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The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He hath set a tabernacle for the sun, Psalm 19:1-4
"Cross process" is the other art filter featured in Olympus Viewer 2 (download it and use your PEN's serial number to activate) that wasn't available in the E-P1. Thanks to a tip from Ryojin-san, I've been able to try out both the diorama and cross process art filters with my trusty little E-P1. Steveston, Richmond, BC. February 5, 2011.
These will be my choices available for M. I'd really appreciate it if you would declare which one you'd prefer, so I'll know how many of each to make. Mermaid in a margarita glass, monkey or Mr. Manatee...
Here's a list of the swappers- as you pick, I'll update my list. The sooner they all get picked, the sooner I can start on them! I like to do them assembly-line fashion, so I can't start until then.
smoochie - MONKEY
JanBran - MONKEY
Spiced Coffee - MR. MANATEE
Marilynkb - MERMAID
FourMonkeysQuilts - MR. MANATEE
Quiltinkimmie - MERMAID
Edyb1 - MERMAID
Friedazzzz - MONKEY
ladmquilter - MONKEY
Imsewcrafty - MERMAID
SewGentle - MONKEY
Silort - MONKEY
SewSheDid - MERMAID
Handmade-by-Melissa - MONKEY
jgmehlin - MR. MANATEE
Girltwin - MERMAID
Needlesnnotions - MONKEY
mindboggld- MERMAID
Sandy in Buenos Aires - MERMAID
Uniqueandnovel - MERMAID
Sewwunderful - MERMAID
Chocolate-isthe-best-medicine - MONKEY
Needleanddime - MR. MANATEE
Ky in Tex - MONKEY
LethargicLass - MR. MANATEE
Caloocan City, Philippines
It looked like an impending clash between the darkness and light =) Just a magnificent display of God's awesome creation!
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
The Furnace of Affliction!
William Nicholson and Milburn Cockrell
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction!" Isaiah 48:10
The Bible has much to say about the afflictions of God's people. Psalm 34:19 declares: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." It is sometimes necessary for God to put His people in the furnace of affliction. This act flows from both the justice and compassion of God. He does this to try and to prove His people. This was true of Israel of old (Deuteronomy 4:20), and it is equally true of the New Testament believer. Sometimes He exercised them with heavy trials; placing them in the furnace of affliction. And it appears from the context, that a consignment to such an ordeal had been beneficial in its influence.
In the time of the Old Testament a "furnace" was a crucible for melting and refining silver and gold (Proverbs 17:3; 27:21). The word is used figuratively in the Scriptures. It this text, it means severe and grievous afflictions by which God purifies and proves His people (Ezekiel 22:18-22; Isaiah 32:9).
The Furnace is AFFLICTIVE
That is, the furnace is composed of many severe trials, of much mental and bodily suffering, which are designed by the great Proprietor and Manager of this furnace, to purge and refine the souls of His people.
Many agents are used by God in working out His sovereign purposes. He may use men, things, and circumstances. This is all hinted at in the action of fire in a furnace. A furnace with a fire in it causes suffering and separation. Fire finds out what is worthless; it cleanses. Now I want to list some of the forms these afflictions take.
First, God may send us a scantiness of earthly things. This may be induced by lack of employment—it may be the result of sickness—it may result from the injustice of man.
"I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town" (Amos 4:6). We may not have enough food to dirty our teeth. The Lord controls both nature and worldly circumstances. He has many ways of taking away our temporal goods. Though we may work hard every work day and make much money, God can cause it to not go very far. "You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." (Haggai 1:6).
Second, there can be affliction in our body. "My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body." (Psalm 38:5-7). The great Manager of the furnace of affliction, chastens the body with pain, burns with fever, or wastes it by disease.
Third, this affliction may take the form of bereavements. "And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her." (Genesis 23:2). Our friends and relatives get sick and die. Many of us have been put in this furnace of affliction. Friends and relatives are removed by death, lest we trust too much in them, instead of the Lord.
Fourth, the Lord sends domestic trials. "At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah!" (Genesis 26:34-35). Sometimes our child will make a bad choice of a mate for life. Often times even small children in the home mock their father and despise their mother (Proverbs 30:17). The actions of our children can . . .
break our hearts,
put gray hairs in our heads,
and hasten us to the grave!
All of God's elect have been in this furnace of affliction! Adam first experienced it when he sinned in Eden.
Moses suffered afflictions with the people of God.
David was persecuted by his blood-thirsty enemies.
Job lost his possessions, children, and health.
Jeremiah and Isaiah were cruelly treated.
Daniel was put in the lions' den.
Paul and Silas were put in prison.
Even our Lord was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
This Furnace is DIVINELY APPOINTED
Afflictions are not the result of chance or blind fate.
Afflictions do not arise out of the dust (Job 5:6).
Afflictions are not to be traced to secondary causes.
Afflictions are not merely the work of our enemies.
Afflictions come from the moral government of God.
Afflictions come by the wise and gracious arrangement of God's divine providence. "So that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this!" (1 Thessalonians 3:3). "Heed the rod, and the One who appointed it!" (Micah 6:9).
The same God who sends the sunshine and the rain — also sends His people into the furnace of affliction. "The LORD kills, and makes alive. He brings down to the grave, and raises up. The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts!" (1 Samuel 2:7). In Isaiah 45:7 Jehovah declares: "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things!"
The wise man sees the hand of God in affliction — as well as in affluence. Every event is either of His appointment — or it has His all-wise permission. God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), and so all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28). "Behold, He snatches away; who can hinder or turn Him back? Who will say to Him, What are You doing? He destroys the blameless and the wicked" (Job 9:12, 22).
God's afflictive providence, is the working out of His sovereign will. Often we see God's hand in great things — but not in little things. We see His hand in good things — but not in evil things. "Behold, this evil is of the LORD" (2 Kings 6:33). Job asked his wife: "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). "Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD has not done it?" (Amos 3:6). "For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem" (Micah 1:12). These verses do not teach that God is the author of sin. Rather they teach that when God sends us afflictions — they seem evil unto us.
When grace enables us to see the hand of God in all events, we can bear these without murmuring or complaining. Job lost his family, his wealth, and his good health, yet he consoled himself: "For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him!" (Job 23:14). David suffered much from his enemies and his family, yet he was happy to say: "My times are in Your hand!" (Psalm 31:15). Still again hear him: "I was silent; I would not open my mouth — for You are the one who has done this!" (Psalm 39:9). When Eli was told his family tree would be cut off, he said to young Samuel: "He is the LORD; let Him do what is good in His eyes!" (1 Samuel 3:18). When Hezekiah was told by the Prophet Isaiah that his sons would be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon, he said: "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good" (Isaiah 39:8).
How wonderful to know that a God of infinite love and wisdom has arranged all things which come to pass in this world. When we find ourselves in a very dark chapter of the book of Divine Providence, we must fall upon the words of our Lord: "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand!" (John 13:7).
