View allAll Photos Tagged Conjecture,
NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years [dubious – discuss] , about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6964. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6964.
[Text from Wikipedia]
GSO 12" carbon f8
Mount: Astro-Physics 1100 GTO
CCD Moravian G2-8300
Filters: Astronomik LRGB
Date: 30jul-2aug2019
Italy, Long 7°41'40"E, Lat 45°28'18"N. Sky 20,9-21,4
L: 16x600s bin1; RGB: 8x720s bin2
Maxim DL 5
Processing: Photoshop, Pixinsight
What I conjecture to be a former blacksmith's, given that the adjacent yard is still given over to light automotive business, rusting beautifully at the southern end of Nancegollan.
I wish to thank my friend, Baz Richardson for giving me his permission to use his stunning picture titled, “The village of Dent, Yorkshire Dales”, found here - flic.kr/p/2nxXw4E as the background for this composite. Anyone who has not yet visited Baz Richarson’s photostream, I highly recommend doing so - a wonderful visual ride through the hills and valleys, the meadows and streams, the harbors and villages in a land called England…………
Viewers might notice that the pictured car is a left hand drive. The car, shown and recorded at the British Car Show at Harper Junior College was a left hand drive. It is my conjecture that this car was manufactured in England and at some point, was exported to the United States………….and then subsequently shipped back (digitally) to England and somehow ended up in the hands of some unknown bloke who is seen driving the little Austin in this composite. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!
_______________________________
a bit about this car
1937 Austin Seven Nippy
Brainchild of Herbert Austin and Stanley Edge, the Austin Seven looked almost impossibly small when launched in 1922. Based around an 'A-frame' chassis equipped with all-round leaf-sprung suspension, four-wheel drum brakes and a spiral bevel back axle, it was powered by a sewing machine-esque 747cc sidevalve four-cylinder engine allied to three-speed (later four-speed) manual transmission. An evolution of the Type EB ‘65’ which itself had been inspired by the legendary Type EA Sports ‘Ulster’, the Type AEB ‘Nippy’ arrived during 1934. Visually near identical to its immediate predecessor with the same low-slung stance and distinctive rounded tail, the newcomer was predominantly bodied in steel over an ash frame (though, early cars utilised the same aluminium panelling as the Type EB ‘65’). Powered by a tuned engine allied to four-speed manual transmission and benefiting from a lowered centre of gravity, the Type AEB ‘Nippy’ proved an amusingly brisk and chuckable sports car. Phased out in 1937, total ‘Nippy’ production is thought to have amounted to just c.800 cars.
Source: www.handh.co.uk/auction/lot/6-1937-austin-seven-nippy/?lo...
Final note: A car, just like the one pictured, except a right hand drive, was recently sold at auction for the tidy sum of £19,125.
If so inclined the [ original picture ] of this car can be viewed here - www.flickr.com/gp/appleman64/93n0781845
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and is set on the shores of Darwin Harbour (named after Charles Darwin).
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839 (the time of discovery of Port Darwin/Darwin Harbour by European explorers). Early that day, HMS Beagle, which was engaged on an excursion of the Australian coast, sailed into the area and anchored in Shoal Bay near Hope Inlet. John Lort Stokes, William Forsyth and several other crew members left Beagle on a longboat for an excursion and passed around Lee Point, in the vicinity of which, there appeared to be a major opening. Stokes was later to record.
"The sea breeze setting in early, we did not reach it till after dark, when we landed for observations at a cliffy projection near the eastern entrance point: this we found to be composed of a kind of clay, mixed with calcareous matter. We had some difficulty in landing, and then in scrambling up the cliffs by the light of a lantern. If any of the watchful natives happened at the time to be on the look out, they must have stood in astonishment at beholding such strange persons, who at such a time of night, with no ostensible object were visiting their shores".
The term 'Night Cliff' was thus applied to the locality, and it subsequently appeared in this form on Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's original plan of 1869. Goyder also mentioned the locality a couple of times in the diary he kept as leader of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition.
The Nightcliff foreshore was the site of Royal Australian Air Force camps with spotlights and large guns used to defend Darwin from Japanese aircraft bombing during the Second World War. During 1941, a naval outpost including a large concrete artillery outpost bunker was established on the headland. Various other defence facilities were constructed inland as large numbers of military personnel moved into the area. The 2/14 Field Regiment A.I.F. (Australian Infantry Force) was given the task of planning and constructing a hutted camp which became known as "Night Cliff's Camp". After the war, increasing pressure for suburban development caused the Nomenclature Committee of the N.T. to officially name the area on 29 October 1948. The conjoint version of the name, "Nightcliff" was adopted.
Today, a long footpath along the foreshore of Nightcliff is used for walking and cycling, particularly in the evenings after work. Along the footpath there is Nightcliff Jetty, Nightcliff Beach and Nightcliff Swimming Pool.
"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."
~William Hazlitt
Spring blooms in the Mojave Desert.
This species was spotted at Spring Mountain Ranch, Red Rock Canyon, NV. While the name would lead one to believe this is a type of grass...it is a flowering plant with narrow leaves. There is conjecture the leaves gave rise to the 'grass' affiliation.
This spotting is in question as to taxonomy of Sisyrinchium per the below comments. Best guess is Sisyrinchium radicatum (St. George blue eyed grass).
USDA profile...
Symbol:SIRA3
Group:Monocot
Family:Iridaceae
Duration:Perennial
Growth Habit:Forb/herb
Native Status:L48 N
Oamaru is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connect it to both cities. With a population of 13,850, Oamaru is the 28th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in Otago behind Dunedin and Queenstown. The town is the seat of Waitaki District, which includes the surrounding towns of Kurow, Weston, Palmerston, and Hampden. which combined have a total population of 23,200.
Friendly Bay is a popular recreational area located at the edge of Oamaru Harbour, south to Oamaru's main centre. Just to the north of Oamaru is the substantial Alliance Abattoir at Pukeuri, at a major junction with State Highway 83, the main route into the Waitaki Valley. This provides a road link to Kurow, Omarama, Otematata and via the Lindis Pass to Queenstown and Wanaka. Oamaru serves as the eastern gateway to the Mackenzie Basin, via the Waitaki Valley.
Oamaru has been built between the rolling hills of limestone and short stretch of flat land to the sea. This limestone rock is used for the construction of local "Oamaru stone”, sometimes called "Whitestone" buildings.
Oamaru enjoys a protected location in the shelter of Cape Wanbrow. The town was laid out in 1858 by Otago's provincial surveyor John Turnbull Thomson, who named the early streets after British rivers, particularly rivers in the northwest and southeast of the country.
