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When you drop off your child at school, use this checklist to make sure these hidden hazards aren't waiting to cause injury or death.
This is the CHECKLIST CARD (color card A) for the TEST CARD SET NO. 690 of 4,000 sets. This card is personally autographed by Ben Edlund and has a gold foil-stamped Tick symbol on the lower left. There are Two Variants of this card. Red or Yellow Tick Logo. This card came in the complete card set encased in a plastic deck card container with the seal label stating "The Tick Set. #690 of 4000." This deck of cards comes directly from Bill Devine Editor of New England Comics himself! Bill is credited for The Tick Karma Tornado, Man-Eating Cow, and Paul the Samurai. I asked him if he could share anything about this item and this is what he said. "I worked on a number of early newsletters and NEC catalogs as an independent contractor when I had a graphic design and printing business, I designed the cover logo and handled the printing of the early newsletters. I was tasked with putting together all 4000 card sets, collating the cards, packing them in the boxes and applying all the numbered stickers. It took Ben quite a while to sign all the cards and took me a lot longer to put them all together, never want to do that again. Glad to hear that the package arrived in good order and that you are pleased with them. Thanks for your interest, best regards, Bill."
I'm sure we all appreciate all the hard work that went into these many moons ago (...last night was the Super Blood Moon...if anyone had a chance to see it!). Ben Edlund personally signed each full color top card with a gold ink Sharpie, this one gave him some trouble and was double signed with the comment "PEN IS SCREWY" added. Only a handful of these had anything extra with the autograph. Thanks again Bill for holding onto this for such a long time, it's a welcome addition to this Tick Museum! You can find other items from Bill on Ebay under American-Record.
pictionid58258049 - catalogapollo 9 lunar module checklist - titlearray - filenameimg12959.jpg--Checklist that was onboard Apollo 9 for the Lunar Module Activation. Used and signed by crew members James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart.-- Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
pictionid58256556 - catalogapollo 9 lunar module checklist - titlearray - filenameimg12939.jpg--Checklist that was onboard Apollo 9 for the Lunar Module Activation. Used and signed by crew members James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart.-- Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
pictionid58255050 - catalogapollo 9 lunar module checklist - titlearray - filenameimg12918.jpg--Checklist that was onboard Apollo 9 for the Lunar Module Activation. Used and signed by crew members James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart.-- Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Last stop in Rajasthan: Udaipur. Rajasthan is known for its palaces, forts, and history. Udaipur is no exception. It doesn’t have a “kingdom” to speak of as Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer did, but there is a City Palace, a museum now, which happens to be the state’s largest with a façade 244 meters long and 30 meters high. The palace was begun by the city’s founder, Maharaja Udai Singh II, and completed by subsequent maharanas. There is a uniformity to the palace and it’s not terribly different from some of the others we’d seen: cupolas, courtyards, balconies, towers. All in all, it’s a nice visit and certainly a “must see” if you have a tourist checklist for this town.
The biggest difference between Udaipur and the previous cities we’d visited is the setting. In southern Rajsasthan, Udaipur (population around half million) is nestled among the Aravalli Hills and is on the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. Now, this lake was always here, but not quite at these dimensions. It was enlarged by Maharana Udai Singh II (city founder) to its current size of 4 km (north-south) by 3 km (east-west) by flooding the village of Picholi. Being manmade (or…man-enlarged), it’s shallow and can dry up completely during severe droughts.
Because of its setting, Udaipur is considered one of the most romantic spots in India and, while I haven’t seen much of India, I can certainly say that I can see how this could/would be a romantic spot. My Udaipur experience began when we arrived via overnight bus around 4:00 in the morning on Friday, October 2.
Udaipur was one of the cities where I was not able to actually reserve a guesthouse, but I did have one in mind (Lal Ghat Guesthouse) and we hopped in a tuktuk and made our way there now. Bless their souls and wonderful Indian hospitality for opening the door before the sun had come up and giving us a comfortable – though like most other places, bare necessities – room. (I’m always pleased and impressed, both in China and India, that hotels allow you to check in very early without charging an extra day.)
Needing a few hours of actual sleep, since the bus sleepers felt more like a sarcophagus than a sleeper, we got a slightly late-morning start to the day. The Lal Ghat Guesthouse is located just north of City Palace and on the shores of Lake Pichola. From our room, if you crane your neck just a little bit, you could see the lake (with some flowers in bloom) and the Lake Palace. More on that later.
For now, the first order of business was to find food. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I enjoyed it so much I ate there a second time on my own. It was a few doors south of the guesthouse and, like the guesthouse, was lakeside and afforded wonderful views. Fortified by a delicious lunch of chicken biriyani and reshmi chicken, we made our way to the City Palace (and Palace Museum) and wandered around there for a while.
It’s a very nice palace, mind you, but I was beginning to become a bit anesthetized to grandiose palaces by this point, having been to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur in the past seven days. Though this is the largest, it didn’t rank as my favorite. (Jaisalmer Fort was my favorite as it’s a living fort, followed by Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, then City Palace here in Udaipur; Jaipur didn’t really have a comparable palace to speak of, though it’s the capital of the state.)
Though I was starting to suffer palace fatigue, I still did enjoy myself quite a bit, though I know I was rushing a little. I was more interested in finding “unique” here, which was only with views of the lake. Other than that, it was standard fare for palace museums with the women’s quarters, various displays, and so on. However, it is a pretty building, and I’m certainly glad to have gone there.
