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Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States, currently administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Johnston Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. It is closed to public entry, and limited access for management needs is only granted by Letter of Authorization from the United States Air Force and a Special Use Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

For nearly 70 years, the isolated atoll was under the control of the U.S. military. During that time, it was variously used as a naval refueling depot, an airbase, a testing site for nuclear and biological weapons, a secret missile base, and a site for the storage and disposal of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Those activities left the area environmentally contaminated, and monitoring continues.

The island is home to thriving communities of nesting seabirds and has significant marine biodiversity. USFWS teams carry out environmental monitoring and maintenance to protect the native wildlife.

Geography

With the exception of USFWS activity, Johnston Atoll is a deserted  atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, located about  southwest of the island of Hawaiʻi, and is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The atoll, which is located on a coral reef platform, has four islands. Johnston Island and Sand Island are both enlarged natural features, while Akau (North) and Hikina (East) are two artificial islands formed by coral dredging. By 1964, dredge and fill operations had increased the size of Johnston Island to  from its original , increased the size of Sand Island from , and added the two new islands, North and East, of  respectively.

The four islands compose a total land area of . Due to the atoll's tilt, much of the reef on the southeast portion has subsided. But even though it does not have an encircling reef crest, the reef crest on the northwest portion of the atoll does provide for a shallow lagoon, with depths ranging from .

The climate is tropical but generally dry. Northeast trade winds are consistent and there is little seasonal temperature variation. With elevation ranging from sea level to  at Summit Peak, the islands contain some low-growing vegetation and palm trees on mostly flat terrain, and no natural fresh water resources.

Climate
It is a dry atoll with less than  of annual rainfall.

Wildlife
About 300 species of fish have been recorded from the reefs and inshore waters of the atoll. It is also visited by green turtles and Hawaiian monk seals. The possibility of humpback whales using the waters as a breeding ground has been suggested, albeit in small numbers and with irregular occurrences so far. Many other cetaceans possibly migrate through the area, but the species being most notably confirmed is Cuvier's beaked whales.

Birds
Seabird species recorded as breeding on the atoll include Bulwer's petrel, wedge-tailed shearwater, Christmas shearwater, white-tailed tropicbird, red-tailed tropicbird, brown booby, red-footed booby, masked booby, great frigatebird, spectacled tern, sooty tern, brown noddy, black noddy, and white tern. It is the world's largest colony of red-tailed tropicbirds, with 10,800 nests in 2020. It is visited by migratory shorebirds, including the Pacific golden plover, wandering tattler, bristle-thighed curlew, ruddy turnstone and sanderling. The island, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognised as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for its seabird colonies.

Flora
The first list of plants catalogued on Johnston Atoll was published in 1931 in Vascular Plants of Johnston and Wake Islands based on collections of the Tanager Expedition on in 1923. Three species were described Lepturus repens, Boerhavia diffusa, and Tribulus cistoides. In the 1930s when the island was used for aviation activities for the war, Pluchea odorata was introduced from Honolulu.

History

Early history
The first Western record of the atoll was on September 2, 1796, when the Boston-based American brig Sally accidentally grounded on a shoal near the islands. The ship's captain, Joseph Pierpont, published his experience in several American newspapers the following year giving an accurate position of Johnston and Sand Island along with part of the reef, but did not name or lay claim to the area. The islands were not officially named until Captain Charles J. Johnston of the Royal Naval ship  sighted them on December 14, 1807. The ship's journal recorded: "on the 14th [December 1808] made a new discovery, viz. two very low islands, in lat. 16° 52′ N. long. 190° 26′ E., having a dangerous reef to the east of them, and the whole not exceeding four miles in extent".

In 1856, the United States enacted the Guano Islands Act, which allowed citizens of the United States to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. Under this act, William Parker and R. F. Ryan chartered the schooner Palestine specifically to find Johnston Atoll. They located guano on the atoll in March 1858 and proceeded to claim the island as U.S. territory. In June of the same year, S. C. Allen, sailing on the Kalama under a commission from King Kamehameha IV of Hawaii, landed on Johnston Atoll, removed the American flag, and claimed the atoll for the Kingdom of Hawaii. Allen named the atoll "Kalama" and the nearby smaller island "Cornwallis."

Returning on July 27, 1858, the captain of the Palestine again hoisted the American flag and tried to acquire the island in the name of the United States. The same day, the "derelict and abandoned" atoll was declared part of the domain of Kamehameha IV. On its July visit, however, the Palestine left two crew members on the island to gather phosphate. Later that year, Kamehameha revoked the lease granted to Allen when he learned the atoll had been claimed previously by the United States. However, this did not prevent the Hawaiian Territory from making use of the atoll or asserting ownership.

By 1890, the atoll's guano deposits had been almost entirely depleted (mined out) by U.S. interests operating under the Guano Islands Act. In 1892,  made a survey and map of the island, hoping that it might be suitable as a telegraph cable station. On January 16, 1893, the Hawaiian Legation at London reported a diplomatic conference over this temporary occupation of the island. However, the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown on January 17, 1893. When Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898, during the Spanish–American War, the name of Johnston Island was omitted from the list of Hawaiian Islands. On September 11, 1909, Johnston was leased by the Territory of Hawaii to a private citizen for fifteen years. A board shed was built on the southeast side of the larger island, and a small tramline run up onto the slope of the low hill, to facilitate the removal of guano. Apparently neither the quantity nor the quality of the guano was sufficient to pay for gathering it, so that the project was soon abandoned.

National Wildlife Refuge since 1926

The Tanager Expedition was a joint expedition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Bishop Museum of Hawaii, which visited the Atoll in 1923. The expedition to the atoll consisted of two teams accompanied by destroyer convoys, with the first departing Honolulu on July 7, 1923, aboard the , which conducted the first survey of Johnston Island in the 20th century. Aerial survey and mapping flights over Johnston were conducted with a Douglas DT-2 floatplane carried on her fantail, which was hoisted into the water for takeoff. From July 10–22, 1923, the atoll was recorded in a pioneering aerial photography project. The  left Honolulu on July 16 and joined up with the Whippoorwill to complete the survey and then traveled to Wake Island to complete surveys there. Tents were pitched on the southwest beach of fine white sand, and a rather thorough biological survey was made of the island. Hundreds of sea birds, of a dozen kinds, were the principal inhabitants, together with lizards, insects, and hermit crabs. The reefs and shallow water abounded with fish and other marine life.

On June 29, 1926, by , President Calvin Coolidge established Johnston Island Reservation as a federal bird refuge and placed it under the control of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as a "refuge and breeding ground for native birds." Johnston Atoll was added to the United States National Wildlife Refuge system in 1926, and renamed the Johnston Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1940. The Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect the tropical ecosystem and the wildlife that it harbors.
However, the Department of Agriculture had no ships, and the United States Navy was interested in the atoll for strategic reasons, so with  on December 29, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed the islands under the "control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy for administrative purposes", but subject to use as a refuge and breeding ground for native birds, under the United States Department of the Interior.

On February 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued  to create naval defense areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established "Johnston Island Naval Defensive Sea Area" which encompassed the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three-mile marine boundaries surrounding the atoll. "Johnston Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Johnston unless authorized by the Secretary of the Navy.

In 1990, two full-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel, a Refuge Manager and a biologist, were stationed on Johnston Atoll to handle the increase in biological, contaminant, and resource conflict activities.

After the military mission on the island ended in 2004, the Atoll was administered by the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The outer islets and water rights were managed cooperatively by the Fish and Wildlife Service, with some of the actual Johnston Island land mass remaining under control of the United States Air Force (USAF) for environmental remediation and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for plutonium cleanup purposes. However, on January 6, 2009, under authority of section 2 of the Antiquities Act, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established by President George W. Bush to administer and protect Johnston Island along with six other Pacific islands. The national monument includes Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries and contains  of land and over  of water area. The Administration of President  Barack Obama in 2014 extended the protected area to encompass the entire Exclusive Economic Zone, by banning all commercial fishing activities. Under a 2017 review of all national monuments extended since 1996, then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommended to permit fishing outside the 12-mile limit.

Military control 1934–2004
On December 29, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt with  transferred control of Johnston Atoll to the United States Navy under the 14th Naval District, Pearl Harbor, in order to establish an air station, and also to the Department of the Interior to administer the bird refuge. In 1948, the USAF assumed control of the Atoll.

During the Operation Hardtack nuclear test series from April 22 to August 19, 1958, administration of Johnston Atoll was assigned to the Commander of Joint Task Force 7. After the tests were completed, the island reverted to the command of the US Air Force.

From 1963 to 1970, the Navy's Joint Task force 8 and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) held joint operational control of the island during high-altitude nuclear testing operations.

In 1970, operational control was handed back to the Air Force until July 1973, when Defense Special Weapons Agency was given host-management responsibility by the Secretary of Defense. Over the years, sequential descendant organizations have been the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA) from 1959 to 1971, the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) from 1971 to 1996, and the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, Defense Special Weapons Agency, and selected elements of the Office of Secretary of Defense were combined to form the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In 1999, host-management responsibility transferred from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency once again to the Air Force until the Air Force mission ended in 2004 and the base was closed.

