View allAll Photos Tagged Affects
Modèle / Model : Renault Master II
Affectation / Assignment : Association Départementale de Protection Civile de l'Oise (ADPC 60), Antenne de Beauvais Jean Moulin / Departmental Association of Civil Protection of Oise, Antenna of Beauvais Jean Moulin
Fonction / Function : Véhicule Logistique (VLOG) / Logistic Vehicle
Ré-immatriculation / Re-registration : Juillet 2011 / July 2011
When we see people doing things that are socially unaccepted we automatically create an impression of that person, whether that person has tattoos, is drunk, or is smoking. We are affected by the actions of the people around us whether we like it or not.
Fireworks affect achieved by adjusting the focus (out of focus to in focus) during an exposure of a fireworks display in Sausalito, California
I do NOT recommend messing with focus until near the end of the fireworks show (or do it with a second camera) because once you are OUT of focus, it's hard to get back IN focus.
©Copyright 2011 Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com (or the Website)
All Rights Reserved!
Here's my LEGO scale model of Ferrari's Formula One racecar for the 2019 season.
The SF90 is an evolution of the SF71H rather than a revolution, and as such this model is a modification of my LEGO SF71H from last year. This year's car has a wider and more simple front wing (per regulations that reduce the affects of dirty air in an attempt to improve close racing), reshaped sidepod air intakes and barge boards, and a rear wing with slits on the sides that reduce drag. This car also has a double T-wing, which is just in front of the rear wing.
Links to my other Ferrari F1 cars:
1991 Ferrari 643
1997 Ferrari F310B
2007 Ferrari F2007
2014 Ferrari F14 T
2015 Ferrari SF15-T
2016 Ferrari SF16-H
2017 Ferrari SF70H
2018 Ferrari SF71H
.. to those who celebrate. I myself believe that only day in December worth celebrating is Winter Solstice (21.12.) when finally the days stop getting shorter and start getting longer - I am not very keen on this dark season and unfortunately have not witnessed much 'greatness' they sing about during this hectic greed driven season in my lifetime. I do believe however that luck of sunshine does affect us all.
This is my all times favourite Christmas card. I just love these sheep! Don't they look gorgeous and loveable?!
Or strange effect depending on your perspective. The humidity in here was crazy and all my images are soft due to fogging. Taken at the Old Edwards Inn in Highland North Carolina.
A desigualdade social e a pobreza são problemas sociais que afetam a maioria dos países na atualidade. A pobreza existe em todos os países, pobres ou ricos, mas a desigualdade social é um fenômeno que ocorre principalmente em países não desenvolvidos.
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Social inequality and poverty are social problems that affect most countries today. Poverty exists in all countries, rich or poor, but social inequality is a phenomenon that occurs mainly in undeveloped countries.
Even if one tree falls down it wouldn't affect the entire forest.
Chen Shui-bian
Nellie Vin ©Photography.
20x13 in
Gravity affects everything we do on Earth but we know surprisingly little about how it works and how it affects life. Until recently scientists had no way of experimenting without gravity to understand what life would be like without it.
Research in space or with facilities on Earth that recreate aspects of space bring knowledge, discoveries and improvements to our daily life and further our exploration of the Solar System.
ESA offers many platforms for conducting experiments across the whole spectrum of scientific disciplines. You can run an experiment in a sounding rocket, drop towers, centrifuges, Antarctica and even the International Space Station.
From the moment an experiment is let go at the top of a drop tower until it hits the padded ground beneath, the experiment is free of the influences of gravity. These short bouts of microgravity are open to scientists from all over the world and offer an economical alternative to spaceflight that can be used at any time of the year.
Proposals for experiments are always welcome and can be submitted via the research announcement page
Credits: ESA
Exemple de mascarade officielle.
Une mascarade est un dégoût dont la manière d'être est une critique de son sujet (des individus, des organisations, des États, etc.), souvent dans l'intention de provoquer, prévenir un changement ou de porter à réfléchir. La mascarade est « une sentence magique, prononcée par un druide ou plus fréquemment par un file, contre un individu qui a contrevenu à une règle de son état » « Je me demande ce que je vais faire de ma vie. » Agnès Buzyn est enfin rentrée chez elle, lundi 16 mars, en milieu d’après-midi. Elle vient de « fermer la porte du QG » de sa campagne parisienne et a posé son sac, seule, « effondrée », dit-elle. Elle pleure, et ses larmes n’ont rien à voir avec celles « d’émotion » et de « déchirement » essuyées entre deux sourires lors de la passation de pouvoir au ministère de la santé, il y a un mois. Ce sont des larmes lourdes, de fatigue, d’épuisement, mais aussi de remords. Elle se livre sans fard et l’aveu est terrible. « Quand j’ai quitté le ministère, assure-t-elle, je pleurais parce que je savais que la vague du tsunami était devant nous. Je suis partie en sachant que les élections n’auraient pas lieu. » A mots à peine cachés, l’ex-ministre de la santé reconnaît ce qui la déchire : fallait-il abandonner son poste en pleine tempête, alors qu’elle devinait le drame à venir ? Les regrets d’Agnès Buzyn : « On aurait dû tout arrêter, c’était une mascarade »
A Paris au XXI siècle, un défilé de chars fut organisé en 2021, à l'occasion de l'avènement sur le trône de L’Etoile et de la Porte du Graal. Huit voiles, commandés par la Fabrique royale de masques, ils relatent cet l'évènement dont le tableau du char de l'annonce de la mascarade conservée au tour de Gaulle. La satire est typique de la littérature latine, même si les écrivains n’en ont pas l’exclusivité : elle a connu à Paris un fort développement, y compris institutionnel (les vers satiriques prononcés par les légionnaires à destination de leur général, le grand Charles ?
Une mascarade est, dans la culture générale, une manifestation festive au caractère satirique rassemblant des personnes masquées et déguisées. Le terme désigne aussi une composition musicale et par extension un comportement parodique.
Sur les continents confinés, la mascarade est, au sens premier, une cérémonie à l'occasion de laquelle apparaissent des porteurs de masques, le plus souvent à connotation magique ou religieuse.
Dérivé de masque, le terme est emprunté à l'italien mascherata, lui-même dérivé de maschera. Héritières des Saturnales de la Rome antique, les mascarades apparaissent au Moyen Âge à l'occasion des carnavals.
Le terme est employé pour nommer une composition musicale ou la partie d'une œuvre scénique de caractère burlesque jouée par des personnages masqués, alternant des figures de danse et des récitations de vers galants comme dans le ballet-mascarade de la période baroque. Par métonymie, le terme désigne les vers composés pour une mascarade.
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascarade
La mascarade désigne aussi le déguisement lui-même, synonyme par extension d'accoutrement extravagant. Au figuré, il désigne un comportement hypocrite, une situation dérisoire, une mise en scène fallacieuse, un simulacre ou une parodie dans le domaine social, politique ou juridique. On attribue généralement la paternité de ce genre littéraire (satura, c'est-à-dire pot-pourri) au poète archaïque latin Lucilius.
On a longuement discuté de l’origine de la satire. La critique humaniste de la Renaissance, durant près d'un siècle et demi, crut que la satire était originaire du drame satyrique grec, alors qu'il n'en est rien. Cette théorie est ancienne : elle remonte au moins au grammairien Diomède, dans la liste qu'il dresse des origines de la satire (satira autem dicta siue a Satyris, quod similiter in hoc carmine ridiculae res pudendaeque dicuntur, quae uelut a Satyris proferuntur et fiunt[1]). Quintilien (X, 1, 9), en disant : « satura tota nostra est », appelle « satyre » (satura) une création littéraire latine dont la définition proprement dite est un « pot-pourri », autrement dit un genre dont la caractéristique est de mêler récits, discours, poèmes, etc. Ceci est différent de la satire, qui se reconnaît au moins à son mètre : l'hexamètre dactylique. Si un tel schéma de filiation est trop simple, il reste que de nombreux textes grecs possèdent déjà l’essentiel des caractéristiques de la satire latine. On peut notamment lire le Margitès attribué à Homère, parodie de l’épopée, ou bien le portrait de Socrate dans Les Nuées d’Aristophane (v. 218-234), qui n’a rien à envier aux portraits satiriques de l’époque républicaine. Cependant, on attribue la paternité de la satire au poète grec Archiloque de Paros. Ce fils d'esclave affranchi, très pauvre était très fier de ses origines. On raconte que cette fierté fut la cause de son premier poème. En effet, il était le promis d'une jeune fille du nom de Néoboulé, dont le père annula le mariage à quelques jours de la fête, ayant trouvé un meilleur parti pour sa fille. Archiloque fut tellement outragé qu'il écrivit la première satire dans un nouveau mètre poétique : l'iambe. On raconte que le père de Néoboulé ainsi que sa fille se pendirent après avoir entendu ce poème très virulent. La légende veut aussi que les personnes visées par Archiloque contractaient des maladies de peau.....
La Grande Mascarade », une bande dessinée sur le thème très brûlant de la crise sanitaire que nous vivons actuellement.
Engagé, drôle et factuel, « COVID-19 : La Grande Mascarade » est plus qu’un livre qui compile avec dérision les contradictions et les postures de nos dirigeants face à la pandémie, c’est une satire sur nos sociétés de l’information à outrance et d’une gouvernance qui se fait sans le peuple entre tous puissants politiques, multinationales et milliardaires philanthropes… Complotiste? moi?!… Je vous invite à vous faire votre propre opinion et surtout à penser librement !
Ce livre de 200 pages a été pour moi un exutoire émotionnel, qui m’a permis de sortir de cette stupeur et j’espère qu’il vous informera tout en vous divertissant. Julien Nonnon, Street Artist français, spécialisé dans la réalisation de fresques lumineuses… C’est simple, avec un vidéo-projecteur et une tablette, je projette mes créations sur les murs et façades qui croisent mon chemin. Et comme un ninja, je ne laisse aucune trace après mon passage… Enfin, si ce n’est qu’une petite photo souvenir !
Attention, rien n’est inventé, je n’ai même pas eu la peine de grossir le trait, nos dirigeants sont devenus la caricature d’eux-mêmes. Tous les faits sont réels et pour cela, je vous fournis les sources par le biais de QR codes en bas de chaque page, afin que vous puissiez constater par vous-même et vous en faire votre propre idée.
Et enfin, mon rêve inavouable serait qu’il prenne place chez vous, dans votre bibliothèque, sur votre table de chevet, ou… et ce serait pour moi un honneur, qu’il trône dans vos toilettes !
fr.ulule.com/covid-19-la-grande-mascarade/
Une « mascarade » pour la secrétaire du CHSCT
Par L'Alsace - 17 mai 2021 à 19:00 | mis à jour le 17 mai 2021 à 19:05 - Temps de lecture : 2 min
| | Vu 655 fois
Alors que commencent les campagnes d’autotests dans les lycées, la secrétaire du CHSCT académique, représentante du Snes-FU, Élisabeth Jacquet, y voit une nouvelle « mascarade ». Ces autotests étant livrés en plusieurs vagues, « ils sont arrivés en retard et en nombre notoirement insuffisant pour les personnels », dénonce-t-elle. « Face à cela, la consigne est d’en distribuer prioritairement aux enseignants, ce qui n’est pas justifié, il faudrait que ce soit aux personnels affectés à la surveillance des cantines. » Cantines où, s’inquiète-t-elle, « le protocole n’est pas suivi, comme beaucoup de lycées ne respectent plus la demi-jauge ».
Si dans les écoles le taux d’acceptation des tests salivaires a augmenté (à 70 % pour Élisabeth Jacquet, plus de 80 % pour le rectorat), ce n’est pas le cas dans les collèges. « On en est à 20 à 25 % d’adhésion. On ne peut pas en tirer de statistiques fiables », estime la secrétaire du CHSCT. « Dans les lycées, il ne reste plus que quelques semaines et on ne sait pas si les élèves sont prêts à se faire autotester, ni si les conditions de passation sont réunies partout car c’est très compliqué à organiser. Ça va être la montagne qui accouche d’une souris. »
« Les chefs d’établissement ont de grandes capacités d’adaptation », répond la rectrice, qui prévoit qu’il faudra répartir les personnels de santé scolaire selon les besoins et peut-être penser aux professeurs de SVT (Sciences et vie de la terre) pour former les lycéens à l’usage des autotests.
www.lalsace.fr/sante/2021/05/17/une-mascarade-pour-la-sec...
Steve Mounié dénonce une «grosse mascarade» après son faux test positif au Covid-19
Par Le Figaro
Publié le 30/03/2021 à 18:11
«Je n’ai pas le Covid !!». C’est l’une des phrases que l’on peut lire sur le compte Instagram de Steve Mounié. L’international béninois du Stade Brestois avait, comme quatre autres joueurs de sa sélection, d’abord été annoncé positif au virus par le Sierra Leone, qui accueille le Benin ce mardi (initialement prévu à 18h). L’attaquant accuse la fédération sierra-léonaise de vouloir «l’empêcher de jouer». Une «grosse mascarade» selon l’ancien joueur de Montpellier qui serait, comme l’ensemble de sa sélection, bloqués dans leur bus par le pays qui accueille cette rencontre. Pour rappel, ce match est décisif pour les qualifications pour la prochaine CAN. En cas de succès, le Sierra Leone arracherait sa qualification aux dépens du Benin.
www.lefigaro.fr/sports/football/can/fil-infos/steve-mouni...
Affect
The painterly effect creates a tranquil feeling. An element of visual interest blooms from the smooth textures of the smudged areas contrasting the crisp details of the flowers and leaves in the foreground. It indicates the subtle perspective of the scene. The natural colour scheme enhances a feeling of serenity.
Just minutes before sunset
It’s amazing how timing can affect your photos !!!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Found in the area of Munich known as the "Oberwiesenfeld" ("upper meadow-field"), the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, and religious events such as events of worship. The Park is administered by Olympiapark München GmbH, a holding company fully owned by the state capital of Munich.
Location and structure
The use of the term Olympiapark to designate the overall area has prevailed as a semiofficial practice, but no official name for the entire area exists: Rather, the general area comprises four separate sub-areas:
Olympic Area: Includes the Olympic sports facilities such as the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Hall with Olympic Tower. Also in this area are the Olympic Swim Hall and Olympic Event Hall.
Olympic Village comprising two villages, one male and one female.
Olympic Media City ("Pressestadt") today the home of the Olympic Shopping Center. Strictly speaking, this portion belongs to the area of district of "Moosach."
Olympic Park: Adjoining the Olympic Area to the south, this park includes the Olympic Mountain and Olympic Lake.
The park is located in the modern skyline near BMW and the "Uptown" skyscraper of O2. The borders of the area are the Lerchenauer Straße to the east, the Moosacher Straße to the north and the Landshuter Allee up to the bank of the Willi-Gebhard to the west. The southern boundary of the Area first proceeds down the Ackermannstraße and subsequently around the Kleingarten grounds to the Winzererstraße. Finally the Winzererstraße up to the Lerchenauer Straße closes off the last portion of the eastern border. The Georg-Brauchle-Ring serves as the dividing line of the area into two halves: Olympic Village and Olympic Media City to the north and Olympic Area and Olympic Park to the south.
*Visit my website www.qatarphotogallery.com.
All pictures in my photostream are copyright © All rights reserved.