This Furnace is Not Vindictive, but GRACIOUS
The chastisement of God is always less than we deserve: "He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). If God dealt with us as our sins deserved, we would be consigned to the lowest Hell. But because of His mercy and grace, we never suffer as we deserve to suffer. "But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath!" (Psalm 78:38). "And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved!" (Ezra 9:13). Our sins are many: "We all stumble in many ways!" (James 3:2). Nevertheless, God's judgments are few: "For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." (Lamentations 3:33).
The afflictions He sends are "light affliction" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
They are of short duration: "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!" (Psalm 30:5). The Lord told the Israelites: "For a brief moment I deserted you — but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid My face from you — but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you — says the LORD, your Redeemer." (Isaiah 54:7-8).
The Furnace is for OUR EVERLASTING GOOD
There can be no caprice, nor unwise anger in God toward His chosen purchased people. When He sends upon us afflictions, they are designed for our spiritual and everlasting good. They are corrective, not destructive. When we are cold and indifferent to His cause — He will permit persecutions and reproaches to befall us. But this is not the same way God punishes the wicked for their sins. The wicked are punished in wrath — the righteous are chastened in love. The wicked are punished for the good of society — the righteous are disciplined for their individual good: "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold!" (Job 23:10; cf. Deuteronomy 8:15-16).
Afflictions exhibit the faithfulness of God: "I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me" (Psalm 119:75). God always justly and wisely chastens us. It is the faithfulness of God to His covenant, which brings the elect under the afflictive rod. "If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments — then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail." (Psalm 89:31-34; cf. Ezekiel 20:37). God's chastisements are blessings in disguise — they are veiled mercies.
When sore afflictions come upon us, we have the greatest evidence that we are loved with an everlasting love: "As many as I love — I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent!" (Revelation 3:19). "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." (Hebrews 12:6-7). None but the sons and daughters of God's family are corrected. To live without chastisement is a sad sign of alienation from God. Our heavenly Father chastens us to prevent our final condemnation: "But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:32).
The Furnace is PROPORTIONATE
As a furnace is prepared for refining gold (Proverbs 17:3), so afflictions are appointed for the saints, who are compared to fine gold (Lamentations 4:2). Let us see here the high value that God places upon His people. Being . . .
chosen by the Father,
redeemed by the Son, and
regenerated by the Holy Spirit
— they are His precious gold!
As His gold, they get tarnished by the world and sin, and they must be subjected to the refining process. The beauty of His grace must be seen in them. Hence Jehovah seeks their spiritual improvement: "I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities!" (Isaiah 1:25).
The Lord does not treat Israel in the severe manner in which gold or silver is treated by the refiner: "Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver. . ." (Isaiah 48:10). The Great Refiner knows His metal — He knows what each one can bear. He never allows us to be tested above what we are able to bear. Sometimes He pours water on the fire if it gets too hot. He never goes beyond our strength. Neither does He turn the furnace up to the same temperature for all alike. He proportions the temperature to the strength of the bearer, allotting a greater heat to the strongest, and a less to the weakest. "I will correct you in measure" (Jeremiah 30:11). God will not over-afflict.
The goldsmith keeps the furnace burning with the gold in it, until all the dross has been removed, and he can see his face in the pure gold. Even so does our heavenly Father. Let us be cheerful and hopeful when we are in the furnace, knowing He seeks only to see His pure image clearly in us! We are in the furnace of affliction "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Hebrews 12:10).
An all-wise God regulates the heat of the furnace according to the needs of His people. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." (Malachi 3:3).
Some of us need more heat than others, so He increases the fire when needed. Micah said: "I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him." (Micah 7:9).
There are other times that He lowers the temperature, according to His Divine inspection. The prophet Jeremiah said: "Correct me, LORD, but only with justice — not in your anger, lest You reduce me to nothing." (Jeremiah 10:24).
Remember the time of trial is but short. "Weeping may endure for a night." It is called the day of adversity—the hour of affliction. Afflictions are but for a moment.
The Design of the Furnace is BENEFICIAL
The design of God in choosing us to suffer in the furnace of affliction, is for our everlasting good, and for His glory. Regenerating grace implants in us the seeds of immortality, which require cultivation in order to bring about maturity. The furnace is designed to develop these principles, and to fit us for higher enjoyment. Afflictions . . .
scour off our rust,
preserve us from sin,
assimilate us to Christ, who was a man of sorrows,
show us the frailty of human life,
manifest the vanity of the world,
teach us sympathy to others,
make us very humble, break the haughty mind, and bring down the lofty thought,
induce a spirit of prayer, "In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord."
The people of God have the same need of affliction . . .
that our bodies have of medicine,
that fruit trees have of pruning,
that gold and silver have of the furnace,
that iron has of the file, and
that the child has of the rod of correction!
"However the wicked, like trees in the wilderness, grow without culture — yet the saints, like trees in the garden, must be pruned to be made fruitful; and affliction does this. There is as much difference between the sufferings of the saints and those of the ungodly — as between the cords with which an executioner pinions a condemned malefactor, and the bandages wherewith a tender surgeon binds his patient!" Wall
1. The furnace of affliction is designed to prevent us from going astray. "Before I was afflicted I went astray — but now have I kept Your Word" (Psalm 119:67). "It is good for me that I have been afflicted — that I might learn Your statutes" (Psalm 119:71). The believer comes from this furnace improved and refined!
By our natural corruption, we are ready to wander in the pathway of sin, and go astray after worldly vanities. Hence the Lord makes affliction to serve us as a thorny hedge — to keep us on the right course. Afflictions amend us and strengthen us to keep God's statutes.
2. Afflictions wean us from the evil world. "For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined!" (Psalm 66:10). When Egypt became an iron furnace — the Israelites became weary of it. The prodigal never thought of his father — until he experienced famine. The Lord makes this world a grief — so it may not become our idol. It is to be our purgatory — that we may never make it our paradise.
3. Afflictions test our religious profession. "But He knows the way that I take! When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). We profess to be gold for God's treasury — yet there is much dross in us. We claim to be grain fit for the garner of heavenly glory — yet there seems to be more chaff than wheat in us. Therefore the Lord casts us into the furnace of affliction — that we may be tried and purified. The dross must be severed and separated from us. We must be winnowed with the strong wind of affliction — that the chaff may be blown away and the pure grain remain.
We profess to be soldiers in the army of the King of kings. We claim to fight under the banner of the Lord Almighty. Therefore the Lord allows us to be attacked by Satan and assaulted by the world with afflictions and persecutions — to try us and to find out if we are traitors. Cowards will yield early in the fight. Real soldiers will stand and fight to the death, but a traitor will join with the enemy. "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away!" (Matthew 13:20-21). "You therefore endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3).