Sand Island seaplane base

In 1935, personnel from the US Navy's Patrol Wing Two carried out some minor construction to develop the atoll for seaplane operation. In 1936, the Navy began the first of many changes to enlarge the atoll's land area. They erected some buildings and a boat landing on Sand Island and blasted coral to clear a  seaplane landing. Several seaplanes made flights from Hawaii to Johnston, such as that of a squadron of six aircraft in November, 1935.

In November 1939, further work was commenced on Sand Island by civilian contractors to allow the operation of one squadron of patrol planes with tender support. Part of the lagoon was dredged and the excavated material was used to make a parking area connected by a  causeway to Sand Island. Three seaplane landings were cleared, one  by  and two cross-landings each  by  and dredged to a depth of . Sand Island had barracks built for 400 men, a mess hall, underground hospital, radio station, water tanks and a  steel control tower. In December 1943 an additional  of parking was added to the seaplane base.

On May 26, 1942, a United States Navy Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina wrecked at Johnston Atoll. The Catalina pilot made a normal power landing and immediately applied throttle for take-off. At a speed of about fifty knots the plane swerved to the left and then continued into a violent waterloop. The hull of the plane was broken open and the Catalina sank immediately.

After the war on March 27, 1949, a PBY-6A Catalina had to make a forced landing during flight from Kwajalein to Johnston Island. The plane was damaged beyond repair and the crew of 11 was rescued nine hours later by a Navy ship which sank the plane by gunfire.

During 1958, a proposed support agreement for Navy Seaplane operations at Johnston Island was under discussion though it was never completed because a requirement for the operation failed to materialize.

Airfield

By September 1941, construction of an airfield on Johnston Island commenced. A  by  runway was built together with two 400-man barracks, two mess halls, a cold-storage building, an underground hospital, a fresh-water plant, shop buildings, and fuel storage. The runway was complete by December 7, 1941, though in December 1943 the 99th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to . The runway was subsequently lengthened and improved as the island was enlarged.

During World War II Johnston Atoll was used as a refueling base for submarines, and also as an aircraft refueling stop for American bombers transiting the Pacific Ocean, including the Boeing B-29 Enola Gay. By 1944, the atoll was one of the busiest air transport terminals in the Pacific. Air Transport Command aeromedical evacuation planes stopped at Johnston en route to Hawaii. Following V-J Day on August 14, 1945, Johnston Atoll saw the flow of men and aircraft that had been coming from the mainland into the Pacific turn around. By 1947, over 1,300 B-29 and B-24 bombers had passed through the Marianas, Kwajalein, Johnston Island, and Oahu en route to Mather Field and civilian life.

Following World War II, Johnston Atoll Airport was used commercially by Continental Air Micronesia, touching down between Honolulu and Majuro. When aircraft landed, soldiers surrounded the aircraft and passengers were not allowed to leave the aircraft. Aloha Airlines also made weekly scheduled flights to the island carrying civilian and military personnel; in the 1990s there were flights almost daily, and some days saw up to three arrivals. Just before movement of the chemical munitions to Johnston Atoll, the Surgeon General, Public Health Service, reviewed the shipment and the Johnston Atoll storage plans. His recommendations caused the Secretary of Defense in December 1970 to issue instructions suspending missile launches and all non-essential aircraft flights. As a result, Air Micronesia service was immediately discontinued, and missile firings were terminated with the exception of two 1975 satellite launches deemed critical to the island's mission.

There were many times when the runway was needed for emergency landings for both civil and military aircraft. When the runway was decommissioned, it could no longer be used as a potential emergency landing place when planning flight routes across the Pacific Ocean. As of 2003, the airfield at Johnston Atoll consisted of an unmaintained closed single  asphalt/concrete runway 5/23, a parallel taxiway, and a large paved ramp along the southeast side of the runway.

World War II 1941–1945
 In February 1941 Johnston Atoll was designated as a Naval Defensive Sea Area and Airspace Reservation. On the day the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,  was out of her home port of Pearl Harbor, to make a simulated bombardment at Johnston Island. Japan's strike at Pearl Harbor occurred as the ship was unloading marines, civilians and stores on the atoll. On December 15, 1941, the atoll was shelled outside the reef by a Japanese submarine, which had been part of the attack on Pearl Harbor eight days earlier. Several buildings including the power station were hit, but no personnel were injured. Additional Japanese shelling occurred on December 22 and 23, 1941. On all occasions, Johnston Atoll's coastal artillery guns returned fire, driving off the sub.

In July 1942, the civilian contractors at the atoll were replaced by 500 men from the 5th and 10th Naval Construction Battalions, who expanded the fuel storage and water production at the base and built additional facilities. The 5th Battalion departed in January 1943. In December 1943 the 99th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to  and add an additional  of parking to the seaplane base.

Coast Guard mission 1957–1992

On January 25, 1957, the Department of Treasury was granted a 5-year permit for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to operate and maintain a Long Range Aid to Navigation (LORAN) transmitting station on Johnston Atoll. Two years later in December 1959, the Secretary of Defense approved the Secretary of the Treasury's request to use Sand Island for U.S. Coast Guard LORAN A and C station sites. The USCG was granted permission to install a LORAN A and C station on Sand Island to be staffed by U.S. Coast Guard personnel through June 30, 1992. The permit for a LORAN station to operate on Johnston Island was terminated in 1962. On November 1, 1957, a new United States Coast Guard LORAN-A station was commissioned. By 1958, the Coast Guard LORAN Station at Johnston Island began transmitting on a 24-hour basis, thus establishing a new LORAN rate in the Central Pacific. The new rate between Johnston Island and French Frigate Shoals gave a higher order of accuracy for fixing positions in the steamship lanes from Oahu, Hawaii, to Midway Island. In the past, this was impossible in some areas along this important shipping route. The original U.S. Coast Guard LORAN-A Station on Johnston Island ceased operations on June 30, 1961, when the new station on nearby Sand Island began transmitting using a larger 180 foot antenna.

The LORAN-C station was disestablished on July 1, 1992, and all Coast Guard personnel, electronic equipment, and property departed the atoll that month. Buildings on Sand Island were transferred to other activities. LORAN whip antennas on Johnston and Sand Islands were removed, and the 625-foot LORAN tower and antenna were demolished on December 3, 1992. The LORAN A and C station and buildings on Sand Island were then dismantled and removed.

National nuclear weapon test site 1958–1963

Successes
Between 1958 and 1975, Johnston Atoll was used as an American national nuclear test site for atmospheric and extremely high-altitude nuclear explosions in outer space. In 1958, Johnston Atoll was the location of the two "Hardtack I" nuclear tests firings. One conducted August 1, 1958, was codenamed "Hardtack Teak" and one conducted August 12, 1958, was codenamed "Orange." Both tests detonated 3.8-megaton hydrogen bombs launched to high altitudes by rockets from Johnston Atoll.

Johnston Island was also used as the launch site of 124 sounding rockets going up as high as . These carried scientific instruments and telemetry equipment, either in support of the nuclear bomb tests, or in experimental antisatellite technology.

Eight PGM-17 Thor missiles deployed by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) were launched from Johnston Island in 1962 as part of "Operation Fishbowl," a part of "Operation Dominic" nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. The first launch in "Operation Fishbowl" was a successful research and development launch with no warhead. In the end, "Operation Fishbowl" produced four successful high-altitude detonations: "Starfish Prime," "Checkmate," "Bluegill Triple Prime," and "Kingfish." In addition, it produced one atmospheric nuclear explosion, "Tightrope."

On July 9, 1962, "Starfish Prime" had a 1.4-megaton explosion, using a W49 warhead at an altitude of about . It created a very brief fireball visible over a wide area, plus bright artificial auroras visible in Hawaii for several minutes. "Starfish Prime" also produced an electromagnetic pulse that disrupted some electric power and communication systems in Hawaii. It pumped enough radiation into the Van Allen belts to destroy or damage seven satellites in orbit.

The final Fishbowl launch that used a Thor missile carried the "Kingfish" 400-kiloton warhead up to its  detonation altitude. Although it was officially one of the Operation Fishbowl tests, it is sometimes not listed among high-altitude nuclear tests because of its lower detonation altitude. "Tightrope" was the final test of Operation Fishbowl and detonated on November 3, 1962. It launched on a nuclear-armed Nike-Hercules missile and was detonated at a lower altitude than the other tests:

"At Johnston Island, there was an intense white flash. Even with high-density goggles, the burst was too bright to view, even for a few seconds. A distinct thermal pulse was felt on bare skin. A yellow-orange disc was formed, and transformed itself into a purple doughnut. A glowing purple cloud was faintly visible for a few minutes." The nuclear yield was reported in most official documents as "less than 20 kilotons." One report by the U.S. government reported the yield of the "Tightrope" test as 10 kilotons. Seven sounding rockets were launched from Johnston Island in support of the Tightrope test, and this was the final American nuclear atmospheric test.

