Lighthouse of the Week, February 9-15, 2020: Black-and-whites

I'm going to mix it up a little this week, and feature four black-and-white lighthouses.  This was inspired by a couple of lighthouses in Estonia, both on the island of Saaremaa.   I'll provided quick statistics on each one of them from the Lighthouse Directory.


Kübassaare Lighthouse, Estonia

1924 (rebuilt 1939; station established 1915). Active; focal plane 20 m (66 ft); white light, 2.5 s on, 6.5 s off. 18 m (59 ft) round cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and gallery. Lower half of lighthouse painted white; upper half, lantern, and gallery painted black. 1-story keeper's house and other structures.

Sõrve Lighthouse, Estonia

1960 (station established 1646). Active; focal plane 52 m (171 ft); white flash every 15 s. 53 m (174 ft) round concrete tower with lantern and double gallery. Lighthouse painted black with a broad white horizontal band at the base. 2-story crew quarters and other buildings.

Dry Tortugas (Loggerhead Key) Lighthouse, Florida

1858 (George G. Meade?). Inactive since 2015 but listed as a daybeacon. 157 ft (48 m) round early classic brick tower, solar-powered VRB-25 aerobeacon. Lower half of tower painted white, upper half and lantern black. 1-story brick keeper's house (1922), original kitchen, and other outbuildings preserved.

Absecon Lighthouse, Atlantic City, New Jersey

1857 (George G. Meade). Reactivated (inactive 1933-1997, now privately maintained and unofficial; charted as a landmark); focal plane 167 ft (51 m). 169 ft (51.5 m) brick tower with lantern and gallery, original 1st order Fresnel lens.

This was inevitable

Not long ago, musician (Muse) Matt Bellamy married the ravishing model Elle Evans (aka ElloElle, formerly known as Lindsay Gayle Evans and formerly a Playboy Playmate).   Ever since her notable appearance in the music video for Blurred Lines (which also launched Emily Ratajkowski), and some great fashion shots, she's moved onward and upward from her first unveiling.

Well, as one might expect would be the case, Matt and Ell stayed busy after they got married, and they got busy baby-making (which Matt had previous experience with during his relationship with Kate Hudson).  The baby-making worked, and Elle is well --  on her way to having her and Matt's offspring.

Congratulations to both of them, and Matt -- you've won the life lottery,  so enjoy the rewards.


Muse's Matthew Bellamy, 41, and wife Elle Evans, 30, announce they are expecting their first child... six months after tying the knot

Whatever happened to Michael Biehn?

I was watching The Terminator (again) the other day, and I realized it's been years since I've seen actor Michael Biehn in anything.  So I wondered what has happened to him.

First, if you want the basics, here are the links for Wikipedia and IMdB.

Michael Biehn (Wikipedia)

Michael Biehn (IMdB)  - I must note, this has a long biography section, and there are some surprising things in it.

Personal-wise, he's been married three times (currently still with wife #3), and has five kids.

But even better, I found an article from last year that was about what happened to Michael Biehn.

"Everything Had to Go Right": What Happened to 'Terminator' Star Michael Biehn

I also found out in this search that Biehn was in a scene deleted from the theatrical cut of Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.   As a bonus for reading this blog and this post, the scene is below.

On Highway 41, you are now in Indiana

So now the Streetview trek has crossed the Ohio into Indiana.  I'll discuss this a bit more in my next Highway 41 Streetview trek post.  For today, the views are near Evansville.


Over the river -- pan 180 degrees to see the bridges that were just crossed.



Ellis Park Racing




Welcome to Evansville, Indiana sign (next to Eagle Slough)




Crossing I-69 here in Indiana; I told you we'd see it again.


Next time, I'll talk about how the trek will handle the vast expanse of ruraldom that is what Highway 41 will pass through in the state of Indiana.

George Will defines Trump with two words

In his column "The Lure of Kamikaze Candidates"  (I actually liked the first title better, "We Need a Nomination Process That Leads To Plausible Presidents"), columnist George Will referred to our repugnant President thusly:

"demagogic charlatan"

I don't think he will ever be better described when profanity isn't involved.

Is Nessie really a huge eel?

A few months back, the results of a DNA survey of Loch Ness eliminated a lot of the more fanciful hopes and ideas put forth for the identity of the cryptozoologic enigma, among which are:

- a prehistoric plesiosaur;
- a monster sturgeon;
- a selkie (admittedly, not very likely);
- a mutant otter;
- a mutant aquarium turtle (wait, that was a Jimmy Neutron episode);
- a soliton (special kind of wave); or even
- a floating log (and if you think that's crazy, check out what's still floating around in Crater Lake).

Well, people keep seeing things in Loch Ness, especially with the help of a camera set up near the famous Urquhart Castle.  Recently, somebody saw something there.


Loch Ness Monster expert claims he has captured the first 'confirmed' sighting of Nessie this decade in clip showing mysterious 10ft-long object

And if you watch the clip, it looks like something is there.

Back to that DNA study.  The one thing that it said was possible was eels.  Now, a 10-foot eel would be a very big eel, but it appears that there are some big ones near there, at least in the River Ness:


LOCH YES MONSTER Boffins believe they’ve finally got video proof that Nessie exists…and is actually a giant eel

This even has a video -- and it really looks like a very big eel.

So maybe there is something in unusual in Loch Ness.

I hope so.

I'm not sure he needs it, though

It's wonderful birthday present;  the girlfriend of global soccer (football) superstar Cristiano Ronaldo gave him a top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz BRABUS, which sells for about $750K give or take a few thousand K.    (It's got 888 horses under the hood.)

Cristiano Ronaldo is surprised with a £600,000 Mercedes from girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez as footballer celebrates his 35th birthday

Truly a great gift, for the man who has everything.  And megastar Ronaldo has a lot of things, including cars:

"His collection also reportedly includes a Mercedes C Class Sport Coupe, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Ujn Ferrari 599 GTO, a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, an Aston Martin DB9, a McLaren MP4 12C and a Bentley Continental GTC Speed.

Speaking to Piers Morgan in 2019, the footballer admitted he owned 'two of everything' - including two Bugatti's, two Ferrari's, two McLaren's and two Rolls Royce's. "

Well, I hope he gets to drive it now and then.  It does look snazzy.