The name Oamaru derives from the Māori and can be translated as "the place of Maru" (cf. Timaru). The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
I always find it fascinating to envision life in the old west and how challenging it must have been to survive. No lights, electricity and modern conveniences to rely on, just hard work and sheer determination. When I first come to scenes like this one, the first thing that comes to mind is how beautiful the landscape is with the lone ranch house and the beautiful mountains in the background. The next thing that pops into my head is how resilient the people who first came here and built this house must have been. I wonder how many people that live in today's world (including myself) would have survived the harsh winters, lack of food and wildlife. I'd like to think that I would have, but that is just conjecture on my part. Suffice to say that I will never know, and all I can do is take in the scene and capture it on digital film. By the way, that mountain is Wilson Peak which is featured on Coors beer cans.
NGC6946 sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group, but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years, about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. It is heavily obscured by interstellar matter due to its location close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6946.
Equipment used
ZWO ASI2600MC camera cooled to -20c
Sky Watcher 150 PDS telescope
ASIAIR Pro
ASI 120mm Guide Scope and Camera
EQ6-R Pro Mount
Optolong L Pro Filter
89 x 300 second exposures stacked and processed in Pixinsight.
Tontine Street, Folkestone.
“British seaside towns are often associated with retirement and the idea of a “last resort“. The melancholy of these locations is touched upon by Nathan Coley’s illuminated text sculpture...”
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.
This model is of Samson, from the Bible, destroying the temple of Dagon.
The foundation and shaping of this temple building is based on a real philistine temple which was uncovered in a place called Tell Qasile.
This temple had two stone bases on which the pillars would sit. These pillars were wooden logs rested in place, with only the weight of the roof holding them in place. This is why my pillars are depicted in this manner instead of the more common approach by artists who represent them as being stone.
While going up from the foundations is purely conjecture we do know that the Philistine homes of this era had open roof styles (similar to the Roman villa). With the Bible describing the Philistines as being on the roof it stands to reason then that they could see into the chamber somehow so I went with the open roof design seen here. This would also explain why they did not have further pillars supporting the roof elsewhere.
It was time once again for the annual Christmas Market at Suomi Hall in Astoria, Oregon. It put me in the mood for Christmas and Finland, The latter is certain to occur. A trip to Finland is pure conjecture.
I'll catch up with you later!
Behind depressing Qobustan town, barren rocky hill-crags rise from the semi-desert. But it was not always thus. Around 12,000 years ago the Caspian Sea level was some 80m higher. The Caspian foreshores were lush with vegetation and Stone Age hunter-gatherers settled in caves that were then just a short walk from the waters. The remnants of these caves remain etched with around 6000 fascinating petroglyphs (simple stone engravings). Even if you have no particular interest in ancient doodles, Qobustan’s eerie landscape and the hilltop views of oil-workings in the turquoise- blue Caspian are still fascinating.
The Qobustan Petroglyph Reserve is run by helpful English-speaking staff and it’s well worth paying for a guided tour: deciphering or even spotting the petroglyphs can be pretty tough for the casual visitor. Common themes are livestock, wild animals and human figures, notably shamans. Especially notable is a spindly reed boat sailing towards the sunset. Comparing this with similar ancient etchings in Norway led controversial ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl to suggest that Scandinavians might have originated in what is now Azerbaijan.
Seek out the fascinating tambourine stone. This resonant rock was played like a primitive musical instrument accompanying a ritual chain-dance (yallı) that features in some petroglyphs and was performed to ensure a successful hunt.
The reserve’s simple museum section, slated for eventual reconstruction, offers some interesting conjecture on daily cave life, setting the scene with mannequins eating and hunting. Tools and weapons found on the site are also displayed.
www.lonelyplanet.com/azerbaijan/baku-to-qobustan/qobustan...
I went back three days later to take photos of glowing red tide again with a longer lens. To my surprise, the glow this time was so intense that it was visible even before dark (see my comment section), although a balanced exposure that captures the dim glow while not over-exposing sky at dusk was difficult. My conjecture is that this more intense luminescence was caused by a combination of more algae growth and low tide. A day after that, when I went again, the glow was barely visible at night: not so lucky for the photographers, but a good news for the coast.
We just had a very low helicopter fly over that woke her up from a sound sleep. Lots of conjecture all morning on FB about why sets of 3 are flying over. We are the next town over from where the Patriots play their home football games.
Driftwood often brings a certain element of surprise to a beach. These surprises lead to many conjectures and stories.
Feel free to make up your own story.
The trail quite slippery and muddy at the beginning then dry climbs steadily up Raemura through dense forests, patches of huge ferns and enormous expanses of naturalised Stachytarpheta cayennensis, Blue Rat's-tail. I respectfully use the designations of the wonderfully informative website of Cook Islands Biodiversity and Natural Heritage (I'd have myself written Stachytarpheta jamaicensis and Snakeweed...). The pretty blue flowers were being visited by many long-wing butterflies and also lots of - I think - feral Honeybees, Apis mellifera.
Those Honeybees are not at all native to these islands. The Biodiversity website says that they were first described for Rarotonga by a versatile Scottish missionary, William Wyatt Gill (1828-1896), who visited here for five months in 1858. He must have had an eye for nature. When precisely European Honeybees were introduced to this island is unclear. But I wouldn't be surprised if that was done by earlier missionaries. The first Honeybees in northern New Zealand were in two hives that another missionary's wife, Mary Bumby (1811-1862) had with her when she arrived there from Europe via Sydney in 1839. Apiculture was stimulated for cultural and agricultural reasons by these missionaries. See my earlier www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/11043460916/in/photoli....
It may be conjectured that Honeybees were introduced here in Rarotonga similarly perhaps already in the late 1820s.
The inset is a view of the Eastern Mountains from the highest slope of Raemura before you get to its rock face.
Irene è la città che si vede a sporgersi dal ciglio dell'altipiano nell'ora che le luci s'accendono e per l'aria limpida si distingue laggiù in fondo la rosa dell'abitato: dove è più densa di finestre, dove si dirada in viottoli appena illuminati, dove ammassa ombre di giardini, dove innalza torri con i fuochi dei segnali; e se la sera è brumosa uno sfumato chiarore si gonfia come una spugna lattiginosa al piede dei calanchi.
(...)Quelli che guardano di lassù fanno congetture su quanto sta accadendo nella città, si domandano se sarebbe bello o brutto trovarsi a Irene quella sera. Non che abbiano intenzione d'andarci - e comunque le strade che calano a valle sono cattive - ma Irene calamita sguardi e pensieri di chi sta là in alto."
(Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili, Capitolo VIII – Le città e il nome. 5)
"Irene is the city visible when you lean out from the edge of the plateau at the hour when the lights come on, and in the limpid air, the pink of the settlement can be discerned spread out in the distance below: where the windows are more concentrated, where it thins out in dimly lighted alleys, where it collects the shadows of gardens, where it raines towers with signal fires;and if the evenings is misty, a hazy glow swells like a milky sponge at the foot of the gulleys.
(...) Those who look down from the heights conjecture about what is happening in the city; they wonder if it would be pleasant or unpleasant to be in Irene that evening. Not that they have any intention of going there - in any case the roads winding down to the valley are bad - but Irene is a magnet for the eyes and thoughts of those who stay up above."
(Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, Chapter VIII – Cities & Names. 5)
V838 Monocerotis - Hubble Legacy Archive, NSA
Data acquisition: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA
Data processing: Rudy Pohl
RGB image
V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) is a red star in the constellation Monoceros about 20,000 light years (6 kpc) from the Sun.[7] The previously unknown star was observed in early 2002 experiencing a major outburst, and was possibly one of the largest known stars for a short period following the outburst. Originally believed to be a typical nova eruption, it was then identified as something completely different. The reason for the outburst is still uncertain, but several conjectures have been put forward, including an eruption related to stellar death processes and a merger of a binary star or planets.
The remnant is evolving rapidly. By 2009 its temperature had increased a bit (since 2005) to 3,270 K and its luminosity was 15,000 times solar, but its radius had decreased to 380 times that of the Sun although the ejecta continues to expand.[4] The opaque ejected dust cloud has completely engulfed a B-type companion. (Wikipedia)
The 1st century Roman temple at Garni, east of Yerevan and arguably the easternmost major archaeological site of the Roman Empire. It seems that a local Armenian king - Tridates - visited Rome at the time of Nero, saw all the wonderful buildings before they burned down, and thought, I want one of those. So when he got home he built one, this one. It is a matter of conjecture whether it was a proper temple, dedicated to a pagan god, or just a vanity project, like a personal family mausoleum. A massive earthquake brought it tumbling down in 1679 and the Soviets reconstructed it in the 1970s. It is a magnificent sight.
The Adoration of the Magi is an unfinished early painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was given the commission by the Augustinian monks of San Donato in Scopeto in Florence in 1481, but he departed for Milan the following year, leaving the painting unfinished. It has been in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence since 1670.
The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a triangular shape with the Magi kneeling in adoration. Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a self-portrait of the young Leonardo (on the far right). In the background on the left is the ruin of a pagan building, on which workmen can be seen, apparently repairing it. On the right are men on horseback fighting and a sketch of a rocky landscape.
The ruins are a possible reference to the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to medieval legend, the Romans claimed would stand until a virgin gave birth. It is supposed to have collapsed on the night of Christ's birth. (In fact it was not even built until a later date.) The ruins dominate a preparatory perspective drawing by Leonardo, which also includes the fighting horsemen. The palm tree in the center has associations with the Virgin Mary, partly due to the phrase "You are stately as a palm tree" from the Song of Solomon, which is believed to prefigure her. Another aspect of the palm tree can be the usage of the palm tree as a symbol of victory for ancient Rome, whereas in Christianity it is a representation of martyrdom—triumph over death—so in conclusion we can say that the palm, in general, represents triumph. The other tree in the painting is from the carob family; the seeds from this tree are used as a unit of measurement for valuable stones and jewels. It is therefore associated with crowns, suggesting Christ as the king of kings or the Virgin as the future queen of heaven, as well as that this is nature's gift to the newborn Christ. As with Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, the background is probably supposed to represent the Pagan world supplanted by the Christian world, inaugurated by the events in the foreground. The artist uses bright colors to illuminate the figures in the foreground of the painting. The Virgin and Child are, in fact, painted yellow, the color of light. The trees are painted blue, an unusual color for trees of any kind. On the right side, the most credible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a 30-year-old can be seen, according to several critics.
Much of the composition of this painting was influenced by an earlier work of the Northern artist Rogier van der Weyden. The relationship between figures, space and the viewer's standpoint, the high horizon, slightly raised viewpoint, space receding into the far distance, and a central figural group poised before a rock formation in the middle of the landscape are all copied from van der Weyden's Entombment of Christ (1460, Uffizi).
Owing to the painting's unfinished status in 1481, the commission was handed over to Filippino Lippi, who painted another Adoration of the Magi, completed in 1496, in substitution of the one commissioned to Leonardo. It is also housed in the Uffizi.
Domenico Ghirlandaio completed a separate painting, expanding upon Leonardo's theme, in 1488.
In 2002 Maurizio Seracini, an art diagnostician alumnus of the University of California, San Diego, and a native Florentine, was commissioned by the Uffizi to undertake a study of the paint surface to determine whether the painting could be restored without damaging it. Seracini, who heads Editech, a Florence-based company he founded in 1977 focused on the "diagnostics of cultural heritage", used high-resolution digital scans as well as thermographic, ultrasound, ultraviolet and infrared diagnostic techniques to study the painting in ultra-fine detail. He concluded that the painting could not be restored without damaging it and that only the underdrawing is by Leonardo. Another artist (or artists) was responsible for all of the existing paintwork on top of the underdrawing. Seracini stated that "none of the paint we see on the Adoration today was put there by Leonardo." As a part of his diagnostic survey on the Adoration of the Magi, Seracini completed more than 2,400 detailed infrared photographic records of the painting's elaborate underdrawing, and scientific analyses. The new images revealed by the diagnostic techniques used by Seracini were initially made public in 2002 in an interview with the New York Times reporter Melinda Henneberger. In 2005, nearing the end of his investigation, Seracini gave another interview, this time to the Guardian reporter John Hooper.[5] Seracini finally published his results in 2006: M. Seracini, "Diagnostic Investigations on the Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci" in The Mind of Leonardo
In the Smithsonian Channel TV program, Da Vinci Detective, Seracini conjectures that, upon seeing the preliminary drawings for the altarpiece they had commissioned, the monks of San Donato rejected it due to the sensational scenario presented to them. Fully expecting a traditional interpretation including the three wise men, they were instead confronted with a maelstrom of unrelated, half-emaciated figures surrounding the Christ Child, as well as a full-blown battle scene in the rear of the picture. Rather than destroy the work they chose instead to relegate it to a storage house. It was only much later, and probably in the context of the subsequent rise in value of Leonardo's artworks, that the work was resurrected and painted over by unknown persons to make it more salable. This later re-working of the panel resulted in alterations to Leonardo's original design.
Areopagus sermon
Paul had encountered conflict as a result of his preaching in Thessalonica and Berea in northern Greece and had been carried to Athens as a place of safety. According to the Acts of the Apostles, while he was waiting for his companions Silas and Timothy to arrive, Paul was distressed to see Athens full of idols. Commentator John Gill remarked:
his soul was troubled and his heart was grieved, …he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: he was in a paroxysm; his heart was hot within him; he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing, and could not stay; his zeal wanted vent, and he gave it.
So Paul went to the synagogue and the Agora (Greek: ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, "in the marketplace") on a number of occasions ('daily'),[to preach about the Resurrection of Jesus.
Some Greeks then took him to a meeting at the Areopagus, the high court in Athens, to explain himself. The Areopagus literally meant the rock of Ares in the city and was a center of temples, cultural facilities, and a high court. It is conjectured by Robert Paul Seesengood that it may have been illegal to preach a foreign deity in Athens, which would have thereby made Paul's sermon a combination of a "guest lecture" and a trial.