From City Palace, we walked out the south gate to take a boat ride around Lake Pichola. This is where Udaipur comes into play in pop culture. James Bond fans may recognize the scenery around Udaipur and Lake Pichola in particular as the main setting from the movie Octopussy. (It was said to have been an Afghan palace in Octopussy.) You’d also have to be a pretty die hard 007 fan to have seen that movie, I think; it’s usually ranked among the worst of the Bond franchise. But, I digress…
There are really two islands in the middle of Lake Pichola: Jagniwas with its Lake Palace Hotel (Taj Lake Palace) and Jagmandir with its own palace. I’ll start with Jagniwas. It’s not a private island, but you can only go there if you are a guest of the hotel…with rooms that start from 40,000 rupees/night. (I don’t know the high end, but that translates to close to 4,000 RMB or over $600 USD/night for the cheapest available. I’ve seen pictures and, while beautiful, I’m not Daddy Warbucks, and don’t expect I ever will be…so will just settle for their promotional pictures on their website: www.tajhotels.com .)
Jagmandir, on the other hand, is an island you can visit, and we did. The boat left the mooring south of City Palace, went northward to give a close-up view of City Palace from the lake, along with Bagore-ki-Haveli up to the north end before veering south and around Jagniwas and docking at the north end of Jagmandir, 800 meters south of Jagniwas (and roughly in the west central part of the lake).
Jagmandir’s palace was built in 1620 by Maharana Karan Singh, and was expanded by his successor, Maharana Jagat Singh. Not much has changed from those days until recently when it was convereted into a small hotel (nothing like the neighboring Taj Lake Hotel). For the Bond aficionados, the Taj Lake Hotel was the main palace of Octopussy, and I believe Jagmandir’s palace is where Bond stayed in the movie. There was also some filming at the nearby Monsoon Palace, but we didn’t have the time to visit there.
Jagmandir didn’t offer much at all in the way of things to do. Once you get to the island, you’re pretty much limited to wandering around an interior palace courtyard (where you can have very, very overpriced drinks and possibly a bite to eat, though the drink prices kept me from looking further, so I’m not certain). After staying in the courtyard as long as you’d like – and the views from and in the courtyard are lovely, though don’t require too much time or effort – you can walk outside to the boat dock where there is also an outer garden that’s quite pleasing, and affords beautiful views of the wooded Aravalli Hills in the west.
After an hour or two on Jagmandir, we finally took a boat back to the mainland (a whole 10-15 minute ride, tops), and then tooled around the area near City Palace and the guesthouse. We eventually had dinner at a rooftop restaurant down the lane from where we stayed which had a nice view of the lake with its shimmering palaces (well-lit by night) and a bit of a nice view for sunset. The best sunset views, I would say, would have been from the islands, though – especially Jagniwas – as you could have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the hills with the lake in the foreground. The food at the restaurant, like most every other restaurant we ate at, was spectacular. It was a good way to end the first day in Udaipur.
Saturday morning came along and we didn’t have much planned. I was actually glad to spend the majority of the day alone. After running a few errands, I went to Jagdish Temple. This is an “Indo-Aryan temple..built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651. The wonderfully carved main structure enshrines a black stone image of Vishnu as Jagannath, Lord of the Universe; there’s a brass image of the Garuda (Vishnu’s man-bird vehicle) in a shrine facing the main structure.” (Per Lonely Planet India.) This is one of the smallest temples I’ve ever been to, though the details were delightful. I was pretty impressed with how intricate the temples were both here and at Jaisalmer.
After a quick half hour at Jagdish Temple, I went back to roaming the streets of Udaipur, eventually finding my intended destination, the Bagore-ki-Haveli. This is a pretty large haveli in the Gangaur Ghat area. It was built by a Mewar prime minister and has 138 carefully restored rooms around courtyards on three levels. These days, it’s kind of a klitschy museum. There are a few rooms that have interesting exhibits of Indian musical instruments (a sitar, obviously, and many others that I don’t recall the names of), and exhibits with turbans – including the world’s biggest turban. (This, by the way, was a bit strange; don’t know why anyone would want such a huge turban. Anyway, it was in a glass case, didn’t photograph terribly well, and none of us are the worse off for that.) The nicest part about this haveli is that, like the guesthouse, it was on the water’s edge, so had a few rather pleasant views.
After finishing up here, I wandered back to the previous day’s restaurant for lunch (and would even eat dinner there on Saturday night; they were probably happy with me…). For either lunch or dinner, I had hariyali murg tikka and cheese naan. Now…I would gladly eat murg tikka (chicken pieces generally made in a tandoor) any day of the week. Hariyali…is a coriander-yogurt-mint marinade. It’s heavenly. I really need to learn how to make that one, though I don’t really have any way to make tandoori chicken.
The afternoon and early evening was spent eating very well and relaxing, and really waiting for the last thing I had planned for Udaipur: Dharohar. This is a cultural event at the Bagore-ki-Haveli that hosts Rajasthani folk dancing, singing, performance, and so on. It’s an hour long and pretty interesting, in addition to being in a nice setting.
Before bidding farewell to Udaipur, I returned for the last time to Lake Pichola to try to get a few pictures of the Lake Palace and Jagmandir by night. A few turned out alright, but not spectacularly.
All told, Rajasthan was an absolutely brilliant way to spend a week, and I was looking forward to the last few days in Uttar Pradesh, beginning with the Taj Mahal in Agra after yet another long overnight train ride across the Indian countryside.
I have no idea when or where I got this checklist. The AH-1G was one of THE BADEST ASS war machines manufactured. Maybe you've heard of the Huey Cobra Gunship, same-same AH-1G.
