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Dear Flickr Friends, today I reached 1,000,000,000 views on my Flickr account and I would like to thank all of you for your daily support, views, comments, group invitations and also for sharing your work here together on Flickr and enjoying and celebrating the art of photography, thank you, Carl.
Thanks for the over HALF-A-BILLION views!
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STUDLY MUSCLE HUNK ! photographed by ADDA DADA at the CASTRO STREET FAIR 2012 ! (safe photo)
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THANK YOU for the 520 MILLION VIEWS !
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ADDA DADA's VIEW COUNT is :
FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY MILLION VIEWS !
( 520,000,000+ VIEWS with over 14,800+ followers !!! )
( December 9, 2021 )
( ONWARD to ONE BILLION VIEWS ! )
•🔹•THANK YOU for visiting my virtual art gallery! Enjoy my original 'social documentary' photographs of various events !
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•🔹• ADDA DADA's photography presents a variety of adults at different public events . These photographs do NOT imply the person's sexual orientation in any way. Everyone was asked and they consented to be photographed and posted
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•.🔹•The photographs are properly marked SAFE or RESTRICTED ( 18+ only / nudity). There are NO porn nor stolen photos !
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•.🔹•Viewers should be aware that these photographs are viewed by a wide variety of folks . Inappropriate, negative, RUDE, 'X' or 'R' rated comments shall be removed forthwith & you will be blocked.
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•🔹•.MY photographs are NOT to be reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Use of them by anyone is an infringement of copyright ! © All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal.
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Check out ADDA DADA's other ALBUMS•
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ADDA DADA's photographs are all about the freedom to be LGTBTQ+ & express YOUR LGTBTQ+ freely
Milano
"Un miliardo di donne violate è un'atrocità. Un miliardo di persone che ballano contro la violenza è una rivoluzione" (Eve Ensler)
Nel giorno della festa di S.Valentino le donne rinascono cantando e ballando per chiedere rispetto. Perchè l'amore è questo. Prima delle rose rosse
Un miliardo. È il numero di donne nel mondo che, si stima, ha subito o subirà violenza nell'arco della sua vita. Solo in Italia, lo scorso anno, una donna ogni due giorni è stata ammazzata, perlopiù dal partner o dall'ex; incalcolabili e non calcolate le botte e i soprusi.
Un miliardo di persone in tutto il mondo in piazza per dire che la violenza deve finire, per far sentire a tutte le donne maltrattate che non sono sole.
One In Three Women On The Planet Will Be Raped Or Beaten In Her Lifetime.
One Billion Women Violated Is An Atrocity!
One Billion Women Dancing Is A Revolution!"
STRIKE, DANCE, RISE!
Join us, DANCING to say NO TO VIOLENCE against women and girls!
STRIKE, DANCE, RISE!
The YG class meter gauge locomotive was built in 1956 by Wiener Lokomotivfabrik, Floridsdorf, Germany.
It was serving Badarpur Steam Loco Shed of NFR and was retired from service in 1997.
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Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, IR carried 8.397 billion passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day (roughly half of whom were suburban passengers) and 1058.81 million tons of freight in the year. On world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Railway Engines. In 2014–2015 Indian Railways had revenues of ₹1634.50 billion (US$25 billion) which consists of ₹1069.27 billion (US$16 billion) from freight and ₹402.80 billion (US$6.1 billion) from passengers tickets.
Railways were first introduced to India in the year 1853 from Mumbai to Thane. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities at several places in India and are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and type of operation. Its operations cover twenty nine states and seven union territories and also provides limited international services to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Indian Railways is the world's seventh largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.334 million employees as of last published figures in 2013. As for rolling stock, IR holds over 245,267 Freight Wagons, 66,392 Passenger Coaches and 10,499 Locomotives (43 steam, 5,633 diesel and 4,823 electric locomotives). The trains have a 5 digit numbering system and runs 12,617 passenger trains and 7421 freight trains daily. As of 31 March 2013, 21,614 km (32.8%) of the total 65,808 km route length was electrified. Since 1960, almost all electrified sections on IR use 25,000 Volt AC traction through overhead catenary delivery.
HISTORY
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. The core of the pressure for building Railways In India came from London. In 1848, there was not a single kilometre of railway line in India. The country's first railway, built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), opened in 1853, between Bombay and Thane. A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km. Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system".
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in India. Guaranteed railways. By 1880 the network had a route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896, sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to the modern day states of Assam, Rajputhana and Madras Presidency and soon various autonomous kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1905, an early Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally vested under Lord Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907 almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and collapse. Large scale corruption by British officials involved in the running of these railways companies was rampant. Profits were never reinvested in the development of British colonial India.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929, was a period of economic boom; there were 66,000 km of railway lines serving the country; the railways represented a capital value of some 687 million sterling; and they carried over 620 million passengers and approximately 90 million tons of goods each year. Following the Great Depression, the railways suffered economically for the next eight years. The Second World War severely crippled the railways. Starting 1939, about 40% of the rolling stock including locomotives and coaches was taken to the Middle East, the railways workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and many railway tracks were dismantled to help the Allies in the war. By 1946, all rail systems had been taken over by the government.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
RAILWAY ZONES
Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1966 and seventeen in 2003. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight divisions.
Each zone is headed by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions, under the control of divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers, of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches, report to the respective Divisional Railway Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the station masters, who control individual stations and train movements through the track territory under their stations' administration.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Staff are classified into gazetted (Group 'A' and 'B') and non-gazetted (Group 'C' and 'D') employees. The recruitment of Group 'A' gazetted employees is carried out by the Union Public Service Commission through exams conducted by it. The recruitment to Group 'C' and 'D' employees on the Indian Railways is done through 20 Railway Recruitment Boards and Railway Recruitment Cells which are controlled by the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB). The training of all cadres is entrusted and shared between six centralised training institutes.
ROLLING STOCK
LOCOMOTIVES
Locomotives in India consist of electric and diesel locomotives. The world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) locomotives are also being used. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except in heritage trains. In India, locomotives are classified according to their track gauge, motive power, the work they are suited for and their power or model number. The class name includes this information about the locomotive. It comprises 4 or 5 letters. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes their motive power (Diesel or Alternating - on Electric) and the third letter denotes the kind of traffic for which they are suited (goods, passenger, Multi or shunting). The fourth letter used to denote locomotives' chronological model number. However, from 2002 a new classification scheme has been adopted. Under this system, for newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter will denote their horsepower range. Electric locomotives don't come under this scheme and even all diesel locos are not covered. For them this letter denotes their model number as usual.In world level Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturer of Locomotive.
A locomotive may sometimes have a fifth letter in its name which generally denotes a technical variant or subclass or subtype. This fifth letter indicates some smaller variation in the basic model or series, perhaps different motors, or a different manufacturer. With the new scheme for classifying diesel locomotives (as mentioned above) the fifth item is a letter that further refines the horsepower indication in 100 hp increments: 'A' for 100 hp, 'B' for 200 hp, 'C' for 300 hp, etc. So in this scheme, a WDM-3A refers to a 3100 hp loco, while a WDM-3D would be a 3400 hp loco and WDM-3F would be 3600 hp loco.
Note: This classification system does not apply to steam locomotives in India as they have become non-functional now. They retained their original class names such as M class or WP class.
Diesel Locomotives are now fitted with Auxiliary Power Units which saves nearly 88% of Fuel during the idle time when train is not running.
GOODS WAGONS
The number of goods wagons was 205,596 on 31 March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March 1980 after which it started declining and was 239,321 on 31 March 2012. The number is far less than the requirement and the Indian Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93 million tonnes of goods in 1950–51 and it increased to 1010 million tonnes in 2012–13.
However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road traffic. In 1951, its share was 65% and the share of road was 35%. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways has declined to 30% and the share of road has increased to 70%.
PASSENGER COACHES
Indian railways has several types of passenger coaches.
Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in large cities – mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,793 on 31 March 2012. They have second class and first class seating accommodation.
The coaches used in Indian Railways are produced at Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory.Now,they are producing new LHB coaches.
Passenger coaches numbered 46,722 on 31 March 2012. Other coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.) numbered 6,560 on 31 March 2012.
FREIGHT
Indian Railways earns about 70% of its revenues from freight traffic (₹686.2 billion from freight and ₹304.6 billion from passengers in 2011–12). Most of its profits come from transporting freight, and this makes up for losses on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its passenger fares low and cross-subsidises the loss-making passenger traffic with the profit-making freight traffic.
Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only full rake freight trains
Wagon types include:
BOXNHL
BOBYN
BCN
BCNHL
TECHNICAL DETAILS
TRACK AND GAUGE
Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm broad gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge; the 1,000 mm metre gauge; and two narrow gauges, 762 mm and 610 mm. Track sections are rated for speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h.
The total length of track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km while the total route length of the network is 65,000 km. About 24,891 km or 38% of the route-kilometre was electrified, as of 31 March 2014.
Broad gauge is the predominant gauge used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge - 1,676 mm - is the most widely used gauge in India with 108,500 km of track length (94% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 59,400 km of route-kilometre (91% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
In some regions with less traffic, the metre gauge (1,000 mm) is common, although the Unigauge project is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has about 5,000 km of track length (4% of entire track length of all the gauges) and 4,100 km of route-kilometre (7% of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges).
The Narrow gauges are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 1,500 route-kilometre. The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track. These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.
The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily rising, increasing from 47% (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86% in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45% (24,185 route-km) to 10% in the same period and the share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8% to 3%. About 24,891 route-km of Indian railways is electrified.
Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines. The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in Rajasthan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Indian Railways has a full-fledged organisation known as Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), located at Lucknow for all research, designs and standardisation tasks.
In August 2013, Indian Railways entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) to develop technology to tap solar energy for lighting and air-conditioning in the coaches. This would significantly reduce the fossil fuel dependency for Indian Railways.
Recently it developed and tested the Improved Automated Fire Alarm System in Rajdhani Express Trains. It is intended that the system be applied to AC coaches of all regular trains.
CURRENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
In recent years, Indian Railways has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade its ageing infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Indian government plans to invest ₹905000 crore (US$137 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2020.
TOILETS ON RAILWAYS
In 2014, Indian Railways and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which are currently the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing Indian Railways tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane. These harmless by-products can then be safely discharged onto the tracks without causing corrosion or foul odours. As part of its "Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat" ("Clean Rail-Clean India") programme, Indian Railways plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets on its lines by 2020-2021. As of March 2015, 17,338 bio-toilets had been installed on newly built coaches, with all new coaches to have bio-toilets from 2016; older rolling stock will be retrofitted.
LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES
In 2015, plans were disclosed for building two locomotive factories in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (diesel locomotives) and at Marhowra (electric locomotives). Both factories involve foreign partnerships. The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with General Electric, which has invested ₹2052 crore (US$310 million) for its construction, and the electric locomotive works with Alstom, which has invested ₹1293.57 crore (US$195 million). The factories will provide Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power each, and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, further details of the ₹14656 crore (US$2 billion) partnership with GE were announced: Indian Railways and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. Under the terms of the joint venture, Indian Railways would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the GE Evolution series. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a ₹20000 crore (US$3 billion) partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.
LINKS TO ADJACENT COUNTRIES
EXISTING RAIL LINKS
Nepal – Break-of-gauge – Gauge conversion under uni-gauge project
Pakistan – same Broad Gauge. Thar Express to Karachi and the more famous Samjhauta Express international train from Lahore, Pakistan to Amritsar (Attari).