Failures

The "Fishbowl" series included four failures, all of which were deliberately disrupted by range safety officers when the missiles' systems failed during launch and were aborted. The second launch of the Fishbowl series, "Bluegill", carried an active warhead. Bluegill was "lost" by a defective range safety tracking radar and had to be destroyed 10 minutes after liftoff even though it probably ascended successfully. The subsequent nuclear weapon launch failures from Johnston Atoll caused serious contamination to the island and surrounding areas with weapons-grade plutonium and americium that remains an issue to this day.

The failure of the "Bluegill" launch created in effect a dirty bomb but did not release the nuclear warhead's plutonium debris onto Johnston Atoll as the missile fell into the ocean south of the island and was not recovered. However, the "Starfish", "Bluegill Prime", and "Bluegill Double Prime" test launch failures in 1962 scattered radioactive debris over Johnston Island contaminating it, the lagoon, and Sand Island with plutonium for decades.

"Starfish", a high altitude Thor launched nuclear test scheduled for June 20, 1962, was the first to contaminate the atoll. The rocket with the 1.45-megaton Starfish device (W49 warhead and the MK-4 re-entry vehicle) on its nose was launched that evening, but the Thor missile engine cut out only 59 seconds after launch. The range safety officer sent a destruct signal 65 seconds after launch, and the missile was destroyed at approximately  altitude. The warhead high explosive detonated in 1-point safe fashion, destroying the warhead without producing nuclear yield. Large pieces of the plutonium contaminated missile, including pieces of the warhead, booster rocket, engine, re-entry vehicle and missile parts, fell back on Johnston Island. More wreckage along with plutonium contamination was found on nearby Sand Island.

"Bluegill Prime," the second attempt to launch the payload which failed last time was scheduled for 23:15 (local) on July 25, 1962. It too was a genuine disaster and caused the most serious plutonium contamination on the island. The Thor missile was carrying one pod, two re-entry vehicles and the W50 nuclear warhead. The missile engine malfunctioned immediately after ignition, and the range safety officer fired the destruct system while the missile was still on the launch pad. The Johnston Island launch complex was demolished in the subsequent explosions and fire which burned through the night. The launch emplacement and portions of the island were contaminated with radioactive plutonium spread by the explosion, fire and wind-blown smoke.

Afterward, the Johnston Island launch complex was heavily damaged and contaminated with plutonium. Missile launches and nuclear testing halted until the radioactive debris was dumped and soils were recovered and the launch emplacement rebuilt. Three months of repairs, decontamination, and rebuilding the LE1 as well as the backup pad LE2 were necessary before tests could resume. In an effort to continue with the testing program, U.S. troops were sent in to do a rapid cleanup. The troops scrubbed down the revetments and launch pad, carted away debris and removed the top layer of coral around the contaminated launch pad. The plutonium-contaminated rubbish was dumped in the lagoon, polluting the surrounding marine environment. More than 550 drums of contaminated material were dumped in the ocean off Johnston from 1964 to 1965. At the time of the Bluegill Prime disaster, the top fill around the launch pad was scraped by a bulldozer and grader. It was then dumped into the lagoon to make a ramp, so the rest of the debris could be loaded onto landing craft to be dumped out into the ocean. An estimated 10 percent of the plutonium from the test device was in the fill used to make the ramp. Then the ramp was covered and placed into a  landfill on the island during 1962 dredging to extend the island. The lagoon was again dredged in 1963–1964 and used to expand Johnston Island from  to  recontaminating additional portions of the island.

On October 15, 1962, the "Bluegill Double Prime" test also misfired. During the test, the rocket was destroyed at a height of 109,000 feet after it malfunctioned 90 seconds into the flight. U.S. Defense Department officials confirm that when the rocket was destroyed, it contributed to the radioactive pollution on the island.

In 1963, the U.S. Senate ratified the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which contained a provision known as "Safeguard C". Safeguard C was the basis for maintaining Johnston Atoll as a "ready to test" above-ground nuclear testing site should atmospheric nuclear testing ever be deemed to be necessary again. In 1993, Congress appropriated no funds for the Johnston Atoll "Safeguard C" mission, bringing it to an end.

Anti-satellite mission 1962–1975

Program 437 turned the PGM-17 Thor into an operational anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon system, a capability that was kept top secret even after it was deployed. The Program 437 mission was approved for development by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on November 20, 1962, and based at the Atoll. Program 437 used modified Thor missiles that had been returned from deployment in Great Britain and was the second deployed U.S. operational nuclear anti-satellite operation. Eighteen more suborbital Thor launches took place from Johnston Island during the 1964–1975 period in support of Program 437. In 1965–1966 four Program 437 Thors were launched with 'Alternate Payloads' for satellite inspection. This was evidently an elaboration of the system to allow visual verification of the target before destroying it. These flights may have been related to the late 1960s Program 922, a non-nuclear version of Thor with infrared homing and a high-explosive warhead. Thors were kept positioned and active near the two Johnston Island launch pads after 1964. However, partly because of the Vietnam War, in October 1970 the Department of Defense had transferred Program 437 to standby status as an economic measure. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks led to Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that prohibited 'interference with national means of verification', which meant that ASAT's were not allowed, by treaty, to attack Russian spy satellites. Thors were removed from Johnston Atoll and were stored in mothballed war-reserve condition at Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1970 until the anti-satellite mission of Johnston Island facilities was ceased on August 10, 1974, and the program was officially discontinued on April 1, 1975, when any possibility of restoring the ASAT program was finally terminated. Eighteen Thor launches in support of the Program 437 Alternate Payload (AP) mission took place from Johnston Atoll's Launch emplacements.

Baker–Nunn satellite tracking camera station

The Space Detection and Tracking System or SPADATS was operated by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) along with the U.S. Air Force Spacetrack system, The Navy Space Surveillance System and Canadian Forces Air Defense Command Satellite Tracking Unit. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory also operated a dozen 3.5 ton Baker-Nunn Camera systems (none at Johnston) for cataloging of man-made satellites. The U.S. Air Force had ten Baker-Nunn camera stations around the world mostly from 1960 to 1977 with a phase-out beginning in 1964.

The Baker-Nunn space camera station was constructed on Sand Island and was functioning by 1965. USAF 18th Surveillance Squadron operated the Baker-Nunn camera at a station built along the causeway on Sand Island until 1975 when a contract to operate the four remaining Air Force stations was awarded to Bendix Field Engineering Corporation. In about 1977, the camera at Sand Island was moved to Daegu, South Korea. Baker-Nunn were rendered obsolete with the Initial Operational Capability of 3 GEODSS optical tracking sites at Daegu, Korea; Mount Haleakala, Maui and White Sands Missile Range. A fourth site was operational in 1985 at Diego Garcia and a proposed fifth site in Portugal was cancelled. The Daegu, Korea site was closed due to encroaching city lights. GEODSS tracked satellites at night, though the MIT Lincoln Laboratory test site, co-located with Site 1 at White Sands did track asteroids in daytime as proof of concept in the early 1980s.

Johnston Island Recovery Operations Center

Satellite and Missile Observation System Project (SAMOS-E) or "E-6" was a relatively short-lived series of United States visual reconnaissance satellites in the early 1960s. SAMOS was also known by the unclassified terms Program 101 and Program 201. The Air Force program was used as a cover for the initial development of the Central Intelligence Agency's Key Hole (including Corona and Gambit) reconnaissance satellites systems. Imaging was performed with film cameras and television surveillance from polar low Earth orbits with film canisters returning via capsule and parachute with mid-air retrieval. SAMOS was first launched in 1960, but not operational until 1963 with all of the missions being launched from Vandenberg AFB.

During the early months of the SAMOS program it was essential not only to hide the Corona and GAMBIT technical efforts under a screen of SAMOS activity, but also to make the orbital vehicle portions of the two systems resemble one another in outward appearance. Thus, some of the configuration details of SAMOS were decided less by engineering logic than by the need to camouflage GAMBIT and thus, in theory, a GAMBIT could be launched without alerting many people to its real nature.
Problems relative to tracking networks, communications, and recovery were resolved with the decision in late February 1961 to use Johnston Island as the film capsule descent and recovery zone for the program.
On July 10, 1961, work was initiated on four buildings of the Johnston Island Recovery Operations Center for the National Reconnaissance Office. Men from the Johnston Atoll facility would recover the parachuting film canister capsules with a radar equipped JC-130 aircraft by capturing them in the air with a specialized recovery apparatus.
The recovery center was also responsible for collecting the radioactive scientific data pods dropped from missiles following launch and nuclear detonation.

Biological warfare test site 1965–1968

The atoll was subject to large-scale bioweapons testing over four years starting in 1965. The American strategic tests of bioweapons were as expensive and elaborate as the tests of the first hydrogen bombs at Eniwetok Atoll. They involved enough ships to have made the world's fifth-largest independent navy. One experiment involved a number of barges loaded with hundreds of rhesus monkeys. It is estimated that one jet with bioweapon spray "would probably be more efficient at causing human deaths than a ten-megaton hydrogen bomb."

In the lead up to biological warfare testing in the Pacific under Project 112 and Project SHAD, a new virus was discovered during the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program by teams from the Smithsonian's Division of Birds aboard a United States Army tugboat involved in the program. Initially, the name of that effort was to be called the Pacific Ornithological Observation Project but this was changed for obvious reasons. First isolated in 1964 the tick-borne virus was discovered in Ornithodoros capensis ticks, found in a nest of common noddy (Anous stolidus) at Sand Island, Johnston Atoll. It was designated Johnston Atoll Virus and is related to influenza.