We had a bunch of these bad boys in my unit and could they raise hell. With multi-barrel miniguns, M129 40mm grenade launchers, 70mm rocket pods on both sides, the bad boy was meant to ROCK AND ROLL.
Going through my mental checklist at 1:30 am for a 7:45am flight - going back to Houston - hopefully the final trip.
20100728
TIFT MYERS AIRPORT, Tifton, Ga., Nov 22, 2013 - Guardsmen of the Georgia Army and Air National Guard joined forces with the Army Reserve's 310th Tactical Psychological Operations Company (Airborne) in a jump training exercise. Soldiers from the Ga. National Guard were from C-Troop (LRS) 3-108th CAV. the 165th Air Wing from Savannah flew the C-130 aircraft. Georgia National Guard photographs by Joe Quimby / Released
Blyth's Pipit (Anthus godlewskii), Wamm Farms, Fujairah, UAE
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33426024
The Blyth's pipit (Anthus godlewskii) is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in Mongolia and neighbouring areas. It is a long distance migrant moving to open lowlands in southern Asia. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
Source: Wikipedia
THE TICK POG CHECKLIST
World POG Federation (WPF) The Tick: These Pogs are based on The Tick Animated Series, which was shown on the Fox Kids TV Channel from 1994-1996. Country: United States. Year of release: 1995. Number in series: 60.
Last stop in Rajasthan: Udaipur. Rajasthan is known for its palaces, forts, and history. Udaipur is no exception. It doesn’t have a “kingdom” to speak of as Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer did, but there is a City Palace, a museum now, which happens to be the state’s largest with a façade 244 meters long and 30 meters high. The palace was begun by the city’s founder, Maharaja Udai Singh II, and completed by subsequent maharanas. There is a uniformity to the palace and it’s not terribly different from some of the others we’d seen: cupolas, courtyards, balconies, towers. All in all, it’s a nice visit and certainly a “must see” if you have a tourist checklist for this town.
The biggest difference between Udaipur and the previous cities we’d visited is the setting. In southern Rajsasthan, Udaipur (population around half million) is nestled among the Aravalli Hills and is on the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. Now, this lake was always here, but not quite at these dimensions. It was enlarged by Maharana Udai Singh II (city founder) to its current size of 4 km (north-south) by 3 km (east-west) by flooding the village of Picholi. Being manmade (or…man-enlarged), it’s shallow and can dry up completely during severe droughts.
Because of its setting, Udaipur is considered one of the most romantic spots in India and, while I haven’t seen much of India, I can certainly say that I can see how this could/would be a romantic spot. My Udaipur experience began when we arrived via overnight bus around 4:00 in the morning on Friday, October 2.
Udaipur was one of the cities where I was not able to actually reserve a guesthouse, but I did have one in mind (Lal Ghat Guesthouse) and we hopped in a tuktuk and made our way there now. Bless their souls and wonderful Indian hospitality for opening the door before the sun had come up and giving us a comfortable – though like most other places, bare necessities – room. (I’m always pleased and impressed, both in China and India, that hotels allow you to check in very early without charging an extra day.)
Needing a few hours of actual sleep, since the bus sleepers felt more like a sarcophagus than a sleeper, we got a slightly late-morning start to the day. The Lal Ghat Guesthouse is located just north of City Palace and on the shores of Lake Pichola. From our room, if you crane your neck just a little bit, you could see the lake (with some flowers in bloom) and the Lake Palace. More on that later.
For now, the first order of business was to find food. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I enjoyed it so much I ate there a second time on my own. It was a few doors south of the guesthouse and, like the guesthouse, was lakeside and afforded wonderful views. Fortified by a delicious lunch of chicken biriyani and reshmi chicken, we made our way to the City Palace (and Palace Museum) and wandered around there for a while.
It’s a very nice palace, mind you, but I was beginning to become a bit anesthetized to grandiose palaces by this point, having been to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur in the past seven days. Though this is the largest, it didn’t rank as my favorite. (Jaisalmer Fort was my favorite as it’s a living fort, followed by Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, then City Palace here in Udaipur; Jaipur didn’t really have a comparable palace to speak of, though it’s the capital of the state.)
Though I was starting to suffer palace fatigue, I still did enjoy myself quite a bit, though I know I was rushing a little. I was more interested in finding “unique” here, which was only with views of the lake. Other than that, it was standard fare for palace museums with the women’s quarters, various displays, and so on. However, it is a pretty building, and I’m certainly glad to have gone there.
From City Palace, we walked out the south gate to take a boat ride around Lake Pichola. This is where Udaipur comes into play in pop culture. James Bond fans may recognize the scenery around Udaipur and Lake Pichola in particular as the main setting from the movie Octopussy. (It was said to have been an Afghan palace in Octopussy.) You’d also have to be a pretty die hard 007 fan to have seen that movie, I think; it’s usually ranked among the worst of the Bond franchise. But, I digress…
There are really two islands in the middle of Lake Pichola: Jagniwas with its Lake Palace Hotel (Taj Lake Palace) and Jagmandir with its own palace. I’ll start with Jagniwas. It’s not a private island, but you can only go there if you are a guest of the hotel…with rooms that start from 40,000 rupees/night. (I don’t know the high end, but that translates to close to 4,000 RMB or over $600 USD/night for the cheapest available. I’ve seen pictures and, while beautiful, I’m not Daddy Warbucks, and don’t expect I ever will be…so will just settle for their promotional pictures on their website: www.tajhotels.com .)
Jagmandir, on the other hand, is an island you can visit, and we did. The boat left the mooring south of City Palace, went northward to give a close-up view of City Palace from the lake, along with Bagore-ki-Haveli up to the north end before veering south and around Jagniwas and docking at the north end of Jagmandir, 800 meters south of Jagniwas (and roughly in the west central part of the lake).
