamas and in ten days she became

• the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. (estimated $81 billion)
• one of the five deadliest in United States History.
• the sixth strongest overall of recorded Atlantic hurricanes.
• deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.

HURRICANE KATRINA’S TEN DAY TIMELINE

In this part 1 of 2, I will cover the beginning on August 23, 2005 up through August 28, 2005

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

5 p.m.: The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, issues its first advisory about the tropical system that will become Hurricane Katrina. The advisory notes that the season’s 12th tropical depression has formed over the Bahamas. The weather system is…

View original 1,182 more words

What Happened on August 28th – She Had A Voice When He Had A Dream

Mahalia Jackson at the March on Washington

August 28, 1963 is famous for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil right march on Washington but right by his side was legendary gospel vocalist Mahalia Jackson.  She play a direct role in making his speech into one of the most memorable and meaningful in American history.

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) was already internationally famous as the Queen of Gospel and she there for the event that launched the Civil Rights movement, the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.  This is where she first met and befriended the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she would support throughout his career.

Martin Luther King, Jr. march on Washington

Mahalia Jackson was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s favorite opening act.  On August 28, 1963, as she took to the podium before an audience of 250,000 to give the last musical performance before Dr. King’s speech, Dr. King himself requested that she sing the gospel classic “I’ve Been ‘Buked, and I’ve Been Scorned.” Jackson was just as familiar with Dr. King’s repertoire as he was with hers, and just as King felt comfortable telling her what to sing as the lead-in to what would prove to be the most famous speech of his life, Jackson felt comfortable telling him in what direction to take that speech.

The story that has been told since that day has Mahalia Jackson intervening at a critical junction when she decided King’s speech needed a course-correction. Recalling a theme she had heard him use in earlier speeches, Jackson said out loud to Martin Luther King, Jr., from behind the podium on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” And at that moment, as can be seen in films of the speech, Dr. King leaves his prepared notes behind to improvise the entire next section of his speech—the historic section that famously begins “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream….”

Kat Bouska’s Writing Prompt August 27th – To Die For Refrigerator Oatmeal

Through another blogger’s post, I found this writing prompt and thought I’d try it.

Every week Kat Bouska invites us to join her Writer’s Workshop by responding to one of the provided writing prompts posted each Tuesday. The directions are simple:

• Choose a writing prompt from the list provided that inspires you most.
• Write.
• Come back this Thursday and link up by pasting the URL from your post into the list of thumbnails that will be displayed.

This weeks pompts were:

1. Write a blog post in exactly 12 lines.
2. Write a post where the first and last sentence contain any form of the word “creep”
3. Write a blog post from your dog’s perspective about he/she feels about your kids going back to school.
4. Find a brunch recipe on Pinterest and try it out! Was it successful?
5. Share the story behind your current Facebook and/or Twitter profile photo.
6. What is sabotaging your plan to drop 5 pounds?

*****************************************************

If you are like me, mornings are a rush.  Have to get up, get ready and get to work on time.  I forgot to put have breakfast in that list so add eat breakfast on the run.  Need something convenient and quick.  This does not have to mean a stop at Wawa or Dunkin Donuts on the way which is what I would often do before I decided I needed to buckle down and lose weight.  I was looking through Pinterest one day and happened upon this recipe for oatmeal that you make ahead of time.  It is not your hot oatmeal for the colder months but a cool and refreshing summertime alternative.  It is so delicious, my husband and I have become addicted to having it several times a week.

First a plug for the Pinterest site that I borrowed the recipe from:  The Yummy Life

http://ift.tt/1Jl6WvI

This is so easy to make, takes up little space in your refrigerator and has so many variations to you can please any palate.  To obtain the full instructions and all it variations, the author’s Pinterest site has a link to the website http://ift.tt/S8lD9U.

