San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow estuary in the U. S. state of California. It is surrounded by a region known as the San Francisco Bay Area, dominated by the large cities San Francisco, Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from approximately 40 percent of California and it connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. However, this group of interconnected bays is often called the San Francisco Bay. The bay was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on February 2,2013, the bay covers somewhere between 400 and 1,600 square miles, depending on which sub-bays, wetlands, and so on are included in the measurement. The main part of the bay measures 3 to 12 miles wide east-to-west and it is the largest Pacific estuary in the Americas. Later and inlets were filled in, reducing the Bays size since the mid-19th century by as much as one third. Recently, large areas of wetlands have been restored, further confusing the issue of the Bays size, despite its value as a waterway and harbor, many thousands of acres of marshy wetlands at the edges of the bay were, for many years, considered wasted space.
As a result, soil excavated for building projects or dredged from channels was often dumped onto the wetlands, from the mid-19th century through the late 20th century, more than a third of the original bay was filled and often built on. The idea was, and remains, there are five large islands in San Francisco Bay. Alameda, the largest island, was created when a shipping lane was cut in 1901 and it is now predominantly a bedroom community. Angel Island was known as Ellis Island West because it served as the point for immigrants from East Asia. It is now a park accessible by ferry. Mountainous Yerba Buena Island is pierced by a tunnel linking the east and west spans of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, attached to the north is the artificial and flat Treasure Island, site of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. From the Second World War until the 1990s, both served as military bases and are now being redeveloped. Isolated in the center of the Bay is Alcatraz, the site of the federal penitentiary.
The federal prison on Alcatraz Island no longer functions, but the complex is a popular tourist site, despite its name, Mare Island in the northern part of the bay is a peninsula rather than an island. During the last ice age, the now filled by the bay was a large linear valley with small hills
Anacapa Island Light
Anacapa Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in California, United States, on the entrance to Santa Barbara Channel, California. It was the last major station to be built on the west coast. Positioned at the entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel, Anacapa was a natural choice for a lighthouse. The Lighthouse Board decided to place a light on the island, but to limit the expense of building an offshore beacon, in 1932, the current permanent light station was built on the island, and was the last major light station to be built on the west coast. The 39-foot tower and fog signal were built on the highest point of the island, in 1938, under the direction of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Santa Barbara and Anacapa Islands became Channel Islands National Monument. The United States Coast Guard automated the station in 1966, the lighthouse is still an active aid to navigation. Historical Information from Coast Guard web site, The buildings other than the lighthouse are now being utilized by the National Park Service, List of lighthouses in the United States List of Registered Historic Places in Ventura County, California United States Coast Guard
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, singer and musician. In 2016, he starred in an Amazon original series, Goliath about a washed up attorney with a new case. He has been vocal about his disrespect for celebrity culture, choosing to keep his life out of the public eye, the attention of the media has proven unavoidable in certain cases, his marriage to Angelina Jolie being a notable example. Thornton has appeared in at least one film per year every year since 1991. Thornton has written a variety of films, usually set in the Southern United States and mainly co-written with Tom Epperson, including A Family Thing, after Sling Blade, he directed several other films, including Daddy and Them, All the Pretty Horses, and Jayne Mansfields Car. He was nominated for an Emmy Award, four Golden Globes, in addition to film work, Thornton began a career as a singer-songwriter. He has released four albums and is the vocalist of a blues rock band The Boxmasters. His brother Jimmy Don wrote a number of songs, two of which Thornton has recorded on his solo albums, during his childhood, Thornton lived in numerous places in Arkansas, including Alpine, Mount Holly, and Malvern.
He was raised a Methodist in a family in a shack that had neither electricity nor plumbing. He graduated from school in 1973. A good high school player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals. After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, he attended Henderson State University to pursue studies in psychology, in the mid-1980s, Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor, with future writing partner Tom Epperson. He initially had a difficult time succeeding as an actor, and worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming and he played drums and sang with South African rock band Jack Hammer. While Thornton worked as a waiter for an event, he served film director. Thornton struck up a conversation with Wilder, who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter, thorntons first screen role was in 1980s South of Reno, where he played a small role as a counter man in a restaurant. He made an appearance as a store clerk in the 1987 Matlock episode The Photographer.
Another one of his screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire. His role as the villain in 1992s One False Move, which he co-wrote and he had small roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal, On Deadly Ground, Bound by Honor, and Tombstone
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses. The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass, a Fresnel lens can be made much thinner than a comparable conventional lens, in some cases taking the form of a flat sheet. A Fresnel lens can capture more light from a light source. The idea of creating a thinner, lighter lens by making it with separate sections mounted in a frame is attributed to Georges-Louis Leclerc. The Marquis de Condorcet proposed grinding such a lens from a thin piece of glass. French physicist and engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel is most often given credit for the development of the lens for use in lighthouses. According to Smithsonian magazine, the first Fresnel lens was used in 1823 in the Cordouan lighthouse at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, scottish physicist Sir David Brewster is credited with convincing the United Kingdom to adopt these lenses in their lighthouses.