Jagmandir’s palace was built in 1620 by Maharana Karan Singh, and was expanded by his successor, Maharana Jagat Singh. Not much has changed from those days until recently when it was convereted into a small hotel (nothing like the neighboring Taj Lake Hotel). For the Bond aficionados, the Taj Lake Hotel was the main palace of Octopussy, and I believe Jagmandir’s palace is where Bond stayed in the movie. There was also some filming at the nearby Monsoon Palace, but we didn’t have the time to visit there.
Jagmandir didn’t offer much at all in the way of things to do. Once you get to the island, you’re pretty much limited to wandering around an interior palace courtyard (where you can have very, very overpriced drinks and possibly a bite to eat, though the drink prices kept me from looking further, so I’m not certain). After staying in the courtyard as long as you’d like – and the views from and in the courtyard are lovely, though don’t require too much time or effort – you can walk outside to the boat dock where there is also an outer garden that’s quite pleasing, and affords beautiful views of the wooded Aravalli Hills in the west.
After an hour or two on Jagmandir, we finally took a boat back to the mainland (a whole 10-15 minute ride, tops), and then tooled around the area near City Palace and the guesthouse. We eventually had dinner at a rooftop restaurant down the lane from where we stayed which had a nice view of the lake with its shimmering palaces (well-lit by night) and a bit of a nice view for sunset. The best sunset views, I would say, would have been from the islands, though – especially Jagniwas – as you could have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the hills with the lake in the foreground. The food at the restaurant, like most every other restaurant we ate at, was spectacular. It was a good way to end the first day in Udaipur.
Saturday morning came along and we didn’t have much planned. I was actually glad to spend the majority of the day alone. After running a few errands, I went to Jagdish Temple. This is an “Indo-Aryan temple..built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651. The wonderfully carved main structure enshrines a black stone image of Vishnu as Jagannath, Lord of the Universe; there’s a brass image of the Garuda (Vishnu’s man-bird vehicle) in a shrine facing the main structure.” (Per Lonely Planet India.) This is one of the smallest temples I’ve ever been to, though the details were delightful. I was pretty impressed with how intricate the temples were both here and at Jaisalmer.
After a quick half hour at Jagdish Temple, I went back to roaming the streets of Udaipur, eventually finding my intended destination, the Bagore-ki-Haveli. This is a pretty large haveli in the Gangaur Ghat area. It was built by a Mewar prime minister and has 138 carefully restored rooms around courtyards on three levels. These days, it’s kind of a klitschy museum. There are a few rooms that have interesting exhibits of Indian musical instruments (a sitar, obviously, and many others that I don’t recall the names of), and exhibits with turbans – including the world’s biggest turban. (This, by the way, was a bit strange; don’t know why anyone would want such a huge turban. Anyway, it was in a glass case, didn’t photograph terribly well, and none of us are the worse off for that.) The nicest part about this haveli is that, like the guesthouse, it was on the water’s edge, so had a few rather pleasant views.
After finishing up here, I wandered back to the previous day’s restaurant for lunch (and would even eat dinner there on Saturday night; they were probably happy with me…). For either lunch or dinner, I had hariyali murg tikka and cheese naan. Now…I would gladly eat murg tikka (chicken pieces generally made in a tandoor) any day of the week. Hariyali…is a coriander-yogurt-mint marinade. It’s heavenly. I really need to learn how to make that one, though I don’t really have any way to make tandoori chicken.
The afternoon and early evening was spent eating very well and relaxing, and really waiting for the last thing I had planned for Udaipur: Dharohar. This is a cultural event at the Bagore-ki-Haveli that hosts Rajasthani folk dancing, singing, performance, and so on. It’s an hour long and pretty interesting, in addition to being in a nice setting.
Before bidding farewell to Udaipur, I returned for the last time to Lake Pichola to try to get a few pictures of the Lake Palace and Jagmandir by night. A few turned out alright, but not spectacularly.
All told, Rajasthan was an absolutely brilliant way to spend a week, and I was looking forward to the last few days in Uttar Pradesh, beginning with the Taj Mahal in Agra after yet another long overnight train ride across the Indian countryside.
Last stop in Rajasthan: Udaipur. Rajasthan is known for its palaces, forts, and history. Udaipur is no exception. It doesn’t have a “kingdom” to speak of as Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer did, but there is a City Palace, a museum now, which happens to be the state’s largest with a façade 244 meters long and 30 meters high. The palace was begun by the city’s founder, Maharaja Udai Singh II, and completed by subsequent maharanas. There is a uniformity to the palace and it’s not terribly different from some of the others we’d seen: cupolas, courtyards, balconies, towers. All in all, it’s a nice visit and certainly a “must see” if you have a tourist checklist for this town.
The biggest difference between Udaipur and the previous cities we’d visited is the setting. In southern Rajsasthan, Udaipur (population around half million) is nestled among the Aravalli Hills and is on the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. Now, this lake was always here, but not quite at these dimensions. It was enlarged by Maharana Udai Singh II (city founder) to its current size of 4 km (north-south) by 3 km (east-west) by flooding the village of Picholi. Being manmade (or…man-enlarged), it’s shallow and can dry up completely during severe droughts.
Because of its setting, Udaipur is considered one of the most romantic spots in India and, while I haven’t seen much of India, I can certainly say that I can see how this could/would be a romantic spot. My Udaipur experience began when we arrived via overnight bus around 4:00 in the morning on Friday, October 2.