El recorrido se realiza a lo largo de las calles de la Parte Vieja de Pamplona. Da comienzo en los corralillos de la cuesta de Santo Domingo, subiendo hasta la plaza Consistorial (plaza del Ayuntamiento) y girando por la calle Mercaderes, para acceder a la calle Estafeta que conduce finalmente por el tramo de Telefónica hasta el callejón que entra a la plaza de toros. El itinerario original terminaba en la plaza del Castillo, y ha variado a lo largo de la historia, siendo en 1856 la primera vez que discurrió por la calle Estafeta. La esquina entre Mercaderes y Estafeta es un lugar muy solicitado por los fotógrafos, y es en esta última calle donde se puede ver el tramo recto más largo de los encierros.
La manada traza el recorrido completo en unos cuatro minutos de media, a unos 25 km/h y está compuesta por seis toros y ocho cabestros, seguidos de unos mozos que hacen de pastores en caso de que los toros o los cabestros se queden rezagados. Los pastores van identificados con un brazalete, actualmente de color verde, y recientemente han adoptado una indumentaria de ese mismo color para diferenciarse claramente del resto de participantes en la carrera. Otros actores fundamentales en el encierro son los dobladores. Son 4 profesionales taurinos que portando un capote son los encargados, en caso de que se quede algún toro rezagado de la manada, conducirlo a punta de capote a los corrales procurando llevarlos en línea recta para que no cojan resabios que pudiera afectar a su lidia de la tarde. La ganadería de los toros cambia cada día, puesto que es la que lidia por la tarde. Participando por tanto 8 ganaderías a lo largo de los sanfermines.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanfermines
The route takes place along the streets of the Old Part of Pamplona. It starts at the corralillos of the slope of Santo Domingo, going up to the Plaza Consistorial (Town Hall Square) and turning onto Mercaderes Street, to access Estafeta Street, which finally leads through the Telefónica section to the alley that enters the bullring. The original itinerary ended at Plaza del Castillo, and has varied throughout history, being in 1856 the first time it ran along Estafeta Street. The corner between Mercaderes and Estafeta is a very popular spot for photographers, and it is in Estafeta Street where the longest straight stretch of the running of the bulls can be seen.
The herd traces the entire route in about four minutes on average, at about 25 km/h and is made up of six bulls and eight steers, followed by some young men who act as shepherds in case the bulls or the steers are left behind. The shepherds are identified with an armband, currently in green, and have recently adopted green clothing to clearly differentiate them from the rest of the participants in the race. Other fundamental actors in the running of the bulls are the dobladores. They are four professional bullfighters who, carrying a cape, are in charge of leading the bulls to the pens at the point of the cape in case they are left behind in the herd, trying to lead them in a straight line so that they do not catch any slips that could affect their fighting in the afternoon. The bulls' herd of bulls changes every day, since it is the one that fights in the afternoon. Therefore, there are 8 bull-breeders participating throughout the Sanfermines.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
La iglesia de San Saturnino, más comúnmente llamada de San Cernin (variante del occitano navarro Saint Sernin), es un edificio religioso católico en el Casco Viejo de la ciudad de Pamplona, Comunidad Foral de Navarra.
Las dos torres son de época medieval, llegando a alcanzar una altura de 55 m. Forman parte del trazado característico del perfil de Pamplona. En su época se utilizaron con funciones propias de una fortaleza defensiva y militar. Estuvieron almenadas hasta el siglo XVIII pero se suprimeron con las reformas barrocas realizadas en el templo.
La torre de la campana, al norte, marcaba con sus toques la vida de la ciudad. Antiguamente el toque de queda tras el cual se cerraban los portales de la muralla. En el invierno de 1874/75, durante el bloqueo carlista de Pamplona, sirvió de observatorio y puesto de señales. Luego, en fechas tan señaladas como los Sanfermines sirve de señal acústica para marcar el ritmo de la fiesta.
La torre del reloj, al sur y más baja, cuya existencia se remonta al siglo XVI, ha sido la referencia horaria durante mucho tiempo de Pamplona. El primer reloj que tuvo lo instaló Martín de Lumbier en 1499. En 1795, el maestro relojero Martín de Ibarra hizo uno nuevo al mismo tiempo que se colocaba el nuevo remate de la torre coronado por el popular «gallico» de San Cernin. Hoy día, cada mañana de encierro anuncia puntual su inicio a las 8:00.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_San_Saturnino_(Pamplona)
The church of San Saturnino, more commonly called San Cernin (variant of the Navarrese Occitan Saint Sernin), is a Catholic religious building in the Old Quarter of the city of Pamplona, Navarre.
The two towers are from the medieval period, reaching a height of 55 m. They are part of the characteristic layout of the Pamplona skyline. In their time they were used for defensive and military functions. They were crenellated until the 18th century but were removed with the Baroque reforms carried out on the church.
The bell tower, to the north, marked the life of the city with its tolls. Formerly the curfew after which the gates of the wall were closed. In the winter of 1874/75, during the Carlist blockade of Pamplona, it served as an observatory and signal post. Later, on dates as important as the Sanfermines, it serves as an acoustic signal to mark the rhythm of the fiesta.
The clock tower, to the south and lower, whose existence dates back to the sixteenth century, has been the time reference for a long time in Pamplona. The first clock was installed by Martín de Lumbier in 1499. In 1795, the master clockmaker Martín de Ibarra made a new one at the same time that the new top of the tower crowned by the popular "gallico" of San Cernin was placed. Today, every morning of the running of the bulls announces its punctual start at 8:00
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
How Music Affects the Brain bebrainfit.com/music-brain/
The Chemistry of Music an the Brain prezi.com/k0jlkpkcqnkt/the-chemistry-of-music-and-the-brain/
Ways that Music Affects your Brain and Mood www.consciouslifestylemag.com/music-and-the-brain-affects...
Knowing Neurons knowingneurons.com/2017/07/12/music/
The Effect of Music on the Production of Neurotransmitters pdf. pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4bfe/35f957b10959f9c9fb063ba0453...
the-impact-of-music-on-neurochemistry www.audiocura.com/the-impact-of-music-on-neurochemistry/
World Health Day April 7
The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on April 7th, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other related organizations.
In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly. The Assembly decided to celebrate the 7th day of April each year, effective in April 1950, as the World Health Day. The World Health Day is held to mark WHO’s founding, and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. The WHO organizes international, regional and local events on the Day related to a particular theme. World Health Day is acknowledged by various governments and non-governmental organizations with interests in public health issues, who also organize activities and highlight their support in media reports, such as the Global Health Council.
Some topics which the WHO have explored and explained include: Protecting health from adverse affects of climate change; Making hospitals safe in emergencies; Microbiological resistance; Aging and health; Healthy blood pressure; The treat of insect and reptile bites; Food safety; Diabetes, and Depression.
In recent days, our medical professionals are seeing extreme amounts of stress due to the COVID-19 virus. We appreciate their work, and we pray that they are kept safe and given courage to treat those who are sick or dying.
20200407 098/366
Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known as the European starling, or in the British Isles just the starling, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
The common starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa and Fiji. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter within the breeding range and also further south to Iberia and North Africa. The common starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. There are normally one or two breeding attempts each year. This species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. It is hunted by various mammals and birds of prey, and is host to a range of external and internal parasites.
Large flocks typical of this species can be beneficial to agriculture by controlling invertebrate pests; however, starlings can also be pests themselves when they feed on fruit and sprouting crops. Common starlings may also be a nuisance through the noise and mess caused by their large urban roosts. Introduced populations in particular have been subjected to a range of controls, including culling, but these have had limited success except in preventing the colonisation of Western Australia.
The species has declined in numbers in parts of northern and western Europe since the 1980s due to fewer grassland invertebrates being available as food for growing chicks. Despite this, its huge global population is not thought to be declining significantly, so the common starling is classified as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Taxonomy and systematics
The common starling was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 under its current binomial name. Sturnus and vulgaris are derived from the Latin for "starling" and "common" respectively. The Old English staer, later stare, and the Latin sturnus are both derived from an unknown Indo-European root dating back to the second millennium BC. "Starling" was first recorded in the 11th century, when it referred to the juvenile of the species, but by the 16th century it had already largely supplanted "stare" to refer to birds of all ages. The older name is referenced in William Butler Yeats' poem "The Stare's Nest by My Window". The International Ornithological Congress' preferred English vernacular name is common starling.
The starling family, Sturnidae, is an entirely Old World group apart from introductions elsewhere, with the greatest numbers of species in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Sturnus is polyphyletic and relationships between its members are not fully resolved. The closest relation of the common starling is the spotless starling. The non-migratory spotless starling may be descended from a population of ancestral S. vulgaris that survived in an Iberian refugium during an ice age retreat, and mitochondrial gene studies suggest that it could be considered as a subspecies of the common starling. There is more genetic variation between common starling populations than between the nominate common starling and the spotless starling. Although common starling remains are known from the Middle Pleistocene, part of the problem in resolving relationships in the Sturnidae is the paucity of the fossil record for the family as a whole.
Subspecies
There are several subspecies of the common starling, which vary clinally in size and the colour tone of the adult plumage. The gradual variation over geographic range and extensive intergradation means that acceptance of the various subspecies varies between authorities.
Birds from Fair Isle, St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides are intermediate in size between S. v. zetlandicus and the nominate form, and their subspecies placement varies according to the authority. The dark juveniles typical of these island forms are occasionally found in mainland Scotland and elsewhere, indicating some gene flow from faroensis or zetlandicus, subspecies formerly considered to be isolated.
Several other subspecies have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades that occur where the ranges of various subspecies meet. These include: S. v. ruthenus Menzbier, 1891 and S. v. jitkowi Buturlin, 1904, which are intergrades between vulgaris and poltaratskyi from western Russia; S. v. graecus Tschusi, 1905 and S. v. balcanicus Buturlin and Harms, 1909, intergrades between vulgaris and tauricus from the southern Balkans to central Ukraine and throughout Greece to the Bosporus; and S. v. heinrichi Stresemann, 1928, an intergrade between caucasicus and nobilior in northern Iran. S. v. persepolis Ticehurst, 1928 from southern Iran's (Fars Province) is very similar to S. v. vulgaris, and it is not clear whether it is a distinct resident population or simply migrants from southeastern Europe.
Description
The common starling is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long, with a wingspan of 31–44 cm (12–17 in) and a weight of 58–101 g (2.0–3.6 oz).[15] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 11.8 to 13.8 cm (4.6 to 5.4 in), the tail is 5.8 to 6.8 cm (2.3 to 2.7 in), the culmen is 2.5 to 3.2 cm (0.98 to 1.26 in) and the tarsus is 2.7 to 3.2 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in).
The plumage is iridescent black, glossed purple or green, and spangled with white, especially in winter. The underparts of adult male common starlings are less spotted than those of adult females at a given time of year. The throat feathers of males are long and loose and are used in display while those of females are smaller and more pointed. The legs are stout and pinkish- or greyish-red. The bill is narrow and conical with a sharp tip; in the winter it is brownish-black but in summer, females have lemon yellow beaks while males have yellow bills with blue-grey bases. Moulting occurs once a year- in late summer after the breeding season has finished; the fresh feathers are prominently tipped white (breast feathers) or buff (wing and back feathers), which gives the bird a speckled appearance. The reduction in the spotting in the breeding season is achieved through the white feather tips largely wearing off. Juveniles are grey-brown and by their first winter resemble adults though often retaining some brown juvenile feathering, especially on the head. They can usually be sexed by the colour of the irises, rich brown in males, mouse-brown or grey in females. Estimating the contrast between an iris and the central always-dark pupil is 97% accurate in determining sex, rising to 98% if the length of the throat feathers is also considered.
The common starling is mid-sized by both starling standards and passerine standards. It is readily distinguished from other mid-sized passerines, such as thrushes, icterids or small corvids, by its relatively short tail, sharp, blade-like bill, round-bellied shape and strong, sizeable (and rufous-coloured) legs. In flight, its strongly pointed wings and dark colouration are distinctive, while on the ground its strange, somewhat waddling gait is also characteristic. The colouring and build usually distinguish this bird from other starlings, although the closely related spotless starling may be physically distinguished by the lack of iridescent spots in adult breeding plumage.
Like most terrestrial starlings the common starling moves by walking or running, rather than hopping. Their flight is quite strong and direct; their triangular-shaped wings beat very rapidly, and periodically the birds glide for a short way without losing much height before resuming powered flight. When in a flock, the birds take off almost simultaneously, wheel and turn in unison, form a compact mass or trail off into a wispy stream, bunch up again and land in a coordinated fashion. Common starling on migration can fly at 60–80 km/h (37–50 mph) and cover up to 1,000–1,500 km (620–930 mi).
Several terrestrial starlings, including those in the genus Sturnus, have adaptations of the skull and muscles that help with feeding by probing. This adaptation is most strongly developed in the common starling (along with the spotless and white-cheeked starlings), where the protractor muscles responsible for opening the jaw are enlarged and the skull is narrow, allowing the eye to be moved forward to peer down the length of the bill. This technique involves inserting the bill into the ground and opening it as a way of searching for hidden food items. Common starlings have the physical traits that enable them to use this feeding technique, which has undoubtedly helped the species spread far and wide.
In Iberia, the western Mediterranean and northwest Africa, the common starling may be confused with the closely related spotless starling, the plumage of which, as its name implies, has a more uniform colour. At close range it can be seen that the latter has longer throat feathers, a fact particularly noticeable when it sings.
Vocalization
The common starling is a noisy bird. Its song consists of a wide variety of both melodic and mechanical-sounding noises as part of a ritual succession of sounds. The male is the main songster and engages in bouts of song lasting for a minute or more. Each of these typically includes four varieties of song type, which follow each other in a regular order without pause. The bout starts with a series of pure-tone whistles and these are followed by the main part of the song, a number of variable sequences that often incorporate snatches of song mimicked from other species of bird and various naturally occurring or man-made noises. The structure and simplicity of the sound mimicked is of greater importance than the frequency with which it occurs. In some instances, a wild starling has been observed to mimic a sound it has heard only once. Each sound clip is repeated several times before the bird moves on to the next. After this variable section comes a number of types of repeated clicks followed by a final burst of high-frequency song, again formed of several types. Each bird has its own repertoire with more proficient birds having a range of up to 35 variable song types and as many as 14 types of clicks.
Males sing constantly as the breeding period approaches and perform less often once pairs have bonded. In the presence of a female, a male sometimes flies to his nest and sings from the entrance, apparently attempting to entice the female in. Older birds tend to have a wider repertoire than younger ones. Those males that engage in longer bouts of singing and that have wider repertoires attract mates earlier and have greater reproductive success than others. Females appear to prefer mates with more complex songs, perhaps because this indicates greater experience or longevity. Having a complex song is also useful in defending a territory and deterring less experienced males from encroaching.
Singing also occurs outside the breeding season, taking place throughout the year apart from the moulting period. The songsters are more commonly male although females also sing on occasion. The function of such out-of-season song is poorly understood. Eleven other types of call have been described including a flock call, threat call, attack call, snarl call and copulation call.[29] The alarm call is a harsh scream, and while foraging together common starlings squabble incessantly. They chatter while roosting and bathing, making a great deal of noise that can cause irritation to people living nearby. When a flock of common starlings is flying together, the synchronised movements of the birds' wings make a distinctive whooshing sound that can be heard hundreds of metres (yards) away.