Bangladesh – Same Broad Gauge. The Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata started in April 2008 using the Gede-Darsana route, in addition to a Freight Train service from Singhabad and Petrapole in India to Rohanpur and Benapole in Bangladesh. A second passenger link between Agartala, India and Akhaura Upazila, Bangladesh was approved by the Government of Bangladesh and India in September 2011.
UNDER CONSTRUCTUION / PROPOSED LINKS
Bhutan – railways under construction – Same gauge
Myanmar – Manipur to Myanmar (under construction)
Vietnam – On 9 April 2010, Former Union Minister of India, Shashi Tharoor announced that the central government is considering a rail link from Manipur to Vietnam via Myanmar.
Thailand – possible if Burma Railway is rebuilt.
TYPES OF PASSENGER SERVICES
Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-distance travel.
ACCOMODATION CLASSES
Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without airconditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi, garib rath and yuva trains have only airconditioned classes. The fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seat itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel room.
A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.
The following table lists the classes in operation. A train may not have all these classes.
1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths longways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.
FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.
3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two longways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.
3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three longways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.
CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.
EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.
SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.
2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.
UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.
At the rear of the train is a special compartment known as the guard's cabin. It is fitted with a transceiver and is where the guard usually gives the all clear signal before the train departs.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways. – The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Mountain Railways of India. The latter consists of three separate railway lines located in different parts of India:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway in West Bengal.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik mountains in Himachal Pradesh. In 2003 the railway was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometre.
NOTABLE TRAINS
TOURIST TRAINS
Palace on Wheels is a specially designed luxury tourist train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a 7 nights & 8 days itinerary, it departs from New Delhi (Day 1), and covers Jaipur (Day 2), Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Udaipur (Day 4), Jaisalmer (Day 5), Jodhpur (Day 6), Bharatpur and Agra (Day 7), return to Delhi (Day 8).
Royal Rajasthan on Wheels a luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The train takes tourists on a 7-day/8-night tour through Rajasthan. The train starts from New Delhi's Safdarjung railway station (Day 1), and has stops at Jodhpur (Day 2), Udaipur and Chittaurgarh (Day 3), Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur (Day 4), Khajuraho (Day 5), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 6), Agra (Day 7) and back to Delhi (Day 8).
Maharaja Express a luxury train operated by IRCTC runs on five circuits covering more than 12 destinations across North-West and Central India, mainly centered around Rajasthan between the months of October to April.
Deccan Odyssey luxury tourist train service covers various tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. The 7 Nights / 8 Days tour starts from Mumbai (Day 1) and covers Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri (Day 2), Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi (Day 3), Goa (Day 4), Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves (Day 6), Ajanta Caves and Nashik (Day 7), and back to Mumbai (Day 8).
The Golden Chariot luxury train runs on two circuits Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.
Mahaparinirvan Express an a/c train service also known as Buddhist Circuit Train which is run by IRCTC to attract Buddhist pilgrims. The 7 nights/8 Days tour starts from New Delhi (Day 1) and covers Bodh Gaya (Day 2), Rajgir and Nalanda (Day 3), Varanasi and Sarnath (Day 4), Kushinagar and Lumbini (Day 5 and 6), Sravasti (Day 7), Taj Mahal (Agra) (Day 8) before returning to New Delhi on (Day 8).
OTHER TRAINS
- Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on 18 February 2006; it was earlier closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
- Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.
- Fairy Queen is the oldest operating locomotive in the world today, though it is operated only for specials between Delhi and Alwar. John Bull, a locomotive older than Fairy Queen, operated in 1981 commemorating its 150th anniversary. Gorakhpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1,366 m. The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. The Mumbai–Pune Deccan Queen has the oldest running dining car in IR.
- Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 4,286 km in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 160 km/h on the Faridabad–Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h in 2000 during test runs.
- Special Trains are those trains started by Indian Railways for any specific event or cause which includes Jagriti Yatra trains, Kumbh Mela Trains., emergency trains, etc.
- Double-decker AC trains have been introduced in India. The first double decker train was Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express plying between Pune and Mumbai while the first double-decker AC train in the Indian Railways was introduced in November 2010, running between the Dhanbad and Howrah stations having 10 coaches and 2 power cars. On 16 April 2013, Indian Railways celebrated its 160 years of nationwide connectivity with a transportation of 23 million passengers in a day.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Indian Railways is cash strapped and reported a loss of ₹30,000 crores (₹300bn) in the passenger segment for the year ending March 2014. Operating ratio, a key metric used by Indian railways to gauge financial health, is 91.8% in the year 2014-15. Railways carry a social obligation of over ₹20,000 crores (₹200bn $3.5bn). The loss per passenger-km increased to 23 paise by the end of March 2014. Indian Railways is left with a surplus cash of just ₹690 crores (₹6.9bn $115mn) by the end of March 2014.
It is estimated that over ₹ 5 lakh crores (₹5 trillion) (about $85 bn at 2014 exchange rates) is required to complete the ongoing projects alone. The railway is consistently losing market share to other modes of transport both in freight and passengers.
New railway line projects are often announced during the Railway Budget annually without securing additional funding for them. In the last 10 years, 99 New Line projects worth ₹ 60,000 crore (₹600bn) were sanctioned out of which only one project is complete till date, and there are four projects that are as old as 30 years, but are still not complete for one reason or another.
Sanjay Dina Patil a member of the Lok Sabha in 2014 said that additional tracks, height of platforms are still a problem and rise in tickets, goods, monthly passes has created an alarming situation where the common man is troubled.
WIKIPEDIA
REALLY NEEDS TO BE SEEN LARGE; CLICK on the picture to see it BIGGER ON BLACK
See an even BIGGER VERSION: www.flickr.com/photos/amarcord108/6478944253/sizes/o/in/p...
original from the web; processing by me
7 Billion is the new estimated world population
7 Billion dreams
7 Billion destinies
7 Billion expressions of Consciousness
Billion of years ago, after GOD created this world, Plants started to grow thus existed first before Mankind
i graduated from high school yesterday and was out all night with my class after.
easily the best night of my life.
these are two photos combined, the earrings are the ones i wore last night for project grad, a gift from my mother!
Just saw this in the Trib. Knew the Kennedy family wanted to build a high rise here. Well the plans are out. Just a reminder of what will be lost when/if these ugly towers are built. The North side of the river will be blocked by these
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-developers...
Abstract: A Universe of combustion powered by en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter as being en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria that energizes, powers and links the food and combustion chains by means of its role in making N2O (and other combustion gasses) as visualized powering this photo as a sea of examples of theory as the reality of the Universe whereby it is possible 'Billions' are successfully 'Served' so much Bacterial Dark Energy as expressed so many 'Happy Meals' or Big Mac's -- which being so many macromolecules that can be measures in terms of calories that produce heat in the combustion chain or energy in the food chain as measured by Calories and or BTU's here to be understood as Bacterial vs. British Thermal Units here for the illustrative purpose of essays analysis thesis and central 'line of logic' writ in material by the power of Dark Energy of light examined analyzed and explained as being organic in nature and hence the key to understanding the perpetual operation of a Universe that hosts so many McDonald's in 'reality as well as theory'.
As calories produced in Nature are combusted or converted to some other gear in the dark material box that contains explains and radiates; breakfast lunch and dinner by means and method of the 'Fuel, Transmission, and, Breaks on the Speed of Light as Dark Matter Makes the Fast Food Chain Possible in Reality as Well as Theory' perpetually which is my thesis of how bacteria's atomic core acts as the nuclear engine of fast food's 'motor' to power the arrow of time and the expansion of the Universe in the process of the customer service of billions under the Golden Arches' as a example of how my inventor's paradoxical reasoning flows from facts; old and fresh off the presses of Science; by means of reading and remembering the reporting in the: Science News, Wired, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, et al..
My meal plan over my sales career and beyond has featured heaping helping of a traveling stack of recursive reading material in the form of magazines and newspapers, which got read cover to cover and then re-read for subtext + the answers, while working myriad 'problems' in a wide variety of food and chemical process plants selling machinery to help industries by means better mixing commodities to create value added products, and or by measure of the ingredients constituent 'energy departments' by means their light bending properties as a 'organic lens' by means to focus my learning about applied industrial en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractometry over the years to form a unique point of view that provides a singular lens to understand the (refractual)-factual information available to all -- which to draw conclusions that, if in fact confirms and explains this thesis, in every aspect) while maintaining the consistency of the 'line of logic' as condensed into the 'nutshell' of the case: which makes possible nutshells --> by which "Nitrous oxide is emitted by bacteria in soils and oceans, and thus has been a part of Earth's atmosphere for millennia. ... Nitrous oxide reacts with ozone in the stratosphere. Nitrous oxide is the main naturally occurring regulator of stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide is a major greenhouse gas. Considered over a 100-year period, it has 298 times more impact per unit weight than carbon dioxide. Thus, despite its low concentration, nitrous oxide is the fourth largest contributor to these greenhouse gases. It ranks behind water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. Control of nitrous oxide is part of efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. " - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide
.
This 'data stack' has been compiled and essayed as way to explain and drive home the point of a insight by means a photo as examples served, to help unify a general understanding of Quantum Mechanics by bringing it into harmony with the Quantum Dynamic via 'tuning' the logical notes so as to produce a harmonic chord into the scientific signal chain. This method seeks to know by mildly obsessively removal of the noise and assorted 'clams' in the music that causes distortion in the current comprehension the fine grain factual that is the Devil complicating the details to render the obvious mysterious (for his own unknown devises) distorting the understanding and comprehension of "Dark Matter and Energy" -- which given it has the power in the the micro to macro over the Universe to 'bend of light' which is "spooky action at a distance" as well in terms of organic chemistry, which contains the energy, power and logical means to run the World Economy as well Solar System in the present, by means drawing on the power of the past in the meta, so as to expand the future at Λ.
The great common denominator is understood to be the organic power of the bonds of atom in action over space and time in the micro and macro to bend light which therefore, hence, consequential powers the present, by means the energy of the past, with exactly enough 'juice' to expand the future at at rate we know as the Cosmological Constant which happens to be the Macro Economic rate of inflation or other activity, when measured precisely over time in a given economy; as explained by Dark Matter and Energy being 'the stuff of the food and combustion chains' literal -- "power and light" -- as represented by a well oiled food chain of, fruits and vegetables, grains, meats, dairy, spice, Tea, and Coffee, with plenty of cooking oil and or motor oil to deliver same about all of which has a refractive index which determines price by means 'refinement, intensity and purity, etc.'.
Hence I conclude the economic activity inside each ingredient has the power to bend light at a given rate which is the power be worth more or less due; the presence or absence of Dark Matter or Energy - as being some 'star stuff' that makes 'gas that goes boom', by means the power of bacteria, at some level to cause a function of taste, smell and or the 'heat of the kitchen' that powers a person, group, or planet to expand at the Cosmological Constant by means the 'secret sauce' of spice on top floating atop a river of coffee, drained daily to achieve a insight into cracking the code that is the redundant power to run a Solar System from the micro to the macro and therefore power 'the program' with enough intensity to handle the business of light bending which I hold to be the answer to the Dark Matter and Energy Riddle™; which; creates, distributes and, bends light, -- by means the power of complimentary quark repair as understood and explained to us by Niels Bohr.