4. The furnace of affliction brings about growth in Christian graces. "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3-4). Our heavenly Father longs to see His children grow up spiritually. To bring this about, He uses the instrumentality of afflictions. In these we learn patience, and we are caused to hope in God. The Lord buffets and afflicts us with severe trials — to give occasion to exercise these graces which otherwise would lie dormant with us.
The Christian graces are like perfumes — the more they are pressed by affliction, the sweeter they smell. They are like the stars — they appear best in the darkness of trouble. They are like the snow (though cold and uncomfortable), yet it warms and nourishes the earth in winter. Just so, the believer is nourished in the winter of affliction. Worldly joy ends in sorrow — but godly sorrow ends in joy. As it sometimes rains when the sun shines, so there is frequently joy in the saint's heart — when there are tears in his eyes!
5. The great Refiner aims to drive us to prayer. "LORD, in trouble have they visited You; they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them" (Isaiah 26:16). "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray" (James 5:13). The furnace is necessary to stir up prayer in us. In peace and prosperity we seldom recognize our need of Divine help. Afflictions bring us to God, and show our need of dependence upon Him. "In their affliction, they will seek Me early" (Hosea 5:15).
6. Afflictions prepare us for greater usefulness and fruitfulness. "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2). The wise farmer prunes his fruit trees in the winter, so that they may produce more fruit in the summer. Superfluous branches and suckers which steal the sap, must be removed. Creature comforts are often to the soul, what suckers are to the tree. Therefore the great Farmer prunes these off, that the tree of the Lord may produce much fruit. God will prune His people, but not hew them down. The right hand of His mercy, knows what the left hand of His severity is doing!
CONCLUSION
1. Do not think the life of a Christian is easy. It is not a flowery bed of ease. During our life on earth, we all must spend some time in the furnace of affliction. But like the three Hebrews in the furnace in Babylon, God is always with us in all these sufferings. "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!" (Isaiah 43:1-3).
2. In short, God, by placing his people in the furnace of affliction, is educating them . . .
for crowns and scepters,
for thrones and dominions,
for a place in Paradise, and
for a seat at his right hand!
At present, the Lord is fashioning the inward spiritual life for the world to come. The oppression, the piercings, the anguish, the disappointments, and all events — are but the preparation for the position we shall occupy in the world to come.
3. As Israel did not understand election until they were in Egypt, even so today we come to see our election in the furnace of afflictions. When the sorrows of death compass us and the pains of Hell get hold upon us — then we come to see distinguishing grace and everlasting love. In soul trouble we come to understand the text: "I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction!"
4. There is in this world — a furnace of afflictions for God's elect. Then in the world to come — there is another furnace of literal, physical fire that is heated for the ungodly after the judgment. "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" (Matthew 13:41-42). Oh, lost sinner, flee the wrath to come!
APPLICATION
1. Let the sublime design of this furnace induce patience, and submission.
2. Remember the time of trial is but short. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!" Called the day of adversity — the hour of affliction — are but for a moment.
3. What a furnace of infliction awaits the ungodly in the world to come!
YOUPI ! Notre maire, Delphine Labails, vient de déclarer (oui, notre maire a un penchant certain pour les annonces, bien qu'elles soient rarement suivies d'effets) que la vitesse des automobiles serait désormais limitée à un maximum de 30 km/h dans la ville de Périgueux. Pour les amateurs de conduite rapide, soyez rassurés, notre inconsciente maire semble vous accorder la permission de foncer à toute allure dans nos ruelles strictement piétonnes... Allez-y franchement, elle s'en moque complètement. Qu'un riverain sorte de chez lui, peu importe, c'est l'accident... Elle s'en fiche éperdument... Oui, notre maire est un sacré numéro !!!! Sand doute l'élue la plus toxique de France...
HURRAY! Our mayor, Delphine Labails, has just announced (yes, our mayor has a certain penchant for announcements, although they are rarely followed by action) that the speed of automobiles will now be limited to a maximum of 30 km/h in the city of Périgueux. For fans of fast driving, rest assured, our carefree mayor seems to grant you permission to zoom through our strictly pedestrian alleys at full speed... Go ahead, she doesn't care at all. If a resident steps out of their home, no matter, it's an accident... She couldn't care less. Yes, our mayor is quite a character!!! Without the most toxic elected official in France...
The Forum for Secular Bangladesh and Trail of War Criminals of 1971 organised a candlelight procession from the Central Shaheed Minar to the killing field of Jagannath Hall of DU demanding to declare the 25th of March as International Genocide Day.
March 26
I now declare the INSECT IN FLIGHT SEASON 2016 open:
Pollenia spec. (Diptera, Calliphoridae)
Cluster Fly
Wurmfliege
Klyngeflue
Exposure time (= flash duration): 50 µs = 1/20.000 s
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If you like my pictures of insects in flight, you should visit my special website on insect flight:
Wenn Ihnen meine Bilder fliegender Insekten gefallen, besuchen Sie bitte meine Homepage speziell zu diesem Thema:
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PLEASE, NO AWARDS, no Copy and Paste Comments and no group icons like "your wonderful photo was seen in group xyz". They will all be deleted sooner or later.
BITTE KEINE AWARDS, kopierte Kommentare oder diese Gruppen-Icons wie "Ich habe Dein wunderbares Bild in Gruppe xyz gesehen". Die lösche ich früher oder später.
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USA Declares Trade War on Canada: Day III - 16 images - Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 28-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS USM (EOS mount) & Polarizer - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives on Vancouver Island, where he works as a writer.
The Tampa Bay Times declares that this new eatery on the Pier is St. Pete’s hottest new restaurant and recommends making an early reservation. The building has been radically transformed from its previous incarnation as Hops brewpub (since relocated downtown as Hops 2.0), its styling paying homage to the old Inverted Pyramid St. Pete Pier.
The Perry’s Porch name honours C. Perry Snell, a wealthy Kentucky pharmacist and property developer, whose St. Pete legacy includes Snell Isle and the downtown Snell Tower.
Smiley out in front of the Moreton Regional Council Chambers at Redcliffe declaring his one toy campaign to stop the disease of worry warts.
I Peter 5 : 7 "Give alll your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you." (New Living Translation)Worry or Prayer on 23 January 2010 - day 23 of 2010.
Worry or Prayer on 23 January 2010 - day 23 of 2010
Something from Dr. Helga’s lab decided to declare his intention to run for U.S. president in 2016. Harry Bone (Georgia) says his platform is simple: bare bones government. At the left, you see his running mate Dr. Bone Carson (not to be confused with the Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson). Does Harry have any skeletons in the closet? You bet he does! Lots of them! Where do you think he found his running mate!
With apologies to James Weldon Johnson for riffing on his 1928 melody Dem Bones
Fred-Ruth conversation:
Me: Where are the skeletons?
Fred: I think I put them in the shed. Shall I go get them for you?
What a guy, eh? :D
For We're Here - I Declare!!!
Put some zing into your 365! Join We're Here!
