The Siberian is a landrace variety of domestic cat, present in Russia for centuries, and more recently developed as a formal breed, with standards promulgated since the late 1980s.

 

They vary from medium to medium-large in size. A longer name of the formal breed is Siberian Forest Cat,but it is usually referred to as the Siberian or the Siberian cat. Another name for the formal breed is the Moscow Semi-Longhair.clarification needed] The cat is an ancient breed that is now believed to be ancestral to all modern long-haired cats.The cat has similarities with the Norwegian Forest Cat, to which it is likely closely related It is a natural breed of Siberia and the national cat of Russia.[citation needed] While it began as a landrace, it is selectively bred and pedigreed today in at least seven major cat fancier and breeder organisations. The colorpoint variant of the breed is called the Neva Masquerade by some registries, including Fédération Internationale Féline .

 

There are claims that it is hypoallergenic and produces less Fel d1 than other cat breeds.

This is a view of a chunk of Precambrian layers along the Colorado River. Mostly there are Precambrian layers in this part of the River. Metamorphic Schist (including Vishnu and Brahma) and Precambrian Granite (including Zoroaster). The Precambrian layers are over 1billion years old. I believe this is Vishnu Schist with intrusive veins of Zoroaster Granite. Any clarification or correction will be appreciated.

 

[edit] Additional elucidation from Mike Beauregard:

showing metamorphosed bedded black shale with injections of younger pink granite and white quartz veins, all of which is folded. [end edit]

 

I went on a non-motorized Raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon with Arizona Raft Adventures from May 16 through May 31. Four Oar rafts, a Dory, and a paddle raft.

AZRA has perfected Colorado River / Grand Canyon rafting. The guides were great, the food was great. Other than the weather, the experience was great.

I went with the idea that this was not a photo adventure. I was going to enjoy the experience and the ride. So I don't have photos of our put in at Lee's Ferry. But you know that you can't get that photo bug out of your system. I did not take my good cameras. This is a nice little Olympus TG-5. Everything takes a beating on a trip like this. It came out a little worse for wear but held up like a champion. On a trip like this you get sand in places you never knew you had places.

 

GRCA1919

 

P5230231 acd1-SharpenAI-Focus

A bit of morning burn through the fog creates anti-crepuscular rays. Who needs fireworks on the 4th of July?

 

EDIT: Clarification, there is no actual "fire" here. The first morning sun beams are filtering through the trees and casting shadows on the thin fog layer above. It is an unusual phenomenon.

 

From Point Reyes.

Shot with the 67 M*300 f/4.

Mittaghorn, Pizzo Gallina and Chilchhorn

 

The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a wooden natural horn of conical bore, having a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece, used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere. Similar wooden horns were used for communication in most mountainous regions of Europe, from the French Alps to the Carpathians.

  

For a long time, scholars believed that the alphorn had been derived from the Roman-Etruscan lituus, because of their resemblance in shape, and because of the word liti, meaning Alphorn in the dialect of Obwalden.[citation needed] There is no documented evidence for this theory, however, and, the word liti was probably borrowed from 16th–18th century writings in Latin, where the word lituus could describe various wind instruments, such as the horn, the crumhorn, or the cornett.[clarification needed] Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner used the words lituum alpinum for the first known detailed description of the alphorn in his De raris et admirandis herbis in 1555. The oldest known document using the German word Alphorn is a page from a 1527 account book from the former Cistercian abbey St. Urban near Pfaffnau mentioning the payment of two Batzen for an itinerant alphorn player from the Valais.

  

17th–19th century collections of alpine myths and legends suggest that alphorn-like instruments had frequently been used as signal instruments in village communities since medieval times or earlier, sometimes substituting for the lack of church bells. Surviving artifacts, dating back to as far as ca. AD 1400, include wooden labrophones in their stretched form, like the alphorn, or coiled versions, such as the '"Büchel" and the "Allgäuisches Waldhorn" or "Ackerhorn". The alphorn's exact origins remain indeterminate, and the ubiquity of horn-like signal instruments in valleys throughout Europe may indicate a long history of cross influences regarding their construction and usage.

 

source: Wikipedia

I think this is the first photo taken from Hillside bridge that’s being uploaded to Flickr. Done the shot, where the old malt tower is. Which has been OOU since the 70/80s (I think) if any clarification, greatly be appreciated. Asides, 66 back on the tanks again, 66847 was down Eastleigh a week ago….goes to show how far fetched the sheds get pushed! Pathing seeing this down to Carlisle NY, then to Workington Docks

© All rights reserved.

Bergen, Norway.

 

www.gettyimages.no/detail/photo/bergen-by-night-norway-ro...

 

History of Bergen from english wiki:

 

Bergen received status as a city in 1070 AD during king Olav Kyrre's rule, according to the encyclopedia Store norske leksikon.

 

Gitte Hansen's 2004 Ph.D. dissertation proposes that "Bergen was founded as a handelsknutepunkt [a crossroads for trading] sometime during the 1020s or 1030s".[6] Later, in a 2004 NRK article, she said that "A king decided at the start of the 11th century, that here a city ought to be."[6] Furthermore she said that king Olav Kyrre "was not the first [king] to start building a city [in Bergen].

 

The city was built on part of a royal estate, Alrekstad.

 

"The sagas tell that Olav Kyrre built a Christ Church at Holmen (later Bergenshus)"—made of wood—according to the encyclopedia Store Norske Leksikon.

 

In 1068 the Diocese of Bergen was established.

 

Around 1100 the export (through Bergen) of dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast started, eventually becoming the principal export traded from Bergen.

 

Before the year 1110, Munkeliv Abbey was built.[9]

 

The monarchy moved its quarters from the foot of Mount Ulriken, and at the new location wooden structures were eventually replaced by masonry, i.e. Haakon's Hall.

 

In 1163 the city's cathedral, the Christ Church, was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway.

 

The bishopric of Selja was moved to Bergen either in 1163[2] or, together with the relics of Sunniva, in 1170.

 

In 1181 the Birkebeiner defeated their opponents in the Battle of Bergen during the civil war era in Norway. "[The present-day neighbourhood] Engen was the battlefield in 1181 during the battle between king Sverre's men and bondehæren [the farmers' army]", according to the encyclopedia Bergen byleksikon.)

 

After the 1181 Battle of Bergen

Bergen was granted monopoly in regards to trade from the North of Norway, by king Haakon Haakonsson (1217-1263). Stockfish was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade at the time.

 

In 1281, a sixth coronation was held at Christ Church—the last one held there.

  

Hieronymus Scholeus's impression of Bergen. The drawing was made around 1580 and was published in Civitates orbis terrarum.

Some functions of the city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (1299–1319).

 

Bergen was Norway's most important city in the 13th century.[

 

In 1343 (or in the 1350s) "the first Hanseatic commercial settlement was established in Bergen", according to Natascha Mehler.[15] German merchants formed a colony—protected by the Hanseatic League. Sources vary about whether it "was not an isolated German ghetto, but operated in vibrant interaction with its surroundings", or it was "separated from the Norwegian bysamfunn [city community]". This Kontor was located at Bryggen in Bergen.[16] The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of town, where Middle Low German was spoken, enjoying exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen.[17] During this century the Hanseatic merchants acquired monopolistic control over the trade in Bergen.

 

In 1349, the Black Death was inadvertently brought to Norway by the crew of an English ship arriving in Bergen.

 

By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre[clarification needed] of the trade in Norway.

 

On 22 April 1393[20] the Sacking of Bergen occurred. In 1395 the Victual Brothers attacked again.

 

In 1428, the city was attacked by the Victual Brothers,[21] and they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city.

 

During the Reformation, the Kontor at Bryggen experienced an economic backlash.

 

In 1560, the Kontor at Bryggen came under the legal jurisdiction of the authorities of Norway.

 

From around 1600, the Hanseatic dominance of the city's trade gradually declined in favour of Norwegian merchants (often of Hanseatic ancestry).

 

In 1630 the Hanseatic League was dissolved, but the Kontor continued operating.

 

In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the Battle of Vågen, where an English naval flotilla attacked a Dutch merchant- and treasure fleet supported by the city's garrison.

 

In 1754, the operations of the Kontor at Bryggen, ended.

 

Until 1789, Bergen retained its monopoly to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad.

  

A photochrom of Bergen near the end of the 19th century. Visible are Domkirken in the bottom left side, Korskirken in the middle, the bay (Vågen) with its many boats and the Bergenhus Fortress to the right of the opening of Vågen.

The website dagsdato.no has said that on 23 September 1814 the city had chosen representatives for the extraordinary [session of] Norway's parliament, but sogneprest Jonas Rein was not chosen.

 

In the 1830s, Oslo (the capital) surpassed Bergen as Norway's most populous city.

 

In 1882 the city's phone company was established.

 

In 1883 the rail line to Voss was completed—Vossebanen.

 

In 1897 a trolley service started operating.

 

In 1900 utility services for electricity started.

 

In 1909 the rail line to Oslo opened—the Bergen Line.

 

In 1917 the pier Skoltegrunnskaien opened.

 

In 1932 the road to Hardanger was completed, connecting Bergen to a significant part of Norway's road network.

 

World War II

During World War II Bergen was occupied on the first day of the German invasion on 9 April 1940, after a brief fight between German ships and the Norwegian coastal artillery. The German cruiser Königsberg was badly damaged by Norwegian coastal artillery at Kvarven Fort, and sunk by British bombers the following day, 10 April 1940, in the harbour. On 20 April 1944 the Dutch cargo ship Voorbode anchored off the Bergenhus Fortress, loaded with over 120 tons of explosives, blew up, killing at least 150 people and damaging historic buildings. The city was subject to some Allied bombing raids, aiming at German naval installations in the harbour. Some of these caused Norwegian civilian casualties numbering about 100.