Behaviour and ecology
The common starling is a highly gregarious species, especially in autumn and winter. Although flock size is highly variable, huge, noisy flocks - murmurations - may form near roosts. These dense concentrations of birds are thought to be a defence against attacks by birds of prey such as peregrine falcons or Eurasian sparrowhawks. Flocks form a tight sphere-like formation in flight, frequently expanding and contracting and changing shape, seemingly without any sort of leader. Each common starling changes its course and speed as a result of the movement of its closest neighbours.
Very large roosts, exceptionally up to 1.5 million birds, can form in city centres, woodlands or reedbeds, causing problems with their droppings. These may accumulate up to 30 cm (12 in) deep, killing trees by their concentration of chemicals. In smaller amounts, the droppings act as a fertiliser, and therefore woodland managers may try to move roosts from one area of a wood to another to benefit from the soil enhancement and avoid large toxic deposits.
Huge flocks of more than a million common starlings may be observed just before sunset in spring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark over the seaward marshlands of Tønder and Esbjerg municipalities between Tønder and Ribe. They gather in March until northern Scandinavian birds leave for their breeding ranges by mid-April. Their swarm behaviour creates complex shapes silhouetted against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as sort sol ("black sun"). Flocks of anything from five to fifty thousand common starlings form in areas of the UK just before sundown during mid-winter. These flocks are commonly called murmurations.
Feeding
The common starling is largely insectivorous and feeds on both pest and other arthropods. The food range includes spiders, crane flies, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, damsel flies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings, caddisflies, flies, beetles, sawflies, bees, wasps and ants. Prey are consumed in both adult and larvae stages of development, and common starlings will also feed on earthworms, snails, small amphibians and lizards. While the consumption of invertebrates is necessary for successful breeding, common starlings are omnivorous and can also eat grains, seeds, fruits, nectar and food waste if the opportunity arises. The Sturnidae differ from most birds in that they cannot easily metabolise foods containing high levels of sucrose, although they can cope with other fruits such as grapes and cherries. The isolated Azores subspecies of the common starling eats the eggs of the endangered roseate tern. Measures are being introduced to reduce common starling populations by culling before the terns return to their breeding colonies in spring.
There are several methods by which common starlings obtain their food but for the most part, they forage close to the ground, taking insects from the surface or just underneath. Generally, common starlings prefer foraging amongst short-cropped grasses and are often found among grazing animals or perched on their backs, where they will also feed on the mammal's external parasites. Large flocks may engage in a practice known as "roller-feeding", where the birds at the back of the flock continually fly to the front where the feeding opportunities are best. The larger the flock, the nearer individuals are to one another while foraging. Flocks often feed in one place for some time, and return to previous successfully foraged sites.
There are three types of foraging behaviour observed in the common starling. "Probing" involves the bird plunging its beak into the ground randomly and repetitively until an insect has been found, and is often accompanied by bill gaping where the bird opens its beak in the soil to enlarge a hole. This behaviour, first described by Konrad Lorenz and given the German term zirkeln, is also used to create and widen holes in plastic garbage bags. It takes time for young common starlings to perfect this technique, and because of this the diet of young birds will often contain fewer insects. "Hawking" is the capture of flying insects directly from the air, and "lunging" is the less common technique of striking forward to catch a moving invertebrate on the ground. Earthworms are caught by pulling from soil. Common starlings that have periods without access to food, or have a reduction in the hours of light available for feeding, compensate by increasing their body mass by the deposition of fat.
Nesting
Unpaired males find a suitable cavity and begin to build nests in order to attract single females, often decorating the nest with ornaments such as flowers and fresh green material, which the female later disassembles upon accepting him as a mate. The amount of green material is not important, as long as some is present, but the presence of herbs in the decorative material appears to be significant in attracting a mate. The scent of plants such as yarrow acts as an olfactory attractant to females.
The males sing throughout much of the construction and even more so when a female approaches his nest. Following copulation, the male and female continue to build the nest. Nests may be in any type of hole, common locations include inside hollowed trees, buildings, tree stumps and man-made nest-boxes. S. v. zetlandicus typically breeds in crevices and holes in cliffs, a habitat only rarely used by the nominate form. Nests are typically made out of straw, dry grass and twigs with an inner lining made up of feathers, wool and soft leaves. Construction usually takes four or five days and may continue through incubation.
Common starlings are both monogamous and polygamous; although broods are generally brought up by one male and one female, occasionally the pair may have an extra helper. Pairs may be part of a colony, in which case several other nests may occupy the same or nearby trees. Males may mate with a second female while the first is still on the nest. The reproductive success of the bird is poorer in the second nest than it is in the primary nest and is better when the male remains monogamous.
Breeding
Breeding takes place during the spring and summer. Following copulation, the female lays eggs on a daily basis over a period of several days. If an egg is lost during this time, she will lay another to replace it. There are normally four or five eggs that are ovoid in shape and pale blue or occasionally white, and they commonly have a glossy appearance. The colour of the eggs seems to have evolved through the relatively good visibility of blue at low light levels. The egg size is 26.5–34.5 mm (1.04–1.36 in) in length and 20.0–22.5 mm (0.79–0.89 in) in maximum diameter.
Incubation lasts thirteen days, although the last egg laid may take 24 hours longer than the first to hatch. Both parents share the responsibility of brooding the eggs, but the female spends more time incubating them than does the male, and is the only parent to do so at night when the male returns to the communal roost. The young are born blind and naked. They develop light fluffy down within seven days of hatching and can see within nine days. Once the chicks are able to regulate their body temperature, about six days after hatching, the adults largely cease removing droppings from the nest. Prior to that, the fouling would wet both the chicks' plumage and the nest material, thereby reducing their effectiveness as insulation and increasing the risk of chilling the hatchlings. Nestlings remain in the nest for three weeks, where they are fed continuously by both parents. Fledglings continue to be fed by their parents for another one or two weeks. A pair can raise up to three broods per year, frequently reusing and relining the same nest, although two broods is typical, or just one north of 48°N. Within two months, most juveniles will have moulted and gained their first basic plumage. They acquire their adult plumage the following year. As with other passerines, the nest is kept clean and the chicks' faecal sacs are removed by the adults.
Intraspecific brood parasites are common in common starling nests. Female "floaters" (unpaired females during the breeding season) present in colonies often lay eggs in another pair's nest. Fledglings have also been reported to invade their own or neighbouring nests and evict a new brood.[29] Common starling nests have a 48% to 79% rate of successful fledging, although only 20% of nestlings survive to breeding age; the adult survival rate is closer to 60%. The average life span is about 2–3 years, with a longevity record of 22 yr 11 m.
Predators and parasites
A majority of starling predators are avian. The typical response of starling groups is to take flight, with a common sight being undulating flocks of starling flying high in quick and agile patterns. Their abilities in flight are seldom matched by birds of prey. Adult common starlings are hunted by hawks such as the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), and falcons including the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo) and common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Slower raptors like black and red kites (Milvus migrans & milvus), eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), common buzzard (Buteo buteo) and Australasian harrier (Circus approximans) tend to take the more easily caught fledglings or juveniles. While perched in groups by night, they can be vulnerable to owls, including the little owl (Athene noctua), long-eared owl (Asio otus), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), barn owl (Tyto alba), tawny owl (Strix aluco) and Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo).
More than twenty species of hawk, owl and falcon are known to occasionally predate feral starlings in North America, though the most regular predators of adults are likely to be urban-living peregrine falcons or merlins (Falco columbarius). Common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) sometimes evict eggs, nestlings and adult common starlings from their nests, and the lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor), a brood parasite, uses the common starling as a host. Starlings are more commonly the culprits rather than victims of nest eviction however, especially towards other starlings and woodpeckers. Nests can be raided by mammals capable of climbing to them, such as stoats (Mustela erminea), raccoons (Procyon lotor) and squirrels (Sciurus spp.), and cats may catch the unwary.
Common starlings are hosts to a wide range of parasites. A survey of three hundred common starlings from six US states found that all had at least one type of parasite; 99% had external fleas, mites or ticks, and 95% carried internal parasites, mostly various types of worm. Blood-sucking species leave their host when it dies, but other external parasites stay on the corpse. A bird with a deformed bill was heavily infested with Mallophaga lice, presumably due to its inability to remove vermin.
The hen flea (Ceratophyllus gallinae) is the most common flea in their nests. The small, pale house-sparrow flea C. fringillae, is also occasionally found there and probably arises from the habit of its main host of taking over the nests of other species. This flea does not occur in the US, even on house sparrows. Lice include Menacanthus eurystemus, Brueelia nebulosa and Stumidoecus sturni. Other arthropod parasites include Ixodes ticks and mites such as Analgopsis passerinus, Boydaia stumi, Dermanyssus gallinae, Ornithonyssus bursa, O. sylviarum, Proctophyllodes species, Pteronyssoides truncatus and Trouessartia rosteri. The hen mite D. gallinae is itself preyed upon by the predatory mite Androlaelaps casalis. The presence of this control on numbers of the parasitic species may explain why birds are prepared to reuse old nests.
Flying insects that parasitise common starlings include the louse-fly Omithomya nigricornis and the saprophagous fly Camus hemapterus. The latter species breaks off the feathers of its host and lives on the fats produced by growing plumage. Larvae of the moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella are nest scavengers, which feed on animal material such as faeces or dead nestlings. Protozoan blood parasites of the genus Haemoproteus have been found in common starlings, but a better known pest is the brilliant scarlet nematode Syngamus trachea. This worm moves from the lungs to the trachea and may cause its host to suffocate. In Britain, the rook and the common starling are the most infested wild birds. Other recorded internal parasites include the spiny-headed worm Prosthorhynchus transverses.
Common starlings may contract avian tuberculosis, avian malaria and retrovirus-induced lymphomas. Captive starlings often accumulate excess iron in the liver, a condition that can be prevented by adding black tea-leaves to the food.
Distribution and habitat
The global population of common starlings was estimated to be 310 million individuals in 2004, occupying a total area of 8,870,000 km2 (3,420,000 sq mi). Widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the bird is native to Eurasia and is found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly in the north but regularly extending further south and extending into the Maldives) Nepal, the Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and north-western China.
Common starlings in the south and west of Europe and south of latitude 40°N are mainly resident, although other populations migrate from regions where the winter is harsh, the ground frozen and food scarce. Large numbers of birds from northern Europe, Russia and Ukraine migrate south westwards or south eastwards. In the autumn, when immigrants are arriving from eastern Europe, many of Britain's common starlings are setting off for Iberia and North Africa. Other groups of birds are in passage across the country and the pathways of these different streams of bird may cross. Of the 15,000 birds ringed as nestlings in Merseyside, England, individuals have been recovered at various times of year as far afield as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and the Low Countries. Small numbers of common starling have sporadically been observed in Japan and Hong Kong but it is unclear from where these birds originated. In North America, northern populations have developed a migration pattern, vacating much of Canada in winter. Birds in the east of the country move southwards, and those from further west winter in the southwest of the US.
Common starlings prefer urban or suburban areas where artificial structures and trees provide adequate nesting and roosting sites. Reedbeds are also favoured for roosting and the birds commonly feed in grassy areas such as farmland, grazing pastures, playing fields, golf courses and airfields where short grass makes foraging easy. They occasionally inhabit open forests and woodlands and are sometimes found in shrubby areas such as Australian heathland. Common starlings rarely inhabit dense, wet forests (i.e. rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests) but are found in coastal areas, where they nest and roost on cliffs and forage amongst seaweed. Their ability to adapt to a large variety of habitats has allowed them to disperse and establish themselves in diverse locations around the world resulting in a habitat range from coastal wetlands to alpine forests, from sea cliffs to mountain ranges 1,900 m (6,200 ft) above sea level.
Introduced populations
The common starling has been introduced to and has successfully established itself in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, North America, Fiji and several Caribbean islands. As a result, it has also been able to migrate to Thailand, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.
South America
Five individuals conveyed on a ship from England alighted near Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela in November 1949, but subsequently vanished. In 1987, a small population of common starlings was observed nesting in gardens in the city of Buenos Aires. Since then, despite some initial attempts at eradication, the bird has been expanding its breeding range at an average rate of 7.5 km (4.7 mi) per year, keeping within 30 km (19 mi) of the Atlantic coast. In Argentina, the species makes use of a variety of natural and man-made nesting sites, particularly woodpecker holes.
Australia
The common starling was introduced to Australia to consume insect pests of farm crops. Early settlers looked forward to their arrival, believing that common starlings were also important for the pollination of flax, a major agricultural product. Nest-boxes for the newly released birds were placed on farms and near crops. The common starling was introduced to Melbourne in 1857 and Sydney two decades later. By the 1880s, established populations were present in the southeast of the country thanks to the work of acclimatisation committees. By the 1920s, common starlings were widespread throughout Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, but by then they were considered to be pests. Although common starlings were first sighted in Albany, Western Australia in 1917, they have been largely prevented from spreading to the state. The wide and arid Nullarbor Plain provides a natural barrier and control measures have been adopted that have killed 55,000 birds over three decades. The common starling has also colonised Kangaroo Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and Tasmania.
New Zealand
The early settlers in New Zealand cleared the bush and found their newly planted crops were invaded by hordes of caterpillars and other insects deprived of their previous food sources. Native birds were not habituated to living in close proximity to man so the common starling was introduced from Europe along with the House Sparrow to control the pests. It was first brought over in 1862 by the Nelson Acclimatisation Society and other introductions followed. The birds soon became established and are now found all over the country including the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the north and the equally distant Macquarie Island far to the south.
North America
After two failed attempts, about 60 common starlings were released in 1890 into New York's Central Park by Eugene Schieffelin. He was president of the American Acclimatization Society, which reportedly tried to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare into North America, although this has been disputed. About the same date, the Portland Song Bird Club released 35 pairs of common starlings in Portland, Oregon. These birds became established but disappeared around 1902. Common starlings reappeared in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1940s and these birds were probably descendants of the 1890 Central Park introduction. The original 60 birds have since swelled in number to 150 million, occupying an area extending from southern Canada and Alaska to Central America.
Polynesia
The common starling appears to have arrived in Fiji in 1925 on Ono-i-lau and Vatoa islands. It may have colonised from New Zealand via Raoul in the Kermadec Islands where it is abundant, that group being roughly equidistant between New Zealand and Fiji. Its spread in Fiji has been limited, and there are doubts about the population's viability. Tonga was colonised at about the same date and the birds there have been slowly spreading north through the group.
South Africa
In South Africa, the common starling was introduced in 1897 by Cecil Rhodes. It spread slowly, and by 1954, had reached Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth. It is now common in the southern Cape region, thinning out northwards to the Johannesburg area. It is present in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State provinces of South Africa and lowland Lesotho, with occasional sightings in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and around the town of Oranjemund in Namibia. In Southern Africa populations appear to be resident and the bird is strongly associated with man and anthropogenic habitats. It favours irrigated land and is absent from regions where the ground is baked so dry that it cannot probe for insects. It may compete with native birds for crevice nesting sites but the indigenous species are probably more disadvantaged by destruction of their natural habitat than they are by inter-specific competition. It breeds from September to December and outside the breeding season may congregate in large flocks, often roosting in reedbeds. It is the most common bird species in urban and agricultural areas.