Udaipur was one of the cities where I was not able to actually reserve a guesthouse, but I did have one in mind (Lal Ghat Guesthouse) and we hopped in a tuktuk and made our way there now. Bless their souls and wonderful Indian hospitality for opening the door before the sun had come up and giving us a comfortable – though like most other places, bare necessities – room. (I’m always pleased and impressed, both in China and India, that hotels allow you to check in very early without charging an extra day.)
Needing a few hours of actual sleep, since the bus sleepers felt more like a sarcophagus than a sleeper, we got a slightly late-morning start to the day. The Lal Ghat Guesthouse is located just north of City Palace and on the shores of Lake Pichola. From our room, if you crane your neck just a little bit, you could see the lake (with some flowers in bloom) and the Lake Palace. More on that later.
For now, the first order of business was to find food. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I enjoyed it so much I ate there a second time on my own. It was a few doors south of the guesthouse and, like the guesthouse, was lakeside and afforded wonderful views. Fortified by a delicious lunch of chicken biriyani and reshmi chicken, we made our way to the City Palace (and Palace Museum) and wandered around there for a while.
It’s a very nice palace, mind you, but I was beginning to become a bit anesthetized to grandiose palaces by this point, having been to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur in the past seven days. Though this is the largest, it didn’t rank as my favorite. (Jaisalmer Fort was my favorite as it’s a living fort, followed by Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, then City Palace here in Udaipur; Jaipur didn’t really have a comparable palace to speak of, though it’s the capital of the state.)
Though I was starting to suffer palace fatigue, I still did enjoy myself quite a bit, though I know I was rushing a little. I was more interested in finding “unique” here, which was only with views of the lake. Other than that, it was standard fare for palace museums with the women’s quarters, various displays, and so on. However, it is a pretty building, and I’m certainly glad to have gone there.
From City Palace, we walked out the south gate to take a boat ride around Lake Pichola. This is where Udaipur comes into play in pop culture. James Bond fans may recognize the scenery around Udaipur and Lake Pichola in particular as the main setting from the movie Octopussy. (It was said to have been an Afghan palace in Octopussy.) You’d also have to be a pretty die hard 007 fan to have seen that movie, I think; it’s usually ranked among the worst of the Bond franchise. But, I digress…
There are really two islands in the middle of Lake Pichola: Jagniwas with its Lake Palace Hotel (Taj Lake Palace) and Jagmandir with its own palace. I’ll start with Jagniwas. It’s not a private island, but you can only go there if you are a guest of the hotel…with rooms that start from 40,000 rupees/night. (I don’t know the high end, but that translates to close to 4,000 RMB or over $600 USD/night for the cheapest available. I’ve seen pictures and, while beautiful, I’m not Daddy Warbucks, and don’t expect I ever will be…so will just settle for their promotional pictures on their website: www.tajhotels.com .)
Jagmandir, on the other hand, is an island you can visit, and we did. The boat left the mooring south of City Palace, went northward to give a close-up view of City Palace from the lake, along with Bagore-ki-Haveli up to the north end before veering south and around Jagniwas and docking at the north end of Jagmandir, 800 meters south of Jagniwas (and roughly in the west central part of the lake).
Jagmandir’s palace was built in 1620 by Maharana Karan Singh, and was expanded by his successor, Maharana Jagat Singh. Not much has changed from those days until recently when it was convereted into a small hotel (nothing like the neighboring Taj Lake Hotel). For the Bond aficionados, the Taj Lake Hotel was the main palace of Octopussy, and I believe Jagmandir’s palace is where Bond stayed in the movie. There was also some filming at the nearby Monsoon Palace, but we didn’t have the time to visit there.
Jagmandir didn’t offer much at all in the way of things to do. Once you get to the island, you’re pretty much limited to wandering around an interior palace courtyard (where you can have very, very overpriced drinks and possibly a bite to eat, though the drink prices kept me from looking further, so I’m not certain). After staying in the courtyard as long as you’d like – and the views from and in the courtyard are lovely, though don’t require too much time or effort – you can walk outside to the boat dock where there is also an outer garden that’s quite pleasing, and affords beautiful views of the wooded Aravalli Hills in the west.
After an hour or two on Jagmandir, we finally took a boat back to the mainland (a whole 10-15 minute ride, tops), and then tooled around the area near City Palace and the guesthouse. We eventually had dinner at a rooftop restaurant down the lane from where we stayed which had a nice view of the lake with its shimmering palaces (well-lit by night) and a bit of a nice view for sunset. The best sunset views, I would say, would have been from the islands, though – especially Jagniwas – as you could have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the hills with the lake in the foreground. The food at the restaurant, like most every other restaurant we ate at, was spectacular. It was a good way to end the first day in Udaipur.
Saturday morning came along and we didn’t have much planned. I was actually glad to spend the majority of the day alone. After running a few errands, I went to Jagdish Temple. This is an “Indo-Aryan temple..built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651. The wonderfully carved main structure enshrines a black stone image of Vishnu as Jagannath, Lord of the Universe; there’s a brass image of the Garuda (Vishnu’s man-bird vehicle) in a shrine facing the main structure.” (Per Lonely Planet India.) This is one of the smallest temples I’ve ever been to, though the details were delightful. I was pretty impressed with how intricate the temples were both here and at Jaisalmer.