The sermon addresses five main issues:
Introduction: Discussion of the ignorance of pagan worship (verses 23–24)
The one Creator God being the object of worship (25–26)
God's relationship to humanity (26–27)
Idols of gold, silver and stone as objects of false worship (28–29)
Conclusion: Time to end the ignorance (30–31)
This sermon illustrates the beginnings of the attempts to explain the nature of Christ and an early step on the path that led to the development of Christology.[1]
Paul begins his address by emphasizing the need to know God, rather than worshiping the unknown:
"As I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship — and this is what I am going to proclaim to you."
In his sermon, Paul quotes from certain Greek philosophers and poets, namely in verse 17:28. He alludes to passages from Epimenides[7] and from either Aratus or Cleanthes.
Paul then explained concepts such as the resurrection of the dead and salvation, in effect a prelude to the future discussions of Christology.
After the sermon a number of people became followers of Paul. These included a woman named Damaris, and Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus (not to be confused with Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite or Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris).
In the 20th century, Pope John Paul II likened the modern media to the New Areopagus, where Christian ideas needed to be explained and defended anew, against disbelief and the idols of gold and silver.
In the 1960s the designers of the British / French Concorde and the Russian Tupolev TU-144 were competing for the feat to beat the other team in bringing the first supersonic passenger plane into the air. In 1965 at the latest, when the Russians had presented the model of a supersonic passenger plane at the Salon de l‘Aeronautique in Paris, it was clear that they would not relinquish this prestigious title to their Western competitors without putting up a fight. And, as a matter of fact, in the end they were ahead by a nose. On 31 December 1968 the first prototype of the Tupolev 144 was rising into the skies. The “Concorde“ did not follow until 2 March 1969. The immense likeness of the Tu-144 to the “Concorde“ naturally gave rise to the suspicion of industrial espionage, but ultimately it was impossible to prove this conjecture.
The roll-out of the nearly finished airplane took place on 21 May 1970 at Scheremetjewo airfield in Moscow. Five days later, with a speed of 2,150 km/h, it was the first passenger plane of the world to reach Mach 2. At its first appearance in the West one year later on occasion of the 1977 aeronautic exhibition in Paris, the Tu-144 had already reached a top speed of 2,433 km/h in test flights. However, the project suffered a first severe set-back in 1973 when a Tu-144 crashed at the Paris Air Show in front of filming cameras. After several years of further development the Tu-144 finally commenced scheduled service, after all, on the route between Moscow and Alma Ata. Seven months later, however, these flights were discontinued again following another crash. The lack of profitability might have been another factor contributing to this decision. The last regular flight of a Tu-144 took place on 1 June 1978
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5 million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks, is the center-piece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences) and, more broadly, of the entire Harvard Library system. It honors 1907 Harvard College graduate and book collector Harry Elkins Widener, and was built by his mother Eleanor Elkins Widener after his death in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
The library's holdings, which include works in more than one hundred languages, comprise "one of the world's most comprehen-sive research collec-tions in the humanities and social sciences." Its 57 miles of shelves, along five miles of aisles on ten levels, comprise a "labyrinth" which one student "could not enter without feeling that she ought to carry a compass, a sandwich, and a whistle."
At the building's heart are the Widener Memorial Rooms, displaying papers and mementos recalling the life and death of Harry Widener, as well as the Harry Elkins Widener Collec-tion, "the precious group of rare and wonder-fully interesting books brought together by Mr. Widener", to which was later added one of the few perfect Gutenberg Bibles—the object of a 1969 burglary attempt conjectured by Harvard's police chief to have been inspired by the heist film Topkapi.
Campus legends holding that Harry Widener's fate led to the institu-tion of an undergrad-uate swimming-proficiency requirement, and that an additional donation from his mother subsidizes ice cream at Harvard meals, are without foundation.
Legend holds that to spare future Harvard men her son's fate, Eleanor Widener insisted, as a condition of her gift, that learning to swim be made a requirement for graduation. (This requirement, the Harvard Crimson once elaborated erroneously, was "dropped in the late 1970s because it was deemed discriminatory against physically disabled students".) "Among the many myths relating to Harry Elkins Widener, this is the most prevalent", says Harvard's "Ask a Librarian" service. Though Harvard has had swimming requirements at various times (e.g. for rowers on the Charles River, or as a now-defunct test for entering freshmen) Bentinck-Smith writes that "There is absolutely no evidence in the President's papers, or the faculty's, to indicate that [Eleanor Widener] was, as a result of the Titanic disaster, in any way responsi-ble for [any] compulsory swimming test."
Another story, holding that Eleanor Widener donated a further sum to underwrite perpetual availability of ice cream (purportedly Harry Widener's favorite dessert) in Harvard dining halls, is also without foundation. A Widener curator's compilation of "fanciful oral history" recited by student tour guides includes "Flowers mysteriously appear every morning outside the Widener Room" and "Harry used to have carnations dyed crimson to remind him of Harvard, and so his mother kept up the tradition" in the flowers displayed in the Memorial Rooms.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launching the Globalstar 2 satellite at 12:27 am, viewed from Vero Beach. No other payload was listed by SpaceX which would normally leave enough fuel for the first stage to return to the Cape to land. Instead, however, the first stage made a successful landing on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions which was about 500 miles out to sea. This has lead to conjecture that there may have been additional payloads. This was the ninth flight of this particular first stage, and the 126th successful landing of a first stage by SpaceX. Approximate cost of the mission was $52,000,000.
Notes, tones, bouquet, oak.... the sommelier conjectures that he's tasting all of these in this most casual of imbibing formats. But, is he really? At a vineyard south of Portugal.
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and is set on the shores of Darwin Harbour (named after Charles Darwin).
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839 (the time of discovery of Port Darwin/Darwin Harbour by European explorers). Early that day, HMS Beagle, which was engaged on an excursion of the Australian coast, sailed into the area and anchored in Shoal Bay near Hope Inlet. John Lort Stokes, William Forsyth and several other crew members left Beagle on a longboat for an excursion and passed around Lee Point, in the vicinity of which, there appeared to be a major opening. Stokes was later to record.
"The sea breeze setting in early, we did not reach it till after dark, when we landed for observations at a cliffy projection near the eastern entrance point: this we found to be composed of a kind of clay, mixed with calcareous matter. We had some difficulty in landing, and then in scrambling up the cliffs by the light of a lantern. If any of the watchful natives happened at the time to be on the look out, they must have stood in astonishment at beholding such strange persons, who at such a time of night, with no ostensible object were visiting their shores".
The term 'Night Cliff' was thus applied to the locality, and it subsequently appeared in this form on Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's original plan of 1869. Goyder also mentioned the locality a couple of times in the diary he kept as leader of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition.
