Latest / Children's Hour / 7.12.25 - Part 2

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7.12.25 - Part 2 · Children's Hour

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  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Reized Charn Story Hour as a reminder,
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  a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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  of other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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  Today we will be reading from a book about the
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  gold Gate Bridge. Your reader today is Diane. We will
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  continue with this book that we read last time. It's
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  called Golden Gate Building the Mighty Bridge. It was published
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  by Chronicle Books. It has a copyright year of twenty
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  twenty four and the author is Elizabeth Partridge. Piece by piece,
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  the tower rises up through sun and rain and swirling fog.
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  On clear days, you watch the crawler cray in chup
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  the tower. It's ninety foot boom, lifting sections like match
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  boxes far above the ground. The connector waves down to
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  the signal blur. The signal blur alerts the crane operator.
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  Three flashes of red lightnings ease the section down slowly,
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  then one more bright flash let her go with a bang.
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  Still it's still, and the rivening gang swings into action.
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  Rep The riveting gun secures the section. The gang drives
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  three hundred and fifty rivets a day, or they'll all
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  be out of a job. The foreman brings the blueprints
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  spy for you to see. Work is going well on
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  the South Anchorage in San Francisco, But now the workers
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  have to tackle the biggest challenge of all. The South
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  foundation pier has to stand out in the water where
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  the tides rip by day after day. No one has
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  ever dared sink a foundation here in tides like these.
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  You know what people say, impossible, You cross your fingers
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  and hope. Through the telescope you watch them build a long,
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  wooden wharf across the water and in a sturdy finder
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  of steel and concrete where the foundation pier will be built.
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  Workers call it to the bathtub. They will need to
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  blast away the soft rock far below, leaving only hard
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  bedrock for a strong footing. Dynamite charges are lowered down
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  from a barge. Construction divers in heavy diving suits drop
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  into the water like stones, going down down into the dark,
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  throwing waters to connect wires from the detteners on the
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  barge to the dynamite below. All divers back to the barge.
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  The powerful underwater blast barely leaves a ripple on a surface.
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  Concrete trucks row onto the wharf, tumbling the mix and
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  their drums as they wait for their turn. The foundation
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  pier tops all forty four feet above the water, exactly
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  matching the north pier. Here come the raising gang and
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  the riveting gang, the connector and signicler and crane operator.
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  With a clash of steel on steel, they finish the
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  tower and ricord time. Now both towers are up, each
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  one held together with six hundred thousand sturdy rivets. One morning,
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  the foreman has a surprise for you. Come on, kids,
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  he says, I'll take you to the top. You climb
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  into the construction elevator for the ride of your life. Up, up,
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  Up you go. The tower sways in the wind as
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  you climb to disney Ing heights. You almost tell him
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  to stop to take you back down, but you don't,
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  and then you're on top of the wirlworld, more than
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  seven hundred feet above the water. Soon a barge starts
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  from your pier and winding a metal cable all the
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  way to the south. Here twenty four more cables quickly follow,
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  and giant cranes raise them to the tops of the towers.
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  The bridgemen clinched the cables, lashed by the winds, chilled
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  by the fogs. As they build two wooden catwalks, swooping
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  from tower to tower. Not for the suspension cables. Three
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  spinning wheels climb from each anchorage, letting out pencil thin wire.
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  Motors thrum as the wheels work their way up to
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  the tops of the towers, then race down to mid
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  span as the wires are woven into thicker strands. In seconds,
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  crews flip the wires from wheel to wheel, and they
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  are off again, heading for the towers, back and forth,
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  the wheel's whiz, lights flashing and bells ringing to warn
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  everyone they're coming. Even in the thickest fault. Month after month,
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  workers climb and clamor reach, jump and swing acrobats suspended
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  between water and sky. Finally, powerful hydra hydraulic machines press
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  the strands into two perfectly round bridge cables every fifty feet. Still,
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  suspender ropes are hoisted up and over the main cables
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  and dangle down waiting for the roadway. No one is
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  saying impossible anymore more. Raising games are hired for the roadbed.
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  They put in trusses, still girders and giant cross beams
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  working out from the towers to keep the weight even.
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  Rivening gangs shadowed them, moving faster than ever to the
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  horizontal surface. The painters are everywhere, swinging their buckets full
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  of paint, bright against the grind water and blue sky.
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  They perch on plank scaffolds and dangle from the suspended ropes,
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  their brushes covering every square inch of steel. An engine
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  chugs across the road bed, pulling dump cars full of
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  concrete to spread from end to end. The cranes are
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  taken down and cruise through the final sight. Clean up
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  painters lay down white stripes on the smooth road bed.