From this line of logic come a bonus answer {answer 'blowing in' the planetary weather patterns[for fun fact reality checking]} -- which is picture 'visualized' (and verbalized) as the 'planetary gearbox' running micro to macro by means the complete set of "planetary gears" -- Earth being the third gear, (counter rotating) as a example of how in this (and every) Solar system, per the Cosmological Principle's planetary rotation is powered by means of rotary evaporation, condensation, and quark repair's energy which explains the precision rotation and counter rotation of the Planets sorting the major elements from the Sun to the Black Hole in the Center Galley and back to Faint Young Star Power, in addition to explaining how the food chain and combustion chains run the worlds markets on so much 'horse power' by means of the food, fuel and mineral supplies which are understood to be 'of this world and more or less constantly 'bug based' to have mass which makes for substance that is organic, ---> then -- perhaps some or all of the Dark Matter and Energy riddle can begin to be considered (re)solved given the existing pieces of the natural machinery explained with out having to invent or discover strange new mysterious here to fore unknown 'matter' or 'stuff' that is the light -- 'illustrated' in its quantum mechanical and dynamic operations.
Therefore, Bacteria micro phylogenetic ilk form the vital cogs in the gearbox of the machinery of the of the perpetual manufacture of all elements of combustion and the biomass of any given hydrocarbon atomic bit and, or molecule that runs this economy or, any given eco or solar system.
Hence, Bacteria self-identifies itself as being THE prime candidate as the engine and (con)vector of Dark Matter and Energy on multiple levels of micro to macro levels and layers of Time and Space -- explained.
Further evidence of 'bacteria power' being a heretofore, 'secret agent' and, or 'sauce' of the hydrogen bonding process; E.g.; www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110810132832.htm
"Hydrogen-Powered Symbiotic Bacteria Found in Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Mussels"
Consequently, to connect the known dots that we as a planet full of various species which are bacterial powered, and therefore 'connected' - because of 'we are, what we eat' technology, it is not too great a leap in logic to see the micro to the macro of what I perceive the food and combustion chain moving along in the form of burgers, cars, people, lights, with the common atomic denominator of complimentary paired quarks of the non combustible expansive atomic core of Bacteria which pumps the N20 'laughing back' in a witches brewing tangled with the incomplete combustion of VOC's aka en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound 's which are sorted by means Hawking Radiation with the Dark Matter/Energy being the Bacteria that makes combustion possible on a atomic level to matter at the junction of the CNO cycles where one or another family of Bacteria uses matter as fuel to bind en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrus_oxide to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon , by means the 'intestinal fortitude' of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria functioning as the atomic core of Dark Matter and Energy in its role in combustion process at the atomic level, bring light to life as heat and the building blocks of the food chain where there is no waste whereby matter bound is form and released in Hydrogen bonds of demi-big bang being 'ripped' free and re broken to 'dribble out' and vent safely though a series of (black at night type) holes in the Earths ozone, past the gas giants of the solar system, and or then, back up to the 'mother ship' of a Black Hole in the middle of the galaxy to be reprocessed into basic matter and new stars; imho, and according to my version of the General Unified Theory the remainder of the combusted Matter is spun off from the inferno in a Energy input = Energy output to/fro Earth over Space Time in visual form as a large pile of 'mass equivalence' goes 'up in smoke' c/o Bacteria in concert with the food chain, as ordained by people, and their Stars.
A bacterial 'method of accounting' for the elements of the combustion chains common denominators power supply in the case of everything in the above photo from; the grill, to vehicles fuels, to the lights, to the ingredients served food chain creation, all draw by means the power of bacteria and returning energy to the Sun as organic chemistry in the waste streams returning V.O.C.'s + 'free radicals' back to Black Holes for 'rework' by means the food and combustion chains machinery along with resultant thermal energy as heat - not unlike a watch, all pieces of the machinery are required which to tell time, and or power, key, and, gear the Universes continuously running of a waste free process with zero inefficiencies in the (re) winding of the atomic clockworks of the; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phylogenetic_tree.svg by means of the 'arrow of time' being organic and thus a natural explanation and account for the Material Science and Physics of the Past, Present, and, Future expanding the Universe in the micro and macro at the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant .
By means of McDonald's cunning control of the food chains macro and micro of ingredients respective half life through the applied combination of combustion and the Bose Einstein condensate as expressed in the freezer and refrigeration processes with the heat of the deep frier and grill wiped clean of 'bugs' by the hygiene process ("If you have time to lean -- you have time to clean")^ to grease the wheels of maximum predictability to add velocity as a expression of 'fast food' running at ultra high velocity of the supply chain, so as to be both profitable and by keeping the flipping quantum burgers and selling them as levers on the 'half life' of life which is so much en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-mass_equivalence on the 'hoof and or bun' or Dark Matter and Energy fueling the present, driving the futures expansion, while drawing off the power of the past, in the process of repairing the pasts quarks, while moving the industrial age super high speed supply chain fast, from freezer to grill, such that very little spoils in becoming breakfast, lunch or dinner in the many super saturated heartbeats kept in motion - so to speak in praise of the high velocity of the nutrition moving by means of a menu offered at the counter or 24/7 at drive thru that binds and connects a world by 'bill of fare' from a common 'supply chain' to forge the common bond of 'been there, ate that'; got that "Happy Meal" feeling and connectivity by means of 'you are what you eat', as one of the 'billions served' and thus bonded at a atomic level this 'Small World™ is formed and powered said as a gear in the machinery of moving the Universe forward at exactly the Cosmological Constant each burger and fry being a vital thread in the vastness of the fabric of Space which keeps the 'arrow of time' in 'free flight' by means the perpetual power of Dark Matter and Energy.
Bacteria' sub-atomic bond's further self identify themselves as Dark Matter in terms of; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy when busted through the above mentioned data points over Space Time shot though the single cellular 'buns' of the expanse of the power of said Bacteria whose role in the formation of all fuels that have the power and volume and necessary gas byproducts fuel the building blocks and heat the life as we know it of a expanding Universe, as I understand the Grande Scheme as it seems to be -- making more sense every day, in light of the evidence w/o bacteria there is no serving billions and billions over the course of space and time breakfast, lunch, and dinner, anyplace, anytime, anywhere; with perfectly predictable results.
While searching for Bacteria as the missing link in the Dark Material puzzle and or cog in the Universal gear box by searching for evidence that amounts to proof of the above thesis in a late 20st century hydrocarbon fueled economy based and chase scene as a conceptual word problem/thought exercise of the quantum dynamics of the following to power the atomic chain reaction that is the contents of this clip, (and the following cinematic immortal chase scene) from The Blues Brothers film, from the point of the line; 'Hit It': E.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvKs2VLmVnY it is all one vast Cyanobacteria powered Hydrocarbon coming unglued in a cinematic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction set of events that flow from that '...full tank of gas' and those of the Illinois State Police and Chicago Police Department pursuit fleets respective fuel supplies by my estimates and a per this hypothesis, which also can be made as a means of the (bacteria) count for a Dark Matter math made of the original quality of the crude oil or gas sourced as energy not needed to remove it is some sort of V.O.C. or sulfur in the refining processes as I (begin to attempt to) under stand that phase of the hydrocarbon world, by thinking through what Nature did to produce the worlds resource map over time and space in the micro and macro c/o the predictable expansion of the 'Bacteria count' (method of comprehending this system writ large is), that it is the metaphorical and literal chemical keys to the locks that 'unchain' the Energy of the rest of the Dark Material Energies machinery in the subatomic bits as expressed and transmitted in larger life forms of the; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phylogenetic_tree.svg by means the turning of the wheels in the perpetual generational workings of the 'circle of life', species specific grade grind.
It is key to my understanding the organic driver of Matter over time and space as the vector of radiant Energy from the Sun up the food chain, with the feed back loop to the source Stars paired quark, and or Black Hole so the Yin Yang of the Universe is observed yet expansion happens at the speed of light curved at the rate of expansion of the this corner of the Universe as defined by its mix of atoms as apples of the proverbial/metaphorical/literal Phylogenetic tree to which all life is connected as "Star stuff" back at some Sun -- in to/fro runs that never stops this and all other local worlds turning by means of the power of quarks in free flight repair.*
Further insight to my thinking on Dark Matter can be achieved though the point of view of the functionality of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a thought experiment the price theory calculations of the trading of the relative Dark Material 'bacteriological load' of what wikipedia cites as; "Agricultural Commodity Contracts to include: Live Cattle, Lean Hogs，Feeder Cattle, Class IV Milk, Class III Milk, Frozen Pork Bellies, International Skimmed Milk Powder (ISM), Nonfat Dry Milk, Deliverable Nonfat Dry Milk, Dry Whey, Cash-Settled Butter, Butter, Random Length Lumber, Softwood Pulp, Hardwood Pulp. " - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Mercantile_Exchange hence, whole crops and 'great herds' have their market price known in dollar value and therefore understood by the 'group mind' as expressed by the market on a dynamic basis as a set of outcomes based on decisions which would therefor also enable a Game Theory analysis of the functions of the interplay of bacteria as Dark Matter over Time and Space on the Markets writ large so as to make a certain amount of micro and macro economic sense out of reality to my mind -- as a function of its Dark Matter in motion and working out such things as impacts on crop rotation and micro climate as expressed in soil, flora, fauna, and in the end expressed as the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market as reflected in the worth of a countries economic fortune and political sense as determined by the rest of the world as an expression of the market (volatility expressed as a aspect of the Geo Politic) to put a numerical fine point on this biological bacterial concept as having a economic and political reality in the purest economic bottom line analysis expressed as the "Big Mac Index" www.economist.com/news/2018/07/11/the-big-mac-index where as we know; " en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_politics_is_local " material-logically and economically speaking and understanding the language of 'knowledge being power' to produce breakfast lunch and dinner like as well according to clockwork.
Therefore, kindly consider the concept of the 'lines of communication' as a historic reflection of this method of bacterial transmission of the hydrogen and nitrogen bonds by means the; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_Route and its consequence; as a means transmission by mode of market propelled by men moving matter to markets in their bacterial based bodies made of what they ate as they hauling spices in flowing robes more or less doing the bidding of The Bacteria (as matter and antimatter in the form of bodies and antibodies) the runs their Genome as a means of maintaining health and spread direction by means slaying en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon by overwhelming the Demon with the message in the material in the form of the spices transported to form immunity. A soul 'being you are what you ate' is therefore as intense as its 'spice matrix', held together by such things as those same trace nutrients salts that make the whole micro a expression of the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_cycle of the macro as seen above in the spice rout 'moving matter'/the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-energy_equivalence of dehydrated spice 'on the hoof'/over time and space 'in sickness and health' using the spice to charge the immune system to the stars, and thereby expand the human 'group mind' in the process. So goes bacteria and the immune system running down the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use highway somewhere as the saying, movie title and, quark repair goes; 'Back to the Future" to form the present as the arrow of time accounted for.
Back to present where let's consider for a moment the line of cars at the drive through running on hydrocarbons which are spewing the byproducts of combustion out their exhaust pipes as so much proto-photo-chemical glue bacteria/N2O and then digested by the process into so many VOC's emissions and ozone and or the local Dark Matter mat (you see as dirty snow/particulates) which then tends to coat the local population in a binding network of common chemical bonds care of the haze of bacteria spewed forth bacteria working their digestive magic by making and breaking hydrocarbons into bits of matter to yield energy as well as unintended consequences of letting loose bacteria to form more N2O and thus make matter in a loop, which explains quite a bit in a expanding Universe with that en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faint_young_Sun_paradox in need of resolution as accounting does providing the 'gas' in the form of none other than Bacteria (+and and all other breathing living creatures in the food and combustion chain that use or produce the gasses that run the Natural world to be found in the Phylogenetic tree* that make themselves the self evident candidates for the vital role of Dark Matter in producing Energy, by means of a technical explanation of the organic reality of the engineering of heat, light, beaming billions of 'Argument from Design'^^ burgers with cheese along with life as we know it in concert with a combustion chain made possible by the same of the organic Star powered operating system which is the quantum physics of light derived from the particulate energy of nature -- spinning on the axis of reality that leads to and fro black holes for the final business of quark repair and reseeding as fresh young Star power as the final answer offered to the riddle of the expanding Universe at the observed rate of cosmic inflation.