 

On the morning of 8 May 1945, Wehrmacht's superior officer in Norway announced that he would follow orders to capitulate.

 

The resistance groups in Bergen were Saborg, Milorg, "Theta-gruppen", Sivorg, Stein-organisasjonen and the Communist Party.

 

After World War II[edit]

9 July 1974 saw an accident on Ulriksbanen, which led to the largest rescue operation in the municipality, since World War II.[28] Four people died.

 

In 1979 Bergen's old quayside, Bryggen, was listed on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

 

From county to municipality[edit]

Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Bergen landdistrikt was merged with Bergen on 1 January 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen on 1 July 1915. The rural municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg, and Åsane were merged with Bergen on 1 January 1972. The city lost its status as a separate county on the same date.Bergen is now a municipality, in the county of Hordaland.

 

From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities, and at the same time became a part of Hordaland county.

 

In 1772 Hospitalssognet—relating to St. Jørgens Hospital—consisted of Solheim, Kronstad, Landås and all of Årstad, according to a map from that year.

 

Fires

In 1170 or 1171, the first great fire occurred.

 

In 1198, the Bagler-faction set fire to the city in connection with a battle against the Birkebeiner faction during the civil war. In 1248, Holmen and Sverresborg burned, and 11 churches were destroyed. In 1413 another fire struck the city, and 14 churches were destroyed. In 1428 the city was plundered by German pirates, and in 1455, Hanseatic merchants were responsible for burning down Munkeliv Abbey. In 1476, Bryggen burned down in a fire started by a drunk trader. In 1582, another fire hit the city centre and Strandsiden. In 1675, 105 buildings burned down in Øvregaten. In 1686 a new great fire hit Strandsiden, destroying 231 city blocks and 218 boathouses. The greatest fire to date happened in 1702 when 90 percent of the city was burned to ashes. In 1751, there was a great fire at Vågsbunnen. In 1756, a new fire at Strandsiden burned down 1,500 buildings, and further great fires hit Strandsiden in 1771 and 1901. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre, and in 1955 parts of Bryggen burned down.

 

1918 campaign to revert to former name[edit]

In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form Bjørgvin as the name of the city. This was turned down – but as a compromise the name of the diocese was changed to Bjørgvin bispedømme.

On Saturday afternoon, I had a hunch that the UP 1943 might still be in town on the point of the MNPHN, so I decided to check it out on my way to the city's west side. When I got close to downtown, I found a westbound manifest crossing the river, and kind of KNEW that I had found my train.

 

Sure enough, I navigated my way through the city's maze of construction-burdened streets, and got ahead of it by the time that it got to MacVicar Ave., and was able to snag this shot of it at the Water Works!

 

For clarification this is a Manifest train that runs from North Platte, NE to Herington, KS, and on this day, it was running 2x1x1.

Klarstellung: der Himmel ist kein fake

Foto zur blauen Stunde an der Hohenzollernbrücke mit Blick auf den Kölner Dom vom Montag den 7.2.22. Der Sonnenuntergang selbst war schon spektakulär und ich wollte eigentlich schon zurück ins Hotel fahren, als ein zweites „Glühen“ der Sonne nochmal die nun dichten Wolken in lila und magenta erstrahlen lies. Umwerfend!

.

Clarification: the sky is not a fake

Blue hour shot of the Hohenzollern Bridge with a view of the Cologne Cathedral from Monday the 2/7/22. The sunset itself was already spectacular and I actually wanted to go back to the hotel, when a second blush of the sun again let the now dense clouds shine in purple and magenta. Absolutely magnificent!

oh the irony: the first ACTUAL sunshine falling on this house since late november, and it’s in the middle of this wild wind-and-ice storm!! so so nice to see it again (however briefly)

 

clarification: yesterday's glimpse was just a gleam, it didn't really cast actual sunshine -- but today's did! although it was gone after about 20 seconds.

Signs 121.365

Poznan, Poland

Winter

Signs. For reasons, For direction, For clarification. For justification. For consideration. To lead, To follow, To be.

Enjoy the moment.

 

Join me on my personal website Erik Witsoe or contact me at ewitsoe@gmail.com for cooperation. Thank you.

 

I also write on Medium and you can find me here: Erik Witsoe.

 

If you like my work, you can support me by giving me a like on my Facebook Erik Witsoe Photography and 500px and Twitter Instagram and also Google + Thank you for stopping by!

I'm not quite sure I have the i/d correct and would welcome clarification from any of my Flickr friends more expert than I. I wonder if it could be a great green bush cricket nymph as there are some in Sussex.

 

Another from my foray to Malling Down to look for Adonis Blues. Having just the one (macro) lens with you means you are more concentrated on what you look for, which was a good thing here as this tiny nymph was hiding on a buttercup flower amongst the myriad others on the steep slopes. We often get them in the garden but this is the first I've seen so far this year and, rather obligingly, it let me creep up on it to take this shot. This one seems to have lost one of its antennae. As the Downs are very chalky with bare earth, I think it was a good thing that I had my old gardening trousers on or I may have been in trouble.....

 

There is a little more detail when viewed large.

This is a scene from almost 2 years ago, February 21st 2018. As of today, February 2nd 2020, Semaphore Signals which have been used for the safe operation of trains for the last 175 years have been removed, with the Signalbox on the far right to follow shortly.

 

The Short Set finished operations on September 21st 2019.

 

The past few years have certainly been extraordinarily interesting, with the signalling infrastructure and traction on the Wherry Lines, not so much a time for mourning, but more to celebrate that it lasted so long into the 21st Century!

 

Clarification from an Anglia Trains Driver: I think these signals date back to 1960 when Vauxhall was remodelled. Further change came in November 1977 when Brendon Junction was abolished & some rationalisation done. Another post stated the box dates back to 1884.

A few weeks ago, I was photographing on outdoors. I don’t remember the last time, as I’m not into sun, flowers and bugs not that much. But, sometimes I do with my camera and sometimes you find something that interest you, something like this you’ll see here. My pulse was ticking fast! The pilot in the dark is Yavin pilot looking for fuel for his TIE fighter. I didn't saw the TIE fighter, as it was hidden. Anywayahwanna, this moment was something I’ll cherish a long time!

 

And finally a new addition to my Action Figure Project. I really love to do these time to time, and especially when there’s a story to tell! Just for clarification, this scene is made of two separate photographs and put together as one on Ps. These are called composites and it’s quite popular art form to perform. You should try it out, if you’re into photography and Star Wars! But if you're more into see and discover new things, I have to suggest you to an art book by Cedric Delsaux (in my shelf, too!). It's titled as Dark Lens and it features high quality photos, with an introduction by George Lucas.

This is the top section of Britannia Falls, i.e. officially named. They lie between Flat Rock Falls (upstream) and Red Rock Falls (downstream) (thanks Peter Hill for the clarification)..

Shooting from the side was also a little different for rather than face on. Loved the soft light during that misty morning. f22 as I had forgotten my filters that day - doh!

Using cleats as it was very slippery to get this close :-)

This image is included in 3 galleries :- 1) "Février 2021 #2" curated by Impatience_1, 2) "Bébés et jeunes animaux...#11" by Impatience_1 and 3) "A World of Wonder 40" by thanks 173rd Airborne.

 

This image of a beautiful juvenile bongo (striped forest antelopes) was captured at Werribee Open Range Zoo, about 32 kilometres (20 mi) south-west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Horns were not developed at this stage.

 

The bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate. Bongos are characterised by a striking reddish-brown coat, black and white markings, white-yellow stripes and long slightly spiralled horns. Bongos are the only tragelaphid in which both sexes have horns.

 

The scientific name of the bongo is Tragelaphus eurycerus, and it belongs to the genus Tragelaphus and family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1837. The generic name Tragelaphus is composed of two Greek words: trag-, meaning a goat; and elaphos, meaning deer. The specific name eurycerus originated from the fusion of eurus (broad, widespread) and keras (an animal's horn). The common name "bongo" originated probably from the Kele language of Gabon. The first known use of the name "bongo" in English dates to 1861.

 

Bongos are further classified into two subspecies: T. e. eurycerus, the lowland or western bongo, and the far rarer T. e. isaaci, the mountain or eastern bongo, restricted to the mountains of Kenya only. The eastern bongo is larger and heavier than the western bongo. Two other subspecies are described from West and Central Africa, but taxonomic clarification is required. They have been observed to live up to 19 years.

 

(explored Jan 6, 2021 #80)

This is a capture from the bayou, but that is not the only place that these birds can be found in the area. They are daily visitors to the drainage canals that run through our neighborhoods to take the floodwaters away if and whenever it rains again. Those canals (ditches) usually have a bit of residual water remaining in them and these Yellow-crown Night Herons a usually a part of our landscape here during the summer months. The waters in those canals are mostly gone and I’ve not seen a single YCNH in the past few days. Just hope that they are able to find food and make their way back to their winter homes.

 

These birds normally carry a bit grayer in their plumage, but this individual has a bit more brown woven into his feathers. Photo captured on Horsepen Bayou. I suspect that they are still present on the bayou but may have left our neighborhoods.

 

Just a bit of clarification. I merely wanted to show everyone a photo of a YCNH and just happened to pick it up from the bayou. The water levels in the bayous remain unaffected by the drought and are in no danger of drying up. They are a part of a tidal estuary and is directly connected to the Gulf of Mexico. Since it is directly connected to the Gulf, there is absolutely no way that it would dry up like the drainage canals that dump into it.