Bon appetit

 

This Week in #WW2 – Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher Honors The USS Hornet (CV-12)

One Liner Wednesday #1linerWeds Everywhere Can Be A Brave New World

Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Last week, my daughter and I hopped in the car and drove over seven hours (with DC traffic it was more like 10 hours) to North Carolina.  You see my daughter is starting her senior year in high school so the Holloways are in “find a university mode” at the moment.  My daughter is interested in applied mathematics and where all schools offer mathematics programs, not all offer applied.  Elon University in North Carolina is one that does.  Never heard of the university or the town name?  Me either but Elon is near Burlington and Durham.  It s a small town but very picturesque and the university is new looking and gorgeous.

My One Line Wednesday is about how even in the same country you can encounter a vast array of differences.

Now driving in a different state is not like getting used to driving on the other side of the road like in England.  My husband did that driving when we visited Wales and London last year.  What I had to get used to in North Carolina was the intersections.  In New Jersey except for very major roads, if you wish to turn right, there is one lane for doing so and you either can or can’t turn right on red.  In North Carolina, intersections of many roads regardless how major have two lanes for whether you are turning right or left.  If you need to be in the inside right lane (the voice from GPS demanded it), you are still expected to turn right on a red light.  I found my self sitting waiting for the light to change while drivers behind me must have thought I was a crazy woman driver.  Look at the license plate mister.  It explains why I’m waiting.  It was very strange even though I’ve lived my entire life in the congested Garden State (New Jersey).  For this, my one line Wednesday is a homage to Dorothy’s famous line.

*****************************************************************************

Submitted for One Liner Wednesday

Each Wednesday, http://lindaghill.com hosts this fun prompt.  Here are the rules:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

What Happened on August 26th – Riots at the Democratic National Convention

DNC 1968 Riots, Chicago, Illinois

1968 was a year of unrest and June 26 was no exception.  A year with a Presidential election and the Vietnam War was in full swing.  As the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, Illinois, thousands of antiwar demonstrators began protesting in the streets.  They were protesting the war and the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey who supported the war.  The 1968 convention was the most violent in U.S. History.  The police and National Guardsmen clashed with the protesters and the violence even spilled into the convention.  Hundreds of people, including innocent bystanders were beaten by the Chicago police.  Inside the convention, guards roughed up delegates and members of the press.  This included CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace who was punched in the face.  By August 29th, Humphrey secured the nomination and the convention ended.

Mike Wallace (R.I.P. 2012) took a sock in the jaw while covering the tumultuous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where he was hustled off the floor in the aftermath.

The investigation following the violence identified the confrontations as a “police riot” and blamed Mayor Richard Daley for inciting his police to violence.  From the riots, eight political radicals known as the “Chicago Eight” were arrested on  charges of conspiring to incite the violence.  The trial that began in 1969 sparked a new wave of protests in Chicago.

The original eight defendants, indicted by the grand jury on March 20, 1969, were Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale.

What Happened on August 25th – The Pinkertons

Allan Pinkerton (1819-84), founder of Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on August 25, 1819.

Allan Pinkerton

• Pinkerton emigrated to the United States in 1842 and eventually established a barrel-making shop in a small town outside of Chicago.
• He was an ardent abolitionist, and his shop functioned as a “station” for escaped slaves traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom in the North.
• Pinkerton’s career as a detective began by chance when he discovered a gang of counterfeiters operating in an area where he was gathering wood. His assistance—first in arresting these men and then another counterfeiter, led to his appointment as deputy sheriff of Kane County, Illinois, and, later, as Chicago’s first full-time detective.
• Pinkerton left his job with the Chicago police force to start his own detective agency.

• One of the first of its kind, this predecessor to Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, provided an array of private detective services—specializing in the capture of train robbers and counterfeiters and in providing private security services for a variety of industries.
• By the 1870s, Pinkerton’s growing agency had accumulated an extensive collection of criminal dossiers and mug shots that became a model for other police forces.