The Fresnel lens reduces the amount of material required compared to a lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. An ideal Fresnel lens would have many such sections. In each section, the thickness is decreased compared to an equivalent simple lens. This effectively divides the surface of a standard lens into a set of surfaces of the same curvature. In some lenses, the surfaces are replaced with flat surfaces. Such a lens can be regarded as an array of prisms arranged in a fashion, with steeper prisms on the edges. In the first Fresnel lenses, each section was actually a separate prism, single-piece Fresnel lenses were produced, being used for automobile headlamps, brake and turn signal lenses, and so on. In modern times, computer-controlled milling equipment might be used to more complex lenses. Fresnel lenses are made of glass or plastic, their size varies from large to medium to small. In many cases they are thin and flat, almost flexible. Modern Fresnel lenses usually consist of all refractive elements, however many of the lighthouses have both refracting and reflecting elements, as shown in the photographs and diagram
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Pigeon Point Light Station or Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1871 to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States and it is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. Pigeon Point Light Station is located on the highway,5 miles south of Pescadero, California. The 115-foot, white tower, resembles the typical New England structure. Because of its location and ready access from the main highway, the lighthouse and the land around have been preserved as Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park, a California state park. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a logo of E. W. Scripps Company, Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast. The tower stands on a promontory and has long been a landmark for ships approaching San Francisco Bay from the south. This headland, and hence the lighthouse, took its name from the ship Carrier Pigeon that wrecked here in 1853, the lantern room of the tower is no longer equipped with the original first-order, 1000-watt Fresnel lens.
No longer illuminated for demonstration purposes, the lens has 24 flash panels, is composed of 1008 hand-polished lenses and it was manufactured by the Henry-LePaute company in Paris and was first lit at Pigeon Point at sunset on November 15,1872. Originally the tower was equipped with a lamp that burned refined lard oil, in 1888, that lamp was replaced with a mineral oil lamp. To produce Pigeon Points assigned characteristic of one flash of light every ten seconds. When observed from a distance, this resulted in the appearance of one flash of light every ten seconds. The lens rotation was powered by a clockworks and 45 pounds weight. In 1926 the lighthouse was provided with electricity, modern innovations were incorporated and the kerosene IOV lamp was replaced by a 1000 watt bulb, the clockworks by an electric motor and an electrically operated fog signal was eventually installed. The lighthouse has been designated California Historical Landmark number 930, in 1972, the United States Coast Guard mounted a 24-inch aerobeacon on the front of the tower and officially retired the Fresnel lens from regular duty.
The lens was removed from the top of the tower in November 2011, to now be displayed in the fog signal building, adjacent to the base of the lighthouse. The light outside the room, mounted on a small verandah at the top of the 100-foot tower
Mile Rocks Lighthouse
Mile Rocks Lighthouse is a lighthouse on a rock about 2 miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge, California. Its now an automated and unnatural looking lighthouse with a flat top, to one side is a smaller, though clearly visible, rock. In 1889, the United States Lighthouse Service placed a bell buoy near the rocks, the strong currents in the area would pull the buoy beneath the surface of the water and set it adrift. The lighthouse was completed in 1906 after considerable difficulty caused by the heavy seas, the rock upon which the lighthouse is built measured only 40 by 30 feet at high water. The base of the tower is a block of concrete protected by steel plating. Steel and concrete in the foundation alone weighed 1,500 tons, the superstructure is of steel, and houses the fog signal apparatus and the quarters for the keepers, with the lantern above. It was on this rock that the SS City of Rio de Janeiro was wrecked shortly before the building of the lighthouse, one hundred and twenty-eight persons, of 209 aboard, lost their lives when the City of Rio de Janeiro sank on February 2,1901.
The original third order Fresnel lens was transferred to the Old Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego, in 1966, all of the tower was removed and only the first story was left, and the light automated. The top of the first story is now a landing pad, list of lighthouses in the United States Historic Light Station Information and Photography, California. United States Coast Guard Historians Office, U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Mile Rock Lighthouse
Piedras Blancas Light Station
Piedras Blancas Light Station is located at Point Piedras Blancas, about 5.5 miles west by northwest of San Simeon, California. The first-order Fresnel lens at Piedras Blancas was first illuminated on February 15,1875, the Piedras Blancas lighthouse was originally 100 feet high to the top of the ventilator ball, but earthquakes damaged the structure over the years. On December 31,1948, final damage from an earthquake centered 6 miles off the point led to the decision to remove the three floors, the fourth landing, watch room, and lantern. Missing the ornate upper floors, the lighthouse now stands about 70 feet tall. The lens was moved and is on display in the community of Cambria. A sound signal was added in 1906, in 1939, management was transferred from the United States Lighthouse Service to the United States Coast Guard. In 1975, the light was automated, the sound signal removed, a group of biologists with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service received permission to establish a biological research station in 1977.