After a quick half hour at Jagdish Temple, I went back to roaming the streets of Udaipur, eventually finding my intended destination, the Bagore-ki-Haveli. This is a pretty large haveli in the Gangaur Ghat area. It was built by a Mewar prime minister and has 138 carefully restored rooms around courtyards on three levels. These days, it’s kind of a klitschy museum. There are a few rooms that have interesting exhibits of Indian musical instruments (a sitar, obviously, and many others that I don’t recall the names of), and exhibits with turbans – including the world’s biggest turban. (This, by the way, was a bit strange; don’t know why anyone would want such a huge turban. Anyway, it was in a glass case, didn’t photograph terribly well, and none of us are the worse off for that.) The nicest part about this haveli is that, like the guesthouse, it was on the water’s edge, so had a few rather pleasant views.
After finishing up here, I wandered back to the previous day’s restaurant for lunch (and would even eat dinner there on Saturday night; they were probably happy with me…). For either lunch or dinner, I had hariyali murg tikka and cheese naan. Now…I would gladly eat murg tikka (chicken pieces generally made in a tandoor) any day of the week. Hariyali…is a coriander-yogurt-mint marinade. It’s heavenly. I really need to learn how to make that one, though I don’t really have any way to make tandoori chicken.
The afternoon and early evening was spent eating very well and relaxing, and really waiting for the last thing I had planned for Udaipur: Dharohar. This is a cultural event at the Bagore-ki-Haveli that hosts Rajasthani folk dancing, singing, performance, and so on. It’s an hour long and pretty interesting, in addition to being in a nice setting.
Before bidding farewell to Udaipur, I returned for the last time to Lake Pichola to try to get a few pictures of the Lake Palace and Jagmandir by night. A few turned out alright, but not spectacularly.
All told, Rajasthan was an absolutely brilliant way to spend a week, and I was looking forward to the last few days in Uttar Pradesh, beginning with the Taj Mahal in Agra after yet another long overnight train ride across the Indian countryside.
pictionid58255486 - catalogapollo 9 lunar module checklist - titlearray - filenameimg12924.jpg--Checklist that was onboard Apollo 9 for the Lunar Module Activation. Used and signed by crew members James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart.-- Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Last stop in Rajasthan: Udaipur. Rajasthan is known for its palaces, forts, and history. Udaipur is no exception. It doesn’t have a “kingdom” to speak of as Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer did, but there is a City Palace, a museum now, which happens to be the state’s largest with a façade 244 meters long and 30 meters high. The palace was begun by the city’s founder, Maharaja Udai Singh II, and completed by subsequent maharanas. There is a uniformity to the palace and it’s not terribly different from some of the others we’d seen: cupolas, courtyards, balconies, towers. All in all, it’s a nice visit and certainly a “must see” if you have a tourist checklist for this town.
The biggest difference between Udaipur and the previous cities we’d visited is the setting. In southern Rajsasthan, Udaipur (population around half million) is nestled among the Aravalli Hills and is on the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. Now, this lake was always here, but not quite at these dimensions. It was enlarged by Maharana Udai Singh II (city founder) to its current size of 4 km (north-south) by 3 km (east-west) by flooding the village of Picholi. Being manmade (or…man-enlarged), it’s shallow and can dry up completely during severe droughts.
Because of its setting, Udaipur is considered one of the most romantic spots in India and, while I haven’t seen much of India, I can certainly say that I can see how this could/would be a romantic spot. My Udaipur experience began when we arrived via overnight bus around 4:00 in the morning on Friday, October 2.
Udaipur was one of the cities where I was not able to actually reserve a guesthouse, but I did have one in mind (Lal Ghat Guesthouse) and we hopped in a tuktuk and made our way there now. Bless their souls and wonderful Indian hospitality for opening the door before the sun had come up and giving us a comfortable – though like most other places, bare necessities – room. (I’m always pleased and impressed, both in China and India, that hotels allow you to check in very early without charging an extra day.)
Needing a few hours of actual sleep, since the bus sleepers felt more like a sarcophagus than a sleeper, we got a slightly late-morning start to the day. The Lal Ghat Guesthouse is located just north of City Palace and on the shores of Lake Pichola. From our room, if you crane your neck just a little bit, you could see the lake (with some flowers in bloom) and the Lake Palace. More on that later.
For now, the first order of business was to find food. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I enjoyed it so much I ate there a second time on my own. It was a few doors south of the guesthouse and, like the guesthouse, was lakeside and afforded wonderful views. Fortified by a delicious lunch of chicken biriyani and reshmi chicken, we made our way to the City Palace (and Palace Museum) and wandered around there for a while.
It’s a very nice palace, mind you, but I was beginning to become a bit anesthetized to grandiose palaces by this point, having been to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur in the past seven days. Though this is the largest, it didn’t rank as my favorite. (Jaisalmer Fort was my favorite as it’s a living fort, followed by Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, then City Palace here in Udaipur; Jaipur didn’t really have a comparable palace to speak of, though it’s the capital of the state.)
Though I was starting to suffer palace fatigue, I still did enjoy myself quite a bit, though I know I was rushing a little. I was more interested in finding “unique” here, which was only with views of the lake. Other than that, it was standard fare for palace museums with the women’s quarters, various displays, and so on. However, it is a pretty building, and I’m certainly glad to have gone there.
From City Palace, we walked out the south gate to take a boat ride around Lake Pichola. This is where Udaipur comes into play in pop culture. James Bond fans may recognize the scenery around Udaipur and Lake Pichola in particular as the main setting from the movie Octopussy. (It was said to have been an Afghan palace in Octopussy.) You’d also have to be a pretty die hard 007 fan to have seen that movie, I think; it’s usually ranked among the worst of the Bond franchise. But, I digress…
There are really two islands in the middle of Lake Pichola: Jagniwas with its Lake Palace Hotel (Taj Lake Palace) and Jagmandir with its own palace. I’ll start with Jagniwas. It’s not a private island, but you can only go there if you are a guest of the hotel…with rooms that start from 40,000 rupees/night. (I don’t know the high end, but that translates to close to 4,000 RMB or over $600 USD/night for the cheapest available. I’ve seen pictures and, while beautiful, I’m not Daddy Warbucks, and don’t expect I ever will be…so will just settle for their promotional pictures on their website: www.tajhotels.com .)