"I hereby declare that the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God... When we take time to pray and meditate on the sacred text, we can speak from the heart and thus reach the hearts of those who hear us, conveying what is essential and capable of bearing fruit. May we never tire of devoting time and prayer to Scripture, so that it may be received “not as a human word but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13)."
– Pope Francis. Today (24 Jan 2021) is the Sunday of the Word of God.
My homily for today can be read here.
14th-century fresco from the 'Spanish Chapel' in the Dominican priory of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, showing St Dominic preaching the Gospel.
From the great music fest I go to each year.
Though Alaskans get the stereotype of being "redneck", we have so many awesome forward thinking and amazing "hippies" that make the community!
The Mayor of Haninge Meeri Wasberg giving the opening speech at the Haninge Day celebrations at Poseidon's square on Saturday. Wearing the traditional Haninge folk costume, Haningedräkten made by Anita Stjärnström. Press here to see Anita and her husband Bo in their folk costumes at another event.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
[Psalm 19:1-6 NIV]
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
1. Like it or not, we are ALL sinners: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT)
2. The punishment for sin is death: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12 NLT)
3. Jesus is our only hope: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)
4. SALVATION is by GRACE through FAITH in JESUS: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)
5. Accept Jesus and receive eternal life: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT) And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NLT)
Read the Bible for yourself. Allow the Lord to speak to you through his Word. YOUR ETERNITY IS AT STAKE!
Declare with David: “[I will] daily add praise to praise. I’ll write the book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation the livelong day, never run out of good things to write or say” (Psalm 71:14-15 MSG).
Gratitude is a mindful awareness of the benefits of life. Studies have linked the emotion with a variety of positive effects. Grateful people tend to be more empathetic and forgiving of others. People who keep a gratitude journal are more likely to have a positive outlook on life. Gratitude improves self-esteem and enhances relationships, quality of sleep, and longevity. If it came in a pill form, gratitude would be deemed “the miracle cure.” It’s no wonder, then, that God’s anxiety therapy includes a large, delightful dollop of gratitude.
Read more Trade Your Cares for Calm -Max Lucado
Christmas Journal Day 1
I'm taking an online journaling class from Shimelle (www.shimelle.com) that lasts from Dec 1-Jan 6. Each day has a prompt. This one was to declare your manifesto for the project.
This is an 8x8 layout. Paper and chipboard buttons by Sonburn, American Crafts Thickers and buttons. Number button by Every Jot and Title (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5015388). Love her etsy store!
(I still need to write the date on the number tag - I just realized this now!)
Take back your Christmas!
We might declare our allegiance to a religion or to a non-religion, but either way, there will be moments in our lives when we just feel the need to close our eyes, turn inwards and try desperately to connect to something bigger, greater and more knowing than we are. No matter how amazing and above it all we feel and think we are, the fragility of our very mortality will at some point in our lives humble us to the greatness of what caused us to be in the first place, regardless of what we may call it.
Have an inspired week ahead!
USA Declares Trade War on Canada Day I - 10 images - Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 28-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS USM (EOS mount) & Polarizer - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives on Vancouver Island, where he works as a writer.
The ten images in this series all use the 28 mm F3.5 setting on the Canon 28-135 zoom. Is the wide end of the zoom good enough to use as if it were a 28mm (45mm equivalent) F3.5 prime?
Gayndah declares itself to be the Orange Capital of Queensland. The Gayndah Town Clock is designed in the shape of an orange tree and has motifs made from stained glass and stainless steel.
Gayndah Courthouse – Sir Harry Gibbs Legal Heritage Centre.
The Queensland Heritage Register listed timber Gayndah Courthouse was built in 1928 and opened January 1929, designed by the Queensland Department of Public Works.
The Courthouse is a single-storeyed timber building with a hipped corrugated-iron roof and two projecting gables. A verandah runs along the front of the building between the gables. The gables have bell-cast timber-boarded sun hoods over the windows. The large central ventilator on the roof is the dominant decorative element of the building. The exterior of the courthouse is reasonably intact, except for metal louvres enclosing the verandahs.
Gayndah Courthouse is a typical example of the work of the Public Works Department and is a continuation of the tradition of timber court houses in Queensland country towns, adapting to civic function vernacular elements and materials common to domestic buildings. The building has a T-shaped plan, with offices along the front and the court room at the rear. The building replaces an earlier one of 1861.
References: POI-Australia: State Library of Queensland.
USA Declares Trade War on Canada: Day III - 16 images - Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 28-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS USM (EOS mount) & Polarizer - Photographer Russell McNeil PhD (Physics) lives on Vancouver Island, where he works as a writer.
The beauty of this blood-red moon and the stars shining against velvet brought to mind this Psalm I memorized as a teenager: Psalm 19 (ESV)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Newport Rhode Island. RI was one of the original 13 colonies to declare independence. It is the smallest US state. Roger Williams established the colony of Providence and Anne Hutchinson and others established a small settlement at Newport on Aquidneck Island. Williams and Hutchinson were Puritans expelled for Massachusetts for their religious ideas. In 1644 the 2 settlements united to become the colony of Rhode Island (after the isle of Rhodes in Greece.) RI was the first colony to renounce allegiance to the British King but the last to ratify the US Constitution - it waited until May 1890 for assurances that a Bill of Rights would be added.
The Robber Barons and Newport. During the Industrial Revolution in America after the Civil War a small group of men and families came to dominate US business. They were the leaders, the first to develop and use new technology and materials, just like Bill Gates in this modern era. They built the railroads, were the first to use the new Bessemer steel making process, they developed the telegraph, the telephone, and they discovered oil and extracted kerosene to replace whale oil as the main burning fuel. Later, men like Henry Ford developed the motor car at an affordable price for middle class Americans, and he also introduced assembly line production system. They were the first to take control of these new industries and establish either regional or national monopolies by buying out all competitors. There were no US laws to restrict cartels and monopolies at that time. They got control of the natural resources- the oil wells, the means of transport- the railroads and oil pipelines, and they manufactured - especially steel. They also owned the coal mines. So they owned everything from the natural resources to the produced item and they controlled the marketing, the prices and the sales. They were known as the ‘Robber Barons’ and their influence on American is still great today despite decades of anti-trust (monopoly) legislation. Fortunately for the US they started the tradition of massive donations as their personal and company tax rates were so low. Their family names are especially linked to Bar Harbor, Newport and New York City. They were an exclusive group. To ‘make it’ in NY you had to be part of the 400, the 400 people Mrs. Astor could fit into her ballroom.
The Astors: of German descent and they made money from the fur and opium trade and were known as the landlords of NY. They lived where the Empire State is now built. They owned huge areas of NY and had their summer house at Newport. They donated the NY Public Library to the city.
The Vanderbilts: were original Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam. They owned much of Fifth Avenue where they lived near the Astors. They built a railroad and shipping empire to make them even today one of the wealthiest families. They owned and built Grand Central Terminal in NY, the largest train station in the world with 75 platforms.