The Nightcliff foreshore was the site of Royal Australian Air Force camps with spotlights and large guns used to defend Darwin from Japanese aircraft bombing during the Second World War. During 1941, a naval outpost including a large concrete artillery outpost bunker was established on the headland. Various other defence facilities were constructed inland as large numbers of military personnel moved into the area. The 2/14 Field Regiment A.I.F. (Australian Infantry Force) was given the task of planning and constructing a hutted camp which became known as "Night Cliff's Camp". After the war, increasing pressure for suburban development caused the Nomenclature Committee of the N.T. to officially name the area on 29 October 1948. The conjoint version of the name, "Nightcliff" was adopted.
Today, a long footpath along the foreshore of Nightcliff is used for walking and cycling, particularly in the evenings after work. Along the footpath there is Nightcliff Jetty, Nightcliff Beach and Nightcliff Swimming Pool.
Photos from our road trip down the South Island of New Zealand in January. This shot was taken in Oamaru our stop of for lunch on the first day of our trip, January 20, 2015 New Zealand.
The whitestone townscape of Oamaru contains some of the best-preserved heritage buildings in New Zealand. In the late 19th century, the town prospered through gold-mining, quarrying and timber milling. Some of the wealth was spent on elegant stone buildings made from local limestone.
This Harbour-Tyne Street area in the Victorian precinct is particularly special and great for shopping is great too.
The name Oamaru derives from Māori words meaning the place of Maru.The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
For more Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oamaru
Runner up, Stargazers Lounge Imaging Challenge November 2018
Published in Astronomy Now magazine February 2019
NGC 1514 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Taurus that was discovered by William Herschel on November 13, 1790, describing it "A most singular phaenomenon" and forcing him to rethink his ideas on the construction of the heavens. Up until this point Herschel was convinced that all nebulae consisted of masses of stars too remote to resolve, but now here was a single star "surrounded with a faintly luminous atmosphere." He went on to conclude "Our judgement I may venture to say, will be, that the nebulosity about the star is not of a starry nature".
It has since been conjectured that the nebula in fact envelops a tightly orbiting double star with a period of up to 10 days. Gas is presumably expanding away from the larger star of the pair.
15 hours 30 minutes total capture
R 20x300s
G 20x300s
B 20x300s
Ha 21x1800s
Image captured remotely at Alcalali, Spain
APM TMB 152 F8 LZOS, 10 Micron GM2000HPS, QSI6120ws8
I hope you're not getting tired of Bluebirds on my stream, but it was cool yesterday to watch this female hop from one Cypress knee to another! If you're in an area that lacks Cypress trees, you may be unfamiliar with Cypress knees...they grow upward from Cypress roots and grow from a foot tall or less to some rare, extreme examples reaching ten feet tall! The shorter ones are easy to trip over, in my experience! LOL Decades ago, they were popular as the base for a table lamp...my aunt and uncle had one! Cutting them off doesn't harm the tree...
They are common wherever a Cypress tree grows near water and the true purpose of these intriguing formations has been a subject of conjecture for at least two hundred years...botanists have offered various hypotheses, including aeration of the root system, vegetative reproduction, mechanical support, nutrient accumulation, and carbohydrate storage...aeration of the root system seems to be the most accepted possibility, but no one knows for certain! This Bluebird just knows they're good to hop on!
This is all conjecture on my part. But I think that was what was going on. You can see from the "lips" that this was a very young. It was being encouraged by an adult get off the branch. Maybe because it was a choice spot, but I don't think so. The swallows had plenty of food, and seemed to be snacking on bugs at their leisure. Yet no matter how much the adult tried to make the young bird leave, it appeared to hold on for dear life. At some point it would fly or swim. Even worse, end up as a meal for a hawk! I did not get to see how it played out.
November 10, 1975.
Conditions on Lake Superior have worsened. Captains McSorley and Cooper, of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Arthur M Anderson, respectively, have agreed to take a northern route across Lake Superior. The Fitzgerald, faster of the two ships, took a lead about 15 miles ahead of the Anderson.
Despite their best efforts to make it to Sault St. Marie before the storm arrived, it has come early and with a vengeance. The gale warnings that had been issued the prior evening have been upgraded to storm warnings.
By early afternoon, Fitzgerald had passed Michipicoten Island and was nearing Caribou Island, sailing in 12 to 16 foot seas, with winds gusting up to 50 knots (57mph). Anderson was behind her, by about 17 miles. Snow and rising spray had obscured the Fitzgerald from view, but as Cooper watched the radar 'blip' passed Caribou Island, he remarked "they're in a lot closer than i'd have liked to be'."
By late afternoon, Captain McSorley was beginning to become concerned. His fence rail was down, and he'd lost two vents. The Fitzgerald had developed a list, but both of her pumps were on. McSorley checked back, an unusual move for the Captain. He asked Cooper and the Anderson to accompany him to Whitefish Point, where they would be out of the waves and the storm.
At 5:20pm, a large wave destroyed the Anderson's starboard lifeboat. Cooper reported winds from the West-Northwest, at a steady 58 knots, gusting up to 70 knots. The seas, at this point, ranged from 18 to 25 feet. McSorley, who by this time had lost his radar and was relying on the Anderson for navigation.
At 6:55pm, the Cooper said that the men in the pilothouse of the Anderson felt a 'bump' and felt the ship lurch, with a monstrous wave englufing the Anderson from astern. The wave, taller than the hatch crane, was estimated to be 35 feet in height. It smashed into the pilothouse and forced the Anderson to nose down into the sea. In the words of Bernie Cooper and Stan Rogers, "Like some great dog she shook herself, and roared upright again"
At 7:10pm, Morgan Clark - First Mate on the Anderson, asked McSorley if he had checked down. He kept losing sight of the Fitzgerald on the radar, the seas far too high for a clear radar reflection. McSorley had, and was wondering if he would clear some upbound traffic. They would, and Clark asked how they were making out with their problems.
McSorley's final known words have been immortalized in the Fitzgerald lore: "We are holding our own, going along like an old shoe"
Around 7:15pm, the Fitzgerald's radar pip was lost again. Clark figured that it was simply the sea obscuring the reflection again, but it never reappeared. Fitzgerald was gone.
Clark called the Fitzgerald again around 7:22pm, but received no response. Cooper called any nearby ships, salties Avafors, and Nanfri, to no avail. William Clay Ford confirmed the Anderson's radio was transpoinding, but there was still no sign of the Fitzgerald.
Cooper, becoming increasingly concerned, called the Coast Guard around 8:00pm.
The weather has cleared dramatically, and the Anderson was now in the lee of Whitefish Point. At 9:00pm, the Coast Guard called Anderson with a request.
They wanted Cooper to turn his ship into the storm, and search for survivors.
The apprehension in Cooper's voice is palpable in the recording, but he knows that there is a job to be done. So, the Anderson and aformentioned William Clay Ford head into the storm to search for the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Coast Guard cutters Naugatuck and Woodrush arrived on scene. Woodrush had completed a full speed run through the gale, departing Duluth with no food and a skeleton crew, they arrived on scene within 24 hours and joined the Anderson and Ford in the search for Fitzgerald. Anderson found two lifeboats and other debris, but no survivors.
