MOUNT VESUVIUS (continued): • Tourists are allowed access by road to 660 feet of Vesuvius’ summit, and a spiral walkway continues around the mountain from there to the crater.
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MOMENTS IN TIME • On Aug. 19, 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrière in an engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia. The British shot merely bounced off the Constitution's sides, as if the ship were made of iron rather than wood. The bolts fastening the timbers and copper sheathing on "Old Ironsides" were provided by Paul Revere. • On Aug. 23, 1904, Harold D. Weed of Canastota, New York, is issued U.S. Patent No. 768,495 for his "Grip-Tread for Pneumatic Tires," a tire chain to be used on automobiles to increase traction on roads slick with mud, snow or ice. • On Aug. 20, 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world to determine how fast a commercial message could be sent. After it traveled more than 28,000 miles, relayed by 16 different operators, the reply was received by the same operator 16 1/2 minutes later. • On Aug. 21, 1920, Daphne Milne, wife of writer A.A. Milne, gives birth to a son the couple names Christopher Robin Milne. Christopher Robin was immortalized in A.A.
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Milne's books "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner." • On Aug. 18, 1958, Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel "Lolita" is published in the U.S. The novel, about a man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl, had been rejected by four publishers before G.P. Putnam's Sons accepted it. • On Aug. 24, 1969, Company A of the Third Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade refuses the order of its commander, Lt. Eugene Schurtz, Jr., to continue an attack near Da Nang, Vietnam, because they had "simply had enough." Schurtz was relieved of his command and transferred. Neither he nor his men were ever disciplined. • On Aug. 22, 1992, the second day of a standoff at Randy Weaver's Ruby Ridge cabin in Idaho, FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounds Weaver and kills his unarmed wife, Vicki, as she holds their baby daughter. In 1997, Horiuchi was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death, but a federal judge dismissed the charge, citing the alleged immunity of federal officers.
• Scientists consider a volcano to be active if it has erupted within the last 10,000 years. There are about 1,500 worldwide that meet this criteria, with most along the Pacific Ring of Fire. About 50 erupt each year. More than 160 volcanoes in the United States fit in the active category, the majority of those in the Cascade Range, stretching from southern British Columbia to northern California. • Indonesia has 130 active volcanoes, including Mount Tambora, responsible for the most violent eruption in recorded history, In 1815, Tambora’s eruption resulted in an estimated 71,000 deaths in an explosion heard more than 1,200 miles away. It produced such climate-changing effects that 1816 was known as “the year without a summer.” Indonesia’s Mt. Krakatoa erupted in 1883, killing 36,000 and destroying two-thirds of the island. It has erupted as recently as 2008. • Geologists consider Mt. Rainier “potentially the most dangerous” mainland U.S. volcano, with 3.2 million people living in its vicinity, although it hasn’t erupted since the 1840s. Also within the Cascade Range, Mt. St. Helen’s 1980 eruption was one of the U.S.’s worst, killing 57. It reawakened in 2004 with four explosions sending steam and ash 10,000 feet above its crater. • There are five active volcanoes in Hawaii. Kilauea is one of the world’s most frequently active volcanoes, having erupted 62 times in 245 years. It has been erupting continuously since 1983. Mauna Loa has erupted 15 times since 1900, most recently in 1984.
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