*Attributions and Notes;
Part of the Title of this essay is a reference from a James Q. Wilson appreciation and quotation in the Wall Street Journal;
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203986604577...
- "The joke about the French philosopher—"We know it works in fact, but will it work in theory?"
Sources and Thanks;
Wikipedia multiple instances as links indicate, The New York Times, The Blues Brothers (movies), The Science News, The Science Daily, The Scientific American, Smithsonian (magazine and websites), Grand Master Cho, Donald Street Jr., (the spirits of) Larry Bird, Bruce Lee, Floyd Little, Keith Moon, Ray Kroc, Kenneth G. Wilson, Niels Bohr, Lewis Alvarez, Hans Bethe, Richard Feynman,Carl Woese, my ancestors, and friends as expressed in the great human spirit as its collection of intellectual marbles of the mind found in the halls of Education, Science and Industry all inclusive. Marbles that can be added to compose the picture of the Universe the in the mosaic of Macro by understanding how the organic bonds of the micro fuel and expand the Big Picture™.
Magazines and Newspapers read with regularity; Wired, New Yorker, New York Times, Atlantic, The Economist, The Science News, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Wooden Boat, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.
Thanks to the folks, their content provided on pages served by wikipedia, Linkedin, 'The' google and youtube.
All citations and video links are strictly for informational power of navel gazing and educational purposes only.
All brain farts and typos mine. 'Pardon my prose', this is a work in progress and can be read with that in mind and clean through w/o hitting the links then on second pass go in for the hypertext as topically curious.
Note: no entertainment value or incidental rights explicit or implicit assumed by citations to to or fro links contained herein.
Not unlike the original ideas about Dark Matter and Energy or any incidental cosmic-intellectual sod busted along the way of this thought exercise verbalized as semi complete set of insights, to go with the rest of my analysis of the "'Color Theory' of Dark Matter and Energy", are my uncompensated business (in passive-aggressive search of a publisher) that ponders another paragraph on the how the Universe works through the lens that is outside looking in at Bacteria's nuclear material manifesting itself as a function of the expansion of the Universe as powered by nothing less than the Dark Material heart that beats by means the expansive radiant Energy of Cyanobacteria, made oh so edible at McDonald's.
^ "Some people say he (McDonald's founder Ray Kroc) was almost obsessed with cleanliness." - money.howstuffworks.com/mcdonalds1.htm
^^The Argument from Design
www.princeton.edu/~grosen/puc/phi203/design.html
* My topically related hyper-detailed, and 'dense as a young Star' 'Full Report' on why; "'The Dark Side of' Matter and Energy Sets the Speed of Lights Limits, A Photo Essay with Image 'Remixed' by 'Dream 11'"
For clarity, 'roll-over' notes presented as continuous comment moving from the bottom Right to the lower Left by way of the 'Finish Line' in the 'roll-over' mode noting in that order the pickup truck driver, sign, and drive up window as a series of metaphors, folded down to this, with apologies for the technology;
No doubt driver is off working on a en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_deduction proof of Bacteria as Dark Matter and Energy in his spare time, when not otherwise engaged in struggle for survival in the City. Never mind, the guy across the street with the camera did all that in his head; while doing the same. You can check via this intense method, and or by just reading on into this train of a chain reaction of thought that is parked right here in this space.
The "FinishLine" and Time are illusory concepts unless you happen to be en..wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps because it seems more the case as once more or less was stated that;
“Life is a (bacteriological driven) journey, not a destination.”
Not unlike ― Robert Frosts road predating McDonalds and thus 'less traveled' non the less memorable and a immortal 'difference maker', E,g.;
www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost
Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones n -- is bunk -- www.sciencenews.org/article/body%E2%80%99s-bacteria-don%E...
Never the less there are bacteria running the health 'code' if you have any grip on -- health and good eating in general to form a whole package that can comprehend the 'body census' POV as formed;
By Melinda Wenner
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-tru...
Digressing but speaking of the search for the Universal source code;
How the Father of Computer Science Decoded Nature’s Mysterious Patterns
In research shortly before his death in 1954, Alan Turing used mathematics to explore how forms emerge, yielding insights that are now being applied to problems like desalination.
Which seems to be confirmed by The New York Times on July 14, 2014 in Personal Health -- as
"We Are Our Bacteria"
By Jane E. Brody; nyti.ms/1zBrZrJ
Further proof in the cosmic 'pudding' of this 'line of logic' applied as matter made as not only burgers, but believe it or not The Bahamas being Cyanoacterial 'born' from the micro to the 'Big Macro'' --> e.g.:
Bahamas Bacteria May Feast on Dust from the Saharan Desert
By Laura Geggel, | July 29, 2014 03:01pm ET
www.livescience.com/47072-sahara-dust-great-bahama-bank.html
and then there is the distinct -
"Possible layout of the quarks in a pentaquark particle. The five quarks might be tightly bound (left). The five quarks might be tightly bound. They might also be assembled into a meson (one quark and one anti quark) and a baryon (three quarks), weakly bound together."
lifeboat.com/blog/2015/08/exotic-pentaquark-particle-disc... --
Therefore logically it follows is understood and hopefully explained here that this is the natural source of the gears that we derive from Nature employs to form essential sub atomic gearing that constitutes the fabric of the Universe which is woven by the (2x2 quarks + 1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axion )accounted for now as being found present in the form factors of the colors blue and green quarks two each, plus the 'wild red' Axion (that transports the above linked font of information by means the power of "The (micro) RGB Light") manufactured in that thar recurring blue-green en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria producing the -- 'show must go on business' -- which in turn forms the 'stage' that is 'all the world' inclusive of the Saharan dust that offers a theoretical physical-chemical explanation of the Bahamas’ paradoxical existence by "Windblown nutrients may fertilize island-building bacteria" as a footprint formed in the macro.
BY Thomas Sumner July 11, 2014
Magazine issue: Vol. 186 No. 3, August 9, 2014
"Dust-fertilized cyanobacteria could also explain the origin of carbonate rocks elsewhere in the ocean that formed over 400 million years ago, before mollusks and corals evolved, Swart says."
www.sciencenews.org/article/saharan-dust-explains-bahamas...
"The rocks here in Oman are
special, this scientist says." -- which is also the point of this essay to provide a full pictorial accounting of the myriad 'common denominators likeness' and suggest formal logical links as they organic chemically occur to support this hypothosis;
--> www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/26/climate/oman-rocks...
Yet more people with a beef about burgers in world today due to their perceived supersized impact on climate by means the combustion chain saw of power of being carbon based that make for the thinking linking; beef, cars and climate together as; "The Case for a Carbon Tax on Beef" - nyti.ms/2GCdixI that was argued for on March 17, 2018 as reported By Richard Conniff
in the New York Times.
Therefore it is concluded by this long line of logic that deduces in the final analysis that the electric color coding of quarks in formation and repair that inform and bind the ingredients, that create the matter in the Universe by means the gears of nature being organic running on the many shoulders of the nitrogen building blocks of a army navy and air force of the matter and resultant fuel of hydrogen oxygen helium of a Universe of organic 'bug power' production which forms, binds expands and operate the 'code' of Nature which is borne by light electrically as explained by "Albert Einstein's mathematical description of how the photoelectric effect was caused by absorption of quanta of light in one of his 1905 papers, named "On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light". "
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_effect illustrated.
CJC
Rev. 1/29/18
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Ripe poppies awaiting harvest near Winchester in Hampshire. Each head has thousands of tiny black poppy seeds.
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"The Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107 billion people have ever lived." www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16870579
This is one of them. His sepia tones notwithstanding, his life was as real to him as mine is to me.
Klipsan Beach, Washington.
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NASA's $3.2 Billion Space Shuttle ATLANTIS, launched on 8th July 2011, sits near the runway after returning from its mission.
This launch was the last Space Shuttle launch and it officially ended the current American manned space program.
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Space Shuttle ATLANTIS
NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Florida
USA.
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ALL MY IMAGES OF SPACE SHUTTLE
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Using its near-infrared vision to peer 9 billion years back in time, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an extraordinary population of tiny, young galaxies that are brimming with star formation. The galaxies are typically a hundred times less massive than the Milky Way galaxy, yet they churn out stars at such a furious pace that their stellar content would double in just 10 million years. By comparison, the Milky Way would take a thousand times longer to double its population.
The observations were part of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS), an ambitious three-year survey to analyze the most distant galaxies in the universe. CANDELS is the census of dwarf galaxies at such an early epoch in the universe's history.
For more information, please visit:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/tiny-galaxies.html
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany), H. Ferguson and A. Koekemoer (STScI.), and the CANDELS team)
Sheep (pl.: sheep) or domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe (/juː/ yoo), an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia, with Iran being a geographic envelope of the domestication center. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleeces, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. In Commonwealth countries, ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones; in the United States, meat from both older and younger animals is usually called lamb. Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science.
Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations. In the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production.
There is a large lexicon of unique terms for sheep husbandry which vary considerably by region and dialect. Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. A group of sheep is called a flock. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age.
Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and are represented in much modern language and symbolism. As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions. In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals.
History
Main article: History of the domestic sheep
The exact line of descent from wild ancestors to domestic sheep is unclear. The most common hypothesis states that Ovis aries is descended from the Asiatic (O. gmelini) species of mouflon; the European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) is a direct descendant of this population. Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humankind (although the domestication of dogs probably took place 10 to 20 thousand years earlier); the domestication date is estimated to fall between 11,000 and 9000 B.C in Mesopotamia and possibly around 7000 BC in Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley. The rearing of sheep for secondary products, and the resulting breed development, began in either southwest Asia or western Europe. Initially, sheep were kept solely for meat, milk and skins. Archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests that selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, and the earliest woven wool garments have been dated to two to three thousand years later.
Sheep husbandry spread quickly in Europe. Excavations show that in about 6000 BC, during the Neolithic period of prehistory, the Castelnovien people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues near present-day Marseille in the south of France, were among the first in Europe to keep domestic sheep. Practically from its inception, ancient Greek civilization relied on sheep as primary livestock, and were even said to name individual animals. Ancient Romans kept sheep on a wide scale, and were an important agent in the spread of sheep raising. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia), speaks at length about sheep and wool. European colonists spread the practice to the New World from 1493 onwards.
Characteristics
Domestic sheep are relatively small ruminants, usually with a crimped hair called wool and often with horns forming a lateral spiral. They differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, such as short tails. Depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all (i.e. polled), or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a single pair, but a few breeds may have several.
Sheep in Turkmenistan
Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their wide variation in color. Wild sheep are largely variations of brown hues, and variation within species is extremely limited. Colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown, and even spotted or piebald. Sheep keepers also sometimes artificially paint "smit marks" onto their sheep in any pattern or color for identification. Selection for easily dyeable white fleeces began early in sheep domestication, and as white wool is a dominant trait it spread quickly. However, colored sheep do appear in many modern breeds, and may even appear as a recessive trait in white flocks. While white wool is desirable for large commercial markets, there is a niche market for colored fleeces, mostly for handspinning. The nature of the fleece varies widely among the breeds, from dense and highly crimped, to long and hairlike. There is variation of wool type and quality even among members of the same flock, so wool classing is a step in the commercial processing of the fibre.