  

DSC_7509uls

long stories shortened... (discarded and abandoned and intertwined short stories) well..actually they are chunks and fragmets and notes of stories that never made it

 

____________________________________________

  

a young PhD math candidate writing his dissertation on an obscure arab mathematician from the middle ages who specialized in cycles and periods in infinite series and develops a process to determine prime number density in a large number space. (which is all and good) except this makes it an excellent tool to decrypting military grade encryption, which is based on the computational difficulty of factoring large numbers into their prime components

 

the arab mathematician was ultimately censured by the religious mullahs for developing tools to rationalize the infinite, which is of course the nature of Allah and for man to attempt to place Allah into a human scale is blasphemy

 

so the arab mathematician disappears and the young phd candidate finds that his dissertation has been suspended pending review but cant get any information on who is reviewing it

 

finally another young mathematician approaches him and starts a long discussion on math and the nature of numbers and the mathematicians love of the underlying structure of reality that math represents. the phd candidate is leary of this mathematician cause he wont answer what he does or where he went to school or how he knows so many cutting edge fields in math

 

eventually, the young mathematician offers the phd candidate a position with the NSA, National Security Agency, (where all the big crypto and high math goes on) but explains that if he accepts that he will essentially disappear from his current world. his work will be classified, he will not be able to publish in academic journals or speak in public, or talk about his work to his friends on the outside, but the compensation is that he

would be able to work unfettered with the greatest math minds in the country, totally funded, free to explore any field or fancy he thought. after a few moments of thought, the phd accepts.

 

then the story will go back to the arab mathematician who is also approached my a young beared mullah, who offers him a position within his group of thinkers who do ponder and explore the nature of nature reality and Allah through mathematics, but that by joining them he would need to disappear from the world, after a few minutes of thought, he too accepts...

 

--

  

Daniel sipped his 6th coffee (colloidal suspension for caffeine transport) while his batch jobs on ramanet, the Indian supergrid, finished their checksum verification. His chin, a bit stubbly, itched. His eyes, a bit red, were sore. The goa trance shoutcast feed had mushed into a fast cadence drone. The flat screen monitor warped and bulged with the oscillating fan blowing on Daniel's face

 

'O' glamorous larval life of a PhD student...' he jotted and doodle-circled on his notepad.

 

Daniel cracked his neck and jutted his jaw, stretching out the accumulation of kinks, as RamaNet finished the final integrity check on his dataset. this two hour round of processing on the Indian supergrid would cost about $130 out of his precious grant fund, but you couldnt beat the bargain. 120 minutes times 150,000 PCs in the RamaNet processing collective = 1,080,000,000 seconds or 18,000,000 minutes or 300,000 hours or 12500 days or 34.25 years of processing time for the price of a video game. Calculation was commoditized now. You uploaded your pre-fromatted dataset to RamaNet. the data was packeted and sent to out to 150,000 Indians who lent a few percents of never-to-be missed CPU cycles off their systems for background processing. when their alotted package was completed it was sent back to RamaNet for re-assembly into something coherent for the buyer. in return the Indians got a rebate on their net access charges or access to premier bollywood galleries or credit towards their own processing charges. a good deal all the way around. Daniel's dataset, an anthology of complex proofs from a long-dead arab mathematician, was queued with amateur weather forecast modeling, home-brewed digital CGI for indie movies, chaos theory-based currency trading algorithms, etc. the really high end, confidential jobs, like protein folding analysis or big pharm drug trials were more likely handled by the huge western collectives of several million collaborative systems, usually high-performance machines in dedicated corporate server farms. the cost there was out of Daniel's range, but you got a faster return and better promises of encryption for your buck.

 

Daniel scratched his scalp and flexed his fingers. 'two months from today i will be a doctor of mathematics...and no job. damnit. i need to find something fast.' Daniel calculated in his mind how quickly the student loans repayments would kick in and completely wipe him out. RamaNet would have done it in nanoseconds, ha! he laughed to himself. Daniel had avoided the rounds of job interviews and recommendations that passed his way. he was too absorbed in his research to look ahead, and perhaps a bit intimidated by the idea of the job hunt flea market. flexing his CV, getting a monkey suit, trying to explain his research to recruiters, who were often the same finger-counting business majors in college that made his skin crawl. Daniel always felt a bit embarrassed when he announced he was math PhD candidate. folks would immediately glaze over,

tsk tsk out a 'that's interesting', and swiftly change the subject. something will come up, he mantra'd to himself over and over, something will come up. stick with ali, there is something real in there, just a bit deeper. the real problem was his thesis advisor. dr. fuentes was not returning his calls, his secretary was not taking appointments from Daniel. he had submitted his finished draft of his thesis two weeks ago, but hadnt heard back since, except for a cryptic email saying that the review committee was having some issues with his paper and that Daniel would be hearing from him shortly. Daniel was rerunning his calculations on RamaNet to assuage the gnawing doubt that he completely botched some component of his argument and that the review committee was debating some manner of telling him to redo the entire effort. no PhD and no job. that would ice the cake. Daniel started calculating his body mass and general aerodynamic resistance relative to the height of the school cathedral to figure out if he had time to reach a terminal velocity before impact...only a failed math PhD would attempt to determine at what speed his body would smack concrete, he morbidly thought to himself.

 

ali ja'far muhammed ibn abdullah al-farisi slipped meditatively on his cup of water, thinking about his proof. he dipped a finger in the cup and held up a droplet of water under his fingertip, watching the sunlight prisimatically splay out on the mouth of the cup. 'praise be Allah and his wonderous bounty' he mumured to himself.

 

the elders had been in conference all day over his proof. though the heavy doors to their chamber were closed, he would occasionally hear muffled but distinctly angry shouts. ali sat on a divan in the anteroom, served numerous cups of tea by an obviously nervous secretary. ali knew there was deep resistance to his research, but for the life of him he couldnt figure out why. he was a simple mathematician. he came up with some unique observations. he wanted to share them with his peers...

_____________________________________________________

  

Overview: biotech researcher discovers a new life-extension technology and is murdered. He is cryogenically frozen for 150 years. When he is

revived he must stop a dark corporate conspiracy – and find his murderer.

  

Summer 2015 - Hot genius free-lance biotech researcher unravels the key component of a radical life-extension gene therapy that will ensure 300 years of robust life to its recipients. The researcher is murdered shortly after he hides the critical component. His distraught friend has him cryogenically frozen. 150 years later, the researcher is revived by the same major bio-med corporation for which he had originally been working.

Quickly he realizes that their motives are less than altruistic: his modification of the gene therapy is needed to resolve an unforeseen debilitation now creeping up in the recipients of the life-extension process. The recipients, now nearing 125 years off added life, are decompensating into psychotics. The researcher at first tries to remember and reconstruct what he did with the hidden critical component, but stops in disgust when he learns that in the past 150 years the life-extension therapy has been reserved solely for the ultra-affluent and has created an extreme and cruel global gerontocratic elite. He voices his disgust to his corporate minders, who cease being beneficent and show their true colors as trying to gain control of this critical technology in order to control the elites.

 

In the process of dealing with the corporation, he learns about his murder and begins investigating.As he comes closer to the identity of his murderer, he uncovers a wider conspiracy and is the target of more murder attempts.

 

He was killed by a friend in 2015. The friend was the CEO of a small bio-gen firm that the researcher was doing the LET work for. The CEO, a biz-head with a genetics academic background, took the researcher’s work and exploited it as his own, in the process growing his small firm into a bio-med powerhouse and him into one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.

 

The CEO also was the first recipient of the LET and is now 190 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 45. Smart, urbane, ruthless, the CEO used his wealth and position to start the cabal of Ultras. It is a faction of the top 50 smartest and wealthiest people in the world who have ‘ascended from the world’ (faked their demise) and control the global economy with their vast coordinated wealth. Perhaps they will call themselves ‘The Ascended’. We need to decide how the cabal lives. Are they sequestered on a luxurious island compound, or do they live in the open, surgically re-sculpted after each faked death, or do they live in the open.

 

Also we need to figure out what the world will look and feel like in 150 years.

 

As the ultras decompensate into psychosis, the CEO orders the researcher to be revived in order to find a cure. The CEO had the researcher’s lab notes decrypted and figured that the he was close if not successful in finding the missing component to stabilize the LET.

 

Tiberius Syndrome: the decline into cruel psychosis experienced by the ultras, named after the roman emperor Tiberius’ degenerate behavior after he sequestered himself on Capri.

 

The ironic twist might be that there is no cure, no stabilization. The psychosis is not the result of the LET alone, but also due in part to the unfettered ego/wills of the ultras. Absolute power corrupts…

  

________________________________________________________

 

a brazilian hacking syndicate was subcontracted by a st petersberg crew to run interference on a hit on SWIFT, the global currency clearinghouse notification network. The UniFavela clan was going to run a multi-flank raid. They specialized in fast propagating virii and had created a custom mail-in virus that exploited a few microsoft vulnerabilities that they had discovered and kept mum. Their target was a Latin American PR spokesman listed on the corporate web site for press queries. The PR flak would be just the sleepy guard on the wall for their virus to slip past. 30 minutes after opening an inocuous spoofed email from a French e-trade publication requesting clarification on the SWIFT-Indentrus partnership. the virus would port scan and map its entire site LAN, salmoning its way up the router paths till it found the deep waters of the main corporate campus network in Brussels. Shortly, the internal LAN at Brussels would be suffering switch and router buffer overflows and traffic would gasp, ack, and sputter. UniFavela would then towel whip out a vanilla DDOS on the main company web site, any INTERNIC-registered addresses, and any other system in the IP block reserved for SWIFT that had previously port scanned as interesting, or ,even, as nothing. Mongols charging the village gates and tossing flaming torches on thatched roofs. IT Operations would be running to and fro, trying to figure out the internal bandwidth crunch and if there was a bleedout causing the external net problems.

