Quonset Point Naval Air Station (N.A.S. Quonset) was established as part of the
Lend-Lease Act of 1941, shortly before the US entered World War II. It served as the major northeastern naval
base during the war and subsequent years.
During its heyday Quonset's workforce, combined with that of the
adjacent Davisville Construction Battalion Center, was the largest in the state
of Rhode Island. Davisville would
become the birthplace of the 'Seabees' a portion of service people in the U.S.
Navy tasked with building bases, creating roadways and airstrips and numerous
other construction projects during conflicts dating back to World War II.
It was the Davisville Seabees and their innovative problem solving skills that
led to the creation of what is now known as the Quonset hut. During the Second World War, Quonset was
involved in the development of a naval night fighter aircraft. After the war, Quonset Point saw depletion in
ships on the base. It then went on to
become a Naval Air Rework Facility, where it specialized in reciprocating
engines and repaired and manufactured naval aircrafts. Like other WWII-era military installations
across the country, Quonset Point fell victim to military budget cuts during
the Nixon years. The Quonset base was
decommissioned on June 28, 1974. The
Navy declared most of Quonset Point surplus to its needs and the land and
buildings were offered to the State of Rhode Island and North Kingstown for
civilian use.
The U.S. Navy needed a versatile, multi-use building
in 1941 that was easy to ship and
could be assembled without any special skills or tools. The original huts were five meters by eleven
meters structures with steel members and a two and a half meter radius. The sides were crafted out of corrugated
sheets of steel, while the two ends were plywood covered structures with doors
and windows. The insides consisted of
insulated and pressed wood lining with wood flooring. The building could be assembled on concrete,
pilings or on the ground directly. The
George A. Fuller Construction Company was chosen to produce the first lot
within two months of being given the contract.
In World War II, the armed services needed housing units and storage
facilities that were lightweight and Quonset huts (previously known as Nissen
Huts during their service in WWI) filled the needs perfectly. They could be quickly put together and taken
apart in the field without needing anything more than hand tools. They were easy to transport to the next
location. They were shipped as metal
building kits, which provided dependable protection against the elements for
people and machinery. The huts got their
name from the location of the first manufacturing facility, Quonset Point,
Rhode Island. During World War II,
roughly 150,000 to 170,000 huts were produced and the surplus was sold to the
public after the war at the cost of one thousand dollars for each hut. A lot of universities bought them to be used
as student housing. Even some soldiers
returning from war chose to purchase these steel structures as their
homes. Many are still standing today.
Other than the huts that are currently being used as outbuildings, they are
common at military museums. During the
war, the original design underwent many modifications--from the semi-circular
shape to one with vertical side walls.
This required less shipping space than tents having wood doors and
frames. Quonset hut steel buildings came in multiple interior designs and
larger ones were eventually developed to be used as warehouses. Later, exterior overhangs were added but then
abandoned. Olive paint was also added
for camouflaging purposes for huts that were prepared for war zones. Quonsets also contributed significantly to the
classic country music and the root of rock and roll. It was during the late forties and early
fifties that Owen Bradley set up a brand new music studio now commonly known by
the name of Decca Records. He assembled
a Quonset hut steel building in Nashville, Tennessee and set the foundations of
one of the most successful music recording studios in history. The shape and the steel construction of the
huts proved to be ideal for the music recording business. The songs recorded in the metal Quonset
building became famous due to the outstanding acoustic space provided by the
arched walls. Well-known country music
artists like Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn recorded music in
the strong and economical Quonset hut during their most formative years. These buildings provide advantages no other
pre-engineered building can provide--low cost and high-security
structures. In fact, the rounded shape
of the arch is one of the strongest architectural structures able to withstand
blizzards, hurricanes or anything else Mother Nature can come up with. That is why the form of the original Quonsets
are still being employed in modern structures, while the redesigned modern
Quonset huts are being used as housing, car dealerships (see Hummer), movie
theatres and more. Conrad Mackie https://www.buildingsguide.com/blog/brief-history-quonset-hut/
In the early part of the first
millennium B.C.,
Persians started constructing elaborate tunnel systems called qanats for
extracting groundwater in the dry mountain basins of present-day Iran. Qanat tunnels were hand-dug, just
large enough to fit the person doing the digging. Along the length of a qanat, which can be
several kilometers, vertical shafts were sunk at intervals of 20 to 30 meters
to remove excavated material and to provide ventilation and access for
repairs. The main qanat tunnel sloped
gently down from pre-mountainous alluvial fans to an outlet at a village. From there, canals would distribute water to
fields for irrigation. These amazing
structures allowed Persian farmers to succeed despite long dry periods when
there was no surface water to be had.