Suffolks are a medium wool, black-faced breed of meat sheep that make up 60% of the sheep population in the U.S.
Depending on breed, sheep show a range of heights and weights. Their rate of growth and mature weight is a heritable trait that is often selected for in breeding. Ewes typically weigh between 45 and 100 kilograms (100 and 220 lb), and rams between 45 and 160 kilograms (100 and 350 lb). When all deciduous teeth have erupted, the sheep has 20 teeth. Mature sheep have 32 teeth. As with other ruminants, the front teeth in the lower jaw bite against a hard, toothless pad in the upper jaw. These are used to pick off vegetation, then the rear teeth grind it before it is swallowed. There are eight lower front teeth in ruminants, but there is some disagreement as to whether these are eight incisors, or six incisors and two incisor-shaped canines. This means that the dental formula for sheep is either
0.0.3.3
4.0.3.3
or
0.0.3.3
3.1.3.3
There is a large diastema between the incisors and the molars.
In the first few years of life one can calculate the age of sheep from their front teeth, as a pair of milk teeth is replaced by larger adult teeth each year, the full set of eight adult front teeth being complete at about four years of age. The front teeth are then gradually lost as sheep age, making it harder for them to feed and hindering the health and productivity of the animal. For this reason, domestic sheep on normal pasture begin to slowly decline from four years on, and the life expectancy of a sheep is 10 to 12 years, though some sheep may live as long as 20 years.
Skull
Sheep have good hearing, and are sensitive to noise when being handled. Sheep have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, with excellent peripheral vision; with visual fields of about 270° to 320°, sheep can see behind themselves without turning their heads. Many breeds have only short hair on the face, and some have facial wool (if any) confined to the poll and or the area of the mandibular angle; the wide angles of peripheral vision apply to these breeds. A few breeds tend to have considerable wool on the face; for some individuals of these breeds, peripheral vision may be greatly reduced by "wool blindness", unless recently shorn about the face. Sheep have poor depth perception; shadows and dips in the ground may cause sheep to baulk. In general, sheep have a tendency to move out of the dark and into well-lit areas, and prefer to move uphill when disturbed. Sheep also have an excellent sense of smell, and, like all species of their genus, have scent glands just in front of the eyes, and interdigitally on the feet. The purpose of these glands is uncertain, but those on the face may be used in breeding behaviors. The foot glands might also be related to reproduction, but alternative functions, such as secretion of a waste product or a scent marker to help lost sheep find their flock, have also been proposed.
Comparison with goats
Sheep and goats are closely related: both are in the subfamily Caprinae. However, they are separate species, so hybrids rarely occur and are always infertile. A hybrid of a ewe and a buck (a male goat) is called a sheep-goat hybrid, known as geep. Visual differences between sheep and goats include the beard of goats and divided upper lip of sheep. Sheep tails also hang down, even when short or docked, while the short tails of goats are held upwards. Also, sheep breeds are often naturally polled (either in both sexes or just in the female), while naturally polled goats are rare (though many are polled artificially). Males of the two species differ in that buck goats acquire a unique and strong odor during the rut, whereas rams do not.
Breeds
The domestic sheep is a multi-purpose animal, and the more than 200 breeds now in existence were created to serve these diverse purposes. Some sources give a count of a thousand or more breeds, but these numbers cannot be verified, according to some sources. However, several hundred breeds of sheep have been identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), with the estimated number varying somewhat from time to time: e.g. 863 breeds as of 1993, 1314 breeds as of 1995 and 1229 breeds as of 2006. (These numbers exclude extinct breeds, which are also tallied by the FAO.) For the purpose of such tallies, the FAO definition of a breed is "either a subspecific group of domestic livestock with definable and identifiable external characteristics that enable it to be separated by visual appraisal from other similarly defined groups within the same species or a group for which geographical and/or cultural separation from phenotypically similar groups has led to acceptance of its separate identity." Almost all sheep are classified as being best suited to furnishing a certain product: wool, meat, milk, hides, or a combination in a dual-purpose breed. Other features used when classifying sheep include face color (generally white or black), tail length, presence or lack of horns, and the topography for which the breed has been developed. This last point is especially stressed in the UK, where breeds are described as either upland (hill or mountain) or lowland breeds. A sheep may also be of a fat-tailed type, which is a dual-purpose sheep common in Africa and Asia with larger deposits of fat within and around its tail.
Breeds are often categorized by the type of their wool. Fine wool breeds are those that have wool of great crimp and density, which are preferred for textiles. Most of these were derived from Merino sheep, and the breed continues to dominate the world sheep industry. Downs breeds have wool between the extremes, and are typically fast-growing meat and ram breeds with dark faces. Some major medium wool breeds, such as the Corriedale, are dual-purpose crosses of long and fine-wooled breeds and were created for high-production commercial flocks. Long wool breeds are the largest of sheep, with long wool and a slow rate of growth. Long wool sheep are most valued for crossbreeding to improve the attributes of other sheep types. For example: the American Columbia breed was developed by crossing Lincoln rams (a long wool breed) with fine-wooled Rambouillet ewes.
Coarse or carpet wool sheep are those with a medium to long length wool of characteristic coarseness. Breeds traditionally used for carpet wool show great variability, but the chief requirement is a wool that will not break down under heavy use (as would that of the finer breeds). As the demand for carpet-quality wool declines, some breeders of this type of sheep are attempting to use a few of these traditional breeds for alternative purposes. Others have always been primarily meat-class sheep.
A minor class of sheep are the dairy breeds. Dual-purpose breeds that may primarily be meat or wool sheep are often used secondarily as milking animals, but there are a few breeds that are predominantly used for milking. These sheep produce a higher quantity of milk and have slightly longer lactation curves. In the quality of their milk, the fat and protein content percentages of dairy sheep vary from non-dairy breeds, but lactose content does not.
A last group of sheep breeds is that of fur or hair sheep, which do not grow wool at all. Hair sheep are similar to the early domesticated sheep kept before woolly breeds were developed, and are raised for meat and pelts. Some modern breeds of hair sheep, such as the Dorper, result from crosses between wool and hair breeds. For meat and hide producers, hair sheep are cheaper to keep, as they do not need shearing. Hair sheep are also more resistant to parasites and hot weather.
With the modern rise of corporate agribusiness and the decline of localized family farms, many breeds of sheep are in danger of extinction. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust of the UK lists 22 native breeds as having only 3,000 registered animals (each), and The Livestock Conservancy lists 14 as either "critical" or "threatened". Preferences for breeds with uniform characteristics and fast growth have pushed heritage (or heirloom) breeds to the margins of the sheep industry. Those that remain are maintained through the efforts of conservation organizations, breed registries, and individual farmers dedicated to their preservation.
Diet
Sheep are herbivorous mammals. Most breeds prefer to graze on grass and other short roughage, avoiding the taller woody parts of plants that goats readily consume. Both sheep and goats use their lips and tongues to select parts of the plant that are easier to digest or higher in nutrition. Sheep, however, graze well in monoculture pastures where most goats fare poorly.
Ruminant system of a sheep
Like all ruminants, sheep have a complex digestive system composed of four chambers, allowing them to break down cellulose from stems, leaves, and seed hulls into simpler carbohydrates. When sheep graze, vegetation is chewed into a mass called a bolus, which is then passed into the rumen, via the reticulum. The rumen is a 19- to 38-liter (5 to 10 gallon) organ in which feed is fermented. The fermenting organisms include bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. (Other important rumen organisms include some archaea, which produce methane from carbon dioxide.) The bolus is periodically regurgitated back to the mouth as cud for additional chewing and salivation. After fermentation in the rumen, feed passes into the reticulum and the omasum; special feeds such as grains may bypass the rumen altogether. After the first three chambers, food moves into the abomasum for final digestion before processing by the intestines. The abomasum is the only one of the four chambers analogous to the human stomach, and is sometimes called the "true stomach".
Other than forage, the other staple feed for sheep is hay, often during the winter months. The ability to thrive solely on pasture (even without hay) varies with breed, but all sheep can survive on this diet. Also included in some sheep's diets are minerals, either in a trace mix or in licks. Feed provided to sheep must be specially formulated, as most cattle, poultry, pig, and even some goat feeds contain levels of copper that are lethal to sheep. The same danger applies to mineral supplements such as salt licks.
Grazing behavior
Sheep follow a diurnal pattern of activity, feeding from dawn to dusk, stopping sporadically to rest and chew their cud. Ideal pasture for sheep is not lawnlike grass, but an array of grasses, legumes and forbs. Types of land where sheep are raised vary widely, from pastures that are seeded and improved intentionally to rough, native lands. Common plants toxic to sheep are present in most of the world, and include (but are not limited to) cherry, some oaks and acorns, tomato, yew, rhubarb, potato, and rhododendron.
Effects on pasture
Sheep are largely grazing herbivores, unlike browsing animals such as goats and deer that prefer taller foliage. With a much narrower face, sheep crop plants very close to the ground and can overgraze a pasture much faster than cattle. For this reason, many shepherds use managed intensive rotational grazing, where a flock is rotated through multiple pastures, giving plants time to recover. Paradoxically, sheep can both cause and solve the spread of invasive plant species. By disturbing the natural state of pasture, sheep and other livestock can pave the way for invasive plants. However, sheep also prefer to eat invasives such as cheatgrass, leafy spurge, kudzu and spotted knapweed over native species such as sagebrush, making grazing sheep effective for conservation grazing. Research conducted in Imperial County, California compared lamb grazing with herbicides for weed control in seedling alfalfa fields. Three trials demonstrated that grazing lambs were just as effective as herbicides in controlling winter weeds. Entomologists also compared grazing lambs to insecticides for insect control in winter alfalfa. In this trial, lambs provided insect control as effectively as insecticides.
Behavior
Sheep are flock animals and strongly gregarious; much sheep behavior can be understood on the basis of these tendencies. The dominance hierarchy of sheep and their natural inclination to follow a leader to new pastures were the pivotal factors in sheep being one of the first domesticated livestock species. Furthermore, in contrast to the red deer and gazelle (two other ungulates of primary importance to meat production in prehistoric times), sheep do not defend territories although they do form home ranges. All sheep have a tendency to congregate close to other members of a flock, although this behavior varies with breed, and sheep can become stressed when separated from their flock members. During flocking, sheep have a strong tendency to follow, and a leader may simply be the first individual to move. Relationships in flocks tend to be closest among related sheep: in mixed-breed flocks, subgroups of the same breed tend to form, and a ewe and her direct descendants often move as a unit within large flocks. Sheep can become hefted to one particular local pasture (heft) so they do not roam freely in unfenced landscapes. Lambs learn the heft from ewes and if whole flocks are culled it must be retaught to the replacement animals.
Flock behaviour in sheep is generally only exhibited in groups of four or more sheep; fewer sheep may not react as expected when alone or with few other sheep. Being a prey species, the primary defense mechanism of sheep is to flee from danger when their flight zone is entered. Cornered sheep may charge and butt, or threaten by hoof stamping and adopting an aggressive posture. This is particularly true for ewes with newborn lambs.
In regions where sheep have no natural predators, none of the native breeds of sheep exhibit a strong flocking behavior.
Herding
Farmers exploit flocking behavior to keep sheep together on unfenced pastures such as hill farming, and to move them more easily. For this purpose shepherds may use herding dogs in this effort, with a highly bred herding ability. Sheep are food-oriented, and association of humans with regular feeding often results in sheep soliciting people for food. Those who are moving sheep may exploit this behavior by leading sheep with buckets of feed.