 

____________________________________________________________

  

The Post-Human Story of Minos:

 

the CEO of a powerful commercial combine is bore an illegitimate son by his indiscreet wife in retaliation for his own dalliances. the son has a hideous deformity but is fantastically brilliant - brilliant enough for the father overcome his own repulsion of the child - as a bastard and a freak. the father sequesters the child in an elaborate virtual domain. the child, a hacker savant, is used to breach competitor nets. but as his power in the digital realm expands, the child transforms into the tyrant-monster. using the nets, he lashes out at people who have caused him pain, then evolves into enjoying the taste of terror and fear. He becomes the Minotaur.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

'there was a mad scramble amongst all the big spook governments, dark side corporations, and the privacy maccabees once it was determined that quantum computation had left the tidal pool of academia, grown legs and air-breathing lungs, and was headed for the nat sec intel highlands. all previous encryption models were rendered obsolete, and worse, exposed. QC became an undefiable xray spotlight, laying bare any encrypted secret with a ease of opening a mathematical candy wrapper. And for a while it swung the advantage back to the state in the digital Boer War against the freecon partisans.'

 

____________________________________________________________

  

The Oort, to the Intras, looked as one people. Extra-stellar hillbillies, ekeing out a subsistance existence on extracted organics from the frozen crud comets and other planetesimals of the Oort Cloud that slung around the solar system in a 1K AU circuit. To the Oort there was no Oort. Each station, each kampong was distinct and seperate. Seperate dialects, traditions, norms, goals. Some were scientific collectives, some were tired mining operations, some were intense sectarian cults - they shared little between themselves beyond necessary trade links for scarce commodities.

 

---

A young prince is disgraced in an internal court scandal and sent into a quasi-exile on a worthless mission. On his travels he builds the wisdom and learns the skills necessary to be a just and effective leader.

 

His exile was a gambit by his patriarch to remove Genji from the arena of pointless court intrigues and develop him as a real leader. The patriarch dispatched a team of loyal praetorians to discreetly follow and protect Genji on his odyssey.

 

Genji was sent as an emissary to the Oort system. He must pass through the Martian-Saturnine corridor, populated with industrial trading guilds and their private militias.

 

----

 

Genealogy becomes paramount in a closed culture; hierarchy by heredity. Reference the roman patrician class’ death-grip obsession with lineage, or the medieval Japanese imperial court’s strict intra-elite caste system.

 

But in an era of extreme genetic engineering, how can bloodlines retain their importance? Perhaps this is the wrong question. Perhaps in an era of extreme genetic engineering, authentic bloodlines can only retain their importance. The longevity of an unchanged gene line demonstrates success in evolutionary competition. Over time however, the fitness of a rigidly enforced and ‘sequestered’ gene line will degrade. Consider the hemophilia of the European royal strata.

 

I would not want the imperial court of the inner system to be pure blue bloods, eschewing genetic manipulation. Rather I would have them take the opposite tack – and embrace genetic engineering in the pursuit of perfecting particular socially valued or distinctive attributes; a roman nose, elongated refined fingers, even the possession of certain ‘noble’ afflictions (for ex., the aforementioned hemophilia as a sign of noble lineage).

The elites should pursue genealogy with the same passion and gusto as horse breeders; studs and mares and percentages of bloodlines, enforced and suppressed gene expressions, surrogates, and gene modes des saisons.

 

__________________________________________________________

 

a bum finds a the wallet and keys of a man who jumped from a bridge

he goes to his townhouse to find something to eat or steal

is impressed and overwhelmed with the man's townhouse

showers, eats, gets cleaned up, finds some clothes

is ready to leave when he helps a woman wrestling with groceries at her door

she thanks him, but looks stunned.

‘are you the man in #560? umm..i have lived here for 3 years and have never actually seen you. you seem to leave so early in the morning and get

home so late and keep to yourself.’

they spend 30 minutes talking, having a generally warm friendly encounter.

‘well, I am so glad to have finally met you. Hope to see you soon.’ As she closes her door, the bum turns to leave but pauses and thinks for a moment, then goes back into the man's townhouse

he pours through the man's papers and keepsakes and learns that the man has no family that he speaks with, no friends, lives off a well-endowed trust fund

 

and

 

the bum moves in and takes over the mans identity

he brings warmth and sincerity to the man's identity

 

what makes a hermit tick? what lengths do they go to to remove themselves from society? does it become a game to avoid contact, trying to become a shadow, a phantom? does society dissolve away as a mental force in their thoughts, atrophy away or does it become an amputated impression?

 

what divsion line stands between a hermit and convict in solitary? the hermit, by and large, chooses their isolation, the convict has it enforced upon them. at what point does the human need for society or socialization collapse? is there anything left that we can inspect and evaluate? a hermit, however, is able to maintain walls against the Great Other, which would imply that they are seeking refuge from the world. a schizo or an autistic will be physically surrounded by others but unable or incapable of making contact.

 

when does the will to contact die? what is left over? do humans require contact to retain our humanity? can you love and sacrifice in a vacuum?

what defines humanity? oooh, a big question...

  

___________________________________________________________________

 

genetic engineering will continue to deconstruct the human species

 

there will be catastrophic disasters: gene sequence specific viruses engineered to attack 'types' of people. Der Genkampf

petroleum will be replaced- hydrogen-powered locomotion and green power (in the wealthy states). the poor states will continue to be held hostage to oil politics

 

(cultures and civilizations do not move forward uneringly. they spasticly jerk forward and fro, in clumps andgrains, never ever as a lemming death drive.)

 

developed economies will be netized. a new state structure will be needed to manage and dsitribute resources. the corporate structure, the commercial backbone of the capitalist democracy, will replace the republic. it is flexible to markets and political forces, insistent on accountability, it provides a sufficient compromise between individual representation and republican government. they will begin their political evolution as projects in community development. assurances of an educated workforce by charter education. assurances of uninterrupted utilities by running their own power/water etc. net-based marketplaces create corporate agoras. employees are in fact de facto citizens of the corporation. citizenship, or regular employment, will be a reward for merit, stock shares will count towards suffrage.

 

great corporate collectives will arise. housing, education, security...all the needs of the middle class will be absorbed in the corporate state. the tradtional state will cede roles and responsibilities to the corporate state as their resources dwindle. a few isolated violent reactions (military or legal)by the republics against the corporate states, but they will fail over time. against, or more so, in conjunction with the homogenized corporatsists wil be the diasporae, non-corporates will glom to other modes of networked alignment, ethnic allegiance will become stronger over time - as the chinese, indian, and jewish disporaestrengthen as a formula for a successful competition against/with the corporates.

 

the american state, succored by its overwhelming techo-military supremancy, loses its mission, its vision - substitutes will to dominate for will to excel - and falls into the deep narcotic, insulated slumber of the unassailable. GE, nano, and the banknote net weaken the mythic cohesion of the american spirit. we are no longer united by common experience (mass-mediated or otherwise) the promise of science to make us stronger, smarter, near immortal is held like a manifest destiny or a divine IOU for services rendered to humanity.

 

Warrior-conqueror of the Matoran Universe.

 

You can see other pictures here.

 

You can see a breakdown here.

 

If you need any clarification on techniques or parts used in the breakdown, feel free to dm me on discord at @Max H#4713.

I haven't knowingly seen these before, so had to spend half an hour trying to get one to kindly line up side on.

 

Male Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

 

Thanks for the ID clarification Jane, the small appears to be a much rarer beast than the large.

I believe this is some species of Robber Fly, but would welcome any correction or clarification as I've just started exploring the world of tiny things.

This was another duck that I was very happy to see at the San Diego Safari Park. We do not see them around Calgary so it was a new species and lifer for me. I don't know if this is breeding plumage so I would appreciate clarification if someone knows.

 

EXPLORE March 14, 2020

 

Thank you for your visit and comments. They are very much appreciated.

The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World.

 

The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland over the north of the British Isles and northern Fennoscandia, where it occurs at around 70°N, as well as through European Russia and Siberia. Here it is mostly on the northern edge of the Taiga zone at 71°N, but reaches 74°N on the east coast of the Taymyr Peninsula. In the east it extends to Anadyr,[clarification needed] Kamchatka, Bering Island and the Kuril Islands, The southern boundary of the distribution area in Europe runs through northern Portugal, central France, northern Italy, Bulgaria and Ukraine, with populations in the west being only very scattered. In Asia, the distribution extends south to northern Turkestan, locally to Afghanistan and the Middle East, through the Altai and further to Manchuria and Ussuri. It is migratory, with European birds wintering in southern and western Europe and Africa (south to the Equator), and Asian migrants moving to tropical southern Asia. The North American Wilson's snipe was previously considered the same species, and is listed as such in older field guides.

Twister_A Little More Fun With Light And Motion_Orsett, UK.

=====

It came to my attention that a few confused my last upload of Old Faithful with a twister, so, for the sake of clarification, this what a real twister looks like ;-)

=====

I took advantage of the reciprocity between Desert Botanical Garden and San Diego Botanic Garden for member admission. It is a relatively young and somewhat small botanic garden. It does have a lot of interesting specimina, especially for me coming from the desert.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke

The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus /ˈsɪnərə kɑːrˈdʌnkjʊləs ˈskɒlɪməs/),[1][2][3][4] also known by the names French artichoke and green artichoke in the United States,[5] is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food.