The Carnegies: Andrew went into steel making and created the US Steel Company. He then invested in oil wells, railroads, and coal mining and became the second wealthiest man after John Rockefeller. He endowed Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh - his steel making city. He endowed Carnegie Music Hall in NY. He was a financial backer of Booker T. Washington the great black leader of the 1890s who founded Tuskegee University for Black Americans. You might see Carnegie Hall in NY.
The Morgans: John Pierpont became the banker to the Robber Barons. He then developed General Electrics but he was the banker to all the main railroads, steel works, telegraph companies and he was the investor behind the White Star Line of Titanic fame. On your free day in NY you could visit his home and the Morgan collection of books etc.
The Rockefellers: John was the man who established the Standard Oil Company but he owned the oilfields, the pipelines, and the refineries. He had 100,000 employees and lived near the Vanderbilts. His philanthropic interests included health, hospitals, sewerage and education. The Rockefeller Centre in NY is still owned by the family.
The Fricks: Henry Clay Frick was a steel magnate with works in Pittsburgh and New York. His art collection, the Frick Collection of old European masters is housed in his Fifth Avenue home which was designed to make Andrew Carnegie’s home look like a shack. You can visit this collection on the free day in NY if you want.
The Breakers - one of the Ten Mansions open in Newport. Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grandson had this mansion built in 1893. It is a 70 roomed Italian Renaissance style palace built as a summer house only. The house has been publically owned since 1973. It cost more than $12 million to build. Its furnishing and the building materials are lavish. The gardens are superb and sweep down to the cliff top edges, hence the house name, the Breakers.
The Marble House. This house was built for William Vanderbilt as a summer cottage between 1888-92.It was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Mrs Vanderbilt saw it as her ‘temple to the arts.’ It cost $11 million to erect with $7million going on marble. William gave it to his wife as a 39th birthday present! To ‘relive’ the Newport experience read the novels of Edith Wharton, herself a NY aristocrat who had a summer residence at Newport. She was a great friend of the Vanderbilts. She is the American Jane Austen. Read The Age of Innocence 1921; or The House of Mirth 1905. Both novels have been made into films the Innocence in 1993 and the Mirth in 2000.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Canada's national and business newspaper The Globe and Mail.
Several days after the November 3, 2020 American presidential election, finally Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declare victory.
The day also marks the 700th day since China detained two Canadian residents in Chinese prisons in retaliation of Canada arresting Huawei executive Meng Wan Zhao on an extradition request from the U.S.
Newport Rhode Island. RI was one of the original 13 colonies to declare independence. It is the smallest US state. Roger Williams established the colony of Providence and Anne Hutchinson and others established a small settlement at Newport on Aquidneck Island. Williams and Hutchinson were Puritans expelled for Massachusetts for their religious ideas. In 1644 the 2 settlements united to become the colony of Rhode Island (after the isle of Rhodes in Greece.) RI was the first colony to renounce allegiance to the British King but the last to ratify the US Constitution - it waited until May 1890 for assurances that a Bill of Rights would be added.
The Robber Barons and Newport. During the Industrial Revolution in America after the Civil War a small group of men and families came to dominate US business. They were the leaders, the first to develop and use new technology and materials, just like Bill Gates in this modern era. They built the railroads, were the first to use the new Bessemer steel making process, they developed the telegraph, the telephone, and they discovered oil and extracted kerosene to replace whale oil as the main burning fuel. Later, men like Henry Ford developed the motor car at an affordable price for middle class Americans, and he also introduced assembly line production system. They were the first to take control of these new industries and establish either regional or national monopolies by buying out all competitors. There were no US laws to restrict cartels and monopolies at that time. They got control of the natural resources- the oil wells, the means of transport- the railroads and oil pipelines, and they manufactured - especially steel. They also owned the coal mines. So they owned everything from the natural resources to the produced item and they controlled the marketing, the prices and the sales. They were known as the ‘Robber Barons’ and their influence on American is still great today despite decades of anti-trust (monopoly) legislation. Fortunately for the US they started the tradition of massive donations as their personal and company tax rates were so low. Their family names are especially linked to Bar Harbor, Newport and New York City. They were an exclusive group. To ‘make it’ in NY you had to be part of the 400, the 400 people Mrs. Astor could fit into her ballroom.
The Astors: of German descent and they made money from the fur and opium trade and were known as the landlords of NY. They lived where the Empire State is now built. They owned huge areas of NY and had their summer house at Newport. They donated the NY Public Library to the city.
The Vanderbilts: were original Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam. They owned much of Fifth Avenue where they lived near the Astors. They built a railroad and shipping empire to make them even today one of the wealthiest families. They owned and built Grand Central Terminal in NY, the largest train station in the world with 75 platforms.
The Carnegies: Andrew went into steel making and created the US Steel Company. He then invested in oil wells, railroads, and coal mining and became the second wealthiest man after John Rockefeller. He endowed Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh - his steel making city. He endowed Carnegie Music Hall in NY. He was a financial backer of Booker T. Washington the great black leader of the 1890s who founded Tuskegee University for Black Americans. You might see Carnegie Hall in NY.
The Morgans: John Pierpont became the banker to the Robber Barons. He then developed General Electrics but he was the banker to all the main railroads, steel works, telegraph companies and he was the investor behind the White Star Line of Titanic fame. On your free day in NY you could visit his home and the Morgan collection of books etc.
The Rockefellers: John was the man who established the Standard Oil Company but he owned the oilfields, the pipelines, and the refineries. He had 100,000 employees and lived near the Vanderbilts. His philanthropic interests included health, hospitals, sewerage and education. The Rockefeller Centre in NY is still owned by the family.
The Fricks: Henry Clay Frick was a steel magnate with works in Pittsburgh and New York. His art collection, the Frick Collection of old European masters is housed in his Fifth Avenue home which was designed to make Andrew Carnegie’s home look like a shack. You can visit this collection on the free day in NY if you want.
The Breakers - one of the Ten Mansions open in Newport. Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grandson had this mansion built in 1893. It is a 70 roomed Italian Renaissance style palace built as a summer house only. The house has been publically owned since 1973. It cost more than $12 million to build. Its furnishing and the building materials are lavish. The gardens are superb and sweep down to the cliff top edges, hence the house name, the Breakers.
The Marble House. This house was built for William Vanderbilt as a summer cottage between 1888-92.It was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Mrs Vanderbilt saw it as her ‘temple to the arts.’ It cost $11 million to erect with $7million going on marble. William gave it to his wife as a 39th birthday present! To ‘relive’ the Newport experience read the novels of Edith Wharton, herself a NY aristocrat who had a summer residence at Newport. She was a great friend of the Vanderbilts. She is the American Jane Austen. Read The Age of Innocence 1921; or The House of Mirth 1905. Both novels have been made into films the Innocence in 1993 and the Mirth in 2000.