On November 14th, a US Navy P-3 Orion found an intense magnetic contact, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point. Following the magnetic contact, Woodrush located two large pieces of wreckage in the same area with a side-scan sonar.
The following May, Woodrush conducted another sidescan sonar, and the Woodrush launched the Navy's CURV III underwater ROV. On May 20th 1976, Fitzgerald's stern, resting upside down on the bottom of Lake Superior, was found.
There is a lot of conjecture on what caused Fitzgerald to sink. Numerous theories suggest vastly different causes. Regardless of what caused her to go down, 29 men were lost that evening. Their names are remembered at bell ringing ceremonies taking place later this evening.
On the 50th anniversary of this tragedy, it is important to remember those 29 men that went down with Fitzgerald. It is also important to remember the other 30,000 mariners whose lives have been given on the Great Lakes.
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and is set on the shores of Darwin Harbour (named after Charles Darwin).
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839 (the time of discovery of Port Darwin/Darwin Harbour by European explorers). Early that day, HMS Beagle, which was engaged on an excursion of the Australian coast, sailed into the area and anchored in Shoal Bay near Hope Inlet. John Lort Stokes, William Forsyth and several other crew members left Beagle on a longboat for an excursion and passed around Lee Point, in the vicinity of which, there appeared to be a major opening. Stokes was later to record.
"The sea breeze setting in early, we did not reach it till after dark, when we landed for observations at a cliffy projection near the eastern entrance point: this we found to be composed of a kind of clay, mixed with calcareous matter. We had some difficulty in landing, and then in scrambling up the cliffs by the light of a lantern. If any of the watchful natives happened at the time to be on the look out, they must have stood in astonishment at beholding such strange persons, who at such a time of night, with no ostensible object were visiting their shores".
The term 'Night Cliff' was thus applied to the locality, and it subsequently appeared in this form on Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's original plan of 1869. Goyder also mentioned the locality a couple of times in the diary he kept as leader of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition.
The Nightcliff foreshore was the site of Royal Australian Air Force camps with spotlights and large guns used to defend Darwin from Japanese aircraft bombing during the Second World War. During 1941, a naval outpost including a large concrete artillery outpost bunker was established on the headland. Various other defence facilities were constructed inland as large numbers of military personnel moved into the area. The 2/14 Field Regiment A.I.F. (Australian Infantry Force) was given the task of planning and constructing a hutted camp which became known as "Night Cliff's Camp". After the war, increasing pressure for suburban development caused the Nomenclature Committee of the N.T. to officially name the area on 29 October 1948. The conjoint version of the name, "Nightcliff" was adopted.
Today, a long footpath along the foreshore of Nightcliff is used for walking and cycling, particularly in the evenings after work. Along the footpath there is Nightcliff Jetty, Nightcliff Beach and Nightcliff Swimming Pool.
“On this day I met a girl called Alice, the day after your birthday, my brother. The light was everywhere … in her hair … in her smile … the countenance of her being. I bathed in that light … kept her talking just so that I could feel warm for as long as possible … she held out her hand and I placed mine in hers … seldom have I felt such a beautiful aura such as surrounded this girl. It came as no surprise to me that she was a carer for those suffering from Alzheimer's. She was an angel. She made a deep impression on me … moved me … I have a photographic memory and often I feel it is not so much of a blessing, but here was a girl that reminded me of the struggle of others who are not so fortunate … whose memories are taken from them and those who love them look on helplessly and mourn their loss long before they are gone. How lucky I am, my darling brother. I have my memories although I no longer have you. I may never see you grow old. I will never watch you suffer. To me you will be forever young. – excerpt from my journal to my missing brother 24.5.17. - AP
“Your absence has gone through me
like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with it's colour.”
W. S. Merwin – 'Separation'
“An empty chair waits for you
the colour of my heart
and life blood I would give to you
so we may never part.” - AP
Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4UoJ47SzjA
FOREVER YOUNG – JOAN BAEZ
I feel your absence more keenly in the depths of Winter
as the frost gives way to snow and the sea mist rolls in gently
filling up the garden with it's never ending mysteries
clouding my mind and judgement in a trice
In Summer the garden smells sweetly of rose petals
cherry blossoms lay fallen on the lawns
lilac turns to brown and leaves skeletal impressions
impresses upon me the transience of youth
of memories soft and fleeting; flowing
flowering of adulthood as childhood falls behind
and yet deep within a part of me that never grew
that may never grow; stunted as a flower
whose seed fell upon the stony ground; so hard
and yet it bloomed a little once before it shrivelled and fell
in upon itself; where darkness held it in it's cold and icy grasp
how I long for your return so that it can be released into the light
I fight against the strangeness of my being
the oddities that make me unique and soulful in my outlook
and in other people's sight
my eyes have seen so much
before they could grow accustomed to the light
the darkness taking hold and crushing my soul
like a pressed flower within a heavy tome
a tomb that so encompassed me and held me tight
how I dream that one day you will reappear
just a glimpse would be enough to release me from this fear
I sometimes see your face within a madding crowd
the double crown you had upon a head and shoulders grown so tall
you stood above it all; once short and plump in boyhood
you shot up like a rocket and the leanness took your strength
and suddenly you were no more; you disappeared
like Alice's Cheshire cat until all that was left was just an impression
a smile in photos; goofy and awkward-looking with gangly limbs
how I wonder what you are like now as a man my darling brother
and often I wonder if you exist at all
I pray that you are well and happy somewhere in this world
laughing and enjoying life as you never did before
but all I have are pictures in my head and precious memories
conjecture is illusion; how I wish things could turn out to be and true
it's all I have … it has to do …
one day I hope I'll find my way back to you
or somewhere in the middle we will meet
look shyly toward each other; look down at the same feet
that took you on a path to who knows where
and mine that stuck and sank into the ground in mortal fear
for if I leave the old house where once we grew and knew
you may never find me and we'll grow old apart
a brother and a sister; forever young
and precious in each other's hearts.
- AP - Copyright © remains with and is the intellectual property of the author
Copyright © protected image please do not reproduce without permission
Jordan Pass.
Mt Nebo is where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land, a land he was himself forbidden to enter. It's believed that he died aged 120 and was later buried in the area, although the exact location of the burial site is the subject of conjecture.
The Mt Nebo region features several rocky outcrops, including Siyagha (the local name of the site, meaning ‘monastery’). The Moses Memorial Church is perched on the summit, commanding sweeping views of the Dead Sea and Israel and the Palestinian Territories beyond. A pleasant side trip from Madaba, just 9km away, the church with its magnificent mosaics is the centrepiece of a small hilltop complex, signposted from the Madaba–Dead Sea road.