The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist.

The English word artichoke was borrowed in the sixteenth century from the northern Italian word articiocco (the standard modern Italian being carciofo). The Italian term was itself borrowed either from Spanish alcarchofa (today usually alcachofa) or directly from the source of the Spanish word—medieval Andalusi Arabic الخرشوفة (al-kharshūfa, including the Arabic definite article al). The Arabic form kharshūfa is still used in Maghrebi Arabic today, while other variants in Arabic include kharshafa, and Modern Standard Arabic khurshūfa. These Arabic forms themselves derive from classical Arabic حرشفة (harshafa) singular word of the plural حراشف (ḥarashef) meaning "scale".[6][7] Other languages which derive their word for the artichoke from Arabic include Israeli Hebrew, which has the word חֻרְשָׁף (khursháf). The original Hebrew name (see Hebrew: he:ארטישוק), predating the Arab conquest,[clarification needed] is קינרס kinars, which is found in the Mishna.[8]

 

sdbg.org/

300 Quail Gardens Drive (at Ecke Ranch Road), Encinitas, CA 92024

Welcome to our 37-acre urban oasis featuring 4 miles of meandering trails and ocean views, 5,000+ plant species and varieties, and 29 uniquely themed gardens that represent 15 different regions and many habitats of the world. Our natural wonderland is designed for children and adults, alike; explore your interests, learn about the plant world that surrounds us, and let nature fill you with a little wonder.

 

SDBG2024

I'm beginning to think Dragonfly identification is perhaps even more difficult that Bird ID. This one has more segmented colouring on the abdomen than the majority of blue dragonflies I see ( which I thought were either Western Pondhawks or Blue Dashers). This one is larger overall but since it was in flight it is tough to get an accurate sense of relative size.and I'm thinking it is a darner - But there are a lot of darners! Subarctic looks close but eye colour is blue not green.

 

Sorry for the newbie confusion. Clarification always welcome.

© slight clutter photography

 

My first "with tripod" attempt at long-exposure...in earnest.

 

(Clarification: When I wrote the description to this photo, I mentioned that this was my first "with tripod" long-exposure. I was tired, and that isn't entirely correct. I've actually tried a long-exposure with the tripod a handful of times, but this was the first time that I set out to do something specific with long-exposure, and accomplished it. That's why this was a special photo to me. )

 

My week in Lake Tahoe is almost over. Next stop...LA. :)

Hello, I am Ned and you're watching the Trans Galactic Info Channel (TGIC).

 

I was looking around to find a new rover for today, and found this striking coloured rover.

 

It's colour scheme makes it easy to spot, with it's trans neon orange and teal.

 

These orange coloured astronauts are using this rover.

 

Can you tell me something about it's purpose?

 

Orange astronaut: 'It's a prototype, specially build for reconnaissance on Xanad II, it's colours are specially designed so it isn't noticed by the native lifeforms on that planet, you could say it's some kind of stealth.'

 

Ok, thanks for the clarification, it's obvious it does not work here.

 

The cabin has plenty of room for the astronauts, and the back can be refitted for the specific mission, extra computers and sensors, or even a small rover.

 

Thank you for watching and don’t forget to subscribe, and follow me @NedIsTheBest.meta3.moon2be.

listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/The_Beginning_Is_The_End_Is...

 

Some clarification... there is no blur in this shot ... since it would be nearly impossible to catch the match in motion, I ignited the match through other means. While this was shot in broad daylight with 3 utility lamps , it still came out very dark.

Hierapolis[pronunciation?] (Ancient Greek: Ἱεράπολις, lit. "Holy City") was an ancient city located on hot springs in classical Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey and currently comprise an archaeological museum designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

The hot springs have been used as a spa since the 2nd century BC, with many patrons retiring or dying there. The large necropolis is filled with sarcophagi, most famously that of Marcus Aurelius Ammianos, which bears the earliest known example of a crank and rod mechanism.

  

Part of the archeological site of Hierapolis

The great baths were constructed with huge stone blocks without the use of cement and consisted of various closed or open sections linked together. There are deep niches in the inner section,[clarification needed] including the bath, library, and gymnasium.

Clarification: Effectiveness of procedure for pacification purposes when performed on non-organic subjects can be... questionable at best.

 

Still crawling to the finish. A rather large machine that has experienced some trauma around the torso. It will probably be fine though.

 

Brickshelf Gallery

 

The fact that I still had Metru Matoran limbs after this baffles and irritates me. I don't even know where I got all of them from at this point. Either way, was just a fun build from early last year that I used to try out some things I hadn't tried before; mostly using limb pieces to create paneling of sorts. Also just a fun idea for me, I don't think I've ever intentionally built an unfinished character before so it was neat.

I'd never shot from the Pinney Street bridge over the east end of Conway Yard before; reports of Norfolk Southern cops rousting railfans and locals trying to access the river had kept me from this spot before. The bridge is owned by the railroad, but accesses borough property along the Ohio River that folks use for fishing and boating.

 

Locals were rebuffed by the railroad when they sought clarification over the situation, so the fight went to the state level in late 2014. Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission advised the railroad to stop confronting the public who were legally using the railroad's bridge to access the adjoining property that is otherwise cut off by the railroad. Locals will tell you it still happens from time to time despite the ruling; you just have to stand your ground and tell the employees or railroad cops that you know what they already know and they move along.

 

My visit to the bridge found CE11, the Ambridge switcher job rolling out of East Conway with a mother/slug combo for power.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)

  

Hijra (for translations, see [n 1]) is a term used in South Asia – particularly in India and Pakistan – to refer to trans women (male-to-female transgender individuals).[1][2] In different areas of Pakistan and India, transgender people are also known as Aravani, Aruvani or Jagappa.[3]

 

In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the hijras are officially recognized as third gender by the government,[4][5] being neither completely male nor female. In India also, transgender people have been given the status of third gender and are protected as per the law despite the social ostracism. The term more commonly advocated by social workers and transgender community members themselves is khwaja sira (Urdu: خواجہ سرا‎) and can identify the individual as a transsexual person, transgender person (khusras), cross-dresser (zenanas) or eunuch (narnbans).[6][7]

 

Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent from antiquity onwards as suggested by the Kama Sutra period. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental cultures, part gender-liminal, part spiritual and part survival.

 

In South Asia, many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by a guru.[8][9] These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" boys who are in abject poverty, rejected by, or flee, their family of origin.[10] Many work as sex workers for survival.[11]

 

The word "hijra" is an Urdu word derived from the Semitic Arabic root hjr in its sense of "leaving one's tribe,"[12] and has been borrowed into Hindi. The Indian usage has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition."[13] However, in general hijras are born with typically male physiology, only a few having been born with intersex variations.[14] Some Hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirwaan, which refers to the removal of the penis, scrotum and testicles.[11]

 

Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government organizations (NGOs) have lobbied for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of "third sex" or "third gender," as neither man nor woman.[15] Hijras have successfully gained this recognition in Bangladesh and are eligible for priority in education.[16] In India, the Supreme Court in April 2014 recognised hijra and transgender people as a 'third gender' in law.[17][18][19]

 

Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have all legally recognized the existence of a third gender, including on passports and other official documents.

  

Terminology

  

The Urdu and Hindi word hijra may alternately be romanized as hijira, hijda, hijada, hijara, hijrah and is pronounced [ˈɦɪdʒɽaː]. This term is generally considered derogatory in Urdu and the word Khwaja Sara is used instead. Another such term is khasuaa (खसुआ) or khusaraa (खुसरा). In Bengali hijra is called হিজড়া, hijra, hijla, hijre, hizra, or hizre.

 

A number of terms across the culturally and linguistically diverse Indian subcontinent represent similar sex or gender categories. While these are rough synonyms, they may be better understood as separate identities due to regional cultural differences. In Odia, a hijra is referred to as hinjida, hinjda or napunsaka, in Telugu, as napunsakudu (నపుంసకుడు), kojja (కొజ్జ) or maada (మాడ), in Tamil Nadu, Thiru nangai (mister woman), Ali, aravanni, aravani, or aruvani, in Punjabi, khusra and jankha, in Sindhi khadra, in Gujarati, pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા).

 

In North India, the goddess Bahuchara Mata is worshipped by Pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા). In South India, the goddess Renuka is believed to have the power to change one's sex. Male devotees in female clothing are known as Jogappa. They perform similar roles to hijra, such as dancing and singing at birth ceremonies and weddings.[21]

 

The word kothi (or koti) is common across India, similar to the Kathoey of Thailand, although kothis are often distinguished from hijras. Kothis are regarded as feminine men or boys who take a feminine role in sex with men, but do not live in the kind of intentional communities that hijras usually live in. Additionally, not all kothis have undergone initiation rites or the body modification steps to become a hijra.[22] Local equivalents include durani (Kolkata), menaka (Cochin),[23] meti (Nepal), and zenana (Pakistan).

 

Hijra used to be translated in English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite,"[13] although LGBT historians or human rights activists have sought to include them as being transgender.[24] In a series of meetings convened between October 2013 and Jan 2014 by the transgender experts committee of India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, hijra and other trans activists asked that the term "eunuch" be discontinued from usage in government documents, as it is not a term with which the communities identify.