West Indies
The inhabitants of Saint Kitts petitioned the Colonial Secretary for a ″ ... government grant of starlings to exterminate ... ″ an outbreak of grasshoppers with was causing enormous damage to their crops in 1901. The common starling was introduced to Jamaica in 1903, and the Bahamas and Cuba were colonised naturally from the US. This bird is fairly common but local in Jamaica, Grand Bahama and Bimini, and is rare in the rest of the Bahamas, eastern Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and St. Croix.
Status
The global population of the common starling is estimated to be more than 310 million individuals and its numbers are not thought to be declining significantly, so the bird is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of least concern. It had shown a marked increase in numbers throughout Europe from the 19th century to around the 1950s and 60s. In about 1830, S. v. vulgaris expanded its range in the British Isles, spreading into Ireland and areas of Scotland where it had formerly been absent, although S. v. zetlandicus was already present in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. The common starling has bred in northern Sweden from 1850 and in Iceland from 1935. The breeding range spread through southern France to northeastern Spain, and there were other range expansions particularly in Italy, Austria and Finland. It started breeding in Iberia in 1960, while the spotless starling's range had been expanding northward since the 1950s. The low rate of advance, about 4.7 km (2.9 mi) per year for both species, is due to the suboptimal mountain and woodland terrain. Expansion has since slowed even further due to direct competition between the two similar species where they overlap in southwestern France and northwestern Spain.
Major declines in populations have been observed from 1980 onward in Sweden, Finland, northern Russia (Karelia) and the Baltic States, and smaller declines in much of the rest of northern and central Europe. The bird has been adversely affected in these areas by intensive agriculture, and in several countries it has been red-listed due to population declines of more than 50%. Numbers dwindled in the United Kingdom by more than 80% between 1966 and 2004; although populations in some areas such as Northern Ireland were stable or even increased, those in other areas, mainly England, declined even more sharply. The overall decline seems to be due to the low survival rate of young birds, which may be caused by changes in agricultural practices. The intensive farming methods used in northern Europe mean there is less pasture and meadow habitat available, and the supply of grassland invertebrates needed for the nestlings to thrive is correspondingly reduced.
Relationship with humans
Benefits and problems
Since common starlings eat insect pests such as wireworms, they are considered beneficial in northern Eurasia, and this was one of the reasons given for introducing the birds elsewhere. Around 25 million nest boxes were erected for this species in the former Soviet Union, and common starlings were found to be effective in controlling the grass grub Costelytra zelandica in New Zealand. The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of nest boxes to help this mainly insectivorous bird to breed successfully, and even in the US, where this is a pest species, the Department of Agriculture acknowledges that vast numbers of insects are consumed by common starlings.
Common starlings introduced to areas such as Australia or North America, where other members of the genus are absent, may affect native species through competition for nest holes. In North America, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, purple martins and other swallows may be affected. In Australia, competitors for nesting sites include the crimson and eastern rosellas. For its role in the decline of local native species and the damages to agriculture, the common starling has been included in the IUCN List of the world's 100 worst invasive species.
Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in orchards such as grapes, peaches, olives, currants and tomatoes or dig up newly sown grain and sprouting crops. They may also eat animal feed and distribute seeds through their droppings. In eastern Australia, weeds like bridal creeper, blackberry and boneseed are thought to have been spread by common starlings. Agricultural damage in the US is estimated as costing about US$800 million annually. This bird is not considered to be as damaging to agriculture in South Africa as it is in the United States.
The large size of flocks can also cause problems. Common starlings may be sucked into aircraft jet engines, one of the worst instances of this being an incident in Boston in 1960, when sixty-two people died after a turboprop airliner flew into a flock and plummeted into the sea at Winthrop Harbor.
Starlings' droppings can contain the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, the cause of histoplasmosis in humans. At roosting sites this fungus can thrive in accumulated droppings. There are a number of other infectious diseases that can potentially be transmitted by common starlings to humans, although the potential for the birds to spread infections may have been exaggerated.
Control
Because of the damage they do, there have been attempts to control the numbers of both native and introduced populations of common starlings. Within the natural breeding range, this may be affected by legislation. For example, in Spain, this is a species hunted commercially as a food item, and has a closed season, whereas in France, it is classed as a pest, and the season in which it may be killed covers the greater part of the year. In Great Britain, Starlings are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it "illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take a starling, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents". The Wildlife Order in Northern Ireland allows, with a general licence, "an authorised person to control starlings to prevent serious damage to agriculture or preserve public health and safety". This species is migratory, so birds involved in control measures may have come from a wide area and breeding populations may not be greatly affected. In Europe, the varying legislation and mobile populations mean that control attempts may have limited long-term results. Non-lethal techniques such as scaring with visual or auditory devices have only a temporary effect in any case.
Huge urban roosts in cities can create problems due to the noise and mess made and the smell of the droppings. In 1949, so many birds landed on the clock hands of London's Big Ben that it stopped, leading to unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the roosts with netting, repellent chemical on the ledges and broadcasts of common starling alarm calls. An entire episode of The Goon Show in 1954 was a parody of the futile efforts to disrupt the large common starling roosts in central London.
Where it is introduced, the common starling is unprotected by legislation, and extensive control plans may be initiated. Common starlings can be prevented from using nest boxes by ensuring that the access holes are smaller than the 1.5 in (38 mm) diameter they need, and the removal of perches discourages them from visiting bird feeders.
Western Australia banned the import of common starlings in 1895. New flocks arriving from the east are routinely shot, while the less cautious juveniles are trapped and netted. New methods are being developed, such as tagging one bird and tracking it back to establish where other members of the flock roost. Another technique is to analyse the DNA of Australian common starling populations to track where the migration from eastern to western Australia is occurring so that better preventive strategies can be used. By 2009, only 300 common starlings were left in Western Australia, and the state committed a further A$400,000 in that year to continue the eradication programme.
In the United States, common starlings are exempt from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the taking or killing of migratory birds. No permit is required to remove nests and eggs or kill juveniles or adults. Research was undertaken in 1966 to identify a suitable avicide that would both kill common starlings and would readily be eaten by them. It also needed to be of low toxicity to mammals and not likely to cause the death of pets that ate dead birds. The chemical that best fitted these criteria was DRC-1339, now marketed as Starlicide. In 2008, the United States government poisoned, shot or trapped 1.7 million birds, the largest number of any nuisance species to be destroyed. In 2005, the population in the United States was estimated at 140 million birds, around 45% of the global total of 310 million.
In science and culture
Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals. Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon's Ring as "the poor man's dog" and "something to love", because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they are straightforward to look after. They adapt well to captivity, and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms. Several birds may be kept in the same cage, and their inquisitiveness makes them easy to train or study. The only disadvantages are their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans. As a laboratory bird, the common starling is second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon.
The common starling's gift for mimicry has long been recognised. In the medieval Welsh Mabinogion, Branwen tamed a common starling, "taught it words", and sent it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brothers, Bran and Manawydan, who then sailed from Wales to Ireland to rescue her. Pliny the Elder claimed that these birds could be taught to speak whole sentences in Latin and Greek, and in Henry IV, William Shakespeare had Hotspur declare "The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I'll holler 'Mortimer!' Nay I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion."
Mozart had a pet common starling which could sing part of his Piano Concerto in G Major (KV. 453). He had bought it from a shop after hearing it sing a phrase from a work he wrote six weeks previously, which had not yet been performed in public. He became very attached to the bird and arranged an elaborate funeral for it when it died three years later. It has been suggested that his A Musical Joke (K. 522) might be written in the comical, inconsequential style of a starling's vocalisation.[35] Other people who have owned common starlings report how adept they are at picking up phrases and expressions. The words have no meaning for the starling, so they often mix them up or use them on what to humans are inappropriate occasions in their songs. Their ability at mimicry is so great that strangers have looked in vain for the human they think they have just heard speak.
Common starlings are trapped for food in some Mediterranean countries. The meat is tough and of low quality, so it is casseroled or made into pâté. One recipe said it should be stewed "until tender, however long that may be". Even when correctly prepared, it may still be seen as an acquired taste.
The introduction of European starlings to the United States in 1890 by New York pharmaceutical manufacturer Eugene Schieffelin was featured in the plotline of the Netflix original series, Ozark in season 1, episode 7, "Nest Box."
[Credit: en.wikipedia.org/]
Petronas Twin Tower or Petronas KLCC - Kuala Lumpur . Taken by single exposure thanks to the heavy thick haze contributed by Sumatra heading from Selangor affecting almost entire KL from 01 Day arrival till 03 departure. This should not be my best shot as I was literary reccee for possiblilty of fresh composit portraying Petrona's Twin Tower Majestic appearance other photographers might not fullfill with achievement. For my visit, is rather a dissapointment of the yearly burning crops practice of Indonesians farmer at this particular season that I eventually affect the health n uncomfortable photo shot lover with terrible gloomy weather that remain only available hope to seize the blue hour as key timing to grab it or loss it!.
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“But one of the attributes of love, like art, is to bring harmony and order out of chaos, to introduce meaning and affect where before there was none, to give rhythmic variations, highs and lows to a landscape that was previously flat”
Molly Haskell (Author and Critic)
Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvellous or you're boring, regardless of your age. - Steven Morrissey
I love wearing sneakers as my footware of choice. I'd rather walk around freely wearing them, going about tough terrain or odd angular hills and not have to worry about my feet or back hurting in heels. I am an avid walker so a good pair of sneakers that are fit to your stylish needs and life-style are a must-have. I am such an odd girl sometimes...I wonder if I will grow out of this phase and become a girly-girl one day. I've been pressured from many ends such as family and friends. It doesn't seem becoming of me. I like wearing what reflects my personality and taste and my taste resides on another side of the spectrum it seems. I am more attracted to styles from the past, realism and odd eccentricities. Just because I don't dress in a posh manner doesn't mean I'm not a girl. And on special occasions I do indulge on my feminine side a bit more. It's all a balance. I find that sort of posh style a wall to one's personality and comfort, but I can understand that it is an actual reflection of some people's personality.
Likewise, I don't think I'll grow out of it too soon, this has been a lifetime in the making. It doesn't matter how old I am much like it doesn't matter what my shoe age is. I think I'll forever be a hippy.
Bus : Iveco Bus Urbanway 18 Hybride
Mise en Service : 10/2016
Affectation : 27
Dépôt : Ivry
Réseau : RATP
FIRST ASIAN AMERICAN STAR!
Written by PHILIP LEIBFRIED
Her complexion was described as "a rose blushing through old ivory;" she was beautiful, tall (5'7"), slender, and Chinese-American. The last fact kept her from attaining the highest echelon among Hollywood's pantheon of stars, but it did not affect her popularity, nor keep her from becoming a household name. She was Anna May Wong, nee Wong Liu Tsong, a name which translates to "Frosted Yellow Willows," and she was born, appropriately enough, on Flower Street in Los Angeles' Chinatown on 3 January 1905, above her father's laundry. Anna May Wong's contribution to show business is a unique one; she was the first Asian female to become a star, achieving that stardom at a time when bias against her race was crushing. With determination and talent allied to her exotic beauty, she remained the only Asian female star throughout her forty-year career, never fully overcoming all prejudices in maintaining that position. Perhaps the rediscovery of her art will elevate her star to the pantheon of great performers and serve as a guiding light to Asian performers who still struggle to find their rightful place. Anna May Wong's life and career is something that is important for all who value greatly the Asian / Asian Pacific American communities' many artists and what we can all contribute!
Excerpt from : That Old Feeling: Anna May Wong
Part II of Richard Corliss' tribute to the pioneer Chinese-American star.
Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount 1931.
Based on a Fu Manchu novel by Sax Rohmer.
Daughter of the Dragon extended the curse sworn by Dr. Fu on the Petrie family to the next generation. Fu Manchu (Warner Oland), long ago injured and exiled in an attempt on Petrie Sr., returns to London and confronts the father: "In the 20 years I have fought to live," he says in his florid maleficence, "the thought of killing you and your son has been my dearest nurse." He kills the father, is mortally wounded himself and, on his deathbed, reveals his identity to his daughter Ling Moy (Wong) and elicits her vow that she will "cancel the debt" to the Fu family honor and murder the son, Ronald (Bramwell Fletcher)... who, dash it all, is madly infatuated with Ling Moy. Ronald has seen "Princess Ling Moy Celebrated Oriental Dancer" perform, and the vision has made him woozy. "I wish I could find a word to describe her," this calf-man effuses. "Exotic that's the word! And she's intriguing, if you know what I mean." In a near-clinch, Ling Moy wonders if a Chinese woman can appeal to a British toff. When he begs her to "chuck everything and stay," she asks him, "If I stayed, would my hair ever become golden curls, and my skin ivory, like Ronald's?" But the lure of the exotic is hard to shake. "Strange," he says, "I prefer yours. I shall never forget your hair and your eyes." They almost kiss ... when an off-camera scream shakes him out of his dream. It is from his girlfriend Joan (Frances Dade), and the societal message is as clear and shrill: white woman alerting white man to treachery of yellow woman. Ling Moy, a nice girl, previously unaware of her lineage, might be expected to struggle, at least briefly, with the shock of her identity and the dreadful deed her father obliges her to perform. But Wong makes an instant transformation, hissing, "The blood is mine. The hatred is mine. The vengeance shall be mine." Just before his death, Fu mourns that he has no son to kill Ronald. But, in a good full-throated reading, Wong vows: "Father, father, I will be your son. I will be your son!" The audience then has the fun of watching her stoke Ronald's ardor while plotting his death. When she is with him, pleading and salesmanship radiate from her bigeyes. But when an ally asks her why she keeps encouraging the lad, she sneers and says, "I am giving him a beautiful illusion. Which I shall crush." As a villainess, she is just getting started. Revealing her mission to Ronald, she tells him she plans to kill Joan "Because you must have a thousand bitter tastes of death before you die." (The ripe dialogue is by Hollywood neophyte Sidney Buchman, whose distinguished list of credits would include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Here Comes Mr Jordan and The Talk of the Town.) She soon ascends on a geyser of madness as she decides on a new torture: "My vengeance is inspired tonight. You will first have the torture of seeing her beauty eaten slowly away by this hungry acid." An aide holds a hose gadget over Joan's soon-to-be-corroded face, and Ronald cries for Ling Moy to stop. Very well she says. "Ling Moy is merciful." She barks at Ronald: "Kill her!" He must decide if his favorite white girl is to be etched with acid or stabbed to death. Great stuff! Melodrama is the art of knowing how precisely too far to goThe film is a triangle: not so much of Ling Moy, Ronald and Joan as of Ling Moy, Ronald and a Chinese detective, Ah Kee, played by Sessue Hayakawa, the Japanese actor who in the teens was Hollywood's first Asian male star. He's not plausibly Chinese here, and he is in a constant, losing battle with spoken English. But he is a part of movie history, in the only studio film of the Golden Age to star two ethnically Asian actors. And he gives his emotive all to such lines as "It is the triumph of irony that the only woman I have ever deeply loved should be born of the blood that I loathe." And in the inevitable double-death finale neither the villainess nor the noble detective can survive the machinations of Hollywood justice he gently caresses the long hair of the lady he would love to have loved. "Flower Ling Moy," he says, a moment before expiring. "A flower need not love, but only be loved. As Ah Kee loved you."