Memorial Viewpoint
Moses' view of the Promised Land towards ancient Gilead, Judah, Jericho and the Negev is marked by an Italian-designed bronze memorial next to the Moses Memorial Church. The ironwork, symbolising the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross and the serpent that ‘Moses lifted up’ in the desert, stands in the middle of an invariably windy viewing platform. Markers indicate notable points in the often-hazy distance, including the Golan Heights, Jerusalem (just 46km away) and the Dead Sea.
To enjoy similar views away from the crowds, pack a picnic and hike along the road downhill from Mt Nebo (towards the Dead Sea) for 100m and take the track to the left to the nearby hilltop.
***
On top of Mt Nebo, this modest church, or more accurately basilica, was built around 4th-century foundations in 597 and has just undergone major reconstruction. It houses some of the best (and best presented) mosaics in Jordan, dating from around 530. The masterpiece is a hunting and herding scene interspersed with an assortment of African fauna, including a zebu (humped ox), lions, tigers, bears, boars, zebras, an ostrich on a leash and a camel-shaped giraffe.
The church was abandoned by the 16th century and only relocated in the 20th century, using 4th- and 5th-century pilgrim travelogues. The Franciscans bought the site in 1932 and were responsible for excavating most of the ruins of the church and the monastery, as well as reconstructing much of the basilica.
The church is part of a functioning monastery, off limits to visitors. There's a small but fascinating museum presenting the history of the site.
Towering high above the Dee Valley and the bustling town of Llangollen, home of the International Eisteddfod, Castell Dinas Bran occupies one of Britain's most spectacular sites. A rugged, foreboding pinnacle, the hillock was the ideal spot to erect a castle. It seemed completely impenetrable, commanded views for miles around, and offered quick recognition of an approaching visitor, whether friend or foe. Yet, the native Welsh princes of Powys occupied the hilltop for only a few decades.
Today, that same site is open to exploration by the public. Forced to climb to the summit, modern visitors experience the struggle and the exhilaration that the castle's medieval inhabitants - and their Edwardian attackers - must have felt. Without a doubt, the walk is a breathtaking challenge. However, that climb heightens the allure of Dinas Bran. And, it demonstrates the stark reality of medieval castle life.
"Dinas Bran" is variously translated as "Crow Castle," "Crow City," "Hill of the Crow," or "Bran's Stronghold." The castle first appears in 12th century historical documents as part of a medieval piece entitled "Fouke le Fitz Waryn,"or "The Romance of Fulk Fitzwarine." While this work claimed that the castle, known as "Chastiel Bran," was in ruin as early as 1073, the remains we see today date to the occupation of the princes of Powys Fadog in the mid 13th century. Possibly, the Chastiel Bran mentioned in the romance was a Norman timber castle, but nothing of substance supports this conjecture. However, the encompassing ditch and earthen embankments, which enclose the southern and eastern portions of the stone fortress, do date to the Iron Age. They remind us that this hilltop had strategic value long before the princes of Powys, or the Normans, ventured into the region. Interestingly, the word, "Dinas," has its origins in the Iron Age as well, and is found in the names of Iron Age hillforts throughout Wales.
Wouldn't you just love to live in Salford?
I'd give you the full size image to look at, but it's 60Mb and I'm not going to meet halfway. Instead you can have an 100% crop.. below:
EXPLORED! Highest position: 190 on Friday, June 19, 2009
I made this MOC to celebrate my parents' 25th anniversary. If it looks like a formidable creation, you're right. I spent well over 100 hours designing this in LDD (I have no idea of the actual figure) and then ordered the parts from 4 stores on Bricklink. Once the parts came in, I built it around my ABS Challenge, and recently had a chance to take pictures.
The MOC contains over 2,400 elements and is a near-replica of a wedding photo now 25 years old. The original picture was in color, so I began the process by converting to black and white (including a version that corresponded only to black, white, light grey and dark grey). The faces proved extremely difficult to design, so I now have a better understanding of the challenges Bricks Noir faces, and anyone else who has tried this type of art. It is similar to my Newton, but working with a layered system made for a very interesting building experience, and a whole lot of conjecture for how this build would appear in real life.
As you can see from the picture, the MOC hangs on a wall like a 3-D-ish photograph. It is fairly heavy, so I had to design a system in the back to keep it structurally viable. Again, this was incredibly difficult to do in a virtual environment, since LDD cannot simulate gravity or stresses, so it was guesswork at best. I was extremely fortunate that, when build in real life with ordered parts, the required modifications were kept to a few dozen pieces or less. It currently holds its own weight well, though the sound of layers of bricks flexing and pushing against each other is honestly terrifying. Luckily, there have been no catastrophic explosions yet, and I'm crossing my fingers for none in the future.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your look at this MOC. It is certainly one of my most ambitious works, as well as one of the hardest virtual-to-online projects I have seen. Thanks to inspiration from many sources, especially Bricks Noir, I felt well-equipped during my endless hours of experimentation and design. I am quite intrigued to see where this medium and building style can be taken, so I may return to this sort of concept in the future.
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio - Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520)
La Fornarina (1520 ca.) oil on panel 87 x 63 cm - National Roman Museum Palazzo Barberini - Rome
La donna raffigurata è, secondo la tradizione, l’amante e musa ispiratrice di Raffaello: Margherita Luti, figlia di un fornaio di Trastevere, da cui il soprannome “Fornarina”. Non si ha notizia di chi fosse il committente dell’opera e ciò potrebbe avvalorare l’ipotesi che Raffaello l’abbia dipinta per sé, negli ultimi anni della sua vita.
Che si tratti o meno dell’amante di Raffaello, dietro questo volto imperfetto, dai tratti marcati, si nasconde una rappresentazione di Venere. La posa delle mani, una adagiata nel grembo, l’altra sul seno, segue il modello della “Venere pudica” della statuaria classica: un gesto di pudore che tuttavia orienta lo sguardo dell’osservatore proprio su ciò che si vorrebbe nascondere. Simboli della dea dell’amore sono anche il bracciale della donna su cui si legge “Raphael Urbinas”, firma dell’autore e pegno di vincolo amoroso, nonché, sullo sfondo, il cespuglio di mirto e il ramo di melo cotogno, simbolo di fertilità.
Il quadro apparteneva già ai primi proprietari del palazzo, gli Sforza di Santafiora, e fu uno dei primi ad essere acquistato dai Barberini.
The subject of this portrait, according to tradition, was Raphael’s inspirational muse and mistress: Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker in Trastevere, hence known as “Fornarina.” There is no record of any commission for the work, which supports the conjecture that Raphael painted it for himself in the last years of his life.
Whether she was Raphael’s mistress or not, behind this imperfect face with marked features lies a depiction of Venus. The pose of her hands, one placed on her lap and the other on her breast, follows the classic statuary model of the “Venus Pudica”: a gesture of modesty which yet directs the viewer’s gaze to what she actually seeks to conceal. Other symbols of the goddess of love are the bracelet inscribed with the words “Raphael Urbinas,” the painter’s signature as well as a token and pledge of love. The myrtle bush and branch of quince in the background are symbols of fertility.
