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I admit I raised the saturation a bit and went heavy on the contrast, usually most photographers do so with Monochrome renders but sometimes you can take a risk with colours. The tree line along the canal parallel to Kaiser-August-Allee looks amazing at the moment, which is where I took this. Blossoms, early flowers and the such like are really now starting to come out.

I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)

St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire during the London Blitz in 1940. Due to its location in Fleet Street, it has a long association with journalists and newspapers. The church is a distinctive sight on London's skyline and is clearly visible from a number of locations. Standing 226 feet (69m) high, it is the second tallest of all Wren's churches, with only St Paul's itself having a higher pinnacle.

St Bride's may be one of the most ancient churches in London, with worship perhaps dating back to the conversion of the Middle Saxons in the 7th century. It has been conjectured that, as the patron saint is Bridget of Ireland, it may have been founded by Celtic monks, missionaries proselytising the English.

The present St Bride's is at least the seventh church to have stood on the site. Traditionally, it was founded by St Bridget in the sixth century. Whether or not she founded it personally, the remnants of the first church appear to have significant similarities to a church of the same date in Kildare, Ireland. The Norman church, built in the 11th century, was of both religious and secular significance; in 1210, King John held a parliament there. It was replaced by a larger church in the 15th century. In 1666 the church was completely destroyed during the Great Fire of London, which burned much of the city. After the fire, the old church was replaced by an entirely new building designed by Sir Christopher Wren, one of his largest and most expensive works, taking seven years to build

"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world." William Hazlitt

I should say, I am totally not happy about a smog over Moscow this summer - too much traffic...

"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."

William Hazlitt

Challenge 115: AIR & WIDE ANGLE

The statues on the island invariably faced the village as a protective mana, but in the case of the Ahu Akivi statues they face towards the sea. There is a legend narrated for this positioning of the seven statues. It is conjectured that the Rapanui people did it to propitiate the sea to help the navigators. However, according to an oral tradition, Hotu Matu’s priest had a dream in which the King's soul flew across the ocean when the Rapa Nui island was seen by him.

He then sent scouts navigating across the sea to locate the island and to find people to settle there. Seven of these scouts stayed back on the island waiting for the king to arrive. These seven are represented by the seven stone statues erected in their honour.

I'm not crazy, your reality just isn't the same as mine.

Reading helped me escape and broaden my mind when I was young, and continues to this day. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were particularly noteworthy pieces when I was a child. Though full of metaphor, allegory and loopy conjecture, there were always a few quotes that stuck with me. I always enjoyed the tale of the Mock Turtle, myself. The melancholy little thing got on just fine, just as I often felt I was doing. Whenever things get complicated, I like to think of this small excerpt, reminding me that things aren't as complicated and vile as I often think they are, and time tends to bestow strength:

'That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: 'because they lessen from day to day.'

It's been a rough month. It's been in my mantra.

Go check out Enchantment, though, and write your own stories. <3

Credits: Blog!

On the Erewash canal at Hallam Fields.

For those unfamiliar with name, it is pronounced "Erreh-wash" The canal runs more or less alongside the river.

From Wiki:

Etymology

The approximate meaning of the name is not in doubt, but there is room for debate about the precise derivation and its connotations. Brewer[1] gives the commonly accepted explanation that it comes from the Old English words irre ("wandering") and wisce ("wet meadow"). This is accepted by Cameron, a leading place name expert, and a Derbyshire specialist, who interprets the name as "wandering, marshy river".[2] Gelling, who specialises in seeking precise topgraphical equivalents for toponymic elements, confirms that wisce signifies a marshy meadow[3] but gives only southern examples. She conjectures that there is an element, wæsse, perhaps Old English, that signifies very specifically "land by a meandering river which floods and drains quickly",[4] and her examples are primarily Midland and northern. This seems to fit the Erewash perfectly. A good example of the meandering character of the river will be seen around Gallows Inn Playing Fields, Ilkeston, where rapid flooding and draining occur frequently.

Caucasus Mountains, Svaneti, Georgia, 2013.

“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. I do not seek or conjecture either of them as if they were veiled obscurities or extravagances beyond the horizon of my vision; I see them before me and connect them immediately with the consciousness of my existence.”

-- Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason

A Black-tailed Prairie Dog lets out a high pitched squeal while jumping up on its hind legs - the well known "jump-yip". It has been interpreted as a warning cry and an all clear signal, but I would hesitate to attach definitive meaning to the move. Context may play a part.