Dominance hierarchy
Sheep establish a dominance hierarchy through fighting, threats and competitiveness. Dominant animals are inclined to be more aggressive with other sheep, and usually feed first at troughs. Primarily among rams, horn size is a factor in the flock hierarchy. Rams with different size horns may be less inclined to fight to establish the dominance order, while rams with similarly sized horns are more so. Merinos have an almost linear hierarchy whereas there is a less rigid structure in Border Leicesters when a competitive feeding situation arises.
In sheep, position in a moving flock is highly correlated with social dominance, but there is no definitive study to show consistent voluntary leadership by an individual sheep.
Intelligence and learning ability
Sheep are frequently thought of as unintelligent animals. Their flocking behavior and quickness to flee and panic can make shepherding a difficult endeavor for the uninitiated. Despite these perceptions, a University of Illinois monograph on sheep reported their intelligence to be just below that of pigs and on par with that of cattle. Sheep can recognize individual human and ovine faces and remember them for years; they can remember 50 other different sheep faces for over two years; they can recognize and are attracted to individual sheep and humans by their faces, as they possess similar specialized neural systems in the temporal and frontal lobes of their brains to humans and have a greater involvement of the right brain hemisphere. In addition to long-term facial recognition of individuals, sheep can also differentiate emotional states through facial characteristics.[68][69] If worked with patiently, sheep may learn their names, and many sheep are trained to be led by halter for showing and other purposes. Sheep have also responded well to clicker training. Sheep have been used as pack animals; Tibetan nomads distribute baggage equally throughout a flock as it is herded between living sites.
It has been reported that some sheep have apparently shown problem-solving abilities; a flock in West Yorkshire, England allegedly found a way to get over cattle grids by rolling on their backs, although documentation of this has relied on anecdotal accounts.
Vocalisations
Sounds made by domestic sheep include bleats, grunts, rumbles and snorts. Bleating ("baaing") is used mostly for contact communication, especially between dam and lambs, but also at times between other flock members. The bleats of individual sheep are distinctive, enabling the ewe and her lambs to recognize each other's vocalizations. Vocal communication between lambs and their dam declines to a very low level within several weeks after parturition. A variety of bleats may be heard, depending on sheep age and circumstances. Apart from contact communication, bleating may signal distress, frustration or impatience; however, sheep are usually silent when in pain. Isolation commonly prompts bleating by sheep. Pregnant ewes may grunt when in labor. Rumbling sounds are made by the ram during courting; somewhat similar rumbling sounds may be made by the ewe, especially when with her neonate lambs. A snort (explosive exhalation through the nostrils) may signal aggression or a warning, and is often elicited from startled sheep.
Lamb
In sheep breeds lacking facial wool, the visual field is wide. In 10 sheep (Cambridge, Lleyn and Welsh Mountain breeds, which lack facial wool), the visual field ranged from 298° to 325°, averaging 313.1°, with binocular overlap ranging from 44.5° to 74°, averaging 61.7°. In some breeds, unshorn facial wool can limit the visual field; in some individuals, this may be enough to cause "wool blindness". In 60 Merinos, visual fields ranged from 219.1° to 303.0°, averaging 269.9°, and the binocular field ranged from 8.9° to 77.7°, averaging 47.5°; 36% of the measurements were limited by wool, although photographs of the experiments indicate that only limited facial wool regrowth had occurred since shearing. In addition to facial wool (in some breeds), visual field limitations can include ears and (in some breeds) horns, so the visual field can be extended by tilting the head. Sheep eyes exhibit very low hyperopia and little astigmatism. Such visual characteristics are likely to produce a well-focused retinal image of objects in both the middle and long distance. Because sheep eyes have no accommodation, one might expect the image of very near objects to be blurred, but a rather clear near image could be provided by the tapetum and large retinal image of the sheep's eye, and adequate close vision may occur at muzzle length. Good depth perception, inferred from the sheep's sure-footedness, was confirmed in "visual cliff" experiments; behavioral responses indicating depth perception are seen in lambs at one day old. Sheep are thought to have colour vision, and can distinguish between a variety of colours: black, red, brown, green, yellow and white. Sight is a vital part of sheep communication, and when grazing, they maintain visual contact with each other. Each sheep lifts its head upwards to check the position of other sheep in the flock. This constant monitoring is probably what keeps the sheep in a flock as they move along grazing. Sheep become stressed when isolated; this stress is reduced if they are provided with a mirror, indicating that the sight of other sheep reduces stress.
Taste is the most important sense in sheep, establishing forage preferences, with sweet and sour plants being preferred and bitter plants being more commonly rejected. Touch and sight are also important in relation to specific plant characteristics, such as succulence and growth form.
The ram uses his vomeronasal organ (sometimes called the Jacobson's organ) to sense the pheromones of ewes and detect when they are in estrus. The ewe uses her vomeronasal organ for early recognition of her neonate lamb.
Reproduction
Sheep follow a similar reproductive strategy to other herd animals. A group of ewes is generally mated by a single ram, who has either been chosen by a breeder or (in feral populations) has established dominance through physical contest with other rams. Most sheep are seasonal breeders, although some are able to breed year-round. Ewes generally reach sexual maturity at six to eight months old, and rams generally at four to six months. However, there are exceptions. For example, Finnsheep ewe lambs may reach puberty as early as 3 to 4 months, and Merino ewes sometimes reach puberty at 18 to 20 months. Ewes have estrus cycles about every 17 days, during which they emit a scent and indicate readiness through physical displays towards rams.
In feral sheep, rams may fight during the rut to determine which individuals may mate with ewes. Rams, especially unfamiliar ones, will also fight outside the breeding period to establish dominance; rams can kill one another if allowed to mix freely. During the rut, even usually friendly rams may become aggressive towards humans due to increases in their hormone levels.
After mating, sheep have a gestation period of about five months, and normal labor takes one to three hours. Although some breeds regularly throw larger litters of lambs, most produce single or twin lambs. During or soon after labor, ewes and lambs may be confined to small lambing jugs, small pens designed to aid both careful observation of ewes and to cement the bond between them and their lambs.
A lamb's first steps
Ovine obstetrics can be problematic. By selectively breeding ewes that produce multiple offspring with higher birth weights for generations, sheep producers have inadvertently caused some domestic sheep to have difficulty lambing; balancing ease of lambing with high productivity is one of the dilemmas of sheep breeding. In the case of any such problems, those present at lambing may assist the ewe by extracting or repositioning lambs. After the birth, ewes ideally break the amniotic sac (if it is not broken during labor), and begin licking clean the lamb. Most lambs will begin standing within an hour of birth. In normal situations, lambs nurse after standing, receiving vital colostrum milk. Lambs that either fail to nurse or are rejected by the ewe require help to survive, such as bottle-feeding or fostering by another ewe.
Most lambs begin life being born outdoors. After lambs are several weeks old, lamb marking (ear tagging, docking, mulesing, and castrating) is carried out. Vaccinations are usually carried out at this point as well. Ear tags with numbers are attached, or ear marks are applied, for ease of later identification of sheep. Docking and castration are commonly done after 24 hours (to avoid interference with maternal bonding and consumption of colostrum) and are often done not later than one week after birth, to minimize pain, stress, recovery time and complications. The first course of vaccinations (commonly anti-clostridial) is commonly given at an age of about 10 to 12 weeks; i.e. when the concentration of maternal antibodies passively acquired via colostrum is expected to have fallen low enough to permit development of active immunity. Ewes are often revaccinated annually about 3 weeks before lambing, to provide high antibody concentrations in colostrum during the first several hours after lambing. Ram lambs that will either be slaughtered or separated from ewes before sexual maturity are not usually castrated. Objections to all these procedures have been raised by animal rights groups, but farmers defend them by saying they save money, and inflict only temporary pain.
Homosexuality
Sheep are the only species of mammal except for humans which exhibits exclusive homosexual behavior. About 10% of rams refuse to mate with ewes but readily mate with other rams, and thirty percent of all rams demonstrate at least some homosexual behavior. Additionally, a small number of females that were accompanied by a male fetus in utero (i.e. as fraternal twins) are freemartins (female animals that are behaviorally masculine and lack functioning ovaries).
Health
Sheep may fall victim to poisons, infectious diseases, and physical injuries. As a prey species, a sheep's system is adapted to hide the obvious signs of illness, to prevent being targeted by predators. However, some signs of ill health are obvious, with sick sheep eating little, vocalizing excessively, and being generally listless. Throughout history, much of the money and labor of sheep husbandry has aimed to prevent sheep ailments. Historically, shepherds often created remedies by experimentation on the farm. In some developed countries, including the United States, sheep lack the economic importance for drug companies to perform expensive clinical trials required to approve more than a relatively limited number of drugs for ovine use. However, extra-label drug use in sheep production is permitted in many jurisdictions, subject to certain restrictions. In the US, for example, regulations governing extra-label drug use in animals are found in 21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 530. In the 20th and 21st centuries, a minority of sheep owners have turned to alternative treatments such as homeopathy, herbalism and even traditional Chinese medicine to treat sheep veterinary problems. Despite some favorable anecdotal evidence, the effectiveness of alternative veterinary medicine has been met with skepticism in scientific journals. The need for traditional anti-parasite drugs and antibiotics is widespread, and is the main impediment to certified organic farming with sheep.
Many breeders take a variety of preventive measures to ward off problems. The first is to ensure all sheep are healthy when purchased. Many buyers avoid outlets known to be clearing houses for animals culled from healthy flocks as either sick or simply inferior. This can also mean maintaining a closed flock, and quarantining new sheep for a month. Two fundamental preventive programs are maintaining good nutrition and reducing stress in the sheep. Restraint, isolation, loud noises, novel situations, pain, heat, extreme cold, fatigue and other stressors can lead to secretion of cortisol, a stress hormone, in amounts that may indicate welfare problems. Excessive stress can compromise the immune system. "Shipping fever" (pneumonic mannheimiosis, formerly called pasteurellosis) is a disease of particular concern, that can occur as a result of stress, notably during transport and (or) handling. Pain, fear and several other stressors can cause secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline). Considerable epinephrine secretion in the final days before slaughter can adversely affect meat quality (by causing glycogenolysis, removing the substrate for normal post-slaughter acidification of meat) and result in meat becoming more susceptible to colonization by spoilage bacteria. Because of such issues, low-stress handling is essential in sheep management. Avoiding poisoning is also important; common poisons are pesticide sprays, inorganic fertilizer, motor oil, as well as radiator coolant containing ethylene glycol.
Common forms of preventive medication for sheep are vaccinations and treatments for parasites. Both external and internal parasites are the most prevalent malady in sheep, and are either fatal, or reduce the productivity of flocks. Worms are the most common internal parasites. They are ingested during grazing, incubate within the sheep, and are expelled through the digestive system (beginning the cycle again). Oral anti-parasitic medicines, known as drenches, are given to a flock to treat worms, sometimes after worm eggs in the feces has been counted to assess infestation levels. Afterwards, sheep may be moved to a new pasture to avoid ingesting the same parasites. External sheep parasites include: lice (for different parts of the body), sheep keds, nose bots, sheep itch mites, and maggots. Keds are blood-sucking parasites that cause general malnutrition and decreased productivity, but are not fatal. Maggots are those of the bot fly and the blow-fly, commonly Lucilia sericata or its relative L. cuprina. Fly maggots cause the extremely destructive condition of flystrike. Flies lay their eggs in wounds or wet, manure-soiled wool; when the maggots hatch they burrow into a sheep's flesh, eventually causing death if untreated. In addition to other treatments, crutching (shearing wool from a sheep's rump) is a common preventive method. Some countries allow mulesing, a practice that involves stripping away the skin on the rump to prevent fly-strike, normally performed when the sheep is a lamb. Nose bots are fly larvae that inhabit a sheep's sinuses, causing breathing difficulties and discomfort. Common signs are a discharge from the nasal passage, sneezing, and frantic movement such as head shaking. External parasites may be controlled through the use of backliners, sprays or immersive sheep dips.