The Personal Anna May Wong
This 5'7 beauty loved to study and could speak in an English accent, as well as being fluent in German and French with more than a passing knowledge of other tongues including Italian and Yiddish. For exercise she rode horses, played golf, and tennis. She liked to cook and regaled her guests with succulent Chinese dishes at frequent dinner parties. She preferred casual clothes, wearing slacks and sweaters at home, but cultivated an oriental motif in her very smart formal wardrobe. She studied singing with Welsh tenor Parry Jones before she participated in the film Limehouse Blues as George Raft's mistress. Anna loved to dance to contemporary music. Anna was quoted as saying, "I think I got my first chance because they thought I was peculiar. But, now I like to believe that the public are fond of me because they think I'm nice."
The story of Anna May Wong’s life traced the arc of triumph and tragedy that marked so many of her films. Wong's youthful ambition and screen appeal got her farther than anyone else of her race. But her race, or rather Hollywood's and America's fear of giving Chinese and other non-whites the same chance as European Americans, kept her from reaching the Golden Mountaintop. We can be startled and impressed by the success she, alone, attained. And still weask: Who knows what Anna May Wong could have been allowed to achieve if she
had been Anna May White?
Anna May Wong passed away on Feb. 3rd 1961 she was 56 years old.
Filmography:
The Red Lantern. Metro 1919. The First Born. Robertson Cole 1921.
Shame. Fox 1921. Bits of Life. Assoc. First National 1921.
The First Born. Robertson Cole 1921. Thundering Dawn. Universal 1923
The Toll of the Sea. Metro 1922 Drifting. Universal 1923 Fifth Avenue. PRC 1926.
Lillies of the Field. Assoc. First National 1924. The Thief of Bagdad. United Artists 1924
The Fortieth Door. Pathé serial 1924. The Alaskan. Paramount 1924.
Peter Pan. Paramount 1924. Forty Winks. Paramount 1925.
The Silk Bouquet/The Dragon Horse. Hi Mark Prod. 1926 The Desert's Toll. MGM 1926.
A Trip to Chinatown. Fox 1926. The Chinese Parrot. Universal. 1927.
Driven from Home. Chadwick 1927. Mr. Wu. MGM 1927.
Old San Francisco. Warner Bros. 1927. Why Girls Love Sailors. Pathé short 1927.
The Devil Dancer. United Artists 1927. Streets of Shanghai. Tiffany 1927.
Across to Singapore. MGM 1928. Pavement Butterfly (aka City Butterfly).
The City Butterfly. German 1929. Across to Singapore. MGM 1928.
The Crimson City. Warner Bros. 1928. Song. German 1928
Chinatown Charlie. First National 1928. Piccadilly, British International 1929.
Elstree Calling. British International 1930. The Flame of Love. British International 1930.
Hay Tang. German 1930. L'Amour Maitre Des Choses. French 1930.
Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount 1931. Shanghai Express. Paramount 1932.
A Study in Scarlet. World Wide 1933. Tiger Bay. Associated British 1933.
Chu Chin Chow. Gaumont 1934. Java Head. Associated British 1934.
Limehouse Blues. Paramount 1934. Daughter of Shanghai. Paramount 1937.
Hollywood Party. MGM short subject 1937. Dangerous to Know. Paramount 1938.
The Toll of the Sea. Metro 1922. The Thief of Bagdad 1924
Shanghai Express 1932
Flickr Explore Sunday 11th January 2009 #226
Another experimental shot.
Using Fractalius and my (very) limited Photoshop skills, I wanted to do something with this shot where I could run the picture through Fractalius but not affect the swans as I wanted to keep their original detail.
Therefore, each of the swans were removed from the original layer and dropped into their own and then the conversion in Fractalius done on the remaining layer detail, after that the swans were added back.
It could be improved drastically if I knew what I was doing more lol....I hope some of you like it...it looks better large.
The days drag and the weeks fly by.
It has been a grim week at work, and yet the weekend is here once again.
The cold snap is still here; thick frosts and icy patches, but Sunday afternoon storms will sweep in from the west and temperatures will soar by day to 13 degrees.
But for now it is cold, and colder at nights, the wood burner makes the living room toasty warm, though the rest of the house seems like a fridge in comparison.
Even though we went to bed at nine, we slept to nearly half seven, which meant we were already later than usual going to Tesco.
We had a coffee first, then got dressed and went out into the winter wonderland.
Tesco was more crowded mainly because we were an hour later. There were no crackers for cheese, a whole aisle empty of cream crackers and butter wafers.
There is only so much food you can eat even over Christmas, so the cracker-shortage won't affect us, we have two Dundee cakes, filling for two lots of mince pies and pastry for five lots of sausage rolls.
We won't starve.
We buy another bag of stuff for the food bank, try to get two weeks of stuff so we wont need to go next weekend, just to a farm shop for vegetables, and the butcher for the Christmas order, though on the 25th we are going out for dinner to the Lantern.
Back home for fruit, then bacon butties and another huge brew. Yes, smoked bacon is again in short supply, with just the basic streaky smoked available, but we're not fussy, so that does the trick.
Also, Jools picked up her inhalers for her cough, and so, we hope, the road to recovery begins.
What to do with the day?
Although a walk would have been good, Jools can do no more than ten minutes in freezing conditions before a coughing fits starts, so a couple of churches to revisit and take more shots of.
First on the list was St Leonard in Upper Deal. A church I have only have been inside once. As it was just half ten, there should have been a chance it was open, but no. We parked up and I walked over the road to try the porch door, but it was locked.
No worries, as the next two would certainly be open.
Just up the road towards Canterbury is Ash.
Ash is a large village that the main roads now bypass its narrow streets, and buses call not so frequently.
The church towers over the village, its spire piercing the grey sky. We park beside the old curry hours than burned down a decade ago, is now a house and no sign of damage.
indeed the church was open, though the porch door was closed, it opened with use of the latch, and the inner glass door swung inwards, revealing an interior I had forgotten about, rich Victorian glass let in the weak sunlight, allowing me to take detailed shots. It was far better and more enjoyable than I remembered.
Once I took 200 or so shots, we went back to the car, drove back to the main road, and on to Wingham, where the church there, a twin of Wingham, would also be open too.
And it was.
The wardens were just finishing trimming the church up, and putting out new flowers, it was a bustle of activity, then one by one they left.
got my shots, and we left, back to the car and to home, though we did stop at he farm shop at Aylsham, and all we wanted was some sweet peppers for hash.
We went in and there was the bakery: I bought two sausage rolls, four small pork pies and two Cajun flavours scotch eggs. We got cider, beer, healthy snacks (we told ourselves) and finally found the peppers.
Three peppers cost £50!
Then back home, along the A2.
And arriving back home at one. We feasted on the scotch eggs and two of the pork pies.
Yummy.
There was the third place play off game to watch on the tellybox, the Football league to follow on the radio. We lit the woodburner and it was soon toasty warm.
At half five, Norwich kicked off, and hopes were high as Blackburn had not beaten us in over a decade.
And, yes you guessed it, Norwich lost. Played poorly, and in Dad's words, were lucky to get nil.
Oh dear.
Oh dear indeed.
We have Christmas cake for supper, and apart from the football, as was well with the world.
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A large and impressive church of mainly thirteenth century date over restored in 1847 by the irrepressible William Butterfield. The scale of the interior is amazing - particularly in the tower crossing arches which support the enormous spire. They are an obvious insertion into an earlier structure. The best furnishing at Ash is the eighteenth century font which stands on an inscribed base. For the visitor interested in memorials, Ash ahs more than most ranging from the fourteenth century effigy of a knight to two excellent alabaster memorials to Sir Thomas Harfleet (d 1612) and Christopher Toldervy (d 1618). Mrs Toldervy appears twice in the church for she accompanies her husband on his memorial and may also be seen as a `weeper` on her parents` memorial! On that she is one of two survivors of what was once a group of seven daughters - all her weeping brothers have long since disappeared.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ash+2
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ASH
LIES adjoining to the last-described parish of Staple northward. It is written in Domesday, Ece, and in other antient records, Aisse, and is usually called Ash, near Sandwich, to distinguish it from Ash, near Wrotham.
The parish of Ash is very large, extending over a variety of soil and country, of hill, dale, and marsh lands, near four miles across each way, and containing more than six thousand acres of land, of which about one half is marsh, the river Stour being its northern bounday, where it is very wet and unwholesone, but the southern or upland part of the parish is very dary, pleasant and healthy. The soil in general is fertile, and lets on an average at about one pound an acre; notwithstanding, there is a part of it about Ash-street and Gilton town, where it is a deep sand. The village of Ash, commonly called Ash-street, situated in this part of it, on high ground, mostly on the western declivity of a hill, having the church on the brow of it, is built on each side of the road from Canterbury to Sandwich, and contains about fifty houses. On the south side of this road, about half a mile westward, is a Roman burial ground, of which further mention will be taken hereaster, and adjoining to it the hamlet of Gilton town, formerly written Guildanton, in which is Gilton parsonage, a neat stuccoed house, lately inhabited by Mr. Robert Legrand, and now by Mrs. Becker. In the valley southward stands Mote farm, alias Brooke house, formerly the habitation of the Stoughtons, then of the Ptoroude's and now the property of Edward Solly, esq. of London.
There are dispersed throughout this large parish many small hamlets and farms, which have been formerly of more consequence, from the respective owners and in habitants of them, all which, excepting East and New Street, and Great Pedding, (the latter of which was the antient residence of the family of solly, who lie buried in Ash church-yard, and bore for their arms, Vert, a chevron, per pale, or, and gules, between three soles naiant, argent, and being sold by one of them to dean Lynch, is now in the possession of lady Lynch, the widow of Sir William Lynch, K. B.) are situated in the northern part of the parish, and contain together about two hundred and fifty houses, among them is Hoden, formerly the residence of the family of St. Nicholas; Paramour-street, which for many years was the residence of those of that name, and Brook-street, in which is Brook-house, the residence of the Brooke's, one of whom John Brooke, esq. in queen Elizabeth's reign, resided here, and bore for his arms, Per bend, vert and sable, two eagles, counterchanged.
William, lord Latimer, anno 38 Edward III. obtained a market to be held at Ash, on a Thursday; and a fair yearly on Lady-day, and the two following ones. A fair is now held in Ash-street on Lady and Michaelmas days yearly.
In 1473 there was a lazar house for the infirm of the leprosy, at Eche, near Sandwich.
¶The manor of Wingham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which there were several manors in it, held of the archbishop, to whom that manor belonged, the mansions of which, being inhabited by families of reputation and of good rank in life, made this parish of much greater account than it has been for many years past, the mansions of them having been converted for a length of time into farmhouses to the lands to which they belong.
f this manor, (viz. Wingham) William de Acris holds one suling in Fletes, and there he has in demesne one carucate and four villeins, and one knight with one carucate, and one fisbery, with a saltpit of thirty pence. The whole is worth forty shillings.
This district or manor was granted by archbishop Lanfranc, soon after this, to one Osberne, (fn. 7) of whom I find no further mention, nor of this place, till king Henry III.'s reign, when it seems to have been separated into two manors, one of which, now known by the name of the manor of Gurson Fleet, though till of late time by that of Fleet only, was held afterwards of the archbishop by knight's service, by the family of Sandwich, and afterwards by the Veres, earls of Oxford, one of whom, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died anno 3 Edward III. was found by the escheat-rolls of that year, to have died possessed of this manor of Fleet, which continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was attainted in the first year of king Edward IV. upon which this manor came into the hands of the crown, and was granted the next year to Richard, duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, with whom it staid after his succession to the crown, as king Richard III. on whose death, and the accession of king Henry VII. this manor returned to the possession of John, earl of Oxford, who had been attainted, but was by parliament anno I Henry VII. restored in blood, titles and possessions. After which this manor continued in his name and family till about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, when Edward Vere, earl of Oxford, alienated it to Hammond, in whose descendants it continued till one of them, in the middle of king Charles II.'s reign, sold it to Thomas Turner, D. D. who died possessed of it in 1672, and in his name and descendants it continued till the year 1748, when it was sold to John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, whose son Sir William Lynch, K. B. died possessed of it in 1785, and by his will devised it, with the rest of his estates, to his widow lady Lynch, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Archbishop Lanfranc, on his founding the priory of St. Gregory, in the reign of the Conqueror, gave to it the tithe of the manor of Fleet; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Hubert in Richard I.'s reign. This portion of tithes, which arose principally from Gurson Fleet manor, remained with the priory at its dissolution, and is now part of Goldston parsonage, parcel of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention has been made before.
The other part of the district of Fleet was called, to distinguish it, and from the possessors of it, the manor of Nevills Fleet, though now known by the name of Fleet only, is situated between Gurson and Richborough, adjoining to the former. This manor was held in king John's reign of the archbishop, by knight's service, by Thomas Pincerna, so called probably from his office of chief butler to that prince, whence his successors assumed the name of Butler, or Boteler. His descendant was Robert le Boteler, who possessed this manor in king Ed ward I.'s reign, and from their possession of it, this manor acquired for some time the name of Butlers Fleet; but in the 20th year of king Edward III. William, lord Latimer of Corbie, appears to have been in the possession of it, and from him it acquired the name of Latimers Fleet. He bore for his arms, Gules, a cross flory, or. After having had summons to parliament, (fn. 8) he died in the begening of king Richard II.'s reign, leaving Elizabeth his sole daughter and heir, married to John, lord Nevill, of Raby, whose son John bore the title of lord Latimer, and was summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, till the 9th year of king Henry VI. in which he died, so that the greatest part of his inheritance, among which was this manor, came by an entail made, to Ralph, lord Nevill, and first earl of Westmoreland, his eldest, but half brother, to whom he had sold, after his life, the barony of Latimer, and he, by seoffment, vested it, with this manor and much of the inheritance above-mentioned, in his younger son Sir George Nevill, who was accordingly summoned to parliament as lord Latimer, anno 10 Henry VI. and his grandson Richard, lord Latimer, in the next regin of Edward IV. alienated this manor, which from their length of possession of it, had acquired the name of Nevill's Fleet, to Sir James Cromer, and his son Sir William Cromer, in the 11th year of king Henry VII, sold it to John Isaak, who passed it away to Kendall, and he, in the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, sold it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, in Ashford, who died possessed of it in 1533, and his son, of the same name, before the end of it, passed it away to Mr. Thomas Rolfe, and he sold it, within a few years afterwards, to Stephen Hougham, gent. of this parish, who by his will in 1555, devised it to his youngest son Rich. Hougham, of Eastry, from one of whose descendants it was alienated to Sir Adam Spracklin, who sold it to one of the family of Septvans, alias Harflete, in which name it continued till within a few years after the death of king Charles I. when by a female heir Elizabeth it went in marriage to Thomas Kitchell, esq. in whose heirs it continued till it was at length, about the year 1720, alienated by one of them to Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warden of the Fleet prison, upon whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, Mr. James Bambridge, of the Temple, attorney at-law, and Thomas Bambridge, and they divided this estate, and that part of it allotted to the latter was soon afterwards alienated by him to Mr. Peter Moulson, of London, whose only daughter and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. Geo. Vaughan, of London, and he and the assignees of Mr. James Bambridge last mentioned, have lately joined in the conveyance of the whole fee of this manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, gent. of Sandwich, the present owner of it. There is not any court held for this manor.