In February, March, and April 1965 Johnston Atoll was used to launch biological attacks against U.S. Army and Navy vessels  south-west of Johnston island in vulnerability, defense and decontamination tests conducted by the Deseret Test Center during Project SHAD under Project 112. Test DTC 64-4 (Deseret Test Center) was originally called "RED BEVA" (Biological EVAluation) though the name was later changed to "Shady Grove", likely for operational security reasons. The biological agents released during this test included Francisella tularensis (formerly called Pasteurella tularensis) (Agent UL), the causative agent of tularemia; Coxiella burnetii (Agent OU), causative agent of Q fever; and Bacillus globigii (Agent BG). During Project SHAD, Bacillus globigii was used to simulate biological warfare agents (such as anthrax), because it was then considered a contaminant with little health consequence to humans; however, it is now considered a human pathogen. Ships equipped with the E-2 multi-head disseminator and A-4C aircraft equipped with Aero 14B spray tanks released live pathogenic agents in nine aerial and four surface trials in phase B of the test series from February 12 to March 15, 1965, and in four aerial trials in phase D of the test series from March 22 to April 3, 1965.

According to Project SHAD veteran Jack Alderson who commanded the Army tugs, area three at Johnston Atoll was located at the most downwind part of the island and consisted of an collapsible Nissen hut to be used for weapons preparation and some communications.

Chemical weapon storage 1971–2001

In 1970, Congress redefined the island's military mission as the storage and destruction of chemical weapons. The United States Army leased  on the Atoll to store chemical weapons held in Okinawa, Japan. Johnston Atoll became a chemical weapons storage site in 1971 holding about 6.6 percent of the U.S. military chemical weapon arsenal. The chemical weapons were brought from Okinawa under Operation Red Hat with the re-deployment of the 267th Chemical Company and consisted of rockets, mines, artillery projectiles, and bulk 1-ton containers filled with Sarin, Agent VX, vomiting agent, and blister agent such as mustard gas. Chemical weapons from West Germany and World War II era weapons from the Solomon Islands were also stored on the island after 1990. Chemical agents were stored in the high security Red Hat Storage Area (RHSA) which included hardened igloos in the weapon storage area, the Red Hat building (#850), two Red Hat hazardous waste warehouses (#851 and #852), an open storage area, and security entrances and guard towers.

Some of the other weapons stored at the site were shipped from U.S. stockpiles in West Germany in 1990. These shipments followed a 1986 agreement between the U.S. and West Germany to move the munitions. Merchant ships carrying the munitions left West Germany under Operation Golden Python and Operation Steel Box in October 1990 and arrived at Johnston Island November 6, 1990. Although the ships were unloaded within nine days, the unpacking and storing of munitions continued into 1991. The remainder of the chemical weapons was a small number of World War II era weapons shipped from the Solomon Islands.

Agent Orange storage 1972–1977

Agent Orange was brought to Johnston Atoll from South Vietnam and Gulfport, Mississippi in 1972 under Operation Pacer IVY. It was stored on the northwest corner of the island known as the Herbicide Orange Storage site, dubbed the "Agent Orange Yard". The Agent Orange was eventually destroyed during Operation Pacer HO on the Dutch incineration ship MT Vulcanus in the Summer of 1977. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that 1,800,000 gallons of Herbicide Orange were stored at Johnston Atoll, and that an additional 480,000 gallons stored at Gulfport, Mississippi, was brought to Johnston Atoll for destruction. Leaking barrels during storage, and spills during re-drumming operations, contaminated both the storage area and the lagoon with herbicide residue and its toxic contaminant 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin.

Chemical weapon demilitarization mission 1990–2000

The Army's Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) was the first full-scale chemical weapons disposal facility. Built to incinerate chemical munitions on the island, planning started in 1981, construction began in 1985, and it was completed five years later. Following completion of construction and facility characterization, JACADS began operational verification testing (OVT) in June 1990. From 1990 until 1993, the Army conducted four planned periods of Operational Verification Testing (OVT), required by Public Law 100–456. OVT was completed in March 1993, having demonstrated that the reverse assembly incineration technology was effective, and that JACADS operations met all environmental parameters. Transition to full-scale operations started in May 1993, but the facility did not begin full-scale operations until August 1993.

All of the chemical weapons once stored on Johnston Island were demilitarized, and the agents incinerated at JACADS, with the process completed in year 2000. Later, the destruction of legacy hazardous waste material associated with chemical weapon storage and cleanup was completed. JACADS was demolished by 2003, and the island was stripped of its remaining infrastructure and environmentally remediated.

Closure and remaining structures
In 2003, structures and facilities, including those used in JACADS, were removed, and the runway was marked closed. The last flight out for official personnel was June 15, 2004. After this date, the base was completely deserted, with the only structures left standing being the Joint Operations Center (JOC) building at the east end of the runway, chemical bunkers in the weapon storage area, and at least one Quonset hut.

Built in 1964, the JOC is a four-floor concrete and steel administration building for the island that has no windows and was built to withstand a category IV tropical cyclone as well as atmospheric nuclear tests. The building remains standing but was gutted entirely in 2004, during an asbestos abatement project. All doors of the JOC except one have been welded shut. The ground floor has a side building attached which served as a facility for decontamination that contained three long snaking corridors and 55 shower heads one could walk through during decontamination.

Rows of bunkers in the Red Hat Storage Area remain intact; however, an agreement was established between the U.S. Army and EPA Region IX on August 21, 2003, that the Munitions Demilitarization Building (MDB) at JACADS would be demolished and the bunkers in the RHSA used for disposal of construction rubble and debris. After placement of the debris inside the bunkers, they were secured and the entries blocked with a concrete block barrier (a.k.a. King Tut Block) to prevent access to the bunker interior.

Contamination and cleanup

Over the years, leaks of Agent Orange as well as chemical weapon leaks in the weapon storage area occurred where caustic chemicals such as sodium hydroxide were used to mitigate toxic agents during cleanup. Larger spills of nerve and mustard agent within the MCD at JACADS also took place. Small releases of chemical weapon components from JACADS were cited by the EPA. Multiple studies of the Johnston Atoll environment and ecology have been conducted and the atoll is likely the most studied island in the Pacific.

Studies at the atoll on the impact of PCB contamination in reef damselfish (Abudefduf sordidus) demonstrated that embryonic abnormalities could be used as a metric for comparing contaminated and uncontaminated areas. Some PCB contamination in the lagoon was traced to Coast Guard disposal practices of PCB-laden electrical transformers.

In 1962, plutonium pollution following three failed nuclear missile launches was heaviest near the destroyed launch emplacement, in the lagoon offshore of the launch pad, and near Sand Island. The contaminated launch site was stripped, the debris gathered and buried in the island's 1962 expansion. A comprehensive radiological survey was completed in 1980 to record transuranic contamination remaining from the 1962 THOR missile aborts. The Air Force also initiated research on methods to remove dioxin contamination from soil resulting from leakage of the stored herbicide Agent Orange. Since then, U.S. defense authorities have surveyed the island in a series of studies.

Contaminated structures were dismantled and isolated within the former Thor Launch Emplacement No. 1 (LE-1) as a start for the cleanup program. About 45,000 tons of soil contaminated with radioactive isotopes was collected and placed into a fenced area covering  on the north of the island. The area was known as the Radiological Control Area, and heavily contaminated with highly radioactive Plutonium. The Pluto Yard is on the site of the LE1 where the 1962 missile explosion occurred and also where a highly contaminated loading ramp was buried that was made for loading plutonium contaminated debris onto small boats that was dumped at sea. Remediation included a plutonium "mining" operation called the Johnston Atoll Plutonium Contaminated Soil Cleanup Project. The collected radioactive soil and other debris was buried in a landfill created within the former LE-1 area from June 2002 through November 11, 2002. Remediation at the Radiation Control Area included the construction of a 61-centimeter-thick cap of coral sealing the landfill. Permanent markers were placed at each corner of the landfill to identify the landfill area.

After closing
The atoll was placed up for auction via the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in 2005 before it was withdrawn. The stripped Johnston Island was briefly offered for sale with several deed restrictions in 2005 as a "residence or vacation getaway," with potential usage for "eco-tourism" by the GSA's Office of Real Property Utilization and Disposal. The proposed sale included the unique postal zip code 96558, formerly assigned to the Armed Forces in the Pacific. The proposed sale did not include running water, electricity, or activation of the closed runway. The details of the offering were outlined on GSA's website and in a newsletter of the Center for Land Use Interpretation as unusual real estate listing # 6384, Johnston Island.

On August 22, 2006, Johnston Island was struck by Hurricane Ioke. The eastern eye-wall passed directly over the atoll, with winds exceeding . Twelve people were on the island when the hurricane struck, part of a crew sent to the island to deliver a USAF contractor who sampled groundwater contamination levels. All 12 survived and one wrote a first hand account of taking shelter from the storm in the JOC building.