The main drive-through road in Grasslands bisects a number of dogtowns - prairie dogs on both sides. Sometimes I will see and/or hear a jump-yip before I've rolled to a stop. Other times, it happens after I've been sitting a while, and if I'm lucky the critter in my viewfinder is the one doing it. That's how I get my shots: luck. The key to meaning seems to be in the response from other prairie dogs. Some studies support the idea that if the yipping one receives a high number of yips in return, then many colony members - some out of visual range - are still above ground. This suggests safety: no predators lurking nearby.

On the other hand, if there is no response, a coyote or badger may be on the prowl, and there is some evidence that the yipping prairie dog is more likely to retreat underground in this case.

Whatever these communal ground squirrels may be communicating may well defy simplistic interpretations. There is more going on than meets the eye. For example, if this one photo were the only record of jump-yip behaviour, we might assume it's a Jerry Lee Lewis imitation: goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! I trust the wildlife biologists have already conducted a study to rule out air piano.

Meanwhile, conjecture aside, I'm happy just to observe and report. Wildlife behaviour, however we may interpret it, never ceases to interest and even amaze me. I trust most of my colleagues with long lenses feel the same.

Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Jerusalem, Israel: This Hasidic trio - brothers on a shopping errand for their mother, I conjecture - had just begun to cross the street at the traffic light, at which the car in which I was a passenger had stopped. I immediately opened the door of the car and told my son - the driver - that I'd meet him in a few minutes further up the street. I sprang out of the car, hoping to catch up with the three young men and capture them on my camera. Luckily, they had stopped halfway across the street, on a safety-island, waiting for the second, pedestrians' light to change to green. Shaking from nerves, out of fear that I wouldn't manage to capture them, before the light changed, I tried, as best I could on that very narrow island, to frame them properly... and this (above) is the shaky result.

The swan family disappeared from Erba Park and we thought we'd never see them again. They are probably up on the Main River by now, my wife conjectured. A real river, she meant. Not small like the Regnitz or the creek here in Erba Park. But then they turned up again without warning or ceremony. Just doing their usual thing, gliding along and eating vegetation along the shore or below the surface in the water. Eating seems to be their passion. No wonder the cygnets have grown so fast. [DSC01907_lr_2000]

Thank you all for the clicks, comments & faves.

Slowly reentering civilization, the Logan Local claws up the 2.2% grade as it crosses over the first of two ancient wooden trestles on the last part of the trip to Harrison. Note the "repairs" down below! There has been a lot of conjecture about why this line remains in service, but it does have a fascinating history which few know:

On September 23rd, 1889, the Northern Pacific and Montana Railroad Company began construction on a new line from Sappington, MT to Norris, MT. Following its completion on July 5th, 1890, the Red Bluff Branch would serve customers in rural Montana before the Northern Pacific filed for abandonment in 1969. Although approved by the ICC, this attempt was ultimately blocked by the Department of Public Service Regulation on July 5th, 1972, exactly 82 years after construction finished. 132 years later, this branch is still active to Harrison, MT. It is served once a week by the Montana Rail Link, and has every feel of a branch line survivor, with jointed rail, light bridges, cattle gates and steep mountain grades. Truly a step back in time.

A true survivor, which still has a valuable use as seen by the "large" 5 car train they have in tow. Although I would have preferred it facing the other way, the MRL #127 is a 1954 product of EMD delivered to the Great Northern as one of their two steam boiler equipped passenger GP9's. The best part is that it was setup to run long hood forward! I can take solace in the fact that technically its running forward the way EMD intended.

If it wasn't for a brown sign pointing down a farm track at the edge of the village of Duloe in south-east Cornwall it is highly unlikely that anyone would find this small stone circle. In fact, it wasn't recognised as such for a considerable time as a hedge once went right through the centre of it. The prehistoric stone circle at Duloe, near Looe, is the smallest in Cornwall with a diameter of around twelve metres. It is thought to have been constructed around 2,000BC. The stones seem likely to have come from Herodsfoot, about two miles away. The largest weighs about nine tons. There has been much conjecture as to their purpose, but in truth we may never know why the ancient peoples constructed them.

The first chirps of the waking day birds mark the "point vierge" of the dawn under a sky as yet without real light, amoment of awe and inexpress- ible innocence, when the Father in perfect silence opens their eyes. They begin to speak to Him, not with fluent song, but with an awakening question that is their dawn state, their state at the "point vierge." Their condition asks if it is time for them to " be." He answers "yes." Then, they one by one wake up, and become birds.

-Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, pg. 131

Dartmoor is rich in prehistoric remains, and the group of monuments at Merrivale is one of the finest on the moor. Side by side here are the remains of a Bronze Age settlement and a complex of ritual sites, including three stone rows (one of which is shown here), a stone circle, standing stones and a number of cairns – earth mounds associated with burials. The monuments were probably built over a long period, between about 2500 BC and 1000 BC.

It is quite possible that the ritual monuments of the Merrivale landscape belong to several different periods. In what way they might be related is a matter of conjecture, but such a vast array of monuments indicates that the site was of great spiritual importance to the people who lived in the area.

Whatever ceremonies were held here, the amount of planning, motivation and organisation that went into creating such a complex of sites is astonishing. Stone rows have been described as the most distinctive monuments of prehistoric Dartmoor and there are at least 70 examples, often built in conjunction with cairns as at Merrivale.

We met a chap who was undertaking restoration work to one of the rows of stones, and he told us this was now considered to be even older than Stonehenge.

Source: www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/merrivale-prehis...

....towards the fabled Treacle Mines.

810_94589-1

During World War II a secret research establishment was set up in a remote part of the common to provide the army with superior Tank armour. It in fact resulted in the famous Chobham armour. A military Railway station was built on the railway line from London, which runs on the edge of the common, to enable the research workers to get to work, and each day an army of workers could be seen entering the closely guarded establishment. All their lips were of course sealed by the Official Secrets Act, and their patriotism.

Now, at the time, in common with most food, sugar and sugar products were severely rationed to the populance. A rumour sprang up amongst the locals that the government had discovered a secret treacle mine on the common and the workers were treacle miners. Whether this rumour was promulgated by some local wag or the Ministry of Dis-Information is still a matter of conjecture.

Today the common holds different secrets. For example between here and the horizon of this picture a major motorway runs in a cutting across the width of this picture and beyond.

This building was the home of the St. Stephen's Anglican ministers at Silverton.

There is some conjecture as to why the house was built in this way, the most plausible explanation being one of finances. Apparently in other parts of Australia and other countries, it was not uncommon during Depression days and even earlier for the Building Departments to agree to building "The Half House". It simply meant that a man could submit plans for a whole house, but build only half. When he could afford it, he built the other half!

... rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the roots of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

-Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Doubleday, New York, 1966), p. 86.

David Gledhill in his wonderful The Names of Plants curiously writes: 'coum from a Hebrew name for Cyclamen coum'. But in Hebrew our Cyclamen is said to be יוונית, that is: Greek. It's unclear what the etymology of 'coum' really is. It's been suggested that it's a form of Koa or Quwê (ancient area of eastern Cilicia) where our Cyclamen grows widespread. There are other conjectures as well, e.g. 'from the island of Kos'. But its real origin is lost in the mists of time and behind the veil of languages.

In the context of Spring and New Life pushing up from Winter's wastes we might refer to the Bible (Mark 5, 41). A story there of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead, saying in Aramaic: 'Talitha kumi' (KJV), something like 'Sweetheart, get up!'

And indeed - so the tale goes - she got up.

Our Cyclamens don't need a command...

Early morning just outside the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature's (RSCN) Azraq Wetland Reserve (125 km WSW from Jordan's capital, Amman) sitting up in the bright morning light, this breeding male was perhaps thinking about breakfast but as it is early in Ramadan, maybe not... perhaps wondering where all the tourists had gone... we can only conjecture...

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.

I had planned a street shoot yesterday but only managed 4.5 hours of sleep so decided against it. I am determined to go out for some photography today but had only 4 hours of sleep last night. Insomnia is new to me and just another of the symptoms that has gradually worsened since my one Covid infection in 2023.

I'm going to need plenty of caffeine and plenty of calories today, the hottest day of the week, so wish me luck people. I am going to need that too!

I hope that you all have an awesome weekend my Flickr friends. I am deeply grateful for your support and your enjoyment of the photographs that I take means a great deal to me.

Take care and take photos.

The Erechtheion is unique in the corpus of Greek temples in that its asymmetrical composition doesn't conform to the canon of Greek classical architecture. This is attributed either to the irregularity of the site or to the evolving and complex nature of the cults which the building housed, or it is conjectured to be the incomplete part of a larger symmetrical building

www.flickr.com/photos/96244785@N04/52536087426/

© Dan McCabe

I actually have no idea what purpose these concrete trestles served. They are located within Gas Works Park in Seattle. My guess is that they might have been used to load or unload vehicles and perhaps had some sort of tracks or rails running along the top. But that is pure conjecture on my part. If anyone actually knows what purpose these structures served, I would love to know about it.