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  The bridge is quiet and empty and waiting. Pa does
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  have to wake you early on opening day, May twenty seventh,
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  nineteen thirty seven. You're up before the sun. Paul and
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  Mama are waiting for you in the kitchen. Never thought
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  I'd see the day, says Paw, but I would miss
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  it for the worlds. In the crowd at the head
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  of the bridge, the foreman spots to you, ready, kids,
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  he asked, and flips two quarters through the air trip
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  acrosses on me, he says, with a grin. Right at
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  six am, the new fog horns on the bridge, last
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  loud and strong. You drop your corner in the collection
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  pail and rush forward with everyone by planes soar over
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  waggling their wings. You run and tug Mama and Papa long,
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  laughing and painting, until you can't run anymore. You feel
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  like you're right in the middle of the whole wide world.
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  The vast Pacific Ocean stretches out behind you, Americas in
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  front of you with their soaring mountains and plains and rivers,
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  and high above where the seagull circle the towers touch
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  the sky. That night, you go outside and listen to
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  the waves surge and splash against the rocks. Stars fill
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  the sky, and across the water, fireworks explode in mighty bursts.
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  High overhead, the bridge stands strong. Land to land and
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  ocean to sky. Here to the far horizon, the word
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  impossible seems like nothing at all. Our next story is
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  about boats, and the title of the book is Boats
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  Fast and Slow. It was published by Flying Eye Books,
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  an imprintive no Route, and it has a covery bright
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  year of twenty eighteen. The author is Iris Volant. Boats
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  are one of the most important creations in human history.
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  With the ability to venture to the waves, we have
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  fish for food, cross to oceans that seemed impossibly vast,
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  discover new lands, and open up trade around the world.
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  From great warships to small kayaks and everything in between.
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  Boats are a part of every culture in the world
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  with access to water, and are a testament to humankind's
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  resourcefulness and curiosity. In this book, we'll see how the
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  very first boats were made, discover the most important roles
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  that boats have played over thousands of years, and learn
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  about some of the most famous boats from history and legends.
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  What is a boat? Any vessel that is able to
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  carry people across water can be called a boat. There
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  are many different kinds of boats across the world, with
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  various uses depending on their size and purpose. Boats can
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  be powered in three ways by man power, for example,
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  with oars, with sails, or with engines. A broad term.
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  Not all boats look the same. Some marines are a
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  type of boat mainly used by militaries and designed to
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  go very deep underwater. The further you go underwater, the
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  higher the pressure from the water, so much that it
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  could crush a regular boat. That is why some marines
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  are made of steel and are cylindrical in shape to
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  spread the pressure evenly across the host surface. The slim
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  gondolas of Venus are also boats and are designed to
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  be as narrow as possible. This means they can easily
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  travel through the thin canals that wind their way through
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  the city. Gondolas used to be the main form of
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  transport around Venice, but today they are mostly a tourist attraction.
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  The first boats the earliest human settlements needed a steady
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  supply of water, not only for drinking, but also for
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  growing crops without having to rely on the rain. Over time,
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  humans began to venture across these bodies of water in
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  hope of more fertile land, food, and possibly just to explore.
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  Early attempts, the first boats were more like rafts made
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  of wooven reeds or animal skins. In ancient Mesopotamia, circular
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  boats called curve force were used to travel along the
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  Euphrates and Tigris rivers. People also built wooden rafts called
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  kelliks to transport goods. These rafts were supported from below
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  by inflating animal skins to keep them protected from the
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  rocky river bed log canoes. Many early boat builders across
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  the world realized that rather than joining small pieces of
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  wood or reads together to form a boat, they could
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  use the existing shape of a whole tree trunk. By
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  hillowing out the inside of a tree, they created water
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  type boats known as law canoes or dugout canoes. Many
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  Native American tribes used log canoes, discovering through trial and
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  error that appointed bow and rounded hull led to smoother,
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  faster travel through the water. Legendary boat raised bars the
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  ancient Egyptians. It worshiped many at tees that represented different
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  aspects of the world. The god of the sun was
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  named Ray, and it was his duty to carry the
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  sun across the sky in a mighty boat called a tte,
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  bringing light to all Egypt at nightfall. Ray traveled upon
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  a test through the underworld, where the evil snake Pep
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  waited to destroy him every evening, but each time a
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  Pep was defeated and the solar barge rose through the
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  sky again. War boats Humans have fought for territory on
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  land for thousands of years, but his boats became larger, faster,
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  and more technological advanced. It became possible to fight at sea,
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  and so their use in warfare grew rapidly. In general,
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  very large boats are called ships all though there are
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  some exceptions. One of the greatest ancient sea battles in
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  history was fought in the fifth century BC off the
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  coast of Somalis in Greece between the Greeks and the
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  invading Persians, who wanted to expand to their territory. Despite
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  being greatly outnumbered, it was the Greeks well designed warships
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  that secured their victory. Developed around six hundred BC by
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  the Corinthian people of ancient Greece, the tririm was a
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  ship designed specifically for warfare. Equipped with three rows of
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  horsemen and a ramming device that has about the tririm
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  was able to reach great speeds and attack enemy ships
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  with devastating force. Within a century, it was the most
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  widely used and successful warship on the Mediterranean Sea. Viking
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  long ships from the eighth to the eleventh century, people
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  from day Mark, Sweden and Norway, conquered most of northern
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  Europe in what came to be known as the Viking Raids.