In this district, and within this manor of Fleet lastmentioned, there was formerly a chapel of cose to the church of Ash, as that was to the church of Wingham, to which college, on its foundation by archbishop Peckham in 1286, the tithes, rents, obventions, &c of this chapel and district was granted by him, for the support in common of the provost and canons of it, with whom it remained till the suppression of it, anno I king Edward VI. The tithes, arising from this manor of Fleet, and the hamlet of Richborough, are now a part of the rectory of Ash, and of that particular part of it called Gilton parsonage, parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, of which further mention will be made hereafter. There have not been any remains left of it for a long time part.
Richborough is a hamlet and district of land, in the south-east part of this parish, rendered famous from the Roman fort and town built there, and more so formerly, from the port or haven close adjoining to it.
It was in general called by the Romans by the plural name of Rutupiæ; for it must be observed that the æstuary, which at that time separated the Isle of Thanet from the main land of Kent, and was the general passage for shipping,had at each mouth of it, towards the sea, a fort and haven, called jointly Rutupiæ. That at the northern part and of it being now called Reculver, and that at the eastern, being the principal one, this of Richborough.
The name of it is variously spelt in different authors. By Ptolemy it is written [Patapiaia (?)] urbem; by Tacitus, according to the best reading, Portus, Rutupensis; by Antonine, in his Itinerary, Ritupas, and Ritupis Portum; by Ammianus, Ritupiæ statio; afterwards by the Saxons, Reptacester, and now Richborough.
The haven, or Portus Rutupinus, or Richborough, was very eminent in the time of the Romans, and much celebrated in antient history, being a safe and commodious harbour, stationem ex adverso tranquillam, as Ammianus calls it, situated at the entrance of the passage towards then Thamas, and becoming the general place of setting sail from Britain to the continent, and where the Roman fleets arrived, and so large and extensive was the bay of it, that it is supposed to have extended far beyond Sandwich on the one side, almost to Ramsgate cliffs on the other, near five miles in width, covering the whole of that flat of land on which Stonar and Sandwich were afterwards built, and extending from thence up the æstuary between the Isle of Thanet and the main land. So that Antonine might well name it the Port, in his Itinerary, [Kat exochin], from there being no other of like consequence, and from this circumstance the shore for some distance on each side acquired the general name of Littus Rutupinum, the Rutupian shore. (fn. 9) Some have contended that Julius Cæsar landed at Richborough, in his expeditions into Britain; but this opinion is refuted by Dr. Hasley in Phil, Trans. No. 193, who plainly proves his place of landing to have been in the Downs. The fort of Richborough, from the similarity of the remains of it to those of Reculver, seems to have been built about the same time, and by the same emperer, Serveris, about the year 205. It stands on the high hill, close to a deep precipice eastward, at the soot of which was the haven. In this fortress, so peculiarly strengthened by its situation, the Romans had afterwards a stationary garrison, and here they had likewise a pharos, of watch tower, the like as at Reculver and other places on this coast, as well to guide the shipping into the haven, as to give notice of the approach of enemies. It is by most supposed that there was, in the time of the Romans, near the fort, in like manner as at Reculver, a city or town, on the decline of the hill, south-westward from it, according to custom, at which a colony was settled by them. Prolemy, in his geography, reckons the city Rutpia as one of the three principal cities of Kent. (fn. 10) Orosius. and Bede too, expressly mention it as such; but when the haven decayed, and there was no longer a traffic and resort to this place, the town decayed likewise, and there have not been, for many ages since, any remains whatever of it left; though quantities of coins and Roman antiquities have been sound on the spot where it is supposed to have once stood.
During the latter part of the Roman empire, when the Saxons prevented all trade by sea, and insefted these coasts by frequent robberies, the second Roman legion, called Augusta, and likewise Britannica, which had been brought out of Germany by the emperor Claudius, and had resided for many years at the Isca Silurum, in Wales, was removed and stationed here, under a president or commander, præpositus, of its own, who was subordinate to the count of the Saxon shore, and continued so till the final departure of the Romans from Britain, in the year 410, when this fortress was left in the hands of the Britons, who were afterwards dispossessed of it by the Saxons, during whose time the harbour seems to have began to decay and to swerve up, the sea by degrees entirely deserting it at this place, but still leaving one large and commodious at Sandwich, which in process of time became the usual resort for shipping, and arose a flourishing harbour in its stead, as plainly appears by the histories of those times, by all of which, both the royal Saxon fleets, as well as those of the Danes, are said to sail for the port of Sandwich, and there to lie at different times; (fn. 11) and no further mention is made by any of them of this of Rutupiæ, Reptachester, or Richborough; so that the port being thus destroyed, the town became neglected and desolate, and with the castle sunk into a heap of ruins. Leland's description of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, is very accurate, and gives an exceeding good idea of the progressive state of its decay to that time. He says, "Ratesburg otherwyse Richeboro was, of ever the ryver of Sture dyd turn his botom or old canale, withyn the Isle of the Thanet, and by Iykelyhod the mayn se came to the very foote of the castel. The mayn se ys now of yt a myle by reason of wose, that has there swollen up. The scite of the town or castel ys wonderful fair apon an hille. The walles the wich remayn ther yet be in cumpase almost as much as the tower of London. They have bene very hye thykke stronge and wel embateled. The mater of them is flynt mervelus and long brykes both white and redde after the Britons fascion. The sement was made of se sand and smaul pible. Ther is a great lykelyhod that the goodly hil abowte the castel and especially to Sandwich ward hath bene wel inhabited. Corne groweth on the hille yn bene mervelous plenty and yn going to plowgh ther hath owt of mynde fownd and now is mo antiquities of Romayne money than yn any place els of England surely reason speketh that this should be Rutupinum. For byside that the name sumwhat toucheth, the very near passage fro Cales Clyves or Cales was to Ratesburgh and now is to Sandwich, the which is about a myle of; though now Sandwich be not celebrated by cawse of Goodwine sandes and the decay of the haven. Ther is a good flyte shot of fro Ratesburg toward Sandwich a great dyke caste in a rownd cumpas as yt had bene for sens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the grownd withyn is not much above an acre and yt is very holo by casting up the yerth. They cawle the place there Lytleborough. Withyn the castel is a lytle paroche chirch of St. Augustine and an heremitage. I had antiquities of the heremite the which is an industrious man. Not far fro the hermitage is a cave wher men have sowt and digged for treasure. I saw it by candel withyn, and ther were conys. Yt was so straite that I had no mynd to crepe far yn. In the north side of the castel ys a hedde yn the walle, now fore defaced with wether. They call it queen Bertha hedde. Nere to that place hard by the wal was a pot of Romayne mony sownd."
The ruins of this antient castle stand upon the point of a hill or promontory, about a mile north-west from Sandwich, overlooking on each side, excepting towards the west, a great flat which appears by the lowness of it, and the banks of beach still shewing themselves in different places, to have been all once covered by the sea. The east side of this hill is great part of it so high and perpendicular from the flat at the foot of it, where the river Stour now runs, that ships with the greatest burthen might have lain close to it, and there are no signs of any wall having been there; but at the north end, where the ground rises into a natural terrace, so as to render one necessary, there is about 190 feet of wall left. Those on the other three sides are for the most part standing, and much more entire than could be expected, considering the number of years since they were built, and the most so of any in the kingdom, except Silchester. It is in shape an oblong square, containing within it a space of somewhat less than five acres. They are in general about ten feet high within, but their broken tops shew them to have been still higher. The north wall, on the outside, is about twice as high as it is within, or the other two, having been carried up from the very bottom of the hill, and it seems to have been somewhat longer than it is at present, by some pieces of it sallen down at the east end. The walls are about eleven feet thick. In the middle of the west side is the aperture of an entrance, which probably led to the city or town, and on the north side is another, being an entrance obliquely into the castle. Near the middle of the area are the ruins of some walls, full of bushes and briars, which seem as if some one had dug under ground among them, probably where once stood the prætorium of the Roman general, and where a church or chapel was afterwards erected, dedicated to St. Augustine, and taken notice of by Leland as such in his time. It appears to have been a chapel of ease to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabitants of this district, and is mentioned as such in the grant of the rectory of that church, anno 3 Edward VI. at which time it appears to have existed. About a furlong to the south, in a ploughed field, is a large circular work, with a hollow in the middle, the banks of unequal heights, which is supposed to have been an amphitheatre, built of turf, for the use of the garrison, the different heights of the banks having been occasioned by cultivation, and the usual decay, which must have happened from so great a length of time. These stations of the Romans, of which Richborough was one, were strong fortifications, for the most part of no great compass or extent, wherein were barracks for the loding of the soldiers, who had their usual winter quarters in them. Adjoining, or at no great distance from them, there were usually other, buildings forming a town; and such a one was here at Richborough, as has been already mentioned before, to which the station or fort was in the nature of a citadel, where the soldiers kept garrison. To this Tacitus seems to allude, when he says, "the works that in time of peace had been built, like a free town, not far from the camp, were destroyed, left they should be of any service to the enemy." (fn. 12) Which in great measure accounts for there being no kind of trace or remains left, to point out where this town once stood, which had not only the Romans, according to the above observation, but the Saxons and Danes afterwards, to carry forward at different æras the total destruction of it.
The burial ground for this Roman colony and station of Richborough, appears to have been on the hill at the end of Gilton town, in this parish, about two miles south-west from the castle, and the many graves which have been continually dug up there, in different parts of it, shew it to have been of general use for that purpose for several ages.
The scite of the castle at Richborough was part of the antient inheritance of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, from which it was alienated in queen Elizabeth's reign to Gaunt; after which it passed, in like manner as Wingham Barton before-described, to Thurbarne, and thence by marriage to Rivett, who sold it to Farrer, from whom it was alienated to Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, the present possessor of it. In the deed of conveyance it is thus described: And also all those the walls and ruins of the antient castle of Rutupium, now known by the name of Richborough castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of Rutupinum, being on and near the lands before-mentioned. About the walls of Richborough grows Fæniculum valgare, common fennel, in great plenty.
It may be learned from the second iter of Antonine's Itinerary, that there was once a Roman road, or highway from Canterbury to the port of Richborough, in which iter the two laft stations are, from Durovernum, Canterbury, to Richborough, ad portum Rutupis, xii miles; in which distance all the different copies of the Itinerary agree. Some parts of this road can be tracted at places at this time with certainty; and by the Roman burial-ground, usually placed near the side of a high road, at Gilton town, and several other Roman vestigia thereabouts, it may well be supposed to have led from Canterbury through that place to Richborough, and there is at this time from Goldston, in Ash, across the low-grounds to it, a road much harder and broader than usual for the apparent use of it, which might perhaps be some part of it.
Charities.
A person unknown gave four acres and an half of land, in Chapman-street, of the annual produce of 5l. towards the church assessments.
Thomas St. Nicholas, esq. of this parish, by deed about the year 1626, gave an annuity of 11. 5s. to be paid from his estate of Hoden, now belonging to the heirs of Nathaniel Elgar, esq. to be distributed yearly, 10s. to the repairing and keeping clean the Toldervey monument in this church, and 15s. on Christmas-day to the poor.
John Proude, the elder, of Ash, yeoman, by his will in 1626, ordered that his executor should erect upon his land adjoining to the church-yard, a house, which should be disposed of in future by the churchwardens and overseers, for a school-house, and for a storehouse, to lay in provision for the church and poor. This house is now let at 1l. per annum, and the produce applied to the use of the poor.
Richard Camden, in 1642, gave by will forty perches of land, for the use of the poor, and of the annual produce of 15s. now vested in the minister and churchwardens.
Gervas Cartwright, esq. and his two sisters, in 1710 and 1721, gave by deed an estate, now of the yearly value of 50l. for teaching fifty poor children to read, write, &c. vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other trustees.
The above two sisters, Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, gave besides 100l. for beautifying the chancel, and for providing two large pieces of plate for the communion service; and Mrs. Susan Robetts added two other pieces of plate for the same purpose.
There is a large and commodious workhouse lately built, for the use of the poor, to discharge the expence of which, 100l. is taken yearly out of the poor's rate, till the whole is discharged. In 1604, the charges of the poor were 29l. 15s. 11d. In 1779. 1000l.
There is a charity school for boys and girls, who are educated, but not cloathed.
The poor constantly relieved are about seventy-five, casually fifty-five.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a handsome building, of the form of a cross, consisting of two isles and two chancels, and a cross sept, having a tall spire steeple in the middle, in which are eight bells and a clock. It is very neat and handsome in the inside. In the high or south chancel is a monument for the Roberts's, arms, Argent, three pheons, sable, on a chief of the second, a greybound current of the first; another for the Cartwrights, arms, Or, a fess embattled, between three catherine wheels, sable. In the north wall is a monument for one of the family of Leverick, with his effigies, in armour, lying cross-legged on it; and in the same wall, westward, is another like monument for Sir John Goshall, with his effigies on it, in like manner, and in a hollow underneath, the effigies of his wife, in her head-dress, and wimple under her chin. A gravestone, with an inscription, and figure of a woman with a remarkable high high-dress, the middle part like a horseshoe inverted, for Jane Keriell, daughter of Roger Clitherow. A stone for Benjamin Longley, LL. B. minister of Ash twenty-nine years, vicar of Eynsford and Tonge, obt. 1783. A monument for William Brett, esq. and Frances his wife. The north chancel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, belongs to the manor of Molland. Against the north wall is a tomb, having on it the effigies of a man and woman, lying at full length, the former in armour, and sword by his side, but his head bare, a collar of SS about his neck, both seemingly under the middle age, but neither arms nor inscription, but it was for one of the family of Harflete, alias Septvans; and there are monuments and several memorials and brasses likewise for that family. A memorial for Thomas Singleton, M. D. of Molland, obt. 1710. One for John Brooke, of Brookestreet, obt. 1582, s. p. arms, Per bend, two eagles.—Several memorials for the Pekes, of Hills-court, and for Masters, of Goldstone. A monument for Christopher Toldervy, of Chartham, obt. 1618. A memorial for Daniel Hole, who, as well as his ancestors, had lived upwards of one hundred years at Goshall, as occupiers of it. In the north cross, which was called the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, was buried the family of St. Nicholas. The brass plates of whom, with their arms, are still to be seen. A tablet for Whittingham Wood, gent. obt. 1656. In the south cross, a monument for Richard Hougham, gent. of Weddington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Edward Sanders, gent. of Norborne. An elegant monument for Mary, wife of Henry Lowman, esq. of Dortnued, in Germany. She died in 1737, and he died in 1743. And for lieutenant colonel Christopher Ernest Kien, obt. 1744, and Jane his wife, their sole daughter and heir, obt. 1762, and for Evert George Cousemaker, esq. obt. 1763, all buried in a vault underneath, arms, Or, on a mount vert, a naked man, bolding a branch in his hand, proper, impaling per bend sinister, argent and gules, a knight armed on borjeback, holding a tilting spear erect, the point downwards, all counterchanged. On the font is inscribed, Robert Minchard, arms, A crescent, between the points of it a mullet. Several of the Harfletes lie buried in the church-yard, near the porch, but their tombs are gone. On each side of the porch are two compartments of stone work, which were once ornamented with brasses, most probably in remembrance of the Harfleets, buried near them. At the corner of the church-yard are two old tombs, supposed for the family of Alday.