Jagmandir, on the other hand, is an island you can visit, and we did. The boat left the mooring south of City Palace, went northward to give a close-up view of City Palace from the lake, along with Bagore-ki-Haveli up to the north end before veering south and around Jagniwas and docking at the north end of Jagmandir, 800 meters south of Jagniwas (and roughly in the west central part of the lake).
Jagmandir’s palace was built in 1620 by Maharana Karan Singh, and was expanded by his successor, Maharana Jagat Singh. Not much has changed from those days until recently when it was convereted into a small hotel (nothing like the neighboring Taj Lake Hotel). For the Bond aficionados, the Taj Lake Hotel was the main palace of Octopussy, and I believe Jagmandir’s palace is where Bond stayed in the movie. There was also some filming at the nearby Monsoon Palace, but we didn’t have the time to visit there.
Jagmandir didn’t offer much at all in the way of things to do. Once you get to the island, you’re pretty much limited to wandering around an interior palace courtyard (where you can have very, very overpriced drinks and possibly a bite to eat, though the drink prices kept me from looking further, so I’m not certain). After staying in the courtyard as long as you’d like – and the views from and in the courtyard are lovely, though don’t require too much time or effort – you can walk outside to the boat dock where there is also an outer garden that’s quite pleasing, and affords beautiful views of the wooded Aravalli Hills in the west.
After an hour or two on Jagmandir, we finally took a boat back to the mainland (a whole 10-15 minute ride, tops), and then tooled around the area near City Palace and the guesthouse. We eventually had dinner at a rooftop restaurant down the lane from where we stayed which had a nice view of the lake with its shimmering palaces (well-lit by night) and a bit of a nice view for sunset. The best sunset views, I would say, would have been from the islands, though – especially Jagniwas – as you could have an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the hills with the lake in the foreground. The food at the restaurant, like most every other restaurant we ate at, was spectacular. It was a good way to end the first day in Udaipur.
Saturday morning came along and we didn’t have much planned. I was actually glad to spend the majority of the day alone. After running a few errands, I went to Jagdish Temple. This is an “Indo-Aryan temple..built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651. The wonderfully carved main structure enshrines a black stone image of Vishnu as Jagannath, Lord of the Universe; there’s a brass image of the Garuda (Vishnu’s man-bird vehicle) in a shrine facing the main structure.” (Per Lonely Planet India.) This is one of the smallest temples I’ve ever been to, though the details were delightful. I was pretty impressed with how intricate the temples were both here and at Jaisalmer.
After a quick half hour at Jagdish Temple, I went back to roaming the streets of Udaipur, eventually finding my intended destination, the Bagore-ki-Haveli. This is a pretty large haveli in the Gangaur Ghat area. It was built by a Mewar prime minister and has 138 carefully restored rooms around courtyards on three levels. These days, it’s kind of a klitschy museum. There are a few rooms that have interesting exhibits of Indian musical instruments (a sitar, obviously, and many others that I don’t recall the names of), and exhibits with turbans – including the world’s biggest turban. (This, by the way, was a bit strange; don’t know why anyone would want such a huge turban. Anyway, it was in a glass case, didn’t photograph terribly well, and none of us are the worse off for that.) The nicest part about this haveli is that, like the guesthouse, it was on the water’s edge, so had a few rather pleasant views.
After finishing up here, I wandered back to the previous day’s restaurant for lunch (and would even eat dinner there on Saturday night; they were probably happy with me…). For either lunch or dinner, I had hariyali murg tikka and cheese naan. Now…I would gladly eat murg tikka (chicken pieces generally made in a tandoor) any day of the week. Hariyali…is a coriander-yogurt-mint marinade. It’s heavenly. I really need to learn how to make that one, though I don’t really have any way to make tandoori chicken.
The afternoon and early evening was spent eating very well and relaxing, and really waiting for the last thing I had planned for Udaipur: Dharohar. This is a cultural event at the Bagore-ki-Haveli that hosts Rajasthani folk dancing, singing, performance, and so on. It’s an hour long and pretty interesting, in addition to being in a nice setting.
Before bidding farewell to Udaipur, I returned for the last time to Lake Pichola to try to get a few pictures of the Lake Palace and Jagmandir by night. A few turned out alright, but not spectacularly.
All told, Rajasthan was an absolutely brilliant way to spend a week, and I was looking forward to the last few days in Uttar Pradesh, beginning with the Taj Mahal in Agra after yet another long overnight train ride across the Indian countryside.
Tiny-brimmed cap: check.
Plaid button-down: check.
Superior stance: check.
Beard-growth: strangely absent.
Best viewed large!
If this image looks vaguely familiar to my viewers, there is a reason -- namely, that elsewhere in my photostream there is a historical precedent for it. I am scheduled to perform once again with Angie at the next edition of "Dancing with Our Stars" over at the Fred Astaire studio, and this time the performance will be a bolero. (It is scheduled for March 13, a mere five days away as I post this image.) Angie wanted to dance to a song that would reflect my personality and interests, so I suggested this one, which is the Italian version of "Unchained Melody," sung by Il Divo. She thought the song was perfect, although I think I might be tired of it by the time we get around to performing.