The Piedras Blancas Light Station Association is a partner of the BLM, helping to raise funds for restoration. The lighthouse continues to serve as an aid to navigation, a Vega VRB-25 produces a flash every 10 seconds. The light station is managed as a park and wildlife sanctuary. The Piedras Blancas Light Station has been designated as an Outstanding Natural Area, access to the 19-acre site is by guided tours, available every Tuesday and Saturday year round. From June 15 through August 31, tours are offered Mondays through Saturdays, the fee is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6 to 17, and free for ages 5 and under. Special tours for parties of 10 or more may be arranged, the tour lasts two hours and includes the historic lighthouse and support buildings, wildlife viewing, and spectacular scenery along an easy half-mile interpretive trail. The largest elephant seal rookery on the West Coast is located about a mile south of the lighthouse along California Highway One, a large parking area and boardwalk offer easy access to view the elephant seals.
Docents from Friends of the Elephant Seal provide insight as to what the visitor is viewing, Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from Piedras Blancas Light Station. Like underwater parks, these protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife. The 1959 movie The Monster of Piedras Blancas was not shot at Point Piedras Blancas,2008, Arcadia Images of America series. ISBN 978-0738558196 United States Coast Guard Piedras Blancas Light Station Outstanding Natural Area, Bureau of Land Management Piedras Blancas Light Station Association
Point Arena Light
Point Arena Light is a lighthouse in Mendocino County, United States, two miles north of Point Arena, California. It is located approximately 130 miles north of San Francisco in the Fort Point Group of lighthouses, the lighthouse features a small museum and giftshop. Guided tours of the station as well as self-guided tours of the grounds are available daily. The first European to record Point Arena was Spaniard Bartolomé Ferrer in 1543, the point, and the small harbor town south of it, were called Barra de Arena and finally Point Arena. Point Arena is a peninsula jutting around 1/2 mile into the Pacific Ocean. This sandbar creates a hazard to navigation, and hence the need for a lighthouse. The lighthouse at this site was constructed in 1870, the brick-and-mortar tower included ornate iron balcony supports and a large keeper residence with enough space to house several families. In April 1906, a earthquake struck the light station. The keepers residence and lighthouse were damaged so severely they had to be demolished, the United States Lighthouse Service contracted with a San Francisco based company to build a new lighthouse on the site, and specified that it had to be able to withstand any future earthquakes.
The company chosen, normally built factory smokestacks, which accounts for the design for the new Point Arena Lighthouse. This was the first lighthouse built this way, the new lighthouse began operation in 1908, nearly 18 months after the quake. It stands 115 feet tall, and featured a 1st Order Fresnel Lens, over six feet in diameter, the lens was made up of 666 hand-ground glass prisms all focused toward three sets of double bullseyes. It was these bullseyes that gave the Point Arena Lighthouse its unique light signature of two every six seconds. This incredible optic, that held a value of over $3.5 million, was set in solid brass framework. Prior to the introduction of electricity, the lens was rotated by a clockwork mechanism, the Keepers, or wickies as they were called, had to hand crank a 160-pound weight up the center shaft of the lighthouse every 75 minutes to keep the lens turning. Light was produced by a Funks hydraulic oil lamp, that needed to be refueled every four hours, two 1,000 watt electric lamps were installed to replace the oil lamp, and a 1⁄8 horsepower electric motor was installed to replace the clockworks.
In 1978, the fog signal at the station was silenced. June 1977 brought the installation of an automated beacon on the balcony tower
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis is an American actor and singer. His career began on the Off-Broadway stage and in television in the 1980s and he is known for his role of John McClane in the Die Hard series. He has appeared in over 60 films, including Color of Night, Pulp Fiction,12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense, Sin City, The Expendables 2, and Looper. Willis married actress Demi Moore in 1987, and they had three daughters, including Rumer, before their divorce in 2000, since 2009, he has been married to model Emma Heming, with whom he has two daughters. Willis was born Walter Bruce Willis on March 19,1955, in the town of Idar-Oberstein and his father, David Willis, was an American soldier. His mother, was German, born in Kassel, Willis is the oldest of four children, he has a sister, and a brother, David. His brother Robert died of cancer in 2001, aged 42. After being discharged from the military in 1957, Williss father took his back to Carneys Point Township. Willis has described himself as having come from a line of blue collar people.