Against those who rejoice in every dogmatic definition as a new limitation which restricts the meaning of such and such a dogma to what is contained in this formula [and] nothing more. Who desire to have more and more formulas, more and more limitations, so that in the end everything is narrowed down to a minimum of meaning which must be held. On the contrary, dogmatic definitions set limits beyond which error cannot pass, but does not set limits to truth, in the sense of forbidding a dogma to mean more than is envisioned in a given formula.

-Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π.

It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the Exploratorium. Celebrations often involve eating pie or holding pi recitation competitions. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day. UNESCO's 40th General Conference designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics in November 2019.

The number π is a mathematical constant. It is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and it also has various equivalent definitions. It appears in many formulas in all areas of mathematics and physics and the earliest known use of the Greek letter π to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter was by Welsh mathematician William Jones in 1706. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter "π" since the mid-18th century, and is spelled out as "pi". It is also referred to as Archimedes' constant

Being an irrational number, π cannot be expressed as a common fraction, although fractions such as 22/7 are commonly used to approximate it. Equivalently, its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanently repeating pattern. Its decimal (or other base) digits appear to be randomly distributed, and are conjectured to satisfy a specific kind of statistical randomness.

It is known that π is a transcendental number: it is not the root of any polynomial with rational coefficients. The transcendence of π implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and straightedge.

Ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians and Babylonians, required fairly accurate approximations of π for practical computations. Around 250 BC, the Greek mathematician Archimedes created an algorithm to approximate π with arbitrary accuracy. In the 5th century AD, Chinese mathematics approximated π to seven digits, while Indian mathematics made a five-digit approximation, both using geometrical techniques. The first exact formula for π, based on infinite series, was discovered a millennium later, when in the 14th century the Madhava–Leibniz series was discovered in Indian mathematics.

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Il 14 marzo (o 3,14) è il giorno del Pi greco: una festa per chi ama la matematica

Il simbolo che conosciamo fu usato per la prima volta circa 250 anni fa, dal matematico gallese William Jones nel trattato A New Introduction to Mathematics (1706). π è l'iniziale dei termini greci περιφέρεια, "periferia", e περίμετρος, "perimetro", con riferimento alla circonferenza; ma anche del filosofo e matematico Pitagora. Prima di allora per riferirsi alla costante si ricorreva a complesse perifrasi come: "la quantità che quando si moltiplica per il diametro, dà la circonferenza".

IL CALCOLO DEI SUOI DECIMALI HA FATTO IMPAZZIRE INTERE GENERAZIONI. π è irrazionale, cioè non esprimibile come una frazione di due numeri interi: le 100 cifre riportate qui sopra sono insomma uno sforzo contenuto, rispetto a un numero che procede in apparenza all'infinito. Il record attuale di decimali verificati è di 22.459.157.718.361, frutto del lavoro di un centinaio di giorni di un supercomputer svizzero.

During its heyday in the middle of the first millennium CE, Teotihuacán - to the northeast of Mexico City about 40 km - was perhaps the world's sixth most populous city, with around 200,000 inhabitants. It had an enormous influence in Meso-America but all we know about it today is from later descriptions e.g. by the Maya and, of course, from archaeology. It is unclear why the city was abandoned but it has been conjectured that climate change made the entire area too dry for its people to survive.

Indeed, the place is very, very dry. But if you look carefully, there's plant life even on the stark 'pyramid' or Temple of the Sun itself. In its rocky crevices grow a few plants.

I've haphazardly picked out two for the insets. Left is a Glandularia gooddingii, Southwestern Mock Vervain. On the right is an invasive plant from southern Africa. It has been making inroads into the Americas the last quarter of a century or so. I think this grass is quite pretty: Melinis repens, Natal Grass.

The King of the Fairies, Oberon's personality has two sides. On the one hand, he ensures that the proper lovers end up together by the end of the play. He sympathizes with the sorely abused Helena and causes Demetrius to fall madly in love with her. As a benevolent ruler of the spirit world, he also brings blessing of peace and health to the future families of the newlyweds. But his personality is not all kindness; Oberon shows a more malicious side in his dealings with Titania.