This time the notes were made at my suggestion rather than Angie's, and we sat down during a recent lesson and talked through the routine, which I then wrote out in my own words. The additional notes, in Angie's handwriting, were made on the day I am posting this image to Flickr. Not being familiar with the Italian, she rendered the words phonetically, and did a pretty good job of it, I think. I understand them, anyway, and that's all that really matters. (They are cues in the music for the various moves we will be doing.)
One item is missing from the notes, but those who know me well are certain to find it amusing. For most of the first 30 or 40 seconds of this performance I will have my hands clasped behind my back. That wasn't part of the original plan, but I happen to have a very restless and unruly pair of hands, which are constantly in motion. Seriously, they almost have a mind of their own; they point and wave and move around in circles and are almost NEVER still. My mother-in-law once told my wife that if my hands were ever tied behind my back, I'd be unable to say anything; and Angie is constantly getting after me about those restless hands, which apparently can be rather distracting to others during face-to-face conversations with me. (She also complains that after being my dance instructor for 13-plus months, she has unconsciously started to pick up some of those mannerisms.) Today she noticed that I was holding my hands behind my back in a sort of parade-rest position, and I told her this was the only natural way I knew of to control them. So now she wants them that way during about the first third of our performance, until we make the frame and actually start dancing together. I think she figures that if I can control the hands, that will enable me to concentrate more on some of the more difficult moves in our routine.
I took the picture at the studio right after today's lesson, placing the notes on the floor and then snapping a few images. A sixtysomething couple sitting nearby took an interest in what I was doing, and the wife asked me if I was a pilot. No, I replied, just a photographer. She said her husband WAS a pilot, and that he had to write out checklists just like this one for some of his other activities. I then remarked that in taking photographs of a piece of paper down on the floor, I felt a little like a forensic photographer assisting in the investigation of a crime scene, and they chuckled.
Wish me luck on this one, everybody! If we can pull it off the way we want to, this performance is going to be beautiful!
Bigelowia nudata
This isn't a true goldenrod (genus Solidago), but it has the look of one, hence the common name. They are common along the moist roadside ditches and savannas in the Apalachicola National Forest.
Credit to "https://1dayreview.com/ "
Must Credit to: 'https://1dayreview.com/' the original site and not Flickr.
Copy Link Address: 1dayreview.com
eBird checklist ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38018279
This morning I drove an hour to an area in Southern Michigan hoping to see one of the rarest birds in North America (also endagered) the Whooping Crane. Although I covered a great distance in the hunt, a five foot white bird does stand out in short green corn plants.
Treaty negotiations are hectic for all involved, this handy list helped delegates remember exactly what needs to be included in a robust Arms Trade Treaty.
Nobody's perfect and human error is inevitable, but when it comes to email marketing campaigns, even the tiniest error can mean the difference between your email being opened or being immediately trashed. Here's Pure360's top ten checklist for helping you avoid the most common email marketing campaign mistakes.
A forum (www.theknifefight.com) that a friend of mine owns is holding a Scavenger Hunt and I figured I could take a pic to help promote it. The list of items doesn't seem too difficult and I will join in on the festivities. I'll try to take pictures of as many of the items on the list that I can. Hopefully I can catch em all...oh geez, that sounded too much like Pokemon. lol
Camera Settings:
Lens: 50mm f/1.8d
Exposure: 1/3 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100
Strobe Settings:
1x SB900 @ 1/16th power, triggered via pop-up flash and commander mode. Shot with snoot, camera top right.
School worst ✓
Other Kids worst ✓
Ninnies Worst✓
Public art Worst✓
unctuous, useless salespeople Worst✓
People being polite to me Worst✓
People who tell me to "cheer up it might never happen", Worst✓
Twats Worst✓
careerocrats Worst✓
bureaucrats Worst✓
Toffs Worst✓
Neds Worst✓
Tesco Worst✓
Gorgon receptionists Worst✓
Dinosaur receptionists Worst✓
alcorexics Worst✓
lawyers Worst✓
Bankers Worst✓
Pope Worst✓
wife-beating or glassing other men down the pub Worst✓
secretaries Worst✓
orange-skinned Worst✓
Plebs Worst✓
Italians, worst✓
Football worst✓
Teachers Worst ✓
My poetry, Worst✓
Local Government worst ✓
Locals worst ✓
Work worst ✓
Emotional Bullies worst✓
People who don't like being punched worst✓
Care Commision Worst ✓
Nursery worst✓
NHS worst ✓
Nurses Worst✓
Doctors Worst✓
Football Coaches Worst✓
Doctors Receptionists Worst✓
GP's Worst✓
People who don't take me seriously, worst✓
Neighbours Worst ✓
Nice area I live in Worst ✓
weather worst ✓
Scotland Worst ✓
Men worst ✓
Sexist men (thats all of them) worst✓
My own kids, not entirely positive about them ✓
Husband, suspect he may be worst ✓
Life Worst✓
personality test result worst✓
Leg Worst✓
Dress sense worst✓
Creativity Worst✓
Edinburgh Worst✓
People who make eye contact worst✓
Smiling people worst✓
Care Home Managers Worst✓
My Bosses worst✓
Dogs worst✓
Cats worst✓
Cat disposed of,win✓
Car worst✓
Scottish accents worst✓
Other kids parents worst✓
My kids "frenemies" worst✓
anything not previously referred to, worst✓
And now I am happy.
Cankles McGonnigall
Poet En Purgatorio.
[presently lying limply across a chaise longue covering my eyes with the back of my hand]