On December 9, 2007, the United States Coast Guard swept the runway at Johnston Island of debris and used the runway in the removal and rescue of an ill Taiwanese fisherman to Oahu, Hawaii. The fisherman was transferred from the Taiwanese fishing vessel Sheng Yi Tsai No. 166 to the Coast Guard buoy tender Kukui on December 6, 2007. The fisherman was transported to the island, and then picked up by a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules rescue plane from Kodiak, Alaska.

Since the base was closed, the atoll has been visited by many vessels crossing the Pacific, as the deserted atoll has a strong lure due to the activities once performed there. Visitors have blogged about stopping there during a trip, or have posted photos of their visits.

In 2010, a Fish and Wildlife survey team identified a swarm of Anoplolepis ants that had invaded the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The crazy ants threatened vital seabird colonies, and needed to be eradicated. The "Crazy Ant Strike Team" project was led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who achieved a 99% reduction in ant numbers by 2013. The team camped in a bunker that was previously used as a fallout shelter and office. Full eradication of the species from the atoll was achieved in 2021.

Demographics

Johnston Atoll has never had any indigenous inhabitants, although during the late part of the 20th century, there were averages of about 300 American military personnel and 1,000 civilian contractors present at any given time. Today it is uninhabited except for a handful of workers with the Crazy Ant Strike Team project, who live on the island for six months at a time with little outside contact.

The primary means of transportation to this island was the airport, which had a paved military runway, or alternatively by ship via a pier and ship channel through the atoll's coral reef system. The islands were wired with 13 outgoing and 10 incoming commercial telephone lines, a 60-channel submarine cable, 22 DSN circuits by satellite, an Autodin with standard remote terminal, a digital telephone switch, the Military Affiliated Radio System (MARS station), a UHF/VHF air-ground radio, and a link to the Pacific Consolidated Telecommunications Network (PCTN) satellite. Amateur radio operators occasionally transmitted from the island, using the KH3 call-sign prefix. The United States Undersea Cable Corporation was awarded contracts to lay underwater cable in the Pacific. A cable known as "Wet Wash C" was laid in 1966 between Makua, Hawaii, and the Johnston Island Air Force Base.  surveyed the route and laid  of cable and 45 repeaters. These cables were manufactured by the Simplex Wire and Cable Company with the repeaters being supplied by Felten and Guilleaume. In 1993 a satellite communication ground station was added to augment the atoll's communications capability.

Johnston Atoll's economic activity was limited to providing services to American military and contractor personnel residing on the island. The island was regularly resupplied by ship or barge, and all foodstuffs and manufactured goods were imported. The base had six 2.5-megawatt electrical generators using diesel engines. The runway was also available to commercial airlines for emergency landings (a fairly common event), and for many years it was a regular stop on Continental Micronesia airline's "island hopper" service between Hawaii and the Marshall Islands.

There were no official license plates issued for use on Johnston Atoll. U.S. government vehicles were issued U.S. government license plates and private vehicles retained the plates from which they were registered. According to reputable license plate collectors, a number of Johnston Atoll license plates were created as souvenirs, and have even been sold online to collectors, but they were not officially issued.

Areas

Launch facilities

See also
List of Guano Island claims

References

External links

 Video from 1923 USS Tanager Expedition Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Multi-Agency Education Project of the University of Hawaii
 "Cleaning up Johnston Atoll" (2005), Plutonium contamination on the Island.
 Johnston Island Memories Site – the personal website of an AFRTS serviceman stationed there in 1975 to 1976
 Coast Guard Medevac from Johnston Island – photo from December 2007 medevac operation
 JACADS – Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System – history of nuclear testing, and JACADS Sarin and VX nerve agent disposal
 CyberSarge – Pictorial evidence of chemical weapons disposal
 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Johnston Island National Wildlife Refuge – Contains additional information on wildlife and clean-up efforts
 Mark in the Pacific  (archive version) – website about the end of Johnston Atoll
 Flickr: Laysan at Johnston Island – Photographs of stop-over on abandoned Johnston Atoll in 2012
 The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean, U.S. Department of State Legal Advisor, January 9, 1933. .

Pacific Ocean atolls of the United States
United States Minor Outlying Islands
American nuclear test sites
Bird sanctuaries of the United States
Former populated places in Oceania
Geography of Micronesia
Islands of Oceania
Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act
National Wildlife Refuges in the United States insular areas
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument
Protected areas established in 2009
Uninhabited Pacific islands of the United States
Important Bird Areas of United States Minor Outlying Islands
Important Bird Areas of Oceania
Seabird colonies

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Der Snowboardcross-Wettbewerb der Männer bei den Olympischen Winterspielen 2018 wurde am 15. Februar 2018 im Bokwang Phoenix Park ausgetragen. Olympiasieger wurde der Franzose Pierre Vaultier, vor Jarryd Hughes aus Australien und dem Spanier Regino Hernández.

Ergebnisse

Platzierungsrunde

Achtelfinale

Lauf 1

Lauf 2

Lauf 3

Lauf 4

Lauf 5

Lauf 6

Lauf 7

Lauf 8

Viertelfinale

Lauf 1

Lauf 2

Lauf 3

Lauf 4

Halbfinale

Lauf 1

Lauf 2

Finalläufe

Kleines Finale

Finale

Weblinks
 Ergebnisse auf der offiziellen Webseite der Olympischen Winterspiele 2018

Snowboardcross Männer


text:
/**
 * Query
 * Factory function which holds all information about a query instance
 * Scrapers get their meta info from a query object and write their results
 * back into the same query using methods.
 * The results array itself is private and can only be modified by the addResult() method.
 * @param {object} args Query information to pass on to the scraper
 * @return An object of methods
 */

const Query = (args) => {
  // These are private inside the factory. Why? Because I can!
  const results = []
  const config = {
    from: args.from,
    to: args.to,
    maxPrice: args.maxPrice,
    // startDate: args.startDate || new Date(),
    // days: args.days || 60
  }

  return {
    /**
     * Pushes a result to the private result array
     * @param {object} args Flight information
     */
    addResult(args) {
      results.push({
        date: args.date,
        time: args.time,
        price: args.price,
        currency: args.currency,
        airline: args.airline
      })
    },
    /**
     * Returns the current results array
     * @return [array] Array of result objects
     */
    getResults() {
      return results
    },
    /**
     * Returns the query arguments
     * @return [object] Query information
     */
    getConf() {
      return config;
    }
  }
}