Newport Rhode Island. RI was one of the original 13 colonies to declare independence. It is the smallest US state. Roger Williams established the colony of Providence and Anne Hutchinson and others established a small settlement at Newport on Aquidneck Island. Williams and Hutchinson were Puritans expelled for Massachusetts for their religious ideas. In 1644 the 2 settlements united to become the colony of Rhode Island (after the isle of Rhodes in Greece.) RI was the first colony to renounce allegiance to the British King but the last to ratify the US Constitution - it waited until May 1890 for assurances that a Bill of Rights would be added.
The Robber Barons and Newport. During the Industrial Revolution in America after the Civil War a small group of men and families came to dominate US business. They were the leaders, the first to develop and use new technology and materials, just like Bill Gates in this modern era. They built the railroads, were the first to use the new Bessemer steel making process, they developed the telegraph, the telephone, and they discovered oil and extracted kerosene to replace whale oil as the main burning fuel. Later, men like Henry Ford developed the motor car at an affordable price for middle class Americans, and he also introduced assembly line production system. They were the first to take control of these new industries and establish either regional or national monopolies by buying out all competitors. There were no US laws to restrict cartels and monopolies at that time. They got control of the natural resources- the oil wells, the means of transport- the railroads and oil pipelines, and they manufactured - especially steel. They also owned the coal mines. So they owned everything from the natural resources to the produced item and they controlled the marketing, the prices and the sales. They were known as the ‘Robber Barons’ and their influence on American is still great today despite decades of anti-trust (monopoly) legislation. Fortunately for the US they started the tradition of massive donations as their personal and company tax rates were so low. Their family names are especially linked to Bar Harbor, Newport and New York City. They were an exclusive group. To ‘make it’ in NY you had to be part of the 400, the 400 people Mrs. Astor could fit into her ballroom.
The Astors: of German descent and they made money from the fur and opium trade and were known as the landlords of NY. They lived where the Empire State is now built. They owned huge areas of NY and had their summer house at Newport. They donated the NY Public Library to the city.
The Vanderbilts: were original Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam. They owned much of Fifth Avenue where they lived near the Astors. They built a railroad and shipping empire to make them even today one of the wealthiest families. They owned and built Grand Central Terminal in NY, the largest train station in the world with 75 platforms.
The Carnegies: Andrew went into steel making and created the US Steel Company. He then invested in oil wells, railroads, and coal mining and became the second wealthiest man after John Rockefeller. He endowed Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh - his steel making city. He endowed Carnegie Music Hall in NY. He was a financial backer of Booker T. Washington the great black leader of the 1890s who founded Tuskegee University for Black Americans. You might see Carnegie Hall in NY.
The Morgans: John Pierpont became the banker to the Robber Barons. He then developed General Electrics but he was the banker to all the main railroads, steel works, telegraph companies and he was the investor behind the White Star Line of Titanic fame. On your free day in NY you could visit his home and the Morgan collection of books etc.
The Rockefellers: John was the man who established the Standard Oil Company but he owned the oilfields, the pipelines, and the refineries. He had 100,000 employees and lived near the Vanderbilts. His philanthropic interests included health, hospitals, sewerage and education. The Rockefeller Centre in NY is still owned by the family.
The Fricks: Henry Clay Frick was a steel magnate with works in Pittsburgh and New York. His art collection, the Frick Collection of old European masters is housed in his Fifth Avenue home which was designed to make Andrew Carnegie’s home look like a shack. You can visit this collection on the free day in NY if you want.
The Breakers - one of the Ten Mansions open in Newport. Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grandson had this mansion built in 1893. It is a 70 roomed Italian Renaissance style palace built as a summer house only. The house has been publically owned since 1973. It cost more than $12 million to build. Its furnishing and the building materials are lavish. The gardens are superb and sweep down to the cliff top edges, hence the house name, the Breakers.
The Marble House. This house was built for William Vanderbilt as a summer cottage between 1888-92.It was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Mrs Vanderbilt saw it as her ‘temple to the arts.’ It cost $11 million to erect with $7million going on marble. William gave it to his wife as a 39th birthday present! To ‘relive’ the Newport experience read the novels of Edith Wharton, herself a NY aristocrat who had a summer residence at Newport. She was a great friend of the Vanderbilts. She is the American Jane Austen. Read The Age of Innocence 1921; or The House of Mirth 1905. Both novels have been made into films the Innocence in 1993 and the Mirth in 2000.
While many signs carried the standard slogan declaring "I Oppose Genocide - I Support Palestine Action," some signs conveyed more personal moving messages. The sign reading "The smallest coffins are the heaviest" gives a powerful voice to the human cost of the conflict, where a large number of the 63,000 killed by Israel in Gaza have been children.
The man's sign, written in Welsh, shows the breadth of opposition from across the UK. These statements highlight that the protest was a direct response not just to the proscription of Palestine Action but also to an engineered humanitarian catastrophe that a growing consensus of experts has labelled a genocide
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Protest and the Price of Dissent: Palestine Action and the Criminalisation of Conscience
Parliament Square on Saturday, 6 September 2025 was a scene of quiet, almost solemn defiance. The air, usually thick with the noise of London traffic and crowds of tourists, was instead filled with a palpable tension, a shared gravity that emanated from the quiet determination of hundreds of protesters, many of them over 60 years old, some sitting on steps or stools and others lying on the grass.
They held not professionally printed banners, but handwritten cardboard signs, their messages stark against the historic grandeur of their surroundings. This was not a march of chants and slogans, but a silent vigil of civil disobedience, a deliberate and calculated act of defiance against the state.
On that day, my task was to photograph the protest against the proscription of the direct-action group Palestine Action. While not always agreeing entirely with the group’s methods, I could not help but be struck by the profound dedication etched on the faces of the individual protesters.
As they sat in silence, contemplating both the horrific gravity of the situation in Gaza and the enormity of the personal risk they were taking — courting arrest under terror laws for holding a simple placard — their expressions took on a quality not dissimilar to what war photographers once called the “thousand-yard stare.” It was a look of weary but deep and determined resolve, a silent testament to their readiness to face life-changing prosecution in the name of a principle.
This scene poses a profound and unsettling question for modern Britain. How did the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its democratic traditions and the right to protest, arrive at a point where hundreds of its citizens — clergy, doctors, veterans, and the elderly — could be arrested under counter-terrorism legislation for an act of silent, peaceful protest?
The events of that September afternoon were the culmination of a complex and contentious series of developments, but their significance extends far beyond a single organisation or demonstration. The proscription of Palestine Action has become a critical juncture in the nation’s relationship with dissent, a test of the elasticity of free expression, and a stark examination of its obligations under international law in the face of Israel deliberately engineering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
To understand what is at stake, one must unravel the threads that led to that moment: the identity of the movement, the state’s legal machinery of proscription, the confrontation in Parliament Square, and the political context that compelled so many to risk their liberty.