A wide array of bacterial and viral diseases affect sheep. Diseases of the hoof, such as foot rot and foot scald may occur, and are treated with footbaths and other remedies. Foot rot is present in over 97% of flocks in the UK. These painful conditions cause lameness and hinder feeding. Ovine Johne's disease is a wasting disease that affects young sheep. Bluetongue disease is an insect-borne illness causing fever and inflammation of the mucous membranes. Ovine rinderpest (or peste des petits ruminants) is a highly contagious and often fatal viral disease affecting sheep and goats. Sheep may also be affected by primary or secondary photosensitization. Tetanus can also afflict sheep through wounds from shearing, docking, castration, or vaccination. The organism also can be introduced into the reproductive tract by unsanitary humans who assist ewes during lambing.
A few sheep conditions are transmissible to humans. Orf (also known as scabby mouth, contagious ecthyma or soremouth) is a skin disease leaving lesions that is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. Cutaneous anthrax is also called woolsorter's disease, as the spores can be transmitted in unwashed wool. More seriously, the organisms that can cause spontaneous enzootic abortion in sheep are easily transmitted to pregnant women. Also of concern are the prion disease scrapie and the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), as both can devastate flocks. The latter poses a slight risk to humans. During the 2001 FMD pandemic in the UK, hundreds of sheep were culled and some rare British breeds were at risk of extinction due to this.
Of the 600,300 sheep lost to the US economy in 2004, 37.3% were lost to predators, while 26.5% were lost to some form of disease. Poisoning accounted for 1.7% of non-productive deaths.
Predators
A lamb being attacked by coyotes with a bite to the throat
Other than parasites and disease, predation is a threat to sheep and the profitability of sheep raising. Sheep have little ability to defend themselves, compared with other species kept as livestock. Even if sheep survive an attack, they may die from their injuries or simply from panic. However, the impact of predation varies dramatically with region. In Africa, Australia, the Americas, and parts of Europe and Asia predators are a serious problem. In the United States, for instance, over one third of sheep deaths in 2004 were caused by predation. In contrast, other nations are virtually devoid of sheep predators, particularly islands known for extensive sheep husbandry. Worldwide, canids—including the domestic dog—are responsible for most sheep deaths. Other animals that occasionally prey on sheep include: felines, bears, birds of prey, ravens and feral hogs.
Sheep producers have used a wide variety of measures to combat predation. Pre-modern shepherds used their own presence, livestock guardian dogs, and protective structures such as barns and fencing. Fencing (both regular and electric), penning sheep at night and lambing indoors all continue to be widely used. More modern shepherds used guns, traps, and poisons to kill predators, causing significant decreases in predator populations. In the wake of the environmental and conservation movements, the use of these methods now usually falls under the purview of specially designated government agencies in most developed countries.
The 1970s saw a resurgence in the use of livestock guardian dogs and the development of new methods of predator control by sheep producers, many of them non-lethal. Donkeys and guard llamas have been used since the 1980s in sheep operations, using the same basic principle as livestock guardian dogs. Interspecific pasturing, usually with larger livestock such as cattle or horses, may help to deter predators, even if such species do not actively guard sheep. In addition to animal guardians, contemporary sheep operations may use non-lethal predator deterrents such as motion-activated lights and noisy alarms.
Economic importance
Main article: Agricultural economics
Global sheep stock
in 2019
Number in millions
1. China163.5 (13.19%)
2. India74.3 (5.99%)
3. Australia65.8 (5.31%)
4. Nigeria46.9 (3.78%)
5. Iran41.3 (3.33%)
6. Sudan40.9 (3.3%)
7. Chad35.9 (2.9%)
8. Turkey35.2 (2.84%)
9. United Kingdom33.6 (2.71%)
10. Mongolia32.3 (2.61%)
World total1,239.8
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Sheep are an important part of the global agricultural economy. However, their once vital status has been largely replaced by other livestock species, especially the pig, chicken, and cow. China, Australia, India, and Iran have the largest modern flocks, and serve both local and exportation needs for wool and mutton. Other countries such as New Zealand have smaller flocks but retain a large international economic impact due to their export of sheep products. Sheep also play a major role in many local economies, which may be niche markets focused on organic or sustainable agriculture and local food customers. Especially in developing countries, such flocks may be a part of subsistence agriculture rather than a system of trade. Sheep themselves may be a medium of trade in barter economies.
Domestic sheep provide a wide array of raw materials. Wool was one of the first textiles, although in the late 20th century wool prices began to fall dramatically as the result of the popularity and cheap prices for synthetic fabrics. For many sheep owners, the cost of shearing is greater than the possible profit from the fleece, making subsisting on wool production alone practically impossible without farm subsidies. Fleeces are used as material in making alternative products such as wool insulation. In the 21st century, the sale of meat is the most profitable enterprise in the sheep industry, even though far less sheep meat is consumed than chicken, pork or beef.
Sheepskin is likewise used for making clothes, footwear, rugs, and other products. Byproducts from the slaughter of sheep are also of value: sheep tallow can be used in candle and soap making, sheep bone and cartilage has been used to furnish carved items such as dice and buttons as well as rendered glue and gelatin. Sheep intestine can be formed into sausage casings, and lamb intestine has been formed into surgical sutures, as well as strings for musical instruments and tennis rackets. Sheep droppings, which are high in cellulose, have even been sterilized and mixed with traditional pulp materials to make paper. Of all sheep byproducts, perhaps the most valuable is lanolin: the waterproof, fatty substance found naturally in sheep's wool and used as a base for innumerable cosmetics and other products.
Some farmers who keep sheep also make a profit from live sheep. Providing lambs for youth programs such as 4-H and competition at agricultural shows is often a dependable avenue for the sale of sheep. Farmers may also choose to focus on a particular breed of sheep in order to sell registered purebred animals, as well as provide a ram rental service for breeding. A new option for deriving profit from live sheep is the rental of flocks for grazing; these "mowing services" are hired in order to keep unwanted vegetation down in public spaces and to lessen fire hazard.
Despite the falling demand and price for sheep products in many markets, sheep have distinct economic advantages when compared with other livestock. They do not require expensive housing, such as that used in the intensive farming of chickens or pigs. They are an efficient use of land; roughly six sheep can be kept on the amount that would suffice for a single cow or horse. Sheep can also consume plants, such as noxious weeds, that most other animals will not touch, and produce more young at a faster rate. Also, in contrast to most livestock species, the cost of raising sheep is not necessarily tied to the price of feed crops such as grain, soybeans and corn. Combined with the lower cost of quality sheep, all these factors combine to equal a lower overhead for sheep producers, thus entailing a higher profitability potential for the small farmer. Sheep are especially beneficial for independent producers, including family farms with limited resources, as the sheep industry is one of the few types of animal agriculture that has not been vertically integrated by agribusiness. However, small flocks, from 10 to 50 ewes, often are not profitable because they tend to be poorly managed. The primary reason is that mechanization is not feasible, so return per hour of labor is not maximized. Small farm flocks generally are used simply to control weeds on irrigation ditches or maintained as a hobby.
Shoulder of lamb
Sheep meat and milk were one of the earliest staple proteins consumed by human civilization after the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Sheep meat prepared for food is known as either mutton or lamb, and approximately 540 million sheep are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. "Mutton" is derived from the Old French moton, which was the word for sheep used by the Anglo-Norman rulers of much of the British Isles in the Middle Ages. This became the name for sheep meat in English, while the Old English word sceap was kept for the live animal. Throughout modern history, "mutton" has been limited to the meat of mature sheep usually at least two years of age; "lamb" is used for that of immature sheep less than a year.
In the 21st century, the nations with the highest consumption of sheep meat are the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and Ireland. These countries eat 14–40 lbs (3–18 kg) of sheep meat per capita, per annum. Sheep meat is also popular in France, Africa (especially the Arab world), the Caribbean, the rest of the Middle East, India, and parts of China. This often reflects a history of sheep production. In these countries in particular, dishes comprising alternative cuts and offal may be popular or traditional. Sheep testicles—called animelles or lamb fries—are considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Perhaps the most unusual dish of sheep meat is the Scottish haggis, composed of various sheep innards cooked along with oatmeal and chopped onions inside its stomach. In comparison, countries such as the U.S. consume only a pound or less (under 0.5 kg), with Americans eating 50 pounds (22 kg) of pork and 65 pounds (29 kg) of beef. In addition, such countries rarely eat mutton, and may favor the more expensive cuts of lamb: mostly lamb chops and leg of lamb.
Though sheep's milk may be drunk rarely in fresh form, today it is used predominantly in cheese and yogurt making. Sheep have only two teats, and produce a far smaller volume of milk than cows. However, as sheep's milk contains far more fat, solids, and minerals than cow's milk, it is ideal for the cheese-making process. It also resists contamination during cooling better because of its much higher calcium content. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the feta of Bulgaria and Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the pecorino romano (the Italian word for "sheep" is pecore) and ricotta of Italy. Yogurts, especially some forms of strained yogurt, may also be made from sheep milk. Many of these products are now often made with cow's milk, especially when produced outside their country of origin. Sheep milk contains 4.8% lactose, which may affect those who are intolerant.
As with other domestic animals, the meat of uncastrated males is inferior in quality, especially as they grow. A "bucky" lamb is a lamb which was not castrated early enough, or which was castrated improperly (resulting in one testicle being retained). These lambs are worth less at market.
In science
Sheep are generally too large and reproduce too slowly to make ideal research subjects, and thus are not a common model organism. They have, however, played an influential role in some fields of science. In particular, the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, Scotland used sheep for genetics research that produced groundbreaking results. In 1995, two ewes named Megan and Morag were the first mammals cloned from differentiated cells, also referred to as gynomerogony. A year later, a Finnish Dorset sheep named Dolly, dubbed "the world's most famous sheep" in Scientific American, was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. Following this, Polly and Molly were the first mammals to be simultaneously cloned and transgenic.
As of 2008, the sheep genome has not been fully sequenced, although a detailed genetic map has been published, and a draft version of the complete genome produced by assembling sheep DNA sequences using information given by the genomes of other mammals. In 2012, a transgenic sheep named "Peng Peng" was cloned by Chinese scientists, who spliced his genes with that of a roundworm (C. elegans) in order to increase production of fats healthier for human consumption.
In the study of natural selection, the population of Soay sheep that remain on the island of Hirta have been used to explore the relation of body size and coloration to reproductive success. Soay sheep come in several colors, and researchers investigated why the larger, darker sheep were in decline; this occurrence contradicted the rule of thumb that larger members of a population tend to be more successful reproductively. The feral Soays on Hirta are especially useful subjects because they are isolated.
Domestic sheep are sometimes used in medical research, particularly for researching cardiovascular physiology, in areas such as hypertension and heart failure. Pregnant sheep are also a useful model for human pregnancy, and have been used to investigate the effects on fetal development of malnutrition and hypoxia. In behavioral sciences, sheep have been used in isolated cases for the study of facial recognition, as their mental process of recognition is qualitatively similar to humans.