  

Gender and sexuality

  

These identities have no exact match in the modern Western taxonomy of gender and sexual orientation,[24] and challenge Western ideas of sex and gender.[11]

 

In India, some Hijras do not define themselves by specific sexual orientation, but rather by renouncing sexuality altogether. Sexual energy is transformed into sacred powers. However, these notions can come in conflict with the practical, which is that hijras are often employed as prostitutes.[25] Furthermore, in India a feminine male who takes a "receptive" role in sex with a man will often identify as a kothi (or the local equivalent term). While kothis are usually distinguished from hijras as a separate gender identity, they often dress as women and act in a feminine manner in public spaces, even using feminine language to refer to themselves and each other. The usual partners of hijras and kothis are men who consider themselves heterosexual as they are the ones who penetrate.[26] These male partners are often married, and any relationships or sex with "kothis" or hijras are usually kept secret from the community at large. Some hijras may form relationships with men and even marry,[27] although their marriage is not usually recognized by law or religion. Hijras and kothis often have a name for these masculine sexual or romantic partners; for example, panthi in Bangladesh, giriya in Delhi or sridhar in Cochin.[23]

  

Social status and economic circumstances

  

Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word "hijra" is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. The Indian lawyer and author Rajesh Talwar has written a book highlighting the human rights abuses suffered by the community titled 'The Third Sex and Human Rights.'[28] Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from extortion (forced payment by disrupting work/life using demonstrations and interference), performing at ceremonies (toli), begging (dheengna), or sex work ('raarha')—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially hijra sex workers, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes.[29] As with transgender people in most of the world, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories.[30]

 

In 2008, HIV prevalence was 27.6% amongst hijra sex workers in Larkana.[6] The general prevalence of HIV among the adult Pakistani population is estimated at 0.1%.[31]

 

In October 2013, Pakistani Christians and Muslims (Shia and Sunni) put pressure on the landlords of Imamia Colony to evict any transgender residents. "Generally in Pakistan, Khwaja Sira are not under threat. But they are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province because of a 'new Islam' under way", I.A. Rehman, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.[32]

 

In a study of Bangladeshi hijras, participants reported not being allowed to seek healthcare at the private chambers of doctors, and experiencing abuse if they go to government hospitals.[33]

 

Beginning in 2006, hijras were engaged to accompany Patna city revenue officials to collect unpaid taxes, receiving a 4-percent commission.[34]

 

Since India's Supreme Court re-criminalized homosexual sex on 13 December 2013, there has been a sharp increase in the physical, psychological and sexual violence against the transgender community by the Indian Police Service, nor are they investigating even when sexual assault against them is reported.[35]

 

On 15 April 2014, in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India ruled that transgender people should be treated as a third category of gender or as a socially and economically "backward" class entitled to proportional access and representation in education and jobs.[36]

  

Language

  

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The hijra community due to its peculiar place in sub-continental society which entailed marginalisation yet royal privileges developed a secret language known as Hijra Farsi. The language has a sentence structure loosely based on Urdu and a unique vocabulary of at least a thousand words. Beyond the Urdu-Hindi speaking areas of subcontinent the vocabulary is still used by the hijra community within their own native languages.

  

In South Asian politics

  

In 2013, transgender people in Pakistan were given their first opportunity to stand for election.[37] Sanam Fakir, a 32-year-old hijra, ran as an independent candidate for Sukkur, Pakistan's general election in May.[38]

 

The governments of both India (1994)[39] and Pakistan (2009)[40] have recognized hijras as a "third sex", thus granting them the basic civil rights of every citizen. In India, hijras now have the option to identify as a eunuch ("E") on passports and on certain government documents. They are not, however, fully accommodated; in order to vote, for example, citizens must identify as either male or female. There is also further discrimination from the government. In the 2009 general election, India's election committee denied three hijras candidature unless they identified themselves as either male or female.

 

In April 2014, Justice KS Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law, in a case brought by the National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) against Union of India and others.[17][18][19] The ruling said:[41]

 

Seldom, our society realises or cares to realise the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex. Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society's unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change.

 

Justice Radhakrishnan said that transgender people should be treated consistently with other minorities under the law, enabling them to access jobs, healthcare and education.[42] He framed the issue as one of human rights, saying that, "These TGs, even though insignificant in numbers, are still human beings and therefore they have every right to enjoy their human rights", concluding by declaring that:[41]

 

Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.

Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

A bill supported by all political parties was tabled in Indian parliament to ensure transgender people get benefits akin reserved communities like SC/STs and is taking steps to see that they get enrollment in schools and jobs in government besides protection from sexual harassment.[43]

  

History

  

The ancient Kama Sutra mentions the performance of fellatio by feminine people of a third sex (tritiya prakriti).[44] This passage has been variously interpreted as referring to men who desired other men, so-called eunuchs ("those disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females"[45]), male and female trans people ("the male takes on the appearance of a female and the female takes on the appearance of the male"),[46] or two kinds of biological males, one dressed as a woman, the other as a man.[47]

 

During the era of the British Raj, authorities attempted to eradicate hijras, whom they saw as "a breach of public decency."[48] Anti-hijra laws were repealed; but a law outlawing castration, a central part of the hijra community, was left intact, though rarely enforced. Also during British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 and labelled a "criminal tribe," hence subjected to compulsory registration, strict monitoring and stigmatized for a long time; after independence however they were denotified in 1952, though the centuries-old stigma continues.[49]

  

In religion

  

The Indian transgender hijras or Aravanis ritually marry the Hindu god Aravan and then mourn his ritual death (seen) in an 18-day festival in Koovagam, India.

Many practice a form of syncretism that draws on multiple religions; seeing themselves to be neither men nor women, hijras practice rituals for both men and women.

 

Hijras belong to a special caste. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, Lord Shiva, or both.

  

Hijras and Bahuchara Mata

  

Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess with two unrelated stories both associated with transgender behavior. One story is that she appeared in the avatar of a princess who castrated her husband because he would run in the woods and act like a woman rather than have sex with her. Another story is that a man tried to rape her, so she cursed him with impotence. When the man begged her forgiveness to have the curse removed, she relented only after he agreed to run in the woods and act like a woman. The primary temple to this goddess is located in Gujarat[50] and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahucahara Mata as a patroness.

  

Hijras and Lord Shiva

  

One of the forms of Lord Shiva is a merging with Parvati where together they are Ardhanari, a god that is half Shiva and Half Parvati. Ardhanari has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.[50]

  

Hijras in the Ramayana

  

In some versions of the Ramayana,[51] when Rama leaves Ayodhya for his 14-year exile, a crowd of his subjects follow him into the forest because of their devotion to him. Soon Rama notices this, and gathers them to tell them not to mourn, and that all the "men and women" of his kingdom should return to their places in Ayodhya. Rama then leaves and has adventures for 14 years. When he returns to Ayodhya, he finds that the hijras, being neither men nor women, have not moved from the place where he gave his speech. Impressed with their devotion, Rama grants hijras the boon to confer blessings on people during auspicious inaugural occasions like childbirth and weddings. This boon is the origin of badhai in which hijras sing, dance, and give blessings.[

  

Hijras in the Mahabharata

  

Mahabharata includes an episode in which Arjun, a hero of the epic, is sent into an exile. There he assumes an identity of a eunuch-transvestite and performs rituals during weddings and childbirths that are now performed by hijras.[53]

 

In the Mahabharata, before the Kurukshetra War, Iravan offers his lifeblood to goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas, and Kali agrees to grant him power. On the night before the battle, Iravan expresses a desire to get married before he dies. No woman was willing to marry a man doomed to die in a few hours, so Arjuna as Brihinala marries him. In South India, hijras claim Iravan as their progenitor and call themselves "aravanis."[52]

 

"Sangam literature use ' word 'Pedi' to refer to people born with Intersex condition, it also refers to antharlinga hijras and various Hijra, The Aravan cult in Koovagam village of Tamil Nadu is a folk tradition of the transwomen, where the members enact the legend during an annual three-day festival. "This is completely different from the sakibeki cult of West Bengal, where transwomen don't have to undergo sex change surgery or shave off their facial hair. They dress as women still retaining their masculine features and sing in praise of Lord Krishna,". "Whereas, since the Tamil society is more conservative and hetero-normative, transwomen completely change themselves as women. In the ancient times, even religion has its own way of accepting these fringe communities." The Bachura Devi worship in Gujarat and Jogappa cult of Karanataka are the other examples.the kinds of dialects and languages spoken by these community in different parts of the country and the socio-cultural impact on the lingo. 'Hijra Farsi' is the transgender dialect, a mix of Urdu, Hindi and Persian spoken in the northern belt of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and 'Kothi Baashai' is spoken by the transgender community in Karnataka, Andhra, Orissa and parts of Tamil Nadu. "They even have sign languages and typical mannerisms to communicate. The peculiar clap is one such"

 

—Gopi Shankar Madurai, National Queer Conference 2013[54][55]

Each year in Tamil Nadu, during April and May, hijras celebrate an eighteen-day religious festival. The aravani temple is located in the village Koovagam in the Ulundurpet taluk in Villupuram district, and is devoted to the deity Koothandavar, who is identified with Aravan. During the festival, the aravanis reenact a story of the wedding of Lord Krishna and Lord Aravan, followed by Aravan's subsequent sacrifice. They then mourn Aravan's death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangles. An annual beauty pageant is also held, as well as various health and HIV or AIDS seminars. Hijras from all over the country travel to this festival. A personal experience of the hijras in this festival is shown in the BBC Three documentary India's Ladyboys and also in the National Geographic Channel television series Taboo.

  

Hijras in Islam

  

There is evidence that Indian hijras identifying as Muslim also incorporate aspects of Hinduism. Still, despite this syncretism, Reddy (2005) notes that a hijra does not practice Islam differently from other Muslims and argues that their syncretism does not make them any less Muslim. Reddy (2003) also documents an example of how this syncretism manifests: in Hyderabad, India a group of Muslim converts were circumcised, something seen as the quintessential marker of male Muslim identity.[clarification needed]

 

In films and literature

  

Bangladesh

  

The film Common Gender (2012) relates the story of the Bangladesh hijra and their struggle for survival.