In the windows of the church were formerly several coats of arms, and among others, of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, who married Constance, widow of John Septvans; Brooke, Ellis, Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham; and the figures of St. Nicholas, Keriell, and Hougham, kneeling, in their respective surcoats of arms, but there is not any painted glass left in any part of the church or chancels.
John Septvans, about king Henry VII.'s reign, founded a chantry, called the chantry of the upper Hall, as appears by the will of Katherine Martin, of Faversham, sometime his wife, in 1497. There was a chantry of our blessed Lady, and another of St. Stephen likewise, in it; both suppressed in the 1st year of king Edward VI. when the former of them was returned to be of the clear yearly certified value of 15l. 11s. 1½d. (fn. 13)
The church of Ash was antiently a chapel of east to that of Wingham, and was, on the foundation of the college there in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish church of itself, and then given to the college, with the chapels likewise of Overland and Fleet, in this parish, appurtenant to this church; which becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till the suppression of it in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this part of the rectory or parsonage appropriate, called Overland parsonage, with the advowson of the church, came, with the rest of the possessions of the college, into the hands of the crown, where the advowson of the vicarage, or perpetual curacy of it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop. But the above-mentioned part of the rectory, or parsonage appropriate of Ash, with those chapels, remained in the crown, till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange to archbishop Parker, who was before possessed of that part called Goldston parsonage, parcel of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, by grant from king Henry VIII. so that now this parish is divided into two distinct parsonages, viz. of Overland and of Goldston, which are demised on separate beneficial leases by the archbishop, the former to the heirs of Parker, and the latter, called Gilton parsonage, from the house and barns of it being situated in that hamlet, to George Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury. The patronage of the perpetual curacy remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury.
¶At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which after the suppression of the college came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid by the provost, &c. to the curate being 16l. 13s. 4d. was in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum; and it was afterwards further augmented by archbishop Sheldon, anno 28 Charles II. with twenty pounds per annum more, the whole to be paid by the several lessees of these parsonages. Which sum of seventy pounds is now the clear yearly certified value of it. In 1588 here were communicants five hundred; in 1640, eight hundred and fifty. So far as appears by the registers, the increase of births in this parish is almost double to what they were two hundred years ago.
Modèle / Model : Citroën C3 II
Affectation / Assignment : Police Municipale des Sables-d'Olonne (85) (fusion d'Olonne-sur-Mer) / Municipal Police of Sables-d'Olonne (merge of Olonne-sur-Mer)
Fonction / Function : Véhicule de patrouille / Patrol vehicle
Mise en service / Commissioning : Juin 2015 / June 2015
iss067e189949 (July 18, 2022) --- NASA's Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines transport research gear and samples from the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship into the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. The duo then activated an experiment to explore how microgravity affects the skin healing process.
1st legended . . to cousine Lorraine
"Chaque bouleau est une image, chaque image est un boulot !"
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Outlining a Theory of General Creativity .. on a 'Pataphysical way
Entropy ≥ Memory . Creativity ²
Entropy ≥ Mimesis . Catharsis ²
Study of the day:
Qui dessina le rhizome le premier, l'écorce ou la sève ?
Qui créa l'être le premier, l'affect ou le percept, l'ego ou l'altérité ?
Who drew the rhizome first, the bark or the sap ?
who created the being first, the affect or the percept, the ego or the otherness ?
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"On ne voit que ce qu'on regarde . . "
"One sees only what one looks at . . "
( Maurice Merleau-Ponty - 1964 - L'Oeil et l'Esprit )
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my bigHuge Flickr DNA . . neither for forensic analysis nor any positive discrimination !
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[ F11 ] . . my complete random recto-perso collection . . [ F11 ]
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#Conditions that #Affect #Wine
#Wine storage is #exaggerated by numerous #factors. Listed below is one of the most important factors that exaggerate the wine storage:
#Temperature
To stock up the wine for a #stretched period its temperature should be #preserved properly. Wines that are stocked up for a #week or #months can affect by the #temperature under which it is stored.
Wines should be stored in the #temperature between 45º - 60º F; while the optimal temperature range is 50º to 55º F. wines are stored in #caves where the underground #temperature is 13°C (55º F).
•Blush, rose and dry white wines are most #excellent at 46 deg - 57 deg F.
•Sparkling wines and champagne are most #excellent at 43 deg - 47 deg F.
•Light #red #wine work well at 55F.
•Deep red #wines serve well at a #temperature between 59 deg - 66 deg F.
© all rights reserved
Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black
I have travelled all my life but never before have I been in a country where the principal characteristic of the people seems to be their smile. A naturally sweet nature seems to have survived centuries of fighting and turbulent change, while the results of the intense barrage of bombs and Agent Orange dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war still affects, in some way, almost every family in the country. To Westerners, with our grumbles and grouses about the slightest inconveniences to our lives, it is a revelation. Laos is blessed with some of Asia’s nicest rivers, and many of them are mellow. Children spent the day at school, and by the afternoon they were doing the chores required of them…building a fire for the kitchen, sweeping the leaves into a pile, or caring for the young siblings strapped to their back …young boys and girls from the age of seven or eight attentive to the baby’s every need. Amongst this was the laughter of children playing in the river. But sometimes they skip their days at school, going fishing. The vast majority of people are engaged in agriculture, especially subsistence rice farming on small family plots. Children help with farm chores from an early age, and most are engaged full-time in farming after leaving primary school. Children rarely have toys but enjoy catching fish, frogs, and insects to supplement the family diet. Boys are skillful with slingshots and blowguns in hunting small birds. Young girls help with child care and often carry a younger sibling astride a hip while they play with their friends. Kids have a great time running on the rampart, swimming in the Mekong river, taking boat rides along the river and playing. Despite Laos poverty and isolation, its people were some of the kindest and most outgoing we've ever met. Its delightful old world charm has not been despoiled by the slow but steady pace of modernization. Lao seems a bit like heaven, the laughter is often & sincere, the rivers are cool and clean and not a speck of modern civilization in sight. In my perspective it is some of the best Laos can offer. Until recently Laos was an Asian backwater. When it opened its doors again to foreign visitors in the Nineties there were few modern amenities and no tourist infrastructure. Now this sleepy, rural land is waking up to tourism.
Photo of a boy taken on a little island near the border between Laos and Cambodia. The little island is located in the Mekong river. While his father is ploughing in the rice fields and his mother is preparing food for him and his brothers and sisters. His mesmerizing eyes got my attention. A great place to explore some of the lesser-known areas of the southern region of Laos. A place to meet the friendly Lao people despite their poverty and isolation. School is important for ethnic minority kids, they should attend and complete primary education in order to overcome rural/urban, ethnic in the area of literacy and education. But it isn't that easy. The reason to skip school are the family economic considerations, involvement in family maintenance and subsistence tasks, the lack of perceived benefits from education. While poverty and lack of access are issues. In addition to these, ethnic minority kids have to face further barriers to education, including the distance from school facilities, their extreme poverty, and additional cultural barriers and the lack of fluency in the national language, Lao. The ethnic kids speak their own language. About 32% of all Laotians are related to Ethnic groups. Totally 160 ethnic groups and speak 82 distinct living languages.
Si Phan Don, ook bekend als 4 duizend eilanden is gelegen in het zuiden van Laos. Hier is de Mekong op sommige gebieden wel 14 km breed. Don Det eiland is een oase van rust want gemotoriseerd verkeer is er nog vrijwel onbekend. Je kunt hier heerlijk wandelen langs tempeltjes, rijstvelden, lotusvijvers en kleine dorpjes. Don Det is wel een beetje een backpackers paradijs met goedkope bamboehutjes, pancakes en Frans stokbrood. Samengevat: peace & happiness. Voor de gemiddelde toerist is er erg weinig te doen, maar voor mij is de omgeving schitterend en heel rustgevend. De omgeving nodigt uit tot het maken van flinke wandelingen, maar je kunt het eiland ook prima per fiets verkennen. We hebben dan ook maar een fiets gehuurd en een rondje gemaakt. Werkelijk prachtig en heerlijk om door onbedorven dorpjes en de prachtige groene rijstvelden te rijden waar iedereen ons zwaaiend met Sabaidee begroette. Een land naast Thailand van de glimlach. De glimlachjes die ik hier overal krijg toegeworpen zijn oprecht. Ik voel me jarig, alsof ik de hele dag kadootjes krijg. Naast vriendelijk is Laos ook nog eens mooi. Als er een Authentiek Azië; bestaat, moet het Laos zijn. En als je ook maar enigszins je best doet om contact te krijgen met de bevolking zal je worden uitgenodigd om binnen te kijken en wat te eten en drinken. We hebben verder naar veel kinderen gezwaaid, veel glimlachjes teruggegeven. Zeker voor de avontuurlijke reiziger herbergt dit land een grote hoeveelheid aan onontdekte natuurschatten, vriendelijke mensen en een gevoel dat veel nog puur is.
There was a nice shadow affect at sunset, and I simply put my camera on manual, changed the ISO and hiked up some custom settings on there, and wah la.
(Taris system, moments after the events of Chapter 8)
Outside of the Separatist base, Throte, Egile and the last of the Clone Troopers keep up their attacks against the Sith General, Gualo Rotinth. However, their attacks are having no affect against him as he easily deflects their blaster shots back towards them. Already a few have died from his defense and Gualo was making sure to torture the rest of the Republic forces before slaying them all.
In a matter of speaking, Gualo himself was enjoying the intense fight.
So focused on the Republic soldiers, he almost didn't see Kydan and Calena quickly charging at him from each side. They both figured that if the rest of the Republic soldiers could keep Gualo in place for just a few more moments, they could end this battle once and for all.
However, Gualo figured out their plan quickly as he swiftly deactivates his saber and spins to dodge a couple blaster shots. Just passing him, he uses the Force to create a massive pulse, causing everyone to be sent flying backwards. Reactivating his lightsaber, Gualo takes a defensive stance as Kydan and Calena, who had endured the Force Pulse, quickly approach him.
But, to Gualo's surprise, Kydan comes to a complete stop, confused as to what he was doing. Curiously and cautiously, he turns his head around to Calena, only to be met with her blade coming for him. With only a short time to react, he blocks her attack, his saber only inches away from his face.
At the same time, Kydan comes from the other side, his vibroblade raised in the air as he prepares to strike Gualo down. Gualo just smirked at them, realizing what they were trying to accomplish.
Gualo- "Heh, this again?"
Like before, Gualo breaks the blade lock and jumping over Kydan backwards, avoiding his attempted attack.
Gualo- "Using the same moves won't save you, Republic scum!"
As he just lands on his feet, he was suddenly hit by Kydan's Force Push, powerful enough to send him flying backwards, skidding across the platform towards the building
Kydan- "That was never my intention, Gualo..."
Gualo stared wide eyed at Kydan. Did he just use a Force Push on him? The only ones that could possibly use those moves were...
Gualo- "Your...your no mercenary. Your a Jedi!"
Finally getting up to their feet, Throte, Egile and the Clone Troopers were able to hear what Gualo had just said. Underneath Throte's helmet, his expression was in complete shock. Many could even say and tell that he had tons of thoughts crossing through his mind just by the frozen stance he was in.
Egile- *Thoughts* 'Kedone...is a Jedi?'
Kydan narrowed his eyes at Gualo. So much for keeping that part a secret he thought to himself. Truthfully, he was going to tell them all that he was a Jedi after the battle was over, but the situation they were in now...it was too soon. This wasn't how he wanted it to turn out.
Kydan- "...Yes, I am."
After a few moments of silence, Gualo finally spoke up, giving off a devious grin, and then laughing menacingly.
Gualo- "Hahaha! This is just perfect! Another Jedi to kill today! I can definitely say that I will have the unspeakable pleasure of killing two Jedi with one blade! Like your master, you shall fall along with him!"
Kydan- "As long as I live Gualo, you won't be getting that chance again."
Kydan glances towards Calena who was already taking her position.
Kydan- "Ready?"
Calena- *Nods* "Yeah..."
Quickly, Kydan and Calena once again charge directly at Gualo, who was also charging at them as well, with their blades were ready to strike down the other. All at once, their blades collided with each other, locking themselves in.
Gualo- "Hmph...you both seem to have tremendous strength...but that alone will not be enough to defeat me!"
Gualo forcefully breaks the blade lock and uses the Force to create lightning, electrifying both Kydan and Calena. The Force Lightning was so strong that it was able to send them both flying backwards across the platform, causing an after shock through them after they crashed.
Slowly, Gualo approaches them both. He turns his attention towards Kydan as he readies his saber for the final kill.
Gualo- "This ends for you both...Jedi."
But before Gualo could even make a move against Kydan, out of nowhere, Egile tackles Gualo back, just about knocking him off his feet.
Egile- You'll have to go through us to get to them, you monster!
Quickly, as Egile and the soldiers took chase after Gualo, one of the Clone Sergeants and a clone rushes towards the both of them to check their conditions.
772nd Clone Sergeant- "You two okay?"
Kydan- "Yeah, were fine..."
772nd Clone- "Here, let me help you up ma'am."
Calena- "Thanks..."
772nd Clone Sergeant- "We'll draw his attention away for now. Meanwhile, you two get ready to finish him. We'll hold him off until then."
With that, the Clone Sergeant and the other Republic soldiers rush towards Gualo as they keep his attention on them only while Kydan and Calena take a moment to recover.
Approaching him slowly, Calena walks beside him, waiting for him to give them the orders on what to do at this point.
Kydan- "Calena? Do you think you can keep his attention away from me for five seconds?"
Calena stared at him puzzled. She absolutely had no idea what he was now thinking, but she knew that it had to be a last resort plan of some kind. Going with whatever he was planning, she nods.
Calena- "Yeah...I can. But what are you gonna do?
Kydan- "...Something that I won't be proud of doing."
Not wanting to press the matter any further, she nods once more and then rushes towards the others. For a brief moment, he watches the battle from the other side. What he was going to do was one of the many things that he wished he didn't have to do. It's what made him such an outcast to everyone, even to the Jedi Order.
Appearing next to him was Dark, giving him a cautious and serious look in his eyes.
Dark- "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
Kydan- "..."
Dark- "I mean, you know what happened last time...and that alone caused us and everyone else a lot of pain and fear. Even the Order had wanted it banned and forbidden."
Kydan- "I'm not confident about this either, but...it's our last chance. We have to win this battle. I promised Master Turin that I would save them all...and I attend to keep that oath. I can't just watch them all die because of me."
Dark gave him a blank expression. He knew that when Kydan was this serious, it meant that he wasn't going to go back on it. No matter what, Dark was always supportive about these things, and has never doubted his friend's abilities. And he wasn't about to judge him on that now.
Dark- "...Alright then. I'm right beside you."
Rolling up his right sleeve, he takes a deep breath as he focus all his energy into his arm using the Force and another mysterious ability. In a matter of seconds, his arm began to shade into a black color, producing blue and black streams of electricity from his shoulder down to the ends of his finger tips. His arm appeared to have been changed into some type of ancient armor.
Kydan's breaths started getting heavier. He has, in his life, hardly ever used this ability this much. The last time he did something like this...was when his father was still alive, which was nearly eleven years ago.
Kydan- *Groans in pain* "This...have better 'gynero'...bloody work..."
_________________________
Fourth Wall: ('Gynero', meaning hopeful)
_________________________
Dark- "Just don't over exert yourself this time..."