module.exports = Query;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Through the lens, I see summer fleeting by.
You showed very beautiful place ! Great photos !
Great shots for the day! Love the boats!! Hope you have a great new week! Enjoy!
Wonderful series, Carol! I love the shots of the boats. And the colorful life vest is a neat shot! Enjoy your week!
Great photos as always. I especially like the boat with all its sails set moving out of the harbor.
Good places or bad places, a shortcut is always an interesting journey!
I like the colorful life jackets, all lined up and waiting for summer fun in the sun!
Your shots are always so beautiful.
Definitely a summery post - there's nothing like a summer near the ocean.
Feathers and boats you always wonder where they have been.
Hi Carol, I love these summer time pictures. Wishing you a very nice week.
Nice photographs. I cannot believe summer is going by so fast.
Thanks for your household hint.
I love your lobster boat and your sailboat!
What a great photo series!
Mmm,grilled fresh lobster from that boat I could go for. I like the colourful life-jackets hung out to dry.
That was a great close up of the boat Carol. Thanks for all your comments. have a good week.
Nice as always. i like that quote especially.
Nice as always, I like that quote especially.
Beautiful captures. I like the way you pair them with memes.
Calling by from Our World Tuesday, what a lovely series of photos.
How gorgeous your photos are! I love the ocean and your ocean pictures are a balm this day. Beautiful haiku too.
All of the pictures are great. The last one though, just feels summery to me, and the bright colors make it even better.
Lovely pictures...and about the feather...was thinking of the one I found on our doorstep yesterday. It was unusual to find it there and it's been on my mind!
What a lovely series! Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful haiga in response on Busons haiku Carol ... your post are always a pleasure to read and look at.
Through the lens, four seasons have been captured.
I love feathers too! Love your collection of photos!
A perfect b&w contribution for the b&w theme!
Summer does seem to be going by fast. These are lovely photos.
I just saw a recipe for lemonade with fresh blueberries!
Needed that rain quote today!! I became quite taken with feathers in the fall ... now when I see them around the pond makes me feel like a bird's been hurt... Still hoping to make it up towards you this summer. Will be in touch!
Wonderful light and shadow on your feather shot.
Carol, once again your haiku and photos are so inspirational! I am looking forward to fall and a drop in the humidity of summer. I know it will be here before we know it!!
Beautiful series. I love your outlook on the feathers. With so many birds living on my farm, I tend to take the beauty of their feathers for granted. Thank you for reminding me that each one is a gift.
Love all the life jackets piled up!
Carol, I emailed you, and I hope I have the right email address. If you don't get my email, let me know.
Very nice selection of pictures !
A day on the water would be so welcome right now!
Such amazing shots! Love them!
Beautiful serier of photos. I love the ship in the last shot.
I can almost feel summer leaving us! I know it isn't even August yet, but there have been a few cooler nights and it makes me sad. Your photos, however, make me happy!
Fog never looked so stunning!
Beautiful photos as always, Carol.
I notice the fog right away in your sky shot! It looks amazing..
beautiful sky. hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Your misty photo and the haikus warm my heart.
Sky posted this week is amazing! I adore L. Hughes quote.
Very nice photographs. You make me want to visit. The sky in the first one was unbelievable. The lobster boat made me want a lobster. We went to Cape Cod on vacation when I was a child and we'd each get our own lobster. That was a big deal for a little kid.
Oh, I love that pink sky Carol!
Love that shot with the fog blanket!
Visiting back from SWF. Love the pink clouds and layered fog.
Enjoying other shots and haikus.
Thanks for stopping by, happy weekend.
HI that first shot of the sky is awesome.
Lovely set of haiku and photos!
That misty, foggy sky from after the rain is extraordinary!!
It is good to finally let go of the pain of a loss and dwell in the circle of memories that bring joy! Have a great weekend!
I know how those waves of grief go: Sometimes they threaten to drown you, and at other times they only tease you. I'm glad the waves are subsiding for you.
Dear Carol, your haiku... tug my heart strings... and I was just thinking today as I was driving through Northern California that summer is going way too fast... I'm not ready to feel Fall in the air... but I think it is coming soon... So, I'm going to soak up these days and the colors and feathers of your gorgeous photos! Have a good weekend my haiku friend.
sweet doves! love the sky photo!
The orchids look like you painted them by hand. The shadows are lovely.
Hello Carol, thanks for sharing your doves and images with my critter party.. Enjoy your weekend!
your haiku sparked my own missing my love's touch; warm love always radiated from his hands. your orchids are maginificent in their beauty.
Enchanting orchids and lovely soft shadow cast by them. And loved your comment on your delightful black and white feather. A single, lone, dropped feather does seem like some fragile connection with other worlds.
Through the lens, secrets of summer are exposed.
Nice shots! The orchids are awesome!
So far it has been a lovely summer here. looks like it's great there too!
love your zen angel fish Carol!
so many beautiful images....i really enjoyed your quote today!!!
sweet angel fish and love the bird photos. I've been seeing baby birds too!
Lovely shot of the little doves. Love the Cormorant, too!
I always enjoy the simple beauty of your words, photographs and artwork. Blessings to you and muse dog.
The fish sketch is very sweet, and more lovely photos too!
Thank you for visiting from Sunday Sketches!
Your angel fish is cute, the orchid photo looks like a frilly tropical fighting fish. The doves are adorable too, how fun to see the babies! I had been wanting to see one in my yard and one has been showing up but I mainly hear the cooing rather than seeing the bird. Your haikus are thought-provoking, along with the tall ship under sail.
Such a lovely collection of images and thoughts! So happy to have found you again. I LOVE the Black and White wednesday shot!
My blog is also mostly art and photography. Thanks fro dropping by. I started following!
Nice photos. I like the little sketch. It is adorable.
please forgive my late arrival i have been under the weather. my hope is bright and full of love, may your heart feel all of those who love you ever close.
Angel fish, orchids and an intimate island!
What a perfectly lovely post for the letter I.
And for all the other neat memes you participate in!


This year marks the 150th anniversary of Knutsford Royal May Day!
On this day in 1864 all of the children in the parish schools marched in procession with flowers and wreaths, along with the Cheshire Rifle Volunteers Band and a cart carrying the May Queen and her ladies-in-waiting. Then, as now, the procession ended on the Heath in the center of town, where the Queen was crowned.
Today the tradition is augmented with several dances, both as part of the procession and as displays before and after the crowning; morris, hornpipe, and sword dances are among the perennial favorites. Maypole dances round out the proceedings.
This according to "Royal May Day!" by Derek Schofield (English dance and song LXXVI/1 [spring 2014] pp. 32–35). Below, selections from the 145th celebration.
BONUS UPDATE: The 2017 celebration.


text:
Stricter CDL Rule Goes Into Effect Sept. 30
CDL holders can be disqualified for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in a personal vehicle.
Changes to the rule governing commercial driver's licenses will make obtaining and keeping the credentials more difficult for some truckers.
The changes, which go into effect Sept. 30, allow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration greater latitude in revoking licenses and disqualifying drivers. Under the changes, which were mandated as part of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, the FMCSA can now disqualify CDL holders:
who violate drug- and alcohol-related traffic laws while operating an automobile;
who drive a truck after their CDL is revoked, suspended or canceled;
who cause a fatality through negligent or criminal operation of a truck.
Other rule changes are to definitions. A serious traffic violation now includes drivers who fail to obtain a CDL but drive a truck anyway; driving a truck without a CDL in the driver's possession; and operating a truck without the correct credentials for the vehicle being driven or type of cargo being transported.
Perhaps the biggest change, though, is one that allows the FMCSA's chief safety officer to disqualify, on an emergency basis, CDL drivers who pose an "imminent hazard."
The final rule can be viewed on the FMCSA website (www.fmcsa.dot.gov).
Engineered for superior calls in high-noise environments.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
You are here: Home / Movie Reviews / THE LITTLE THINGS
THE LITTLE THINGS, or to be precise, "the little things" is a well-thought-out film, and if putting a film together with the pre-fab precision of a Lego® sculpture were all it took to make a great flick, such it would be. Alas, the overweening self-conscious sense of profundity fails to convince even the most willing observer to play along. At least not after the first 15 minutes, when even the derivative elements peter out into endless entropy.
Denzel Washington is, as always, Denzel Washington, which is not a bad thing considering his gift for both emotional immediacy and whip-snap intensity whose unpredictability never fails to engage. His character's name is Joe "Deke" Deacon and he's an ex-Los Angeles detective currently living a much quieter life as a deputy sheriff in Kern County. He finds himself back in his old haunts, though, when there's no one else available to retrieve some crucial evidence from the LAPD. Once there, and thanks thanks to running afoul of department bureaucracy, he gets swept up in a murder case that reminds him of the one case from his LAPD time that he just can't let go.
He also runs afoul of Detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), a tightly wound crusader who does not take it well when Deke's truck blocks his sedan in the police parking lot. There are reasons that Jim is stressed. He's the public face of the investigation into the murders of four prostitutes in the last two months, and the pressure from above is overwhelming. He's also the department golden boy, the one who can't afford to fail. Of course, they take an instant dislike to each other, Deke being a laid-back guy, and Jim having the arrogance of ambition that renders him diffident in his interactions with others. That his ambition is fueled by a genuine, almost naïve thirst for justice in the world doesn't make him any more likeable. The story, however, demands that they bond, and so they do, over a new murder. When Deke, who comes along for the ride when the call comes in, discovers an obscure clue, Jim is impressed. When Deke notices a similarity to that old case that haunts him, he wants in on the investigation.
Filmed with the cool dispassion of a neo-noir, perfectly reflecting its overall mood of hinky moral compasses and guilty secrets, it does have clever visual touches. A rear-view mirror showing Deke's past, or the past blending into the present seamlessly, thereby reinforcing the mantra Deke repeats to himself about the presence of the past as the visions of those previous murders stare at him wordlessly. For all the slickness of the direction, the story is anything but subtle in making its underlying points. Plot points have a similar failing. The nubile young woman assuring her jogging buddy that she can make the last three blocks home on her own in the dark Los Angeles streets naturally shows up on a missing flier the next day, and the lone young woman who begins the film by driving a deserted highway at night only to find herself being terrorized by another driver on the road is the classic blonde victim of countless slasher films.
The chemistry between the two leads that would carry a flawed film never gels. Malek is as deliberately paced in speech, motion, and method as the film itself, which works for the former better than it does for the latter. Malek is almost daring us to find a reason to like this guy, a bold choice but one he can't afford here. Worse, the one thing a suspense film should never do is drag, and this one does. Not even the cat-and-mouse game played by the main suspect (Jared Leto) is less interesting than the limp Leto essays along with the greasy hair and paunch. The mystery of why Deke left is played on parallel track to the mystery of the dead girls, and both scatter far to few clues to keep the momentum going, despite excellent supporting performances that would otherwise help carry the weight by Michael Hyatt as a coroner with mixed feelings about Deke, and Chris Bauer as Deke's garrulous quondam partner who has little use for college-educated upstarts like Jim.
THE LITTLE THINGS is so much less than the sum of its considerable parts. A noble kind of failure, rife with lofty goals that have Deke and Jim pondering the existence of a higher deity after examining a corpse freshly pulled from the water. But it's an iffy follow-through. It's never quite explained why it's set in 1990, for example. In keeping with the film's title, and premise, the little things are given great consideration, though, and if nothing else, there is something puckish about Deke's obsession with a radio station that only plays love songs from the 1950s and 60s, so that when he and Jim are giving chase to a suspect, Little Peggy March can be heard crooning "I Will Follow Him". It's the little things, after all.
Tagged With: guilty secrets, LAPD, murders, police detectives, serial killer
Reasons for rating:disturbing images, language and nudity
Cast:Chris Bauer, Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, Michael Hyatt, Rami Malek
Director:John Lee Hancock
Writer:John Lee Hancock
Genre:Drama, Mystery, Suspense
No rating results yet


The Elegance 8-Drawer Double Dresser by Daniel's Amish at Virginia Furniture Market in the Rocky Mount, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Virginia area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.