Some of Pinkerton’s notable contributions:

In 1861, while investigating a railway case, Pinkerton uncovered an apparent assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln. It was believed that conspirators intended to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a stop along the way to his inauguration. Pinkerton warned Lincoln of the threat, and the president-elect’s itinerary was changed so that he passed through the city secretly at night.

Allan Pinkerton and his men, the spies of the Union Army. Pinkerton is the one in the background relaxing with his pipe.

Union General George McClellan later hired Pinkerton to organize a “secret service” to obtain military information in the Southern states during the Civil War. Pinkerton sent agents into Kentucky and West Virginia, and, traveling under the pseudonym “Major E. J. Allen,” performed his own investigative work in Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi.

Antietam, MD. Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj.Gen. John A. McClernand
Alexander Gardner; Library of Congress LC-B817-7929

After McClellan was replaced as the commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1862, Pinkerton resumed the management of his detective agency. The agency expanded after the Civil War, opening offices in New York City (1865) and Philadelphia (1866). As his business grew, Pinkerton drew public attention to its work by producing a series of popular “true crime” stories.

Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884) Grave, Graceland Cemetary, Chicago, Ill.

Source: http://ift.tt/KOJMG3

What Happened on August 24th – Mount of the Holy Cross

Until August 24, 1873, there had only been rumors about a natural cross of snow in the mountains of Colorado.  Many claimed to have seen it and other were unable to find it.  William Henry Jackson, an experienced wilderness photographer set out in August 1873 with the goal to prove its existence by taking a picture.

Mount of the Holy Cross, Colorado, 1873, William Henry Jackson

Previously, Jackson photographed during a wagon train to California in 1866 and was employed as an expedition photographer on Ferdinand Hayden’s survey of the Yellowstone region in 1871.  His photographs became popular from Harper’s Weekly magazine.

After thousands of years of erosion, two deep ravines had formed in the steep rocky face of a mountain peak. Intersecting at a 90-degree angle, the ravines sheltered the winter snow from the sun well after the rest of the mountain snow had melted away. For a brief time, a nearly perfect cross of snow appeared on the rock face, though it often melted away later in the summer.

Jackson captured the cross that day and the best of the resulting photos became one of Jackson’s most popular and famous images, and it ended any further doubts about the existence of the Mount of the Holy Cross.

If you want to see more of William Henry Jackson’s photographs there are many on the internet.  Here is one source from google images:

http://ift.tt/1MIi6za

USS Hornet (CV-12) – A Father’s Untold War Story – Battle of Okinawa (April – June 1945)(Part 1)

Maryann Holloway:

I have finally taken the time to finish the next post in USS Hornet (CV-12) – A Father’s Untold War Story.

Originally posted on USS Hornet (CV-12)-A Father's Untold War Story:

John T. Ryan US Navy

It is April 1945, the world is still at war and my father, Seaman First Class, John Thomas Ryan is still serving on the USS Hornet (CV-12).  In my last posts, I covered the Battle of Iwo Jima and other events in February and March 1945 leading up to the Battle of Okinawa.  This post will be the first for the Battle of Okinawa and cover April 1945.

General Background (Source: http://ift.tt/1ALaKDP)

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air…

View original 1,129 more words

#HeartWalk – American Heart Association Heart Walk – Team Mary from Tipperary

As many of you know, my mother passed away in January after suffering from a stroke in October 2014.  A few years ago she had heart surgery to by-pass seven blocked arteries.  Some of you may know that many years ago, my father died from a sudden heart attack.  He had been only 45 years of age.  It is plain to me that stroke and heart disease are a leading cause of death.

Imagine the impact if we reduce death and disability from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by 2020!

On September 13, 2015, my husband, my daughter and I are participating in the Heart Walk to promote physical activity to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke for our loved ones and ourselves.

We are team MARY FROM TIPPERARY and we walk in the memory of my mom who was born and raised in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Please help us reach this lifesaving goal by donating today. Together, we can make healthier, longer lives possible for everyone. Why? … Life, life is why.  Thanks in advance for your support.

