Good morning, Whitewater.
We’ve a mostly sunny day with a high of forty-eight ahead. Sunrise is 6:54 and sunset 7:08, for 12h 13m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with just 1.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
How ’bout an aerial tour of faraway Nepal?
Drone over Nepal from Fallout Media on Vimeo.
A quick edit of some aerial drone footage shot over Kathmandu and Annapurna in Nepal.
We did a short trek to Poon Hill which is part of the Annapurna circuit, and I flew the Phantom at Ghandruk and Tadapani villages. Unfortunately my drone had a mishap and I wasn’t able to fly it on the second half of our journey. Next time, flying on an actual mountain summit!DJI Phantom 2 (v2) with GoPro HERO 4.
Music: ‘Dragon Age Inquisition Theme’ by Trevor Morris
Via Fallout Media.
On this day in ’63, Alcatraz shuts down:
Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay closes down and transfers its last prisoners. At it’s peak period of use in 1950s, “The Rock, or “”America’s Devil Island” housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable.
The twelve-acre rocky island, one and a half miles from San Francisco, featured the most advanced security of the time. Some of the first metal detectors were used at Alcatraz. Strict rules were enforced against the unfortunate inmates who had to do time at Alcatraz. Nearly complete silence was mandated at all times.
Alcatraz was first explored by Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who called it Isla de los Alcatraces (Pelicans) because of all the birds that lived there. It was sold in 1849 to the U.S. government. The first lighthouse in California was on Alcatraz. It became a Civil War fort and then a military prison in 1907.
The end of its prison days did not end the Alcatraz saga. In March 1964, a group of Sioux claimed that the island belonged to them due to a 100-year-old treaty. Their claims were ignored until November 1969 when a group of eighty-nine Native Americans representing the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the island. They stayed there until 1971 when AIM was finally forced off the island by federal authorities.
The following year, Alcatraz was added to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now open for tourism.