  

India

  

Hijras have been portrayed on screen in Indian cinema since its inception, historically as comic relief. A notable turning point occurred in 1974 when real hijras appeared during a song-and-dance sequence in Kunwaara Baap ("The Unmarried Father"). There are also hijras in the Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) who accompany one of the heroes, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor), in a song entitled "Tayyab Ali Pyar Ka Dushman" ("Tayyab Ali, the Enemy of Love"). One of the first sympathetic hijra portrayals was in Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995). 1997's Tamanna[56] starred male actor Paresh Rawal in a central role as "Tiku", a hijra who raises a young orphan. Pooja Bhatt produced and also starred in the movie, with her father Mahesh Bhatt co-writing and directing. Deepa Mehta's Water features the hijra character "Gulabi" (played by Raghubir Yadav), who has taken to introducing the downtrodden, outcast widows of Varanasi to prostitution. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the film generated much controversy. There is a brief appearance of hijras in the 2004 Gurinder Chadha film Bride & Prejudice, singing to a bride-to-be in the marketplace. There's also a loose reference, in the guise of "Rocky" ("Rokini") in Deepha Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood.

 

The 1997 Hindi film Darmiyaan: In Between directed & co-written by Kalpana Lajmi is based on the subject of Hijra, wherein a fictitious story of an actress bearing a son that turns out to be neuter.

 

In the 2000 Tamil film Appu directed by Vasanth, a remake of the Hindi film Sadak, the antagonist is a brothel-owning hijra played by Prakash Raj. (In Sadak, the brothel-owning character was played by Sadashiv Amrapurkar under the name "Maharani".)

 

In 2005, a fiction feature film titled Shabnam Mausi was made on the life of a eunuch politician Shabnam Mausi. It was directed by Yogesh Bharadwaj and the title role played by Ashutosh Rana.

 

Jogwa, a 2009 Marathi film, depicts the story of a man forced to be hijra under certain circumstances. The movie has received several accolades.[57]

 

In Soorma Bhopali, Jagdeep encounters a troupe of hijra on his arrival in Bombay. The leader of this pack is also played by Jagdeep himself.

 

In Anil Kapoor's Nayak, Johnny Lever, who plays the role of the hero's assistant, gets beaten up by hijras, when he is caught calling them "hijra" (he is in habit of calling almost everyone who bothers him by this pejorative and no one cares much, except this once ironically, as the addressees are literally what he is calling them.)

 

One of the main characters in Khushwant Singh's novel Delhi, Bhagmati is a hijra. She makes a living as a semi-prostitute and is wanted in the diplomatic circles of the city.

 

Vijay TV's Ippadikku Rose, a Tamil show conducted by postgraduate educated transgender woman Rose is a very successfully running program that discusses various issues faced by youth in Tamil Nadu, where she also gives her own experiences.

 

In addition to numerous other themes, the 2008 movie Welcome to Sajjanpur by Shyam Benegal explores the role of hijras in Indian society.

 

In the Malayalam movie Ardhanaari, released on 23 November 2012, director Santhosh Sowparnika tries to depict the life of a transgender person. Manoj K Jayan, Thilakan, Sukumari and Maniyanpilla Raju perform leading roles.

 

In August, 2015, a music video featuring 7 hijras dressed in outfits or uniforms of various professions and singing the National Anthem of India created by a YouTube channel Yathartha Pictures went viral for being the first National Anthem video sung by hijras in India.[58][59] The hijras featured in the video were brought together by the Humsafar Trust, a Mumbai-based NGO which promotes LGBT rights.[60][61]

  

Tamil

  

Vaadamalli by novelist Su.Samuthiram is the first Tamil novel about Aravaani community in Tamil Nadu, published in 1994. Later transgender activist A. Revathi became first Hijra to write about transgender issues and gender politics in Tamil, her works have been translated in more than 8 languages and acting as a primary resources on Gender Studies in Asia. Her book is part of research project for more than 100 universities. She is the author of Unarvum Uruvamum (Feelings of the Entire Body); is the first of its kind in English from a member of the hijra community.[62][63][64] She also acted,directed several stage plays on Gender and Sexuality issues in Tamil and Kannada."The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story" by Transgender A.Revathi[65] is part of the syllabus for Final Year students of The American College in Madurai. Later Naan Saravanan Alla" (2007) and Vidya's "I am Vidya" (2008) became first transwoman autobiography.[66][67]

  

Pakistan

  

The 1992 film Immaculate Conception[68] by Jamil Dehlavi is based upon the culture-clash between a western Jewish couple seeking fertility at a Karachi shrine known to be blessed by a Sufi fakir called 'Gulab Shah' and the group of Pakistani eunuchs who guard it.

 

Murad (which means desire; the English title was Eunuch's Motherhood), was an award winning biographical Telefilm drama made by Evergreen Media Europe for Pakistan's television channel Indus TV that aired in 2003. The cast had the country's top male television actors playing "hijras": Sohail Asghar, Nabeel, Qazi Wajid, Kamran Jilani. It was directed by Kamran Qureshi, written by Zafar Mairaj and produced by Iram Qureshi. It won both Best TeleFilm and Best Director awards at 2003 Indus Telefilm Festival.[69][70] The story revolves around "Saima", a trans woman, who adopts a helpless child "Murad" and her relationship with him against the backdrop of her struggling throughout her life and her "desire" for her son. She has sent him away to live at a hostel so she can earn a living as a dancer, after her son gets cross with her, due to teasing (verbal and sexual) they face while dancing. This was the first time that influential male actors came out to support "hijra" rights during interviews; noting that in Pakistani English at that time eunuch was the term to describe a transgender person, and "khwaja sara" (also khwaja sira) had not yet replaced what is now considered a derogatory term due to decades of heckling and name calling, "hijra".[71][72]

 

In 2004, Kamran Qureshi directed a trans drama, Moorat ("effigy," however, the English title was Eunuch's Wedding. It was produced by famous actor and producer Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani with more than a dozen star-studded cast members for a 33-episode series.[73][74] It was nominated for Best Drama Serial, Abid Ali for Best Actor, and Maria Wasti for Best Actress at the Lux Style Awards 2005.[69][75] The show was credited for making people understand the pain and abuse that khwaja sara (hijra) constantly endure when people make fun of the way they look or dress without knowing them or how they were naturally born this way. The story involves a young lady who is arranged to marry. It turns out her husband is transgender. The story unfolds trans community and their deprived and isolated world. It portrays eloquently how they, too, are not far away from the human emotions and feelings and their world not much different from the heterosexual community. Even though they are in plain sight, they are tthey are taboo subjects and are not taken seriously. This makes them suffer endlessly in silence wrapped in slurs. The 33-episode series therefore touches on transgender abuse, women abuse, poverty, immorality of arranged marriages, and child abuse.[76]

 

Bol (Urdu: بول meaning Speak), is a 2011 Urdu-language social drama Pakistani film. It concerns a patriarch, Hakim, who is a misogynist, a domestic abuser, a bigot, and a zealot who forces religion on his family. They face financial difficulties due to Hakim wanting a son. He rejects his transgender daughter, Saifi, as he wanted an heir and she identifies as a girl. Saifi is deeply loved by the rest of her family. As she grows up, men want to take advantage of her and she does not understand at first. However, her oldest sister intervenes and teaches Saifi about what kind of touching is inappropriate. As Saifi grows older, she is not allowed to leave the house. She finds her sister's dresses compelling and tries them on, revealing her gender identity. A neighbour played by famous South Asian singer Atif Aslam, who is in love with one of the sisters, gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks, with the blessing of Saifi's sisters and mother. Saifi dresses like a boy; however, other boys sense her lack of self-esteem and eventually gang-rape her. She is saved when another transgender person, played by Almas Bobby (a transgender actor), finds her and takes her home. Hakim overhears Saifi telling her mother and Zainab what happened. When everybody is asleep, Hakim locks the room and suffocates his child for luring the men for the "shame" he would have to bear if the story got out.[77] It received several positive reviews from critics and went on to win the Best Hindi film award in IRDS Film awards 2011 by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS).[78]

  

Outside South Asia

  

The novel Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes features an important subplot involving the main character's investigation of the deaths of several hijra sex-workers.

 

The novel City of Djinns by William Dalrymple also features a chapter on hijras.

 

The novel A Son of the Circus by John Irving features a plot-line involving hijras.

 

In the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, the protagonist, Zam, is adopted by a group of hijras.

 

In the 2009 Brazilian soap opera Caminho das Índias (Portuguese: "The way to India"), hijras are shown in some occasions, especially at weddings and other ceremonies where they are paid for their blessing.

 

In the TV comedy Outsourced (2011), a hijra is hired by Charlie as a stripper for Rajiv's "bachelor party", much to Rajiv's utter horror.

 

A short film, under the direction of Jim Roberts, is being made by Rock Star Productions in which the protagonist is portrayed as a hijra. This film is set to be released on 1 May.[year needed][citation needed]

 

Kamran Ahmed Mirza is a popular gender performance artist in Oregon, United States.

  

Documentaries

  

Jareena, Portrait of a Hijda (1990)

Ladyboys (1992)

Bombay Eunuch (2001)

The Hijras: India's Third Gender (2001)

India's Ladyboys (2003)

Between the Lines: India's Third Gender (2005)

Middle Sexes (HBO documentary includes segment on modern Hijda) (2005)

Shabnam Mausi (2005)

The Hijras of India (BBC radio documentary)

Kiss the Moon (2009)

Call me Salma (2009)

Mohammed to Maya also titled Rites of Passage (2012)

This symbolic depiction suggests that the values of America have become ambiguous in the culture of the 2017's. Hopefully this wiil result in a clarification of national values in time.