Many qanats are still in use stretching from China on
the east to Morocco on the west, and even to the Americas. Read more and see graphics at http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/qanats/
Safavid
art is the art
of the Persian Safavid dynasty from 1501 to 1722, in present-day Iran and
Caucasia. It was a high point for the
art of the book and architecture; and also including ceramics, metal, glass,
and gardens. The arts of the Safavid period
show a far more unitary development than in any other period of Iranian art.
The Safavid Empire was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of
Iran. They ruled one of the greatest
Persian empires, with artistic accomplishments, since the Muslim conquest of
Persia. Read much more and see many
pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_art See also The Art of the Safavids before 1600
at https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/safa/hd_safa.htm
and The Arts of Iran, 1600-1800 at https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/safa_2/hd_safa_2.htm
"The
unripe grape, the ripe bunch, the dried grape, all are changes, not into nothing, but into something which exists not yet." "Have
I done something for the general interest?
Well then I have had my reward. Let this always be present to thy mind, and
never stop doing such good." The
Meditations, Book Eleven by Marcus Aurelius written
167 A.C.E. translated by George
Long
Medina "the radiant city", also
transliterated as Madīnah, is a city and administrative
headquarters of the Al-Madinah Region of Saudi Arabia.
At the city's heart is al-Masjid an-Nabawi ("the
Prophet's Mosque"), which is the burial place of the Islamic
prophet Muhammad, and is the
second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca.
As with
most cities in Saudi Arabia, Islam is the religion adhered by the majority of
the population of Medina. Sunnis of
different schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali) constitute the majority
while there is a significant Shia minority in and around Medina, such as
the Nakhawila. Outside the
city centre (reserved for Muslims only), there are significant numbers of
non-Muslim migrant workers and expats.
Historically, Medina is known for growing dates. As of 1920, 139 varieties of
dates were being grown in the area.
Medina also was known for growing many types of vegetables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medina
Confusion
between the verbs clamor [klăm’ər]
and clamber [klăm’bər]. Used as both noun and verb, clamor comes from Latin clamor, “a shout.”
Clamber, on the other hand, is related to the verb climb. It means to climb by catching hold with hands
and feet; to creep or crawl up (or down); to climb with difficulty and effort. Even if one pronounces both words as /klăm’ər/,
it’s easy to choose the correct one. Try
substituting the word climb or call and see which one makes more sense: There are many voices out there
today, each one climbing for our attention. There are many voices
out there today, each one calling for our attention. If “climb” makes sense in the
context, clamber is the word you
want. If “call” makes more sense, clamor is the word you want. Maeve Maddox
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/clamoring-and-clambering/ Memory aid:
Climb and clamber both have the letter b.
Mononymous persons who wish to remain unknown are said to
request mononymity. Such persons have sometimes accomplished
this by using names such as Distant,
Aloof, Superintrovert, and the less-popular, hyphenated
version At-arms-length. Thank you, Muse reader!
The world's first plastic-free
supermarket aisle
was unveiled in Amsterdam February 28, 2018 as pressure to curb the world's
plastic binge and its devastating impact on the planet continues to grow. Ekoplaza, which has 74 stores across the
Netherlands, says it will roll out the aisle across all branches as soon as
possible. According to a study published
in the journal Science Advances, by 2015 humans had manufactured 8.3 billion
metric tons of plastic, and of that, 6.3 billion metric tons had become plastic
waste. Of that waste, only 9% was
recycled and 79% ended up in landfills or the natural environment. Madalena Araujo and Isa Soares https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/europe/ekoplaza-plastic-free-supermarket-aisle/index.html
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1851
March 2, 2018 On this date in 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game
scoring record in
the National
Basketball Association by scoring
100 points. On this date in 1983,
compact discs and players were released for the first time in the United
States and other markets. They had
previously been available only in Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2
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