Groaning, he looks towards Dark and smirks.
Kydan- "I plan not to bud..."
Reaching into his robes, he pulls out his own lightsaber, producing a purple blade from the hilt. Grasping the saber in his left hand tightly, he swiftly charges towards the others with tremendous speed, shades of darkness trailing behind him. His only hope was that this ability will end Gualo once and for all. Otherwise...there would be dire consequences.
At the very same time, Calena continues to hold out against Gualo on her own. Egile, Throte and the others were all knocked out one by one injured, leaving herself and Gualo to fight each other. But fighting Gualo on her own was becoming too much for a single person to do.
Using his last ounce of strength left, Gualo creates one last massive Force Pulse, sending Calena flying backwards, causing her to crash hard on the platform.
Chuckling, Gualo approaches Calena who was trying to get back up, but to no prevail. She was too injured and exhausted to stand at the moment.
Gualo- "Hehehe. This is where your lives come to an end, Republic scum..."
Slowly, Gualo raises his saber at Calena, aiming for her neck to decapitate her. He could sense her fears building...and it felt wonderful to him. The pure fear and hesitance in another life form felt ecstatic.
Gualo- "Farewell, Siruhnian..."
Before his saber could pierce into her neck, out of nowhere, Kydan blocks his attempted assassination, utterly saving Calena's life. This caused Gualo to go into a state of shock and wide eye. Where in the world did he come from?
Gualo- "How did you--?!"
But before Gualo could even finish his own sentence, Kydan used his unknown abilities to send him flying backwards with the sound of a loud thud and groan.
Kydan- "HAAAAA!!!"
Crying out in a loud voice, Kydan swiftly reaches Gualo in nothing but a black fog as he pierces him with a black, electrical blue thrust in the stomach. Gualo suddenly coughed up a bit of blood from his mouth. His breathing was slowly fading, as well as his own life.
Without hesitation, Kydan yaks his arm out of him as Gualo drops to the ground on his knees, his expression filled with shock of the major outcome. His last thought was; how he was beaten so quickly from a low life Jedi Padawan as the boy?
Gualo- "...I...I lost...?"
With his dying words, Gualo slumps to the ground dead, with his surprised expression still left on his face along with his half opened eyelids. The battle was now finally over.
Kydan takes in a sharp deep breath, losing his concentration on his abilities. Slowly, his arm begins to turn back to his normal skin color, the black and blue colors fading away into nothing but a mist.
Not realizing it, Kydan suddenly dropped to his knees, staring directly at Gualo's lifeless, dead body.
Kydan- "I...I did...? Did we win?"
To answer his own question, he suddenly heard a cry of cheering and joy from behind. Turning his head, he saw Calena, Egile and all the soldiers celebrating him.
Egile- "Kydan! You did it! You took down the Sith!"
Calena- "Great work Kydan!"
All at once, he felt happy yet confused as to why he was being cheered.
Kydan- "N-no! Really, I-I didn't really do--"
Clone Trooper 1- "Tremendous work!"
Clone Trooper 2- "You did it sir!"
Clone Trooper 3- "We've recaptured Taris!"
For some reason, Kydan felt hit heart rejoice somehow. He had never had anyone cheer or celebrate him on anything in his life. He figured that this is what it meant to have lots of friends who aren't afraid of you. He could feel himself blushing and flustered from them. He felt...happy for once.
Kydan- "W-well I-"
Throte- WHY?!
Suddenly, everyone stops cheering as they turn their attention to Throte who had walked up to them all with his two troopers trailing behind.
Throte- "Why did you let Higer die!?"
Kydan felt confused. He didn't know what Throte meant by the clone's words.
Kydan- "...Let him die?"
Snapping his head at Kydan, he glares directly at him with anger in his eyes and expression.
Throte- "Of course! We all saw it at the beginning! You knew Gualo's skill techniques that he was using against us! If you would have told us about Gualo's skills back on the Acclamator, he wouldn't have died! What else is shocking is that your a Jedi! You had the power to save him...but yet, you just stood there and let him die in front of us all!"
The soldiers that were listening started to whisper and nodded at Throte's comments. It seemed that he had a lot of points to consider. The only two people that didn't respond to his comments were Calena and Egile.
772nd Clone Sergeant- "Of course he's a Jedi! That's how he knew the Sith's skills in the battle! That's how he was able to beat him so easily! He knew all about it and never attended to tell us at all! There are other Jedi among us, isn't there!? If so, the come fourth and speak up!"
Glancing around, the soldiers try to pinpoint anyone that were a Jedi amongst them all. Calena and Egile were starting to feel a bit concerned at the moment.
At this, Kydan started to worry and be afraid. All of them knowing that he was a Jedi working undercover and hiding among them was bad. Calena and Egile were the only two people that knew that he was a Jedi and had no problem with it. Yet, it was the others that they were all concerned about.
He shut his eyes tightly without anyone seeing, trying to come up with a solution to this problem. Or even hoping that this would all go away. But, sadly, he couldn't think of anything. There was nothing else he could do.
Then, unexpectedly, a vision with him and Master Turin appears in his mind, replaying the last event that had taken place.
Turin- "Kydan...promise...promise me this...that you will protect them...everyone...in this war...as many...as you can...no matter the cause..."
Gaining slightly a bit of confidence, Kydan knew what he had to do. He had to believe what he thought was the right course of action, what was best for him, the Republic and the Jedi Order. Staring at Gualo's dead corpse, he grabs the cloak and armor off him.
Then, for some apparent and sudden reason, Kydan started to laugh. And not like your typical normal laugh.
Kydan's laughter began to become even louder and louder, causing everyone to stare at him, confused as to why he was now suddenly laughing like a maniac. They thought he had suddenly just lost it.
Kydan- "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A Jedi?"
He starts to stand up, grasping Gualo's cloak and armor in his hands. His eyes seemed to falter among them, now not visible.
Kydan-" I wish you wouldn't compare me to those insignificant fools. They are all pathetic...and weak."
Throte- "What?"
Slowly, he starts to walk up to Throte and the others, still not showing his eyes to any one of them.
Kydan- Those thousands of Clone Troopers that died were all but cadets, not even worthy yet of the title of soldier. Heck, they didn't even know how to hold their blasters correctly. Not to mention, their aiming when shooting was totally inaccurate. But you. All of you. You are all better than they ever would and could be, even greater than you could even imagine yourselves.
Throte and the other soldier's expression's changed to a pure surprise. They were a bit shocked at what Kydan was just speaking.
Kydan- "But me...I am not like them. I have surpassed all of the Jedi. I have faced more difficult challenges and trials in my entire life then them, and I can assure you, Gualo was the weakest among the many others that I've met and fought. The Jedi ccan only dream of what I have gone through in my years. The reason I knew about his techniques is due to many reasons."
Kydan stops and stands in front of Throte and a few other soldiers, with Calena and Egile on the left side of him. Picking up his head, his eyes were now clear as day. However, they had suddenly changed. They weren't the gentle, kind brown chocolate colored eyes he had just recently. No. They were now the color of a red, piercing rose bud, staring at them all with black pupil eyes. Just the sight of his eyes caused a bit of tension and fear around them.
Kydan- "I know many things that even the Jedi and Sith would say to be...unnatural. I know more than the information brokers and the crime lords across the galaxy could ever learn. I am something that the Force can't even comprehend alone."
Throte- "...Wh-what? That's...that's far worse than any Jedi or Sith! Y-your a beast! A vicious monster!"
At the same time, everyone, except for Calena and Egile who were just glancing around themselves, started to call out different names at Kydan. They called him "freak", "monster", "demon", "rogue", and so many more. Yet, there was one interesting name that caught his attention among them. And it sounded perfect.
Clone Trooper- Your a freak! A dark, fiendish, mercenary freak!
Kydan- "Hmm...the Dark Mercenary...I like the sound of that. Yes, I am Kydan Witress, the Dark Mercenary. I have been trained to acknowledge both the light and dark side of the Force. I do prefer more of the darker techniques, if you asked me."
Glancing down, Kydan stared at the cloak and clothing that he had taken from Gualo's corpse.
Kydan- "So for now on, don't get me mixed up with those Jedi whelps or Sith-spits."
Quickly, he throws the black cloak over him, covering himself up with Sith robes, followed by a hood, now covering his eyes. Throwing Throte and the others a devious grin, he turns around and starts walking towards the landing platform, where he waited for his ship to pick him up. Throte and the others watched him walk away, not trying to take a chance to catch him. His own words were enough to frighten them all already.
As Kydan approaches the platform, where his ship, the Black Shadow had now just landed, he prepares to enter his ship. But before he could even step onto the ship, Calena runs up to him.
Calena- Kydan!
Kydan just stood there, waiting for her to speak. He figured there was no sense of talking at the moment, not with all what just happened back there. He didn't even turn around to face her.
Calena- "Why? Why did you say all that?"
Biting his lip, he knew that he needed to lie.
Kydan- "Because...it's the best thing to do."
Calena- "Kydan..."
Kydan- "...Here's some advise for you."
He finally looks over his shoulder as he begins to speak.
Kydan- "The Force is very strong within you. History states that the Irune clan bloodline were told to hold a strong connection to the Force as it was passed down for many generations in your family. I can assure you that you will become a great Jedi, once you have reached to Knighthood. Remember these words well; whenever someone asks you to join them, or even asks for their help: No matter what you do...lend out your hand and do whatever you can for them. Never turn your back away from those people. Even under the worst of circumstances imaginable."
Calena- "......"
Kydan- *Smirks* "Like all you Jedi say; May the Force be with you...always."
With that, without another word, Kydan walks up the ramp and enters his fighter. The ramp then closes up as the ship begins to hover above the platform, flying towards the atmosphere and into the far reaches of space...
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So I'll try to keep this nice and short; This. Was. A. Looong chapter to write! We had spent perhaps nearly two to three days when we wrote all of this! I'm just glad that we finally completed it at last.
As for this build, I actually thought that it was a bit interesting. We kinda wanted to take the image from KOTOR 1's Taris with its platforms and what not, and this is what we would imagine the platforms would look like these days. But like I said before, I'll let you guys decide if it looks good or not. If you want to see more pics of the chapters, again, go on over to MOC-pages and check them out for yourself!
Anyways, thank you all for your wonderful comments, faves and support so far and please continue to give us some feedback on how the story is going and what we could approve on even. Again, thank you all and, as always, have a fan-tucking-tastic day/night! See ya' in the next one.
- Director K.W.
Following the road to grasp
something, a thing, anything,
brings me to the technique
of comparing.
As soon as I compare
it with the environment,
I can allocate it, so that
this thing, something, anything,
fits into my world which I build up,
my picture, construct,
my idea of life
in which I live,
which I must live within.
So everyone creates
their own puzzle,
whilst strolling
along the alley of time,
and the pieces
one gets to see,
do influence the big picture.
But how to get a nice, friendly
and warm idea of this world?
How to get an episteme,
in which even contentment feels
welcome and starts to settle down?
Let me whisper now:
“The angle it is, which does the trick.”
Not “what”, but “how” you see,
can make the difference.
So now please choose the title of this picture:
“Woman walking in a wood.” or
“Passing two old watchmen
on the wayfare of life.”
Anxiety affects numerous people these days. The fact that there is only one sunrise and sunset a day and each one that is missed is lost in time forever is reason enough to cause it.
For who would want to miss such a view early in the morning ?
And who would be fine with the fact that he missed such a thing when he realises it.
Along the ragged coastline on the southern part of Malta lies a small window which I believe will not last very long. Fissures seeming out of every crevice every passing winter is a season closer to its end. One thing is for sure. Arches will long outlive us.
Rainbow
An individual raindrop has a different shape and consistency than a glass prism, but it affects light in a similar way. When white sunlight hits a collection of raindrops at a fairly low angle, you can see the component colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet -- a rainbow. For simplicity's sake, we'll only look at red and violet, the colors of light on the ends of the visible light spectrum.
The diagram below shows what happens when the sunlight hits one individual raindrop.
When the white light passes from air into the drop of water, the component colors of light slow down to different speeds depending on their frequency. The violet light bends at a relatively sharp angle when it enters the raindrop. At the right-hand side of the drop, some of the light passes back out into the air, and the rest is reflected backward. Some of the reflected light passes out of the left side of the drop, bending as it moves into the air again.
In this way, each individual raindrop disperses white sunlight into its component colors. So why do we see wide bands of color, as if different rainy areas were dispersing a different single color? Because we only see one color from each raindrop. You can see how this works in the diagram below.
When raindrop A disperses light, only the red light exits at the correct angle to travel to the observer's eyes. The other colored beams exit at a lower angle, so the observer doesn't see them. The sunlight will hit all the surrounding raindrops in the same way, so they will all bounce red light onto the observer.
Raindrop B is much lower in the sky, so it doesn't bounce red light to the observer. At its height, the violet light exits at the correct angle to travel to the observer's eye. All the drops surrounding raindrop B bounce light in the same way. The raindrops in between A and B all bounce different colors of light to the observer, so the observer sees the full color spectrum. If you were up above the rain, you would see the rainbow as a full circle, because the light would bounce back from all around you. On the ground, we see the arc of the rainbow that is visible above the horizon.
Sometimes you see a double rainbow -- a sharp rainbow with a fainter rainbow on top of it. The fainter rainbow is produced in the same way as the sharper rainbow, but instead of the light reflecting once inside the raindrop, it's reflected twice. As a result of this double reflection, the light exits the raindrop at a different angle, so we see it higher up. If you look carefully, you'll see that the colors in the second rainbow are in the reverse order of the primary rainbow.
Source: science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/storms/r...
Located at the base of Petrin Hill on Ujezd Street in Mala Strana is this disturbing series of statues dedicated to the victims of the Communist era between 1948-1989. A original total of seven (two were damaged due to a bomb in 2003) male statues appear to be disintegrating and decaying before our very eyes, the first man whole, the next man missing a limb, ripped open, to the last man who has become virtually nothing. It is to symbolize how political prisoners under Communism were affected, and as a Memorial it is very affective. During the evening, the memorial is lit up providing an even more eerie look. The memorial was unveiled on May 22, 2002, and is the work of Olbram Zoubek, a famous Czech sculptor and architects Jan Kerel and Zdenek Holzel. Notice the bronze strip in the center of the stairs where the statues are located. It tells the estimated number of people impacted by the Communist regime.
Le papillon flambé affection les milieux chauds et secs. Il est présent dans la plupart des régions françaises. Il est particulièrement répandu dans le Sud. En revanche, cette espèce se fait rare en Grande-Bretagne. D’une envergure de 50 à 70 mm, elle est reconnaissable à son motif zébré noir et blanc et à la petite demi-lune bleue coiffée d’orange qui ourle le bord de ses ailes postérieures. Il doit ce nom à la comparaison avec l’étoffe le taffetas flambé se distinguant par ses motifs chinés.
Ce papillon aux ailes découpées est surnommé le Flambé (Iphiclides podalirius). Il est présent dans toute la France est reconnaissable par ses longs vols planés. La chenille qui deviendra ce beau papillon arbore aussi une apparence originale.
Tout de vert vêtue, elle porte sur sa tête deux antennes orangées. Huit semaines après sa naissance, elle se transforme en chrysalide accrochée dans sa plante hôte. Pour l'observer, allez lorgner du côté des prunelliers ou des cerisiers.