Topic Trends: 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sandy: authorities suspended subway service, train and bus in New York

LIRR connecting concourse at Penn Station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEW YORK --- The Authorities of the State of New York Announced the suspension of services metro, train and bus in the city and surrounding area from the Local 19H00 Sunday against the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy.

"The governor Announced the suspension of service on the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority), Including the LIRR (train near Long Island), the bus and train connections, the MTA-North. Last train at 7pm," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo through his Twitter account.

Super Storm Sandy to Hit East Coast

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hurricane Sandy on Saturday threatened the eastern United States with heavy rain, strong winds, heavy flooding and power outages, just over a week before the presidential elections in the world's largest economy.

Experts anticipate that Sandy, a slow-moving storm whose winds tropical extend 1,050 kilometers, could generate waves of 1.2 to 2.4 meters in Long Island Sound, the southern part of the bay of New York and Delaware.

Is likely to accumulate in some areas up to 12 inches of rain.

As is combined with a jet stream from the Arctic, meteorologists say that Sandy has all the ingredients to become a so-called "Super Storm", unlike what has been seen for decades in the eastern United States.

Governors in several states along the East Coast declared states of emergency and called on citizens to hold food, water and batteries.

The storm, which strengthened in the hectic run-up to the U.S. presidential elections of November 6, presents a challenge to the campaigns of President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney.

Because Sandy, Romney rescheduled their planned campaign events on Sunday in Virginia and moved to Ohio instead. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign announced that Vice President Joe Biden canceled a trip scheduled for Saturday at Virginia Beach.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

Millions of Americans are taking advantage of the electoral arrangements to cast their vote early. State officials said they have implemented contingency plans in the event of extended power outages or other problems could disrupt the vote.

The White House said the president convened a meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Craig Fugate and other officials to discuss the government's actions by storm.

In New York, the authorities considered suspending public transportation-buses, subways and commuter railroads, and bridges and tunnels close to the threat of Sandy.

Decisions related to the transport system is likely to be taken on Sunday, said the director of state operations, Howard Glaser.

A potential closure could begin at 7 pm Sunday, when the last departing trains. The whole system should be closed around 3 am on Monday, officials said.

Sandy was centered about 540 kilometers southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and had maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour on Saturday afternoon, said the National Hurricane Center.

Sandy already made disasters in the Bahamas and eastern Cuba during the past two days, with at least 41 dead. Now moving slowly north and then on Sunday expected to turn to the United States.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Will and Kate’s First Anniversary “Quiet Night In”

After an eventful year that has seen the young couple mark several important milestones including their first Royal overseas tour to North America, the announcement of a number of charitable patronages, Kate’s first solo public speech, as well as an addition to the family in the form of a pet cocker spaniel, Lupo, a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has confirmed that they are spending the weekend of their first anniversary “privately”.

No further details have been revealed but the first wedding anniversary is traditionally known as paper and the Duke and Duchess may exchange gifts or have plans for a romantic meal.

In a year in which the spotlight is well and truly on all things British and London related, British toy company, Arklu, and photographer Duncan Raban have imagined what this weekend, the anniversary of the Wedding of the Year that attracted a global audience of hundreds of millions, might entail.

On the weekend of their first anniversary, Will and Kate are seen doing normal, everyday activities – enjoying a bacon sandwich, getting muddy at a garden centre, on a train, out for a swim, enjoying a day at the Great British Seaside, eating fish ‘n’ chips, relaxing in each other’s company and making the most of being a young couple in love - all in the very best tradition of quirky and kitsch British humour.

Photographer Duncan Raban was inspired to take the photographs having first seen them in the home of a friend whose granddaughter had bought the dolls as a gift. With his offbeat sense of mischievous humour, Duncan thought it fun to take the dolls out for a trip to a café, and as he snapped away at the dolls posed by their cups of coffee and cake, he was taken aback by the sheer enjoyment and laughter of those around him. Duncan has since taken the miniature Royal Couple out for several such daytrips.

Duncan explains the motivation behind his photos: “I love to put children's toy characters into real life human everyday situations. I guess this fun concept seems to bring out the childhood in people’s hearts and it’s been so much fun watching people enjoy this kind of theatre on the streets.”

Arklu’s Royal Wedding Dolls have been created in accordance with official guidelines laid down by Clarence House, but also have a charitable element and are ‘authentic’ in that they have been dressed and accessorised by several leading British designers. Arklu have donated £1 from the sale of every doll to the RNLI.