Their initial interaction in the play begins with a fight. The dual has been brought about by Titania's possession of an Indian boy. While Titania appears to be legitimately raising this child, the only son of one of her votresses who died in childbirth, Oberon has decided he wants the boy as a servant. Why? Shakespeare never tells us. Perhaps Oberon wants to prove his male authority over Titania; perhaps he feels Titania is overindulging the boy and would like to bring discipline into his life. Any explanation the audience comes up with must be based in conjecture, because Shakespeare does not explain Oberon's motivation. No explanation, though, would seem to justify the cruelty Oberon uses in winning the boy away from Titania. Oberon casts a spell upon her, a trick that leaves her in love with Bottom, the ass. Many critics recognize Oberon's kindness in releasing her from this spell as soon as he has gotten what he wanted from her — the boy — but his treachery must still be acknowledged.

I composed this image during one of this summer's road trips through Kananaskis Country, a wilderness and recreational area west of Calgary, Canada. It is one of the last summer images of this area I'll take this year. Autumn is soon upon us.

In one of Robert Frost's poems, he states: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep..." These words suggest that, in our minds, forests live in a state of contradiction: peace and beauty on one hand, fear and trepidation on the other. This photograph allows me to share with you a few thoughts about this contradiction.

Forests have always been recognized as the earthly embodiment of life, providing sustenance, shelter, and protection for countless species. Ancient cultures understood this vital role and often believed that the health of a forest was a direct reflection of the health of their people and the planet.

In many indigenous cultures, this connection between the health of the forest and the well-being of the people was not just a metaphor; it was a practical reality. They relied on the forest for food, medicine, and materials, and understood that preserving and protecting these resources was essential for their survival.

But a forest is also a rich and venerable metaphor for the unconscious, a wild realm where the sun and moon cast shadows indiscernible from the shapes to which they belong; where sound travels strangely and without reference; where creatures can be of this world or the other. As such, forests hold a profound connection to the spiritual world, serving as a bridge between the natural and the supernatural. Related to the above, the Japanese find peace in "forest bathing," and most of us understand the positive feelings that often occur when one walks in a forest that this phrase is attempting to capture.

Others have found other - and more sinister - symbolism in their consideration of the meaning of forests. The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and hostile, maintaining their undetectability for fear of being destroyed by another hostile and undetected civilization. It is one of many possible explanations of the Fermi paradox, which contrasts the lack of contact with alien life with the potential for such contact. The hypothesis derives its name from Liu Cixin's 2008 novel The Dark Forest, although the concept predates the novel.

The Blue Lake is a large, monomictic, crater lake located in a dormant volcanic maar associated with the Mount Gambier maar complex. The lake is situated near Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, and is one of four crater lakes on Mount Gambier maar. Of the four lakes, only two remain, as the other two (Leg of Mutton and Brown) have dried up over the past 30 to 40 years as the water table has dropped.

Conflicting dates have been estimated for its last eruption, of 4,300 years ago, of 28,000 years ago, and most recently, a little before 6,000 years ago. If the youngest date is correct, this could be the most recent volcanic eruption on the Australian mainland.

Blue Lake is thought to be of an average depth of 72 m, but in places reaches 75 m deep. The crater rim measures 1,200 by 824 m, but the lake itself measures 1,087 by 657 m. The surface of the lake is 17 m below the level of the main street of the nearby town. The Blue Lake supplies the town with drinking water.

Bathymetric surveys located the deepest point in the lake at 77 m in 1967. Major diving exploration of the lake first occurred in 1985. Cave diver Peter Horne conducted temperature and visibility studies and made discoveries of a freshwater sponge species and other invertebrates. This exploration also discovered the Stromatolite Field, a collection of hollow rock formations that are found along the north-eastern perimeter down to a depth of 40 m. In 2008, permission was granted by SA Water for another diving exploration of the central and deepest parts of the lake. On this dive, core samples from the calcite-silt covered lake bed were collected where water temperature drops to 14 °C.

Annual colour change

During December to March, the lake turns to a vibrant cobalt blue colour, returning to a colder steel grey colour for April to November. The exact cause of this phenomenon is still a matter of conjecture, but likely it involves the warming of the surface layers of the lake during the summer to around 20 °C, causing calcium carbonate to precipitate out of the solution and enabling microcrystallites of calcium carbonate to form. This results in scatter of the blue wavelengths of sunlight. During winter, the lake becomes well mixed, and recent research indicates that during this phase of the colour cycle, the lake is somewhat murkier due to the redistribution of tannins and calcium carbonate particles throughout the lake. Solar elevation has also been found to influence the perceived colour of the lake. The movement of planktonic life forms within the lake during the seasons and during the day may additionally play a part in the colour change.

