Lone Star Coastal National Recreation Area, Texas. 150 Mile Tornado. Hostages.

For "Travel Tueday":

http://www.npca.org/,  APRIL 2012


Lone Star Coastal National Recreation Area, Texas

"This proposed recreation area spans four counties along the Gulf Coast of Texas and offers visitors a little bit of everything—from world-class bird-watching, to recreational fishing, to Civil War history. The area's undeveloped coastal lands can serve as a natural sponge absorbing storm water during extreme weather, as researchers discovered after Hurricane Ike in 2008, which ultimately means a safer environment for those living along the coast. Plus, the park would only incorporate land from voluntary participants, putting private property proponents at ease. These many advantages have led to strong bipartisan support for conserving these beautiful beaches, marshes, plantations, and historical sites.

Learn More »    Watch the Slideshow » http://www.npca.org/exploring-our-parks/slideshows/lone-star-coastal.html   "
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On This Day:


Tornado flattens towns in Louisiana and Mississippi, Apr 24, 1908:


"A single tornado travels 150 miles through Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving 143 dead in its wake. In total, 311 people lost their lives to twisters during the deadly month of April 1908 in the southeastern United States. Another 1,600 were seriously injured.

Two of the locations worst hit by the single extraordinary tornado on this day were Amite, Louisiana, and Purvis, Mississippi. In Amite, the tornado was 2.5 miles wide as it touched the ground, killing 29 residents. In Purvis, 55 people were killed and 400 were injured.

Tornadoes on average travel four to eight miles along the ground at about 60 miles per hour. This one traveled more than 150 miles. Though large, it is not nearly the most impressive on record—a 200-mile-long tornado was recorded on one occasion.

In the United States, it is rare that a single tornado kills more than 50 people, although a series or grouping of related tornadoes sometimes causes such damage. The death rate from tornadoes has plunged since this 1908 disaster. Until the World War II era, public warnings were very rare. During the war, spotters were used to protect ammunition plants and, when the war ended, this system was adapted for use as a civilian-warning system.

It is estimated that 15,000 people in the United States lost their lives to tornadoes in the 20th century.
The most deadly twisters now take place in the densely populated nations of India and Bangladesh, the only other area in the world besides North America where the climate conditions regularly cause these dangerous storms."
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Hostage rescue mission ends in disaster, Apr 24, 1980:


"On April 24, 1980, an ill-fated military operation to rescue the 52 American hostages held in Tehran ends with eight U.S. servicemen dead and no hostages rescued.

With the Iran Hostage Crisis stretching into its sixth month and all diplomatic appeals to the Iranian government ending in failure, President Jimmy Carter ordered the military mission as a last ditch attempt to save the hostages. During the operation, three of eight helicopters failed, crippling the crucial airborne plans. The mission was then canceled at the staging area in Iran, but during the withdrawal one of the retreating helicopters collided with one of six C-130 transport planes, killing eight soldiers and injuring five. The next day, a somber Jimmy Carter gave a press conference in which he took full responsibility for the tragedy. The hostages were not released for another 270 days.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to the U.S. for medical treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation and agreed to release non-U.S. captives and female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the U.S. government. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

President Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and the April 1980 hostage attempt ended in disaster. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan, and soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan's inauguration, January 20, 1981, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the 52 hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home."
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Yesterday:

Maddie, the little Yorkie that I was boarding, was picked up on Sunday, I was finally free to get the things I had wanted to pick up last Wednesday.   But  it was too late to go to the DG store and Petsmart then, so I went yesterday.


Still haven't been able to resolve the Live Writer and Blogger feud, and it takes so much longer to draft in Blogger.  If I try to copy and paste an article, the pictures don't copy with it, and I have to go hunting them. Then they won't stay where there are put, and it gets very frustrating.   So it just doesn't get done the way I like.  Videos won't embed, so I just have to put the link to let y'all click on them.  It has taken all the fun out of blogging. 

Then I had some important papers to copy, and print from my computer, but the new All-in-One w/fax quit working.  I spent so many hours on that, that there was no time to draft this blog.       That is why it is late today.