Link to Maryann’s donation page:  http://ift.tt/1hLnqGE

Link to team Mary from Tipperary page:  http://ift.tt/1URH1Dj

What Happened on August 10th – The Electric Guitar

In the early 20th century, the acoustic guitar was the staple of American rural music.  It was both inexpensive and relatively easy to play so it was an important part of black rural music and the blues.  Unfortunately with the inclusion of brass, woodwinds and orchestral string instruments, the acoustic guitar was too quiet to be heard.  On August 10, 1937, inventor, G.D. Beauchamp and his partner, Adolph Rickenbacher were awarded patent, #2,089.171 for the Rickenbacker Frying Pan, the electric guitar.

They spent more than five years trying to get the patent which proved difficult because much of the description of how the strings vibrate and pick up the sound waves was also how a telephone works.  Eventually the partners and their Electro String Corporations were able to get the patent through but by then there were competitors with other inventions that rendered the Frying Pan obsolete.

Rickenbacker Frying Pan

The World’s Outstanding Little Girl: Megan Kanka

Throughout history women have made their mark in a wide variety of ways.  Each Saturday I plan to highlight one of these remarkable women.  There will be no limit to the areas of history that I may include; however as a guide I will look to the month of their birth, the month of their death or the month associated with their mark in history when I select them.  Is there an outstanding women in history you would like me to include?  I welcome your suggestions.  Would you like to guest blog one of the world’s outstanding women?  Let me hear from you.

To read previous posts in this segment, there is a menu at the top of my site.

Today a person who was never allowed to reach womanhood but her tragedy launched an important piece of legislations.  Meet Megan Kanka.

Megan Kanka

Megan Kanka was born on December 7, 1986 in New York City but lived in Hamilton Township, New Jersey at the time of her murder on July 29, 1994.  This beautiful 7 year old child was raped and murdered by her neighbor Jesse Timmendequas, a previously convicted sex offender.

Jesse K. Timmendequas (born April 15, 1961) had two previous convictions for sexually assaulting young girls. In 1979 he pleaded guilty to the attempted aggravated sexual assault of a five-year-old girl in Piscataway Township, New Jersey. He was given a suspended sentence but, after failing to go to counseling, he was sent for nine months to the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center. In 1981, Timmendequas pleaded guilty in regards to the assault of a seven-year-old girl, and was imprisoned at the Adult Diagnostic & Treatment Center (ADTC) in Avenel, New Jersey, for six years.

Jesse Timmendequas

Timmendequas reportedly participated little in the treatment program offered at the ADTC. He was described by one therapist who treated him at the facility as a “whiner” who spent most of his time sleeping. Another therapist stated that she had believed that Timmendequas would eventually commit another sex crime (although she did not believe he would commit murder).

On July 29, 1994, Timmendequas lured Megan Kanka into his house, raped her, and then killed her. He then placed her body in nearby Mercer County Park. The next day, he confessed to investigators and led police to the site.  In the trial, Timmendequas was convicted of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated sexual assault, and two counts of felony murder.  The court sentence him to death of which he also lost on appeal.  He remained on New Jersey’s death row until December 17, 2007 when the New Jersey Legislature abolished the state’s death penalty.  Timmendequas is now sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Megan Kanka’s Legacy

One month after the murder, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a series of bills proposed by Assemblyman Paul Kramer that would require sex offender registry, with a database tracked by the state, community notification of registered sex offenders moving into a neighborhood and then life in prison for repeat sex offenders. Kramer expressed incredulity at the controversy created by the bills, saying that “Megan Kanka would be alive today” if the bills he proposed had been law.  It is unfortunate that studies have indicated that the law has not been effective in reducing either new first-time sec offenses or sexual re-offenses.  Even so, bringing world awareness is a success to me.

Her family founded a non-profit charity, The Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation.  Its intent is the prevention of crime against children.

Read more about Megan’s Law here

Want to know if where you live has regulations like Megan’s Law and how they work, just use any number of keywords in a web search.