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  The Vikings were able to take so much land due
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  to their advanced seafaring technology and above all, their great
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  long ships. Viking long ships were made of overlapping planks
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  of timber joined with iron nails, making them very strong
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  and sturdy. The ships were relatively flat on the bottom,
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  so they could sell up rivers and right on the beaches,
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  where the vikings would quickly jump out and begin their
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  attack pirates. For as long as valuable goods have been
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  carried and traded across the seas, people known as pirates
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  have attempted to steal them. The most successful pirate in
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  history was a Chinese woman named chen She. After the
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  death of her pirate husband, Chenchi took over his ships
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  and ended up commanding a far greater fleet. The height
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  of her power in the early nineteenth century, chin Chi
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  controlled three hundred ships and around thirty thousand pirates. Her
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  ships were all traditional Chinese junks and were named the
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  Red Flag feet. These formidable ships and their crew were
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  feared across the China Sea and beyond, robbing coastal towns
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  and capturing British naval officers over several years of piracy.
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  Chinese junk ships were unique in their design compared to
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  other ships around the world. Their cells were fitted with
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  horizontal posts of bamboo and so were much more flexible
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  and strawn winds. In particular bad weather, lower part of
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  the main cell could be cooled up like a modern
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  window blinde. Famous boats HMS Beagle boats have been used
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  to discover and explore new places since the first log
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  canoes and reed wraps, but it took many years of
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  improvements before they were stirring enough to survive longer voyages.
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  One of the last great expeditions during the time of
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  sailing took place between eighteen thirty one and eighteen thirty six,
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  when HMS Beagle set off on a scientific voyage to
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  survey South America. On board this ship was a young
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  naturalist named Charles Darwin, who was tasked with investigating the
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  animals and geology of each place they visited. It was
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  during this time on the Gallipagos Island that Darwin came
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  up with the theory of evolution and changed the world's
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  view of natural history forever work boats. By sixteen fifty,
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  almost the entire world was trading by boat. Spanish and
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  Portuguese ships dominated the seas, but it was the Dutch
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  in particular who were the most successful traders. The Dutch
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  fleet was simple in its design but became the most
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  widely used merchant ship of its time. Sturdy in barrel shaped,
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  it was built to carry as much cargo as possible
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  and be selled by the smallest crew and contrast its simplicity.
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  East Indian men were elaborately decorating expensive merchant ships that
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  operate on the trading routes between Europe and Eastern Asia.
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  To protect the cargo from pirates on long voyages, East
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  Indian men were designed to look as if they were
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  heavily armed, even if they were no even if there
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  were no functioning weapons on boards Cutty Sark. The tea
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  industry was booming in the mid eighteen hundreds, with great
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  tea clippers sailing from Europe to China and back again
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  throughout the year, laden with goods to trade. One of
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  the last tea clippers ever built was Cutty Sark, a
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  mighty ship and one of the fastest of her kind.
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  On our first void, she carried over one million pounds
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  of tea back to England. But the Industrial Revolution was
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  taking place, bringing with it new machines and steam powered engines.
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  Sailing ships could no longer compete against steam power when
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  it came to speed. With the opening of the Suez
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  Canal in eighteen sixty nine, steamships could access a much
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  faster route to China, and the age of sailing clippers
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  came to an end steam power. By the nineteenth century,
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  the world was completely changed by steam engine. Although inventors
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  had experimented with steam powered boats before, the eighteen hundred
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  saw the biggest increase in their use across the world.
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  Ships were now being made of iron and steel and
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  were propelled through the water using coal furnaces for power.
