24 quotes found
"Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan — possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean's noblest traits... they are swept by Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew."
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early."
"I knew it was storming before I was told. The rooms, the corridors, everywhere within this building vibrates with the power of the storm outside. The storm waves, like sound waves or the waves of the wireless, will not be denied by stone walls and plate glass windows."
"Dear wife and Children. We were left up here in Lake Michigan by McKinnon, captain James H. Martin tug, at anchor. He went away and never said goodbye or anything to us. Lost one man yesterday. We have been out in storm forty hours. Goodbye dear ones, I might see you in Heaven. Pray for me. / Chris K. / P.S. I felt so bad I had another man write for me. Goodbye forever."
"No lake master can recall in all his experience a storm of such unprecedented violence with such rapid changes in the direction of the wind and its gusts of such fearful speed... It was unusual and unprecedented and it may be centuries before such a combination of forces may be experienced again."
"Attention-grabbing headlines claiming that opioids (or any other drug) are killing people are wrong. Ignorance and poverty are killing people, just as they have for centuries."
"As with previous “drug crises,” the opioid problem is not really about opioids. It’s mainly about cultural, social, and environmental factors such as racism, draconian drug laws, and diverting attention away from the real causes of crime and suffering."
"Heroin and other opioids, such as oxycodone and morphine, bring me pleasurable calmness, just as alcohol may function for the drinker subjected to uncomfortable social settings. Opioids are outstanding pleasure producers; I am now entering my fifth year as a regular heroin user. I do not have a drug-use problem. Never have. Each day, I meet my parental, personal, and professional responsibilities. I pay my taxes, serve as a volunteer in my community on a regular basis, and contribute to the global community as an informed and engaged citizen. I am better for my drug use."
"Our national opioid problem also affects the well-being of children in a striking fashion. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 2008 and 2012, a third of women in their childbearing years filled -based medication prescriptions in pharmacies and an estimated 14 percent–22 percent of them were pregnant. The result: an alarming increase in the number of babies exposed to opioids in utero and experiencing withdrawal symptoms at birth, which is also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, in medical lingo. [...] (Given the ongoing opioid crisis, it’s unlikely that things have improved in recent years.) And the complications attributable to NAS don’t stop with birth. Though the research remains at an early stage—the opioid crisis only began in the early 1990s—it suggests that the ill effects of NAS extend well beyond infancy and include impaired cognitive and s, respiratory ailments, , difficulty maintaining intellectual focus, and behavioral traits that make productive with others harder. At this point, you won’t be surprised to learn that NAS and child poverty are connected. Prescription opioid use rates are much higher for women on , who are more likely to be poor than those with private insurance. Moreover, the abuse of, and overdose deaths from, opioids (whether obtained through prescriptions or illegally) have been far more widespread among the poor."
"As Katrina was happening, in the aftermath of Katrina, a lot of people were talking about Octavia Butler and how the Parable series made them think about that."
"Katrina was more than a savage hurricane."
"When the levees broke, after Hurricane Katrina passed over New Orleans in 2005, it's inhabitants feared their city would die."
"Like all of you, and the world out there, I have suffered a huge sense of frustration at not being able to stop the loss. (Tony Hayward)"
"The Gulf disaster is worse than a terrible oil leak. It is the product of a failed energy policy that looked at profits before people and environment. (Robert Redford), nrdc.org"
"Divine intervention is needed to solve the disaster in the gulf, as man's efforts have been futile. Politicians should call for a day of prayer for a miracle to happen. (Sarah Palin)"
"Williams was the chief electronics technician for ... Managing electronics on the Deepwater Horizon had inured Williams to emergency alarms. s had been running high enough to prohibit any “hot” work such as welding or wiring that could cause sparks. Normally, the alarm system would have gone off with gas levels as high as they were. However, the alarms had been disabled in order to prevent false alarms from waking people in the middle of the night. But the emergency announcement that came over the on the night of April 20 was clearly no false alarm. Moments after the announcement, Williams was jolted by a nearby thud and a hissing sound, followed by the revving of one of the rig’s engines. Before he knew it, there were two explosions forcing him and other crew members to abandon ship by jumping into the partially flaming ocean. ... Of the 126 workers on board the Deepwater Horizon, 17 were injured, including Williams, and 11 were killed. The rig burned for 36 hours, combusting the 700,000 gallons of oil that were on board, leaving a trail of smoke over 30 miles long. The Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, taking with it the top pipe of the well and parts of the system that were supposed to prevent s from occurring."