Direct Action and the State’s Response
Palestine Action, established in 2020, has never hidden its approach. Unlike traditional lobbying groups, it rejected appeals to political elites in favour of disrupting the physical infrastructure of complicity: factories producing parts for Israeli weapons systems, offices of arms manufacturers, and — eventually — military installations themselves.
Its tactics, while non-violent, were disruptive and confrontational. Red paint sprayed across buildings to symbolise blood, occupations that halted production, chains and locks on factory gates. For supporters, these were acts of conscience against a system enabling atrocities in Gaza. For the state, they were criminal disruptions of commerce.
That clash escalated steadily. In Oldham, a persistent campaign against Elbit Systems, a key manufacturer in the Israeli arms supply chain, culminated in the company abandoning its Ferranti site. Later actions targeted suppliers for F-35 fighter jets and other arms manufacturers. These were no random acts of mindless vandalism but part of a deliberate strategy: to impose costs high enough that complicity in Israel’s war effort would become unsustainable.
The decisive rupture came in June 2025, when activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest airbase, and sprayed red paint into the engines of refuelling aircraft linked to operations over Gaza. For the activists, it was a desperate attempt to interrupt a supply chain of surveillance and logistical support to a state commiting genocide. For the government, it crossed a line: military assets had been attacked. Within days, the Home Secretary announced Palestine Action would be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Proscription and the Expansion of “Terrorism”
Here lies the heart of the controversy. The Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism with unusual breadth, encompassing not only threats to life but also “serious damage to property” carried out for political or ideological aims. In this capacious definition, breaking a factory window or disabling a machine can be legally assimilated to mass murder.
By invoking this law, the government placed Palestine Action on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Supporting it — even symbolically — became a serious offence.
Since July 2025, merely expressing support for the organization can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
This is based on Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The specific offense is "recklessly expressing support for a proscribed organisation". However, according to Section 13 of the Act, a lower-level offence for actions like displaying hand held placards in support of a proscribed group carries a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or a fine of five thousand pounds or both.
Civil liberties groups and human rights bodies have denounced the proscription move as disproportionate. Their concern was not primarily whether Palestine Action’s tactics might violate existing criminal law. One might reasonably argue that they did unless they might sometimes be justified in the name of preventing a greater crime.
But reframing those actions as “terrorism” represented a dangerous category error. As many pointed out, terrorism has historically referred to violence against civilians. Expanding it to cover property damage risks draining the term of meaning. Worse, it arms the state with a stigma so powerful that it can delegitimise entire political positions without debate.
The implications go further. Proscription does not simply criminalise acts. It criminalises expressions of allegiance, conscience and even speech. To say “I support Palestine Action” is no longer an opinion but technically a serious crime. The state has moved from punishing deeds to punishing expressions of solidarity — a move with chilling consequences for democratic life.
Parliament Square: Civil Disobedience on Trial
It was this transformation that brought nearly 1,500 people into Parliament Square on 6 September. They knew what awaited them. Organisers announced in advance that protesters would hold signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” In doing so, they openly declared their intent to break the law.
The crowd was strikingly diverse. Retired doctors, clergy, war veterans, even an 83-year-old Anglican priest. Disabled activists came in wheelchairs; descendants of Holocaust survivors stood beside young students. This was not a hardened cadre of militants but a cross-section of society, many of whom had never before faced arrest.
At precisely 1 pm, the protesters all sat or lay down silently, cardboard signs raised. There was no chanting, no aggression — only a quiet insistence that they would not accept the criminalisation of conscience.
The police response was equally predictable. Hundreds of officers moved systematically through the crowd, arresting anyone displaying a sign. By the end of the day, nearly 900 people were detained under counter-terrorism law. It was one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history.
Official statements later alleged police were met with violence — officers punched, spat on, objects thrown. Yet independent observers, including Amnesty International, contradicted this. They reported a peaceful assembly disrupted by aggressive policing: batons drawn, protesters shoved, some bloodied.
www.amnesty.org/zh-hans/documents/eur45/0273/2025/en/
Video footage supported at least some of Amnesty's report.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQGFrqCf5U&t=1283s
The two narratives were irreconcilable, but only one carried the weight and authority of the state.
The entire event unfolded as political theatre. The government proscribed a group, thereby creating a new crime. Protesters, convinced the law was unjust, announced their intent to commit that crime peacefully. The police, forewarned, staged a vast operation. Each side acted out its script. The spectacle allowed the state to present itself as defending order against extremism — while in reality silencing dissent.
The Humanitarian Context: Why Protesters Risked All
To see the Parliament Square protest as a parochial dispute over free speech is to miss its driving force. The demonstrators were not there merely to defend abstract principles. They were responding to what they, and a growing body of international experts, describe as a genocide in Gaza.
By September 2025, Gaza had descended into almost total collapse. Over 63,000 Palestinians had been killed, the majority of them women and children. More than 150,000 had been injured, many maimed for life. Entire neighbourhoods had been flattened. Famine was confirmed in August, with Israel continuing to impose and even tighten deliberate restrictions on food, water, and fuel, a strategy condemned by human rights groups as a major war crime. Hospitals lay in ruins. Ninety percent of the population had been displaced.
It is in this context that the term genocide has been applied. Legal scholars point not only to mass killings but also to the deliberate infliction of life-destroying conditions, accompanied by rhetoric from Israeli officials dehumanising Palestinians as “human animals.” In September 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions met the legal definition of genocide.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde3eyzdr63o
Major NGOs, UN experts, and even Israeli human rights groups such as B’Tselem echoed that conclusion.
For the protesters, then, the question was not abstract but immediate: faced with what they saw as a genocide, could they in good conscience remain silent while their own government criminalised resistance to it? Their answer was to risk arrest, their placards making the moral connection explicit: opposing genocide meant supporting those who sought to stop it.
The Price of Dissent
The mass arrests in Parliament Square were not an isolated incident of law enforcement. They were the product of a broader trajectory: escalating tactics by a direct-action movement, a humanitarian catastrophe abroad, and a government determined to suppress dissent at home through the bluntest of instruments.
The official line insists that Palestine Action’s campaign constituted terrorism and thus warranted proscription. On this view, the arrests were simple enforcement of the law. Yet this account obscures the deeper reality: a precedent in which the state redefined non-lethal protest as terrorism, shifting from punishing actions to criminalising expressions of solidarity.
The cost is profound. Once speech and conscience themselves become suspect, dissent is no longer tolerated but pathologised. The chilling effect is already evident: individuals weigh not just whether to join a protest, but whether uttering support might expose them to years in prison. Terror laws, originally justified as a shield against mass violence, are recast as tools of political management.
The protesters understood this. That “thousand-yard stare” captured in their faces was not only the weight of potential arrest, but the knowledge of Gaza’s devastation, the famine and rubble, the deaths mounting daily. It was also the recognition that their own government had chosen to silence them rather than address its complicity.