Nick hadn't heard the gas go by the cottage on the 4th and although I don't remember the logic, we conjectured that we hadn't missed it on the 10th. With no sign of it in T Falls, we started asking questions and found out that they didn't run one that morning, so we chased some junk on a grain train to Missoula. We got awesome stuff, just not blue stuff. Way she goes!

Seems like this sign in Paint Rock AL has incorporated the big BAMA elephant! That may just be conjecture on my part! :)

The lifespan (from egg and caterpillar to pupa/chrysalis and imago) of Malachite Butterflies can be up to several months of which the last fortnight or so yields those beautiful gliders. So, as in the photo our Beauty emerges from its chrysalis it hasn't long anymore to live. Note the sharp golden spikes on the now empty cover. They've kept predators at bay for the duration of that stage.

Earlier I was at a loss as to the derivation of the scientific Latin name (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/29857193144/in/photoli...). My earlier conjecture (though inventive, I might say...) was wrong, I now think😮. Rather 'Siproeta' seems to be derived from a lesser Greek hero of Antiquity, one Siproites. He was once a hunter who in the woods espied the naked goddess Artemis taking a bath. As punishment he was turned into a woman. Great Carolus Linnaeus and those after him generally used the names of Greek mythological heroes and heroines to designate Butterfly species.

“I do not have clear answers to current questions. I do have questions, and . . . I think a man is known better by his questions than by his answers.”

-Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Garden City, NY: Doubleday/Image, 1966/1968), 5.

The rumor mill was flooded with conjecture Thursday morning at the dorm. Conversations in the common area centered around the approaching storm and when it would begin. Opinions abounded, but a Winter Storm Warning was in effect at 3pm.

My conductor and I were on duty on 12:45 eastern for the afternoon UPS train. As we were waiting for transportation to the yard, the first snowflakes started to fall. No big deal.

About an hour later, as we were doubling up the train from three different tracks, the weather took a turn for the worst. The wind began to howl. Snowfall was heavier. It was getting uglier.

With the air test complete, we headed up to Englewood. The dispatcher already had lined up a light engine move, putting us and another eastbound on hold. I glanced down at my watch. The time was almost 3pm.

With the wind blowing and snow swirling, I hopped down for a quick photo. It was noticeable colder than an hour ago. Conditions were deteriorating by the minute.

With my photo in the can, I retreated back to the warm cab of my AC44C6M. Within seconds of taking off my coat, a signal popped up for both us.

It was now race time to see who gets out of town first. I must admit that it wasn't much of a race though, as my 13,200 horsepower consist absolutely dusted a long and under powered one unit wonder.

Gotta go!

December 22, 2022

The Pepperbox on Brickworth Down, a few miles from Salisbury, is an hexagonal two-storey brick tower with a pyramid roof built in 1606. It is so named as it resembles the design of a pepper box or pepper pot that would have been in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its original usage is a matter of conjecture but it has been suggested it may have been used as a lookout so that ladies could follow the progress of the hunt, away from the rain and mud.

It is also told that it has been a haunt of highwaymen, who waited there to rob coaches after they had climbed the hill and the horses were tired. In the Second World War it was used as a lookout post for the local Home Guard.

“Today, as a matter of fact, there is very little real freedom anywhere because everyone is willing to sacrifice spiritual liberty for some lower kind. People will compromise their personal integrity (spiritual liberty) for the sake of security, or ambition, or pleasure, or just to be left in peace.”

- Thomas Merton from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander p. 78

From large Willow Lagoon, Laguna del Sauce, the Arroyo del Potrero runs placidly into the grand Rio de la Plata. Placidly that is for the run of most of it not under the influence of the tides. Once tides flow in and out, the mouth of the Potrero becomes quite violent. This photo has it at its reined in moments; in fact one could easily cross it though to be sure I left my camera with my clothes on this side...

Why 'Potrero' I don't know. The word has something to do with ponies or small horses or their pastures. There's nothing here that I think could be construed as a pasture; perhaps it's the ponyish or coltish behavior of the stream in strong tides that's the tell-tale for its name. None of the locals whom I asked had any idea, and looked rather strangely at the foreigner asking such questions. Friendly enough they were, though.

In the distance you can just see a Commemoration of Cormorants on that sandspit.

PS Am very grateful to Coastal Tours - see below - for his conjecture. It's probably right!

“Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time.”

-Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Garden City, NY: Image, 1968), 158.

This is precisely why Phill shouldn't consume as much of that cured dried meat as he does. The effects are starting to affect my ability of Astral Conjecture, as you can see by the scattering of my particles. It must be something to do with the levels of noxious gas, built up over the last 2 hours. Jeezuz!

_PDS8757

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Vertical panorama at 14mm

΄Ενα επικών διαστάσεων κτίσμα για το οποίο το ΣτΕ μόλις το 1999 απεφάνθη ότι πρόκειται για πολιτιστικό και όχι αμιγώς θρησκευτικό μνημείο.

Έχω επισημάνει την ανθρώπινη παρουσία ώστε να συνειδητοποιήσει ο θεατής την μεγαλοπρέπειά του.

An epic building for which the Council of State only in 1999 ruled that it is a cultural and not a purely religious monument.

I have highlighted the human presence so that the viewer realizes his grandeur.

Links for more informations:

11 αλήθειες για την Ροτόντα

Ροτόντα Θεσσαλονίκης Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού

You can watch the archaeological film "ROTUNDA" , production of the Ephorate of Antiquities, Thessaloniki, 2016, with the history of the monument and the analysis of its mosaic decoration

My board “Thessaloniki” on getty images

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Θεσσαλονίκη Thessaloniki

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The Rotunda at Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, is a giant building with an unspecified initial use but with many conjectures about it (temple of Zeus or Kaveir Thothi or mausoleum for Caesar Galerius or throne room in the relevant palace complex)

Over the centuries it was converted into a Christian church in the early Christian period, probably in honor of the incorporeal forces-angels, into a mosque in 1591 and again into a Christian church dedicated to St. George after liberation from the Ottoman occupation in 1912

It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988

digital art

Blue Lake is a large, monomictic, crater lake located in a dormant volcanic maar associated with the Mount Gambier maar complex. The lake is situated near Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, and is one of four volcanic crater lakes originally on Mount Gambier maar. Of the four lakes, only two remain, the other one being Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi; the other two, Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo and Brownes Lake / Kroweratwari, dried up as the water table dropped.

Conflicting dates have been estimated for the last eruption of the volcano: of 4,300 years ago, of 28,000 years ago, and a little before 6,000 years ago. If the youngest date is correct, this could be the most recent volcanic eruption on the Australian mainland.

The Boandik people occupied the area before the colonisation of South Australia.

Blue Lake / Warwar is one of four lakes in the Dormant volcano complex. Sites of cultural significance to the Boandik people were assigned dual names by the City of Mount Gambier in February 2022, and the renaming included the four lakes in the Bungandidj language. These are as follows:

Blue Lake is thought to be of an average depth of 72 m, but in places reaches 75 m deep (but some unconfirmed values mention a 204 m maximum depth due to a natural cave section). The crater rim measures 1,200 by 824 m, but the lake itself measures 1,087 by 657 m. The surface of the lake is 17 m (56 ft) below the level of the main street of the nearby town. The Blue Lake supplies the town with drinking water.

Browne's Lake / Kroweratwari (sometimes spelt Browns Lake) dried up in the 1980s, and is now a picnic spot.

There is a 3.6 km road and walking track around the circumference of Blue Lake / Warwar, with an underpass between it and Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo.

Each November, the lake turns to a deep turquoise colour, gradually returning to a duller blue colour in late February to March. The exact cause of this phenomenon is still a matter of conjecture, but likely it involves the warming of the surface layers of the lake during the summer to around 20 °C, causing calcium carbonate to precipitate out of the solution and enabling microcrystallites of calcium carbonate to form. This results in scatter of the blue wavelengths of sunlight. During winter, the lake becomes well mixed, and recent research indicates that during this phase of the colour cycle, the lake is somewhat murkier due to the redistribution of tannins and calcium carbonate particles throughout the lake. Solar elevation has also been found to influence the perceived colour of the lake. The movement of planktonic life forms within the lake during the seasons and during the day may additionally play a part in the colour change.

Bathymetric surveys located the deepest point in the lake at 77 m in 1967. Major diving exploration of the lake first occurred in 1985. Cave diver Peter Horne conducted temperature and visibility studies and made discoveries of a freshwater sponge species and other invertebrates. This exploration also discovered the Stromatolite Field, a collection of hollow rock formations that are found along the north-eastern perimeter down to a depth of 40 m (130 ft). In 2008, permission was granted by SA Water for another diving exploration of the central and deepest parts of the lake. On this dive, core samples from the calcite-silt covered lake bed were collected where water temperature drops to 14 °C (57 °F).