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  In the fishing industry, the steam troller soon replaced its
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  sailing counterpart, as it would will faster, with less dependence
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  on the weather, and had the capacity to catch many
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  more fish. Legendary vote Nautilus. In eighteen seventy, shortly after
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  the first mechanically powered submarine had launched in France, Jules
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  Verne published a work of science fiction called twenty Thousand
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  Leagues Under the Sea. Inspired by the technology advances of
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  the time, Verne imagine a fantastical submarine named Nautilus that
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  was captained by a reclusive scientist. Nautilus was used to
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  explore and document the creatures of the deep sea. Its
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  great hull contained a library filled with scientific books and
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  a room of unusual specimens discovered on its travels, Unlike
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  the real submarines of the time, which were propelled by
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  engines of compressed air. The fictional Nautilus was powered by
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  electricity and to surface every few days to replenish its
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  oxygen supply. This caused many sailors to believe that the
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  strange submarine was in fact a great sea monster. Verne's
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  design was ahead of his time. Fourteen years later, the
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  first electric powered submarine was invented in Poland. Leisure boats
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  boats have many uses beyond warfare and work, and have
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  probably been used for sport and leisure since the earliest
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  of times, from hunting to racing. Kayaks are a good
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  example of a boat that was originally designed for specific
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  work but is now used for recreation across the world.
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  The first kayaks were created for hunting and fishing by
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  indiingenious people in Alaska and the surrounding islands, and were
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  made of animal skins stretched over a wooden or well
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  boned frame. Gradually, the design of the traditional kayak changed
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  as it was introduced to Europe, and most are now
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  made of plastic and rubber. The maneuverability and strength of
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  the modern kayak has made it a popular boat for
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  sports such as whitewater rafting and racing. Hotels on the water.
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  Cruise ships are a common sight today, but were an
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  incredibly exciting new way to travel in the nineteenth century.
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  Eighteen forty four, the first cruise ships launched in Britain,
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  offering vacationers the opportunity to travel to exotic destinations while
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  aboard a luxury ship equipped with all the facilities of
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  a hotel. One of the most famous cruise ships was Titanic,
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  Built to be the fastest, largest, and most extravagant passenger
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  liner of its time, Titanic was an incredible display of
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  the latest engineering technology. Its design was based on modern
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  luxury hotels and included a swimming pool, reading rooms, and
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  high class restaurants. Unfortunately, this great ship is remembered for
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  another reason, as it tragically crashed into an iceberg and
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  sank on his very first voyage. America's Cup. Racing boats
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  has been a long staining pastime in many cultures. One
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  of the most famous races is the America's Cup, named
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  after the yacht America that first won the prestigious award
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  in eighteen fifty one. Since that time, yachts from various
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  countries have completed for the price and their designs have
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  gradually improved to become as fast as possible. Today, the
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  race takes place between sail boats known as hydrofols, although
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  they hardly resemble boats at all. These incredible sail boats
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  seem to fly due to the wing like foals that
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  lift them above the water surface. With the boat's hull
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  out of the water, the resistance is decreased and the
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  boat can reach incredible speeds. Dragon Boat Festival Every year
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  on the fifth day of the fifth month of the
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  Chinese calendar, a great celebration takes place across China. According
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  to old stories, the faco began as a way to
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  commemorate the death of a famous poet from the third
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  century BC, who threw himself into the Mulu River when
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  his city was captured. The local people were said to
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  have rowed out in boats to save his body and
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  dropped rice bats into the water to distract the hungry fish.
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  This ancient tradition has endured into the modern age, with
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  millions of people celebrating the occasion by eating traditional rice
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  dumblings stuffed with sweet being paste or meats, and racing
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  elaborately decorated dragging boats. Famous boats spray in eighteen ninety five,
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  after a lifetime at sea, a nova Scotian captain named
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  Joshua slocom embarked upon incredible voyage on board and old
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  oyster fishing boat called Spray. Scumb became the first person
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  ever to sail around the world single handily. One of
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  the reasons that Slocumb was able to conmplete this voyage
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  alone with Spray's perfect balance and amazing abilities stay on
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  course for hours on our own, giving Slocumb time to
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  sleep during the long journey took him three and a
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  half years in total, and on the way he encountered
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  huge gales and almost sailed into the path of pirates
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  in the Mediterranean Sea. Semaphore. Today, large ships are equipped
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  with ladies technology for communication and navigation, But how did
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  people communicate between boats across large distances before the invention
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  of cell phones and the internet. By the nineteenth century,
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  most of the merritime world was using colored flags to
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  communicate in a system called semaphore. Holding a flag in
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  each hand, a crew member could spell out a message
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  to another boat, for example, to ask for help or
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  deliver important news. Some of four is still used today,
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  especially when ships are transferring fuel and supplies at sea.
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  This concludes the children's story our for today. Please join
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  us next time as we will read more stories, ables
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  and fairy tales. Thank you for listening and please stay
• 25:25
  tuned for les maher Leader on Radio I