Rufus is a large, strong, friendly, black Labrador who came to live with us a year ago. He was very much loved by his previous owners but needed a new home when they went abroad to work. Their parting words were, "He could probably do with a bit more training..."
I tried to teach him basic commands on my own but I wasn't very successful. It was just too easy to let him get away with what he wanted to do and not what I wanted him to do. So recently I signed up for proper training sessions with him. That has been a revelation. With the right guidance and the insistence of the trainers Rufus has shown me just what he can do - not only could he be very good, he seems to enjoy the challenge.
Learning how to train, or discipline, my dog has also made me think about discipling. The basis of dog training is that the dog wants to please the owner so when he does something right he gets lots of praise. Discipling in faith is not very different.
St Augustine famously said that "our heart is restless until it rests in you" and learning how to please the God we love can be equally joyful for people. It won't be without effort and constant practice but it is worthwhile. Sometimes the training is concentrated - a study course, a conference, individual direction - and at other times it will be in the course of daily life as we learn to live in peace with our God and with those around us. For Christians the goal is to fulfil Jesus' two commandments, summarised as "Love God" and "Love your neighbour as yourself." Come - to God, sit - and listen, stay - in faith.


text:
– japoński piłkarz występujący na pozycji obrońcy. Obecnie występuje w Omiya Ardija.

Kariera klubowa
Od 2008 roku występował w klubach Kawasaki Frontale i Omiya Ardija.

Bibliografia

Japońscy piłkarze
Piłkarze Kawasaki Frontale
Piłkarze Omiya Ardija
Sportowcy związani z Koshigayią
Ludzie urodzeni w Koshigayi
Urodzeni w 1985


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Best quality packing product is utilized for all transfer to guarantee the security of your goods.
Caring, Fit, Educated & Specialist workers, incentivised for quality.
We have a huge fleet of trucks of all different sizes and shapes suitable for every single relocation, and also will certainly do our best to suit for brief notification bookings.
There's no place like home. While much of us take comfort in acquainted environments, as the leading removalists, we know that building a 'nest' in a new place can fill us with numerous blended feelings. We make every effort making this a positive experience by helping our clients every step of the way – from getting ready, to getting there, to getting chosen all your self-storage and also removalists requirements. Our experienced team has the resources, knowledge as well as understanding to make your moving as quick and simple as possible, suggesting you save time, money, and also trouble.
Are you planning to relocate some furniture? We are the ideal solution for you. Despite just how huge or small your moving needs, our specialist as well as handy movers are here to assist you. We can get your things moved quickly and efficiently with our variety of sizes and also removalist experts. Whether you are moving a few little furnitures or your whole home, our furniture removal technicians will have you moved within the very same day. We intend to save you money and time by supplying a removalist service that is incomparable.
Select our professional furniture removalists and have outright peace of mind knowing that your most priceless personal belongings will be moved safely without a scratch to your brand-new location.
We understand that moving office has its very own one-of-a-kind difficulties, from organising staff as well as developing workplace furnishings layouts to the organized transfer of IT equipment and also workplace records, all which should be done with as little 'down time' as feasible to make sure that your service is up and running once more in an immediate.
We will make sure that every workstation as well as counter is dismantled as well as re-configured effectively at the new premises/office. From little nuts/screws to cables, hefty web server shelfs, board tables as well as other goods, we offer to remove everything. We offer a team to take apart, reconstruct, disconnect as well as reconnect any workstations, computer systems or servers that require removaling. We make use of professional removaling crates, computer system bags as well as an entire variety of purpose constructed moving equipment, which will drastically minimize the time of your moving.
We supply a knowledgeable project manager to deal with your team to go through each action of the removaling process. There are lots of components that should be handled and successfully executed to guarantee organisation connection throughout the relocation. Our team of removalists have the expertise as well as know-how to handle your office/ service moving. Not every removalist has the training or tools to accommodate the special demands of removaling your office. By calling us you can be certain of a safe as well as reliable workplace relocation with a very little difficulty.
Packing for a relocation is a tiring, apparently relentless job. Who understood you had that much things? Let us take away the trouble and also complete the job in a great deal less time. Our packing team and also experienced, armed with the right materials for the job and will treat your items with the care they deserve.
Whether it's just packing, or just unpacking, or both, you'll take advantage of our know-how as well as effectiveness in the relocating procedure the more you make the most of our optional removalist solutions and also get us involved. You don't should be senior, accident prone or careless making use of our preparatory solutions – for the majority of our customers it's about getting the job done appropriately, learning from people well-informed for future reference, staying clear of damages, as well as preserving the safety and security and also integrity of expensive essential furniture units and also appliances.
What Can You Anticipate On The Day Of The Relocation In Port Melbourne?
Our removalist team will certainly message you on the day of the relocate to ensure every little thing goes inning accordance with plan.
The movers will function thoroughly to fill your furniture and also possessions in our vehicle and secure every little thing with coverings and straps.
The items will be moved to the location on schedule and will certainly show up when you anticipate them to.
Our removalists will unload every little thing and also place the items where you want them to be.
They will reconstruct any dismantled furniture swiftly and make certain whatever is in move-in ready condition.
As soon as the task is completed to your satisfaction, you will receive the invoice.
What Can Our Budget Removalists Assist You With In Port Melbourne?
Spare yourself from the problem of relocating and face the new life ahead of you with a relaxed smile. We offer high quality options for all your removal needs. Whether it be house removal, furnishings removal, or workplace removal, our trained removalists more than happy to serve you. We pride ourselves on offering a higher level of service and quality compared to others. With our extremely trained employees, our many years' hands on experience, as well as our modern fleet of vehicles, we have the ability to supply an unrivaled removal and relocation service at highly affordable rates.


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Sunday Dawg Chow: Browns news (4/17/22)
More of the latest Browns news and notes from around the web in today's dose of the Sunday Dawg Chow.
By Thomas Moore@Tom_RedRight88 Apr 17, 2022, 7:30am EDT
Share All sharing options for: Sunday Dawg Chow: Browns news (4/17/22)
Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports
Browns hope to get defensive tackle Taven Bryan to reach his ceiling (cleveland.com) - Taven Bryan was the 29th pick in 2018 NFL draft by Jacksonville. The defensive lineman comes to the Browns with great potential that had not been fully tapped in his time with the Jaguars.
Panthers limited options at QB could lead them to a Mayfield trade (Browns Wire) - While Robby Anderson may have no interest in acquiring Baker Mayfield, the Carolina Panthers may end up with no choice given the limited options available.
Nick Harris sees 'perfect opportunity to let loose' in 2022 (clevelandbrowns.com) - Nick Harris had no reason to panic when he learned he'd be starting in one of the Browns' biggest games of 2021 just two days in advance.
Will the Lions eventually make a play for Baker Mayfield? (PFT) - The news that the Lions have taken a closer look at Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett opens the door to the possibility that the Lions are thinking about life without Jared Goff. If they are, they need to be thinking about life with Baker Mayfield.
As Bill Belichick turns 70, here's how every NFL franchise has fared since he took over the Patriots (ESPN) - New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick turned70 on Saturday, which is the point when he once thought he'd say goodbye to coaching. In the NFL Films-produced "A Football Life" feature more than a decade ago, Belichick famously said: "I don't want to be like Marv Levy and coaching when I'm in my 70s." But since that time, he has slowly showed signs of softening his stance.
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa on new coach Mike McDaniel, offseason additions: 'Exciting times for all of us' (NFL.com) - The Miami Dolphins will face high expectations this fall after an attention-grabbing offseason that included the hiring of a new head coach, several free-agent additions and a blockbuster trade. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is certain to feel the brunt of those lofty assumptions as the former No. 3 overall pick enters a crucial third season with an upgraded roster surrounding him. Although he's expressed excitement for the upcoming season with his new offensive weapons, Tagovailoa is well aware of the one thing that will satisfy demands.
Two reportedly arrested after police interview Cowboys CB Kelvin Joseph in homicide investigation (Yahoo Sports) - Dallas police have arrested two men in connection with a fatal shooting that received renewed interest after Dallas Cowboys cornerback Kelvin Joseph was revealed to be involved, according to the Dallas Morning News' Aria Jones. Tivione English, 21, and Aries Jones, 28, reportedly face a murder charge in the death of Cameron Ray on March 18. Both men hail from Joseph's hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
NFL players try a different training camp: The broadcast booth (New York Times) - NFL broadcasters netted massive contracts this off-season. A league-organized boot camp prepares the players who want to follow their path.


Titanium and teflon ring (Matte finish).
This ring has a lead time of approximately 14 business days.
YOU can specify the width of the ring.
FREE engraving on the inside of all Titanium rings.
Please supply your correct finger/ring size upon placing your order.
Manufacturing will only commence once we have received your payment and exact specifications.
For your own safety and insurance, please select the NEXT DAY DELIVERY shipping option upon placing any fine jewellery orders.