Imnaha River canyon country

**clarification**

This has gotten waaay more attention than I have ever gotten on any of my images. I uploaded this in a rush and didn't have time to explain the picture in a caption. I need to explain how this baby was born:

Sorry to say, this isn't a single true exposure. I took one of my star trail shots and a landscape shot and compiled them together.

Apologies for not having that out front from the get go.

Editing done in Photoshop and Lightroom.

Explore, #37

   

Fog over the ice off the reservoir. Trees remind me of clarification brackets in writing.

Melitaea deione (Geyer, 1832)

Doncella iberica - Doncella deione - Damer dels conillets

Provençal fritillary

Mélitée des linaires

 

Por si sirve de referencia o comparativa, se pueden ver a las dos mariposas juntas. La propia aberrante y su colega con el clásico diseño. Por suerte, también las capté de reverso, así que testimonio completo, pues en cualquiera de los casos tal oportunidad fotera con ejemplares aberrantes y en reunión con sus congéneres no es frecuente que digamos. De por sí ya algunas especies resultan de odisea capturarlas en solitario.

Como se puede observar y es de suponer que por alguna razón genética eclosionó con esa malformación en el estampado del anverso de sus alas superiores. Salvo las manchas amarillo-anaranjado que separan la zona basal de la discal, tanto el espacio basal como el discal y postdiscal están coloreados de marrón muy oscuro. Por supuesto, para quienes no las conozcan o mayor aclaración, la “rara” es la que está situada a la derecha.

 

In case it serves as a reference or comparison, you can see the two butterflies together. The aberrant herself and her colleague with the classic design. Luckily, I also took them back, so testimony, because in any case such an photo opportunity with aberrant specimens and in a meeting with their congeners is not often to say. In itself and some species result from an odyssey to capture them alone.

As you can see and presumably for some genetic reason hatched with that malformation in the pattern of the obverse of its upper wings. Except for the yellow-orange spots that separate the basal area of ​​the disc, both the basal space and the disc and postdiscal are colored very dark brown. Of course, for those who do not know or clarification, the "rare" is the one on the right.

 

Si cela sert de référence ou de comparaison, vous pouvez voir les deux papillons ensemble. L'aberrant elle-même et son collègue au design classique. Heureusement, je les ai aussi repris, donc témoignage, car de toute façon, une telle occasion de photographier avec des spécimens aberrants et lors d'une réunion avec leurs congénères n'est pas souvent à dire. En soi et certaines espèces résultent d'une odyssée pour les capturer seules.

Comme vous pouvez le voir et vraisemblablement pour une raison génétique, éclos avec cette malformation dans le motif de l’avers de ses ailes supérieures. Hormis les taches jaune orangé qui séparent la zone basale du disque, l’espace basal ainsi que le disque et le disque postdiscal sont tous deux de couleur brun très foncé. Bien sûr, pour ceux qui ne le savent pas ou ne le savent pas, le "rare" est celui de droite.

 

i like the reflection ili 3al table

JUST for the clarification:

This is my best fwend's graduation ring, not mine...

Inside the large Saint James Quarter at night, on my way out after attending a late night film festival screening.

 

Quick snaps with the phone only, as this place is decidedly unfriendly towards photographers. Last time I took some photos in there with the main camera, security told me I can't take pics without a permit. Pointed out the many shoppers using their phones to snap pics, but apparently that is okay, they just object to actual cameras.

 

When I asked the centre for clarification they said if someone is using a proper camera they assume it is a professional shoot and so requires a permit! The thought of amateur photographers doesn't seem to have entered their mind, nor the fact that many modern phones have more camera facilities than some older cameras!

 

It felt to me like they were just trying to put people off, but without that bad publicity of saying they ban it. So if you are taking any pics in here, beware, seems okay with phone, but if you use your actual camera, you may be told to stop. Not very welcoming, is it? Anyway, kept main camera in bag and just took a few pics with my phone instead as I left the cinema.

...but this day will never happen again.

 

A texture by Paul Grand... before he was master of the Flypaper with Jill. You may also recognize his farewell... "till soon".

(clarification... he's not going away, he just often ends notes, 'till soon' - a bit of a trademark I thought)

I took advantage of the reciprocity between Desert Botanical Garden and San Diego Botanic Garden for member admission. It is a relatively young and somewhat small botanic garden. It does have a lot of interesting specimina, especially for me coming from the desert.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke

The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus /ˈsɪnərə kɑːrˈdʌnkjʊləs ˈskɒlɪməs/),[1][2][3][4] also known by the names French artichoke and green artichoke in the United States,[5] is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food.

The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence), together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form. Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist.

The English word artichoke was borrowed in the sixteenth century from the northern Italian word articiocco (the standard modern Italian being carciofo). The Italian term was itself borrowed either from Spanish alcarchofa (today usually alcachofa) or directly from the source of the Spanish word—medieval Andalusi Arabic الخرشوفة (al-kharshūfa, including the Arabic definite article al). The Arabic form kharshūfa is still used in Maghrebi Arabic today, while other variants in Arabic include kharshafa, and Modern Standard Arabic khurshūfa. These Arabic forms themselves derive from classical Arabic حرشفة (harshafa) singular word of the plural حراشف (ḥarashef) meaning "scale".[6][7] Other languages which derive their word for the artichoke from Arabic include Israeli Hebrew, which has the word חֻרְשָׁף (khursháf). The original Hebrew name (see Hebrew: he:ארטישוק), predating the Arab conquest,[clarification needed] is קינרס kinars, which is found in the Mishna.[8]

 

sdbg.org/

300 Quail Gardens Drive (at Ecke Ranch Road), Encinitas, CA 92024

Welcome to our 37-acre urban oasis featuring 4 miles of meandering trails and ocean views, 5,000+ plant species and varieties, and 29 uniquely themed gardens that represent 15 different regions and many habitats of the world. Our natural wonderland is designed for children and adults, alike; explore your interests, learn about the plant world that surrounds us, and let nature fill you with a little wonder.

 

SDBG2024

 

629

Taken Golden Acre Park. Bramhope Leeds

Eastern skunk cabbage has leaves which are large, 40–55 cm (15.5–21.5 in) long and 30–40 cm (12–15.5 in) broad. It flowers early in the spring when only the flowers are visible above the mud. The stems[clarification needed] remain buried below the surface of the soil with the leaves emerging later. The flowers are produced on a 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long spadix contained within a spathe, 10–15 cm (4–6 in) tall and mottled purple in colour. The rhizome is often 30 cm (0.98 ft) thick. Breaking or tearing a leaf produces a pungent but not harmful odor, the source of the plant's common name; it is also foul smelling when it blooms. The plant is not poisonous to the touch. The foul odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies, stoneflies, and bees. The odor in the leaves may also serve to discourage large animals from disturbing or damaging this plant which grows in soft wetland soils.

 

The onion genus Allium comprises monocotyledonous flowering plants and includes the onion, garlic, chives, scallion, shallot, and the leek. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic;[1] Linnaeus used allium specifically.[clarification needed] Some sources may refer to Greek αλεω (to avoid) by reason of the smell of garlic.[2] The almost universal eating and cooking of parts of the plants owes to the large variety of flavours and textures of the species.

Eastern skunk cabbage has leaves which are large, 40–55 cm (15.5–21.5 in) long and 30–40 cm (12–15.5 in) broad. It flowers early in the spring when only the flowers are visible above the mud. The stems[clarification needed] remain buried below the surface of the soil with the leaves emerging later. The flowers are produced on a 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long spadix contained within a spathe, 10–15 cm (4–6 in) tall and mottled purple in colour. The rhizome is often 30 cm (0.98 ft) thick. Breaking or tearing a leaf produces a pungent but not harmful odor, the source of the plant's common name; it is also foul smelling when it blooms. The plant is not poisonous to the touch. The foul odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies, stoneflies, and bees. The odor in the leaves may also serve to discourage large animals from disturbing or damaging this plant which grows in soft wetland soils.

 

338

From the Mull Calmac Ferry from Oban.

 

Eilean Musdile (Mansedale) is an islet, and lighthouse to the south west of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides.

The island lies in the entrance to Loch Linnhe, separated from Lismore by a sound ¼ miles across. It is a low-lying rock, ten acres (4.0 hectares) in size with some grass on it. CalMac ferries pass close to the island on their way from Oban to Mull.

 

The lighthouse was built by Robert Stevenson in 1833 at a cost of £4260 and initially showed a fixed white light. In 1910 most of the Northern Lighthouse Board's lights were changed to dioptric or Fresnel lenses but Lismore and Fidra, in the Firth of Forth, were left as the only remaining purely catoptric lights in the service.

 

A Standing Stone once stood on the highest point of the island (NM779351). The 9-foot (2.7 m) monolith appears to have recorded the midwinter sunset[clarification needed] and is thought to have been removed during construction of the lighthouse.

The skerry of Lady's Rock lies a short distance to the south west.

Enviro E40H Hybrid 12297 SN14TXS is curtailed a tad short from its journey, turning at Orpington War Memorial, despite the inclement weather, looks superb in honour of the British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Making a rare appearance on route 51 in these colours, with the blind set for the next trip having received an Orpington High Street (War Memorial) curtailment.

Seem to recall in previous years Enviro E40D 10196 (thanks Jack for the clarification) was the bus Plumstead chose to receive the Poppy livery.

  

Photo (c) TomG.2016.