"Current estimates suggest that the Deepwater Horizon (DH) resulted in the release of approximately 4.4 million s ± 20% (7.0 × 105 m3) into the northern over a 3-month period during the summer of 2010 (Crone and Tolstoy 2010). The leak was a result of a deepwater rig explosion on 20 April 2010 due to methane gas release after drilling an . An attempt to activate a safety feature to prevent a blowout failed. After burning for 36 hr, the entire platform sank to the seafloor. Because of concerns over seafood safety, on 2 May 2010, the (NOAA) initiated closures of federal waters to commercial and recreational fishing; Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and eventually Florida subsequently instituted fisheries closures in state waters, in coordination with the (FDA) ... By 21 June, closures covered approximately 37% of the Gulf of Mexico (225,290 km2), extending east from , Louisiana, to (NOAA 2010b). The well was capped on 15 July, and on 19 September, relief wells were completed that permanently disabled the well."
"The Deepwater Horizon constituted an ecosystem-level injury in the northern . Much oil spread at 1100–1300 m depth, contaminating and affecting deepwater habitats. Factors such as oil-biodegradation, s and response measures (dispersants, burning) reduced coastal oiling. Still, > 2100 of shoreline and many coastal habitats were affected. Research demonstrates that oiling caused a wide range of biological effects, although worst-case impact scenarios did not materialize. s in individual organisms were more informative about oiling stress than population and community indices. es and seabird populations were hard hit, but were also quite resilient to oiling effects. Monitoring demonstrated little contamination of seafood."
"The Deepwater Horizon was the largest, longest-lasting, and deepest oil accident to date in US waters. As and jetted from release points at 1,500-m depth in the northern , entrainment of the surrounding into a buoyant plume, rich in soluble s and dispersed microdroplets of oil, created a deep (1,000-m) intrusion layer. Larger droplets of liquid oil rose to the surface, forming a slick of mostly insoluble, hydrocarbon-type compounds. A variety of physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms helped to transform, remove, and redisperse the oil and gas that was released. removed up to 60% of the oil in the intrusion layer but was less efficient in the surface slick, due to nutrient limitation. Photochemical processes altered up to 50% (by mass) of the floating oil. The surface oil expression changed daily due to wind and currents, whereas the intrusion layer flowed southwestward. A portion of the weathered surface oil stranded along shorelines. Oil from both surface and intrusion layers were deposited onto the via sinking marine oil snow. The biodegradation rates of stranded or sedimented oil were low, with resuspension and redistribution transiently increasing biodegradation. The subsequent research efforts increased our understanding of the fate of spilled oil immensely, with novel insights focusing on the importance of , the driving biodegradation, and the formation of marine oil snow that transports oil to the seafloor."
"The steel railroad bridge across the , having five spans resting on concrete pillars, was directly on the line of the , crossing it obliquely. It affords a striking example of the power of the temblor. Here one side of the river bank moved away from the other eighteen inches. As a result the bridge was pulled apart at one end, the concrete abutment sliding away beneath the tremendously heavy plate girders which rested upon it, so far that the latter had little more than the edge to support them. Beyond, one of the massive concrete bases of the bridge spans—some fifteen feet through in either direction—was cracked from side to side and the truss resting on it shifted, and the whole bridge was twisted out of alignment."
"On the third day after the shock appointed a State Earthquake Investigation Commission, naming as its chairman the head of the geological department of the , , and including in its membership , of the , Professors and , of the State University, , of the , , of the , , of , and Mr. Gilbert, of the ."
"The line of the fault of the earthquake which visited the California coast on April 18, 1906, extends from a point below , , in a northwesterly direction, touching the coast at on the western boundary of the , and thence follows the coast line to , a total distance of approximately 200 s. The area affected comprises a strip on both sides of the fault line averaging 30 miles in width, or about 10,000 s. Within this area all structures and public works were more or less damage, the injury varying from a few cracks in the plaster finish to total collapse and destruction. The effects of the earthquake were most violent in close proximity to the fault line and decreased in intensity in proportion with the distance from it. The city of San Francisco occupied a central position on the fault line and consequently felt the maximum effect."
"A steam schooner was taking refugees from the water-front by means of a gang-plank of two rough boards. A mother with her baby in arms was stepping cautiously down when a burly Swede behind gave her an impatient push. She lost her balance and fell, drowning with her baby before help reached her. Without an instant's delay, a soldier shot the Swede dead in his tracks."
"Why not quench the fire at its start with water? Alas! there was no water, and this expedient was a hopeless one. The s which carried the precious fluid under the city streets were broken or injured so that no quenching streams were to be had. In some cases the s had been so damaged that the fire-fighting apparatus could not be taken out, though even if it had it would have been useless. A sweeping conflagration and not an ounce of water to throw upon it!"