Enjoy a night of shopping, dining, and cocktail specials in participating businesses Downtown Winter Haven. Register for your FREE map online and pick them up on the corner of Central Ave and 4th Street NW at 5:30PM.
Come out and support your local small businesses in Downtown Winter Haven on November 30th! Be sure to visit each of the participating businesses and pick up some unique goodies for your holiday shopping!


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Q: How to solve PWC6338: Cannot convert "2022-02-01" for the attribute birthDate of the bean java.util.Date? So below is the code I made to create a register form for user to register for new account.
signUp.html
<form class="user" method="post" action="signUp.jsp">

        <input type="text" id="name" name="name"
               placeholder="Username">

        <input type="email" name="email" id="email"
               placeholder="Email Address">

        <input type="text" name="phoneNumber" id="phoneNumber"
               placeholder="Contact Number">

        Birthday:
        <input type="date" id="birthDate" name="birthDate" class="form-control">

        <select class="form-control" name="gender" id="gender">
            <option value="">Select your Gender</option>
            <option value="M">Male</option>
            <option value="F">Female</option>
            <option value="N">Not Specified</option>
        </select>

            <input type="password" name="password"
                   id="password" placeholder="Password">

            <input type="password" class="form-control"
                   id="exampleRepeatPassword" placeholder="Repeat Password">

    <input type="submit" class="btn btn-primary btn-user btn-block" value="Submit">
</form>

signUp.jsp

<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<%@page import="domain.Account" %>
<jsp:useBean id="account"
             class="domain.Account" scope="session"></jsp:useBean>
<jsp:setProperty name="account" property="*" />

<jsp:useBean id="AccountDAId"
             class="da.AccountDA" scope="application">
</jsp:useBean>

        <%
            AccountDAId.addRecord(account);

            out.println("Congratulation " + account.getId() + ", your registration is successful! ");

        %>

        Back to login

The problem is whenever I tried to submit the form, it shows a error org.apache.jasper.JasperException: PWC6338: Cannot convert "2022-02-01" for the attribute birthDate of the bean java.util.Date: PWC6348: Property editor not registered with the PropertyEditorManager. I believe the error is something about the ability of bean to convert a HTML date input to Java format, can someone guide me on how to solve this problem? Million thanks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If managing money is a passion of yours, owning and operating an accounting franchise may be your calling. Accounting franchises come in a variety of colors - technically, you could own a tax franchise and still be operating an accounting business. Several accounting franchise opportunities are noted on our website.


Only in 2013 had the US publicly admitted about the existence of the infamous Area 51. Its name is also mentioned in an official statement of Barack Obama, but although the veil of secrecy appeared to be falling off, the CIA refused to offer any additional details on this subject.
1. It had various names along the years, some used for cover up reasons and some for luring unaware working force to the remote area of Nevada where it is located. It was known as 'Paradise Ranch', and referred to as a rustic resort. Other names were 'Home Base', 'Water Town', and 'Dreamland', none of this sending suspicions about a top-secret governmental facility. The CIA insists that the correct name for it is either Homey Airport, or Groom Lake, but we all know it as Area 51, a name first mentioned in a CIA document from the Vietnam war.
2. Decades after the Cold War, reports have surfaced revealing mounting evidence of the existence of the A-12 spy plane – an aircraft with advanced flight capabilities developed inside Area 51. According to the existing documents, the plane could reach speeds up to 3,500 km/h and remain undetected from ground radars.
3. Staff only worked during the night when building the 9,000 foot long runway for the testing of A-12, so that it wouldn't draw any suspicious eyes, and no clear pictures or video could be taken.
4. In April 1955, when Dwight Eisenhower was president, control of the area was given to CIA for developing and testing a scouting aircraft in a classified project named Aquatone.
5. You could have lobsters, oysters and even steak on a weakly basis at the Swedish buffet at Area 51.
6. Access inside the massive military base and a large amount of terrain that surrounds it is strictly forbidden for anyone not directly involved, but that didn't stop controversial material of extraterrestrial beings, fallen UFOs and other anomalies from surfacing from time to time.
7. There is a strip of land called The Nellis Range near the Groom Lake facility used for testing weapons and technology vital for US military. During the Cold War, the Atmoic Energy Comission (AEC) supervised several atmospheric nuclear detonations for the sol purpose of developing novel atomic technology. The Air Force has publicly admitted its existence, but all activities are still classified.
8. A few reports suggest that the military exploited the secrecy agreement surrounding area 51, including the fact that people working there had to remain silent about what was going on at all times. In this acceptance, huge amounts of toxic wastes were dumped at the site. In 1996, after Robert Frost died because of the toxic fumes inhaled during working hours, his wife Helen took the matter to court, but she didn't reach any consent because the case was dismissed as a result of national security considerations. Other rumors speak of how other military facilities were illegally disposing their toxic trash at Area 51 because of its remote location and because the base is apparently exempt of any environmental laws.
9. After test pilot Ken Williams ejected from the cockpit before his plane had crashed, he landed near a pickup truck. The owners offered to take him to the wreckage, but he immediately refused and suggested them to leave the area immediately because the craft had radioactive material on board.
10. Most reports concerning UFOs between the 50s and 60s were written by pilots that were constantly scouting the area. A recent study showed that 70% of people living in the U.S. believe in the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial being, and most of them suspect the two are related in a way to Area 51.


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Sheldon Neuse Stats & Scouting Report - Baseball America
Sheldon Neuse
#21 | 3B | AthleticsOAK
Las Vegas Aviators
Name: Sheldon Lynn Neuse
Born: Dec 10, 1994 in Fort Worth, Texas USA
High School: Fossil Ridge HS, Fort Worth
College: Oklahoma
2019 348 .313 .388 .532 16
Career 1,415 .290 .350 .444 38
Drafted in the 2nd round (58th overall) by the Washington Nationals in 2016 (signed for $900,000)
A preseason first-team All-American coming into his sophomore season, Neuse's bat never got going that year as he followed a rough summer in the Cape Cod League by hitting for a lower average, worse strikeout rate and less power than he had as a freshman. But Neuse flushed that rough year with an excellent junior season. At the end of the regular season he was leading the Big 12 in slugging percentage (.672) and ranked among league leaders in on-base percentage (.464) and batting average (.376). Neuse's approach varies between big swings where he's looking to drive the ball and times when he stays in control and takes a shorter, more compact stroke and uses the whole field. If he can find a balance he projects as an average hitter with average power. A shortstop with Oklahoma, Neuse lacks the range for the position as a pro. He's slowed to where he is a slightly below-average runner. His best position as a pro is probably third base. He should be at least an average defender at the hot corner, with a plus arm. That plus arm gives him a significant fall-back option as a pitcher as he's 91-93, touching 95 mph with a promising slider who has pitched sporadically throughout his college career.
2019 Splits


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You are at:Home » Post Production: Sound and Music Quotes
Post Production: Sound and Music Quotes
4 Mins Read Quotes by Topic Updated: December 22, 2022
Often overlooked by many filmmakers, sound is one of the most important parts of a cinema experience. These quotes will help you understand the importance of sound and music and the key points to consider for your next film project
The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie.
Almost every picture is improved by a good musical score. To start with, music is a quick way to reach people emotionally. Over the years, movie music has developed so many clichés of its own that the audience immediately absorbs the intention of the moment: the music tells them, sometimes even in advance. Generally, that would be the sign of a bad score, but even bad scores work.
I changed my thinking about musical accompaniment from the time Hayasaka Fumio began working with me as composer of my film scores. Up until that time film music was nothing more than accompaniment – for a sad scene there was always sad music. This is the way most people use music, and it is ineffective. But from Drunken Angel onward, I have used light music for some key sad scenes, and my way of using music has differed from the norm – I don't put it in where most people do. Working with Hayasaka, I began to think in terms of the counterpoint of sound and image as opposed to the union of sound and image.
I always shoot my movies with score as certainly part of the dialogue. Music is dialogue. People don't think about it that way, but music is actually dialogue. And sometimes music is the final, finished, additional dialogue. Music can be one of the final characters in the film.
When you manage to express something with a look and the music instead of saying it with words or having the character speak, I think it's a more complete work.
I've always felt that music is more expressive than dialogue. I've always said that my best dialogue and screenwriter is Ennio Morricone. Because, many times, it is more important a note or an orchestration than a line said.
The basis of the cinema's appeal is emotional. Music's appeal is to a great extent emotional too. To neglect music, I think, is to surrender, wilfully or not, a chance of progress in filmmaking.
Silence is often very effective and its effect is heightened by the proper handling of the music before and after.
I've never used John Williams to tell people how to feel. I use John Williams to enhance my vision and my thoughts emotionally from scene to scene.
For me, music enhances the film and sometimes is a lifesaver to a scene – without music, the scene doesn't work; with music, it does. If you have a good picture and you put in good music, it's like pushing a winning hand at Poker. It's a good feeling. If you have a mediocre picture or bad picture and you put in good music, you can help yourself a little bit, but you can't save a bad film just with music.
Sometimes, scenes are great without any music at all.
The Exorcist is amazing because it recognizes that silences can be as powerful as sound effects.
What's Your Favorite Sound and Music Quote?
Finally, don't forget to bookmark the page and keep checking back for new sound and music quotes from the masters of cinema.