His mother worked in a bank and his father was a welder, master mechanic, Willis attended Penns Grove High School in his hometown, where he encountered issues with a stutter. He was nicknamed Buck-Buck by his schoolmates, after high school, Willis took a job as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and transported work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey. After working as an investigator, Willis turned to acting. He enrolled in the Drama Program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in the production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Willis left school in his year and moved to New York City. Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for television shows. In 1984, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Miami Vice, in 1985, he was the guest actor in the first episode of the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone, Shatterday. He auditioned for the role of David Addison Jr. of the television series Moonlighting, competing against 3,000 other actors for the position, during the height of the shows success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products.
The advertising campaign paid the rising star between $5–7 million over two years, in spite of that, Willis chose not to renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988
Point Conception Light
Point Conception Light is a lighthouse on Point Conception at the west entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel, California. It is one of the earliest California lighthouses and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed along the California coast in search for glory and gold. On October 18,1542, he encountered heavy winds upon rounding the Point and was forced to back to San Miguel Island where he died. Second-in-command Bartolomé Ferrer took charge and again tried to round the Point, the Point was named Punta de la Limpia Concepcion by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602, who was the next Spanish sailor to venture the Pacific waters along the California coast after Juan Cabrillo. The 1835 experience of the sailing ship Pilgrim, which was damaged and it was here at Point Conception in 1856, that the lighthouse was built high on the sandstone cliffs, above the location of the present lighthouse. The first order Fresnel lens and steel tower for the lighthouse were made in France at a cost of $65,068 and was transported around Cape Horn, a report indicates that the lighthouse was severely damaged during the Fort Tejon earthquake of January 9,1857.
The lighthouse was moved in 1881 because the fog would be likely to obscure the light. The light station was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1973, the lighthouse was used as the location for the film The Monster of Piedras Blancas. Some have arranged well in advance with the Coast Guard for access
Point Bonita Lighthouse
Point Bonita Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at Point Bonita at the San Francisco Bay entrance in the Marin Headlands near Sausalito, California. Point Bonita was the last manned lighthouse on the California coast, the original Point Bonita Lighthouse, a 56-foot brick tower, was located too high. Unlike the East Coast of the United States, the West Coast has dense high fog, the original light was 306 feet above sea level so the second order Fresnel lens was often cloaked in fog and could not be seen from the sea. In 1877, the lighthouse was moved to its current location at 124 feet above sea level, the United States Coast Guard currently maintains the light and fog signal. It is accessible to the public during limited hours on Saturdays, Sundays, up until 1940 the lighthouse could be reached without a bridge, but erosion caused a trail leading to the lighthouse to crumble into the sea. A wooden walkway was installed, but when that became treacherous the suspension bridge was built in 1954, as of January 6,2010, the suspension bridge to the light house was closed to public access.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, the bridge, which was 56 years old and it underwent repairs in 1979 and again in 1991, but the metal components were not able to stand up to the sea spray. The new span reopened April 13,2012, the new bridge construction cost a little over $1 million. It is made of hardwood with steel suspension cables and attachments. Historical Information from USCG web site, Point Bonita Light Station had the first fog signal on the West Coast and it was an Army surplus 24-pounder siege gun. This light is the one in America that can be reached only by crossing a suspension bridge. In 1877 the lighthouse was moved to its current location because the location was often too obscured by fog for the light to be visible from the bay. This location required the builders to overcome challenges, including the need for a hand carved. More than 300 boats ran aground near the Golden Gate during the Gold Rush years, one shipwreck, the SS City of Rio de Janeiro, is just a few hundred feet offshore from the light.
On the television show Murder in the First the lighthouse was a setting at the end of the second-season episode Schizofrenzy, the lighthouse can be found in the video game Watch Dogs 2. List of lighthouses in the United States United States Coast Guard Lighthousefriends. com entry NPA Website about the light house
New Point Loma Lighthouse
The New Point Loma Lighthouse is a lighthouse at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California. It was first lighted on March 23,1891, replacing the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which is atop the 400 feet cliffs of Point Loma, the new light is only 88 feet above the water. The first lighthouse keeper was Robert Decatur Israel, who had been keeper at the old lighthouse for 18 years, the original light was 600,000 candlepower and could be seen at a distance of approximately 15 nautical miles. There was a two-tone diaphone fog horn and living quarters for several families, the structure is the only one of its kind remaining on the West Coast. It is very similar to Coney Island Light, Plum Island Range Rear Light, La Pointe Light, the latter three of these are all on the National Register of Historic Places. The light was automated in 1973, in February 2013, the light that had been in use since 1999 was replaced with a VLB-44. The LED apparatus reduces the maintenance cost of the lighthouse and is brighter than the previous light, list of lighthouses in the United States United States Coast Guard
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