This breaks my heart--the corpse of a great egret, Ardea alba, whose feet are tangled in plastic, hanging from a branch on a bald cypress. The egret's death from thirst and exhaustion offered opportunities to flies and the spider who spun that web to collect them. Given the pristine condition of the surrounding territory at the Long Point Ranch, a nature preserve, I conjecture that the egret was ensnared elsewhere--maybe in the landfill across the road--and then got caught when it landed on the tree.

The ranch is a beautiful place with habitat for many species of birds, reptiles and plants, but apparently you can't run and can't hide from human trash.

CMQ 9011 was a good un-refurbished counterpart to the trio of overhauled CP 9021-23 Red Barns undertaking their pilot runs on revenue freight (seen here) based in Moose Jaw from November 2022 to April 2023 so that Canadian Pacific could assess performance differences across 9011 and 9021-23.

In the last weeks of 2022 through the New Year, the pattern was that the red barns would continue to demonstrate themselves with runs on the Bulyea Sub, since these runs often involved lots of switching, variable speeds, and intense grades sometimes with fully loaded grainers behind them. CMQ 9011 was meanwhile used occaisonally for the Regina turn E44 when it used to originate in Moose Jaw, likely borne out of crew preferences during the harshest winter conditions. Although this day in particular was forgiving temperature-wise, sitting around -17C when E44-06 was on duty, the southwesterly winds were cruising at 25 km/h, bringing the windchill down to a more prairie standard -30C. Having naively parked the car on the opposite side of the tracks and hopping out glove-less, I had my one-and-only frostbite incident whilst trackside thus far. I had also forgotten to bring my charger with me during the break, so despite buying a new battery, this was one of the last images my shutter was able to handle before the battery pack was lost to the cold temperatures and ice crystals formed on my telephoto lens as they departed Regina here.

My winter break back home wasn't long enough to fully captivate the experience of having a quartet of cowls assigned to Moose Jaw, as rumors from crews I've talked to claim that there were in fact a few operations of 4 barns all together when they had to lift a potential 301 originating from terminals on the Bulyea Sub earlier in December, unlike the trio which simply had to spot for customers. 2 days prior to this and 3 days after the infamous new-years run, there was a more credible conjecture that CP 5875 pre-repaint, assigned to the Lanigan Sub as extra power, ran paired with the red barn trio also to lift a grainer as follow-up to the spotter, though I was unable to verify this while catching up with friends and family instead.

“Today, as a matter of fact, there is very little real freedom anywhere because everyone is willing to sacrifice spiritual liberty for some lower kind. People will compromise their personal integrity (spiritual liberty) for the sake of security, or ambition, or pleasure, or just to be left in peace.”

- Thomas Merton from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander p. 78

There was never a day on the mountain when I didn't see a few ground squirrels. The California Ground Squirrel is nothing fancy, has few of the cute habits of it's chipmunk cousins, and is almost always on alert. Well, I suppose if I were the favorite prey of rattlesnakes and Red-tailed hawks, and I lived with one on the ground and was constantly being eyed from the sky, I'd wouldn't be playing "tag" with chipmunks like the ones at Yosemite of Sequoia.

Here's one on high alert in from of the three entrances or exits to one of its burrows... The California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), also known as the Beechey ground squirrel, is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California Peninsula; it is common in Oregon and California and its range has relatively recently extended into Washington and northwestern Nevada. As is typical for ground squirrels, California ground squirrels live in burrows, which they excavate themselves. Some burrows are occupied communally, but each squirrel has its own entrance.

Although they readily become tame in areas used by humans, and quickly learn to take food left or offered by picnickers, they spend most of their time within 25 m (80 ft) of their burrows, and rarely go further than 50 m (160 ft) from it.

In the colder parts of their range, California ground squirrels hibernate for several months, but in areas where winters have no snow, most squirrels are active year-round. In those parts where the summers are hot, they may also estivate for periods of a few days.

I keep hearing that this ground squirrel is easily tamed, will readily take food from a passerby, and will appropach people on trail for handouts. In ten years on the mountain, I have never seen any of that behavior. They are very wary of just about anything other than another ground squirrel.

Btw, this is just conjecture, but it may be true that ground squirrels do not use their tails like Golden-mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks, of all those city dwellers like Fox, Brown, Red, and Gray squirrels.