The painting belonged to the original owners of the palazzo, the Sforza of Santafiora, and was one of the earliest works purchased by the Barberini family.
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and is set on the shores of Darwin Harbour (named after Charles Darwin).
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839 (the time of discovery of Port Darwin/Darwin Harbour by European explorers). Early that day, HMS Beagle, which was engaged on an excursion of the Australian coast, sailed into the area and anchored in Shoal Bay near Hope Inlet. John Lort Stokes, William Forsyth and several other crew members left Beagle on a longboat for an excursion and passed around Lee Point, in the vicinity of which, there appeared to be a major opening. Stokes was later to record.
"The sea breeze setting in early, we did not reach it till after dark, when we landed for observations at a cliffy projection near the eastern entrance point: this we found to be composed of a kind of clay, mixed with calcareous matter. We had some difficulty in landing, and then in scrambling up the cliffs by the light of a lantern. If any of the watchful natives happened at the time to be on the look out, they must have stood in astonishment at beholding such strange persons, who at such a time of night, with no ostensible object were visiting their shores".
The term 'Night Cliff' was thus applied to the locality, and it subsequently appeared in this form on Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's original plan of 1869. Goyder also mentioned the locality a couple of times in the diary he kept as leader of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition.
The Nightcliff foreshore was the site of Royal Australian Air Force camps with spotlights and large guns used to defend Darwin from Japanese aircraft bombing during the Second World War. During 1941, a naval outpost including a large concrete artillery outpost bunker was established on the headland. Various other defence facilities were constructed inland as large numbers of military personnel moved into the area. The 2/14 Field Regiment A.I.F. (Australian Infantry Force) was given the task of planning and constructing a hutted camp which became known as "Night Cliff's Camp". After the war, increasing pressure for suburban development caused the Nomenclature Committee of the N.T. to officially name the area on 29 October 1948. The conjoint version of the name, "Nightcliff" was adopted.
Today, a long footpath along the foreshore of Nightcliff is used for walking and cycling, particularly in the evenings after work. Along the footpath there is Nightcliff Jetty, Nightcliff Beach and Nightcliff Swimming Pool.
Oamaru is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connect it to both cities. With a population of 13,850, Oamaru is the 28th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in Otago behind Dunedin and Queenstown. The town is the seat of Waitaki District, which includes the surrounding towns of Kurow, Weston, Palmerston, and Hampden. which combined have a total population of 23,200.
Friendly Bay is a popular recreational area located at the edge of Oamaru Harbour, south to Oamaru's main centre. Just to the north of Oamaru is the substantial Alliance Abattoir at Pukeuri, at a major junction with State Highway 83, the main route into the Waitaki Valley. This provides a road link to Kurow, Omarama, Otematata and via the Lindis Pass to Queenstown and Wanaka. Oamaru serves as the eastern gateway to the Mackenzie Basin, via the Waitaki Valley.
Oamaru has been built between the rolling hills of limestone and short stretch of flat land to the sea. This limestone rock is used for the construction of local "Oamaru stone”, sometimes called "Whitestone" buildings.
Oamaru enjoys a protected location in the shelter of Cape Wanbrow. The town was laid out in 1858 by Otago's provincial surveyor John Turnbull Thomson, who named the early streets after British rivers, particularly rivers in the northwest and southeast of the country.
The name Oamaru derives from the Māori and can be translated as "the place of Maru". The identity of Maru remains open to conjecture.
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and is set on the shores of Darwin Harbour (named after Charles Darwin).
Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839 (the time of discovery of Port Darwin/Darwin Harbour by European explorers). Early that day, HMS Beagle, which was engaged on an excursion of the Australian coast, sailed into the area and anchored in Shoal Bay near Hope Inlet. John Lort Stokes, William Forsyth and several other crew members left Beagle on a longboat for an excursion and passed around Lee Point, in the vicinity of which, there appeared to be a major opening. Stokes was later to record.
"The sea breeze setting in early, we did not reach it till after dark, when we landed for observations at a cliffy projection near the eastern entrance point: this we found to be composed of a kind of clay, mixed with calcareous matter. We had some difficulty in landing, and then in scrambling up the cliffs by the light of a lantern. If any of the watchful natives happened at the time to be on the look out, they must have stood in astonishment at beholding such strange persons, who at such a time of night, with no ostensible object were visiting their shores".
The term 'Night Cliff' was thus applied to the locality, and it subsequently appeared in this form on Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's original plan of 1869. Goyder also mentioned the locality a couple of times in the diary he kept as leader of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition.
The Nightcliff foreshore was the site of Royal Australian Air Force camps with spotlights and large guns used to defend Darwin from Japanese aircraft bombing during the Second World War. During 1941, a naval outpost including a large concrete artillery outpost bunker was established on the headland. Various other defence facilities were constructed inland as large numbers of military personnel moved into the area. The 2/14 Field Regiment A.I.F. (Australian Infantry Force) was given the task of planning and constructing a hutted camp which became known as "Night Cliff's Camp". After the war, increasing pressure for suburban development caused the Nomenclature Committee of the N.T. to officially name the area on 29 October 1948. The conjoint version of the name, "Nightcliff" was adopted.
Today, a long footpath along the foreshore of Nightcliff is used for walking and cycling, particularly in the evenings after work. Along the footpath there is Nightcliff Jetty, Nightcliff Beach and Nightcliff Swimming Pool.
"Such is life."
There is some conjecture about the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly's final words on the gallows at the Old Melbourne Gaol. Most like to think he made the very Stoic remark quoted above. Some report a more prosaic, "Oh well, I suppose it has come to this". We do know his mother's final words to him though, "Mind you die like a Kelly son." And he did.
Some months earlier (on the morning of the 28 June, 1880) Ned Kelly had walked out of the house in Glenrowan where the police had laid siege, dressed in his famous self-made armour. The air was filling with smoke as the police had set fire to the house. The other outlaws were all dead. This was Ned's last stand. In the end they brought him down with a bullet to an unprotected leg.
This is the final four works in Australian Modernist painter Sidney Nolan's "Ned Kelly Series" (1946-47). artsandculture.google.com/theme/sidney-nolan-and-his-ned-...
The symbolism of Kelly's armour is so great that Nolan even portrays him in the courtroom with helmet on. The judge was the original hanging judge of Victoria, Sir Redmond Barry. There's a building named after him at the nearby University of Melbourne. But an exchange between Kelly and the judge is truly famous. When passing sentence of death by hanging, Barry uttered the well known words, "May God have mercy on your soul". Quick as a flash Kelly shouted, "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there where I go". In other words, "See you in hell."
Sir Redmond Barry died suddenly on 23 November 1880, less than one month after passing sentence on Ned Kelly.
P.S. It is another strange fact that Mick Jagger (yes, of the Rolling Stones) played Ned Kelly in a 1970 version of the story.
Here is a clip of the famous final courtroom scene.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUcER281BOg
Not exactly Mick's finest work.