Cultural impact
Sheep have had a strong presence in many cultures, especially in areas where they form the most common type of livestock. In the English language, to call someone a sheep or ovine may allude that they are timid and easily led. In contradiction to this image, male sheep are often used as symbols of virility and power; the logos of the Los Angeles Rams football team and the Dodge Ram pickup truck allude to males of the bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis.
Counting sheep is popularly said to be an aid to sleep, and some ancient systems of counting sheep persist today. Sheep also enter in colloquial sayings and idiom frequently with such phrases as "black sheep". To call an individual a black sheep implies that they are an odd or disreputable member of a group. This usage derives from the recessive trait that causes an occasional black lamb to be born into an entirely white flock. These black sheep were considered undesirable by shepherds, as black wool is not as commercially viable as white wool. Citizens who accept overbearing governments have been referred to by the Portmanteau neologism of sheeple. Somewhat differently, the adjective "sheepish" is also used to describe embarrassment.
In heraldry
In British heraldry, sheep appear in the form of rams, sheep proper and lambs. These are distinguished by the ram being depicted with horns and a tail, the sheep with neither and the lamb with its tail only. A further variant of the lamb, termed the Paschal lamb, is depicted as carrying a Christian cross and with a halo over its head. Rams' heads, portrayed without a neck and facing the viewer, are also found in British armories. The fleece, depicted as an entire sheepskin carried by a ring around its midsection, originally became known through its use in the arms of the Order of the Golden Fleece and was later adopted by towns and individuals with connections to the wool industry. A sheep on a blue field is depicted on the greater/royal arms of the king of Denmark to represent the Faroe Islands. In 2004 a modernized arms has been adopted by the Faroe Islands, which based on a 15th century coat of arms.
Religion and folklore
In antiquity, symbolism involving sheep cropped up in religions in the ancient Near East, the Mideast, and the Mediterranean area: Çatalhöyük, ancient Egyptian religion, the Cana'anite and Phoenician tradition, Judaism, Greek religion, and others. Religious symbolism and ritual involving sheep began with some of the first known faiths: Skulls of rams (along with bulls) occupied central placement in shrines at the Çatalhöyük settlement in 8,000 BCE. In Ancient Egyptian religion, the ram was the symbol of several gods: Khnum, Heryshaf and Amun (in his incarnation as a god of fertility). Other deities occasionally shown with ram features include the goddess Ishtar, the Phoenician god Baal-Hamon, and the Babylonian god Ea-Oannes. In Madagascar, sheep were not eaten as they were believed to be incarnations of the souls of ancestors.
There are many ancient Greek references to sheep: that of Chrysomallos, the golden-fleeced ram, continuing to be told through into the modern era. Astrologically, Aries, the ram, is the first sign of the classical Greek zodiac, and the sheep is the eighth of the twelve animals associated with the 12-year cycle of in the Chinese zodiac, related to the Chinese calendar. It is said in Chinese traditions that Hou ji sacrificed sheep. Mongolia, shagai are an ancient form of dice made from the cuboid bones of sheep that are often used for fortunetelling purposes.
Sheep play an important role in all the Abrahamic faiths; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and King David were all shepherds. According to the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac, a ram is sacrificed as a substitute for Isaac after an angel stays Abraham's hand (in the Islamic tradition, Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael). Eid al-Adha is a major annual festival in Islam in which sheep (or other animals) are sacrificed in remembrance of this act. Sheep are occasionally sacrificed to commemorate important secular events in Islamic cultures. Greeks and Romans sacrificed sheep regularly in religious practice, and Judaism once sacrificed sheep as a Korban (sacrifice), such as the Passover lamb. Ovine symbols—such as the ceremonial blowing of a shofar—still find a presence in modern Judaic traditions.
Collectively, followers of Christianity are often referred to as a flock, with Christ as the Good Shepherd, and sheep are an element in the Christian iconography of the birth of Jesus. Some Christian saints are considered patrons of shepherds, and even of sheep themselves. Christ is also portrayed as the Sacrificial lamb of God (Agnus Dei) and Easter celebrations in Greece and Romania traditionally feature a meal of Paschal lamb. A church leader is often called the pastor, which is derived from the Latin word for shepherd. In many western Christian traditions bishops carry a staff, which also serves as a symbol of the episcopal office, known as a crosier, which is modeled on the shepherd's crook.
Sheep are key symbols in fables and nursery rhymes like The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Little Bo Peep, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, and Mary Had a Little Lamb; novels such as George Orwell's Animal Farm and Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase; songs such as Bach's Sheep may safely graze (Schafe können sicher weiden) and Pink Floyd's "Sheep", and poems like William Blake's "The Lamb".
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is a number that only the heart can understand.
New evidence says there could be 50 billion planets in this galaxy, 500 million of which could be within habitable zones of their star.
And just within what telescopes can see, 200-400 billion galaxies.
Is there life out there? There is nothing but life in every direction, within and without.
WEEK 6 – Senatobia McDonald's
Happy Saturday, and welcome to the Senatobia McDonald's! Located in Tate County, MS (just south of DeSoto County), this McDonald's remains surprisingly unremodeled. We're starting off here with a look up at the tall golden arches advertising the restaurant to interstate travelers.
(c) 2016 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
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Poem.
Is it the three billion-year-old, rounded hills of Lewisian Gneiss?
Is it the successive coves of pink sand?
Is it the wild combination of tumbling rivers and rocky ravines?
Is it the alternating groves of ancient dwarf oak and coniferous forest?
Could it be the alluring appeal of azure waters blending to turquoise as they reveal the sandy sea-bed of a shallow bay?
What about the beckoning heights of Beinn Ghobhlach, Sàil Mhòr and An Teallach forming such an intricate mountain backcloth?
Is it the acute arrows of intervening headlands?
Consider the distant panorama of the endearing Summer Isles!
Or is it the sheltering sand dunes fringed by the winding and scenic coastal road?
Yes, it all of these.
But this coastline has a majesty, a beauty, an aura beyond my words.
Does that matter?
No.
See it.
Feel it.
Hear it.
You will understand without words.
For like me, words will fail to express how magical a place this is.
But magical it most certainly is!
Some Zimbabwean money. Due to the inflation now skyrocketing around 2.2 MILLION PERCENT, the 50 billion dollar bill you see here is worth less than two euros (less than three US dollars). You can also see a fifty million dollar bill and some 250 million dollar bills.
At the UCSF Decoding the Brain Academy last night, Dr. Tomasz Nowakowski plotted the progress of neurons sequenced over time, including the project planned for 2025. It has been following a Moore’s Law-like exponential curve for a decade now. So, we should have a sequence of every one of the 86 billion neurons in a human brain by 2032, and maybe all the glial cells too.
Why sequence every cell? The genetic makeup varies, as does the methylation. On the left, you can see clustering analysis of 121 different cell types in the thalamus alone. Out neurons are very different, and they vary over time. I was reminded of an amazing discovery Ed Boyden of MIT shared with me — they found HIV-like encodings being expressed in human neurons. This might be a transposon-like viral vector for horizontal gene transfer in the brain. This is a controversial finding, partially because it is difficult to detect the signal from the noise of the delta from the human reference genome, which is still Craig Venter. I asked Ed how many neuron types does he suspect we’ll find? “An infinite number. They are all different.”
When we asked Nowakowski about the compute capacity of a neuron, he lit up with excitement. By analogy to our machine learning neural nets with back prop, we now know that our neurons don’t just adjust weights at the synapse. Firing-feedback adjusts the weights in all of the ~1000 inputs embedded in the dendrite of each neuron. This is called synaptic tagging, and it serves as an overlay to the relaxation back to a nominal rate of firing, a process that is not fully understood.
From the other speakers on stage, left to right:
• Shawn Hervey-Jumper: in 50 years of neurosurgery advances, we have added just 4 months to expected lifespan
• Mercedes Paredes: in the pre-natal and infant brain (up to 6 months), neurons migrate great distances (1-10cm) by sending out an axon and pulling the neuron cell body along, a sequence of push and pulls. For a sense of scale, if the neuron was a car, it is like driving across America. How do they navigate over these distances?
• Christine Liu: We can keep brain tissues alive for weeks now (for glass probe insertion into neural cell bodies). Learning how to juggle can increase cortical thickness by 3%.
In 1972, after the Bangladesh Liberation war, Khushi Kabir joined a Bangladeshi Non-governmental organization. She worked in rural areas of Bangladesh with marginalised communities. She joined the Non-governmental rights organisation Nijera Kori as a coordinator. Nijera Kori is one of the largest Non-governmental organization in Bangladesh has 237787 members in the country. She is a member of the International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission. She is director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue. She coordinated the One Billion Rising in 2013 in Bangladesh. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of University of Dhaka in Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing)
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A long exposure at portstewart, north of ireland, the fog effect is due to the various waves, it was nice to stay for a while, hearing the sound of the elements around, a billions of waves vanished in this beach before i came and i hope there will billions of them after i left.
Nikon D700 - Nikkor 16-35mm VR
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.
© Kader Lagraa.
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I had seen on the news that the biggest cruise liner had sailed into Southampton a couple of days ago. I would never make a special visit to see it but, as I have said before, my gym is directly across the road from where the big liners dock, so it would be rude not to take a peek.
Although it arrived in sunshine, I took this in darkest and dankest of conditions and just before the heavens opened and the thunder and lightening began. But it was then or not at all as she sails on Sunday and I won't be in the vicinity again until after she's gone.
I've said it before, I don't 'get' this huge cruise liners and I would certainly never want to holiday on one, but then it wouldn't do for us all to want to same things in life.
If you want to know more, here you go
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-36304174
And if you can't be bothered with that - here are a quick few facts:
It cost £783 million to build (that's over 1 billion dollars!!)
It is 361m (1,187ft) long and 70m (230ft) high
It can carry 6,780 passengers
Has 20 restaurants, 23 swimming pools and 52 trees in a park!?!?
And that pink tube at the front is a flume!
I know it will give hundreds of people employment but goodness me $1billion would help an awful lot of people who are in crisis right now and really.........does the world actually need another cruise liner? I'll get down off my soapbox now
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Still not complete happy with the edit...so revisions may follow.
Lens is the $215 TTArtisan 11mm 2.8....so impressed with this lens!
Mono County, CA
FOLSOM STREET FAIR 2012 !
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HOT TAT DADDY ! photographed by ADDA DADA
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THANK YOU for the 520 MILLION VIEWS !
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ADDA DADA's VIEW COUNT is :
FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY MILLION VIEWS !
( 520,000,000+ VIEWS with over 14,800+ followers !!! )
( December 9, 2021 )
( ONWARD to ONE BILLION VIEWS ! )
•🔹•THANK YOU for visiting my virtual art gallery! Enjoy my original 'social documentary' photographs of various events !
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•🔹• ADDA DADA's photography presents a variety of adults at different public events . These photographs do NOT imply the person's sexual orientation in any way. Everyone was asked and they consented to be photographed and posted
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•.🔹•The photographs are properly marked SAFE or RESTRICTED ( 18+ only / nudity). There are NO porn nor stolen photos !
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•.🔹•Viewers should be aware that these photographs are viewed by a wide variety of folks . Inappropriate, negative, RUDE, 'X' or 'R' rated comments shall be removed forthwith & you will be blocked.
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•🔹•.MY photographs are NOT to be reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Use of them by anyone is an infringement of copyright ! © All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal.
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Check out ADDA DADA's other ALBUMS•
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ADDA DADA's photographs are all about the freedom to be LGTBTQ+ & express YOUR LGTBTQ+ freely