Only a few of the Limited Edition, individually numbered Royal Wedding Dolls remain of the original production run of 10,000. Priced at £49.95 (US$69.95) they are available at www.arklu.com and on Amazon.

Monday, April 2, 2012

1940 Census Records Online

Are your looking to find out more information about your familiy history ? then have a look at the video is will get you started finding of al those little nuggets of information about your family.

The 1940 Census Introduction

From the Archives: The 1940 Census | The White House

The U.S. Census Bureau releases individual records from the 1940 Census.

1940 Census Records Released Online; U.S. Data On 132 Million ...
Don Drapers beware, the truth is now out there. The U.S. Census bureau released the 1940 census data of 132 million Americans at 8:30 a.m..
Publish Date: 04/02/2012 13:55
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/1940-census-records-released-online_n_1397142.html
1940 census: 22.5 million hits in three hours overloads website ...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Three dead and 70 missing balance the sinking of the Italian cruise ship

Image via Wikipedia

(Updates with the arrest of the commander of the ship), Porto Santo Stefano (Italy), EFE The wreck in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the island of Giglio (central Italy) the largest Italian cruise ship, the "Costa Concordia" with 4229 occupants on board, has resulted in at least 3 killed, 40 injured and between 60 and 70 people not located and the arrest of the commander of the ship.
The dead are a Peruvian crew member and two French tourists whose bodies were recovered today from the sea by rescuers, continue even with the search effort around the hull of the vessel, of 114,500 tons and nearly 300 meters in length.
Besides the three who died, 40 passengers suffered injuries of varying degrees and two of them are in critical condition, one with a head injury and another in the spine.
Meanwhile, the commander of the "Costa Concordia", Francesco Schettino, has been arrested, according to the chief prosecutor of Siena (central Italy), Francesco Verusio, who questioned him for several hours.
Another crew member, whose identity was not disclosed, is also being investigated, according to Italian media.
On the boat traveled 177 Spanish, 107 Latin American (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Uruguay) and Andorra, as well as nearly a thousand Italians, 569 Germans and 462 French, the three countries with the highest number of passengers ahead of Spain.
A group of nine Spanish in Majorca who was in the cruiser looking for today in Porto Santo Stefano (against Giglio) to one of their relatives, which had no news from the wreck.
Another young man from the same Spanish island, staying at a hotel in Rome, he had no news since last night the two friends who accompanied him.
The wreck occurred at 21.40 local time today (20.40 GMT) when the ship was heading from the port of Civitavecchia, 70 miles north of Rome to Savona (northwest Italy), stage of a Mediterranean cruise had stops in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and Palermo and Cagliari (Italy) and Marseille (France).
So far, no known cause of the incident, although considering the possibility that the captain followed the wrong path, as the ship should not be in the spot where he was hit against the rocks on both sides of the boat, which has been heeled 80 degrees and stranded on a sandbank of 30 meters deep.
As told by the survivors of the tragedy, when most of the passengers were at dinner we heard a heavy blow at the same time the power went out, after which the ship captain called for calm, assuring that it was an electrical fault.
"It was a nightmare, like the Titanic, thought to die," said Silvana Caddeo Italians, Ignazio Corda Deidda and Mirella, who pointed out that when the accident occurred were having dinner and there was the blow that caused the fall of bottles and glasses tables, after which he heard the emergency sirens.
"People screamed and children cried in the midst of total darkness," he added, while said they immediately realized that the thing was more serious because the ship began to heel over and saw many people throw the cold waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Several Latin American and Spanish tourists, staying at a hotel near Rome's Fiumicino airport waiting to be repatriated, expressed outrage at the treatment received by those responsible for the cruise and the "chaos" that was experienced during the evacuation .
"The crew had no idea how to evacuate the ship and the captain lied to us. He said until the last minute everything was checked and it was just an electrical fault," said Claudia Fehlandt Chile.
In this sense, some travelers have complained that relief efforts were slow, that before leaving the ship spent an hour and a half and that the captain knew the gravity of the situation and "did what I had."
Passengers were transferred to lifeboats Giglio, whose mayor made available to travelers, "all that was indoors," so they were housed for a few hours at home, sports and church of the small island, which remained open throughout the night.
Most of the survivors were taken to Rome and Savona to be housed temporarily in hotels and later repatriated to their countries, including Spain, to where the cruise company responsible for the charter poses a charter flight for tomorrow.
The Italian Ministry of Transport has opened a formal investigation into the incident, as well as the Office of Grosseto (central Italy).