In a functioning democracy, the question is not why citizens risk arrest for holding a handwritten cardboard sign. It is why a state finds it necessary to treat that act as a terror offence. The answer reveals a narrowing of democratic space, where conscience itself is deemed subversive. And that narrowing, history teaches, carries consequences not just for those arrested, but for the society that allows it.
Warning or threat? I'm not sure. Spotted this over near MLK & Shaver. Kinda looks like they painted over the graffiti removal blocks (green).
... and this is the first time I quit a story prematurely.
With this picture I declare the official end of Anabelle's tale, Witch's Quest.
Warning: long text and possible rant ahead.
After Prometheus I wanted to do something totally different with a wider range of color, more fun and more regular updates. Suffice to say that didn't work out as planned. After a small amount of vignettes it became clear I sucked at building castles. The outdoor scenes were still quite ok and I enjoyed building those. Using vegetation was a first for me. After the first 'house' vignette I noticed I don't like building flat walls. My strength lies with greebles and making a non-straight wall. I had a very hard time to apply this to the castle theme. One can only go so far without the whole thing starting to seem ridiculous.
Another problem from the get-go was that stupid chest creature. When I was designing and building it it seemed like a grand idea. That was up to the point of taking my first picture. The focus should have been on the vignette itself but the chest took up more that half of my picture frame! Since I'm very stubborn I didn't want to scratch the inventory idea so I just went with it, rebuilding it once in a while. I can assure you it's nearly impossible to build something cool in dark brown when the smallest plate is two by six studs and the only type of brick you have is a one by two rounded one.
The story ... aah yes, the story. Or should I say the lack thereof. That too seemed like a good idea to start a series of vignettes. After all it worked with Clumsy Pete, why wouldn't it work a second time? Guess not. With Pete the story propelled itself. Every wacky event triggered a response and another wacky event ensured. It was fun to build and I often was laughing out loud during the design phase. With Anabelle I never had this experience. The only thing that went through my head was: damn, another wall, shit this is boring.
After a few vignettes I was already thinking about my next project. Never a good idea that. My mind was constantly drawn to a different genre where lots of ideas were popping in my head while I should have been thinking about Anabelle. Well I still have about 10 to 20 ideas for the Witch's Quest story. When I feel like it I might pick out a single idea and build a vignette around it. But for now I'd like to stay away from the castle theme as far as possible.
Kudos to everyone building castle theme though. Clearly it's not for me, but having tried it I have the utmost respect for everyone being able to transform a bunch of grey bricks into a nice looking castle/fortress/guard tower. I salute you! You know who you are!
(Final) note to self: do not buy 2000+ bricks for your upcoming project while the previous is not done yet. It tends to distract ...
"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
In 1854, Pope Bl Pius IX confirmed the Dogma of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception.
My sermon for today's Solemnity can be read here.
This painting is on the ceiling of the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome.
- I officially declare, I'll be an extremely duper SWEET person in the next 6 hours, after slurping some whip cream and a first bite munching into my first rainbow cake slice of my life... it had me feeling I had half bag of sugar by the last third layer... discarding most of the whip cream... I'm already a "sweet" one without a really sweet rainbow cake insideme, isn't it huh??? #rainbow #colorful #colourful #colours #colors #dean&deluca #dean #deluca #tgif #toosweet #sweetnessoverload
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murderwallz: Great colours!
moskovco: Pretty!
...the heavens declare the glory of God...
every day, as i gaze around me at all of the beauty in our world, i'm reminded of Who created and gave it to us, but never more so than when i see the sun, in all of it's glory, create amazing art with the clouds....
i am always fascinated by rays slicing through and creating shafts of light where otherwise there would be shadow...
and how can you not be in awe of the intensity of the light when it is not only playing around the edges of clouds, but painting the sky with a palette that only God himself could create!?!
so, here i share with you, just one of the things that reminds me each and every day of the amazing God who created all things, including the eyes that are the basis for the lenses we each connect to our cameras when we try to capture just a little of His beauty...
Sous les traits d'une femme moderne en pleine création... Le diable !
Berlin, 1er août 1936, Hitler déclare ouvert la 11e Olympiade.
"Brune sportive, vedette des films de montagne – l’équivalent, dans les pays germaniques, des westerns américains -, Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) devait passer derrière la caméra au début des années 1930.. Le Führer, qui en aurait pincé pour elle alors qu’elle lui proposait ses services, lui avait promis, dès 1932 : « Si nous accédons au pouvoir, c’est vous qui ferez mes films. »
"La même année, Joseph Goebbels écrira dans son journal intime : « Elle est très enthousiaste pour nous. » Ils le seront autant envers elle, lui déroulant un tapis d’or ; en retour, ils en auront largement pour leur argent, avec des films à grand spectacle – dont celui sur les Jeux olympiques de 1936, Les Dieux du stade – qui demeurent le parfait portrait cinématographique de la folie des grandeurs nazies."
"Celle qui serait la cinéaste officielle du Reich allait, après-guerre, dépenser son inépuisable énergie à tenter de déconstruire/reconstruire son image, niant et mentant effrontément, poursuivant en justice qui osait la déclarer pronazie et ayant profité de nombreuses faveurs du régime hitlérien."
"La documentariste Nina Gladitz, qui a publié en octobre une biographie (non traduite) remettant en cause la bonne foi autoproclamée de Riefenstahl, en avait elle-même fait les frais. Elle raconte devant la caméra de Michael Kloft que, au cours d’un procès, croisant Leni Riefenstahl, celle-ci, avec un regard astringent et meurtrier, lui avait lancé : « Tu sais ce qu’ils auraient fait de toi, tu sais où ils t’auraient envoyée ! »
"Mais la documentariste a continué son travail, découvrant de nombreux documents inédits, dont un rapport des services secrets français, rédigé en 1945, qui n’est pas, tant s’en faut, le plus ravageur : « Leni Riefenstahl est très mal jugée par ses collaborateurs : femme égoïste, vaniteuse, dure, sans esprit ni vraie culture, mais rusée et douée d’une grande force de séduction ou, tout au moins, de suggestion. Admiratrice sans réserve d’Hitler lui-même, elle se déclare cependant antinazie. »
"En 1982, Nina Gladitz avait tourné un documentaire dans lequel témoignaient les rescapés d’un camp près de Salzbourg où des Sinté – et autres représentants de groupes ethniques roms – avaient été sélectionnés par la cinéaste pour incarner les figurants « espagnols » de sa parabole nazie Tiefland (qui ne sortira qu’en 1954), dont la plupart seront ensuite envoyés aux camps de la mort. Riefenstahl niera tout, jusqu’à l’existence de ce camp."
S:
www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2020/11/18/leni-riefenstah...
Under the features of a modern woman in full creation... The devil!
Berlin, 1 August 1936, Hitler declared the 11th Olympiad open.
"A sports brunette, star of mountain films – the equivalent of American westerns in German countries – Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was to pass behind the camera in the early 1930s.
The Führer, who would have pinched it for her when she offered her services, had promised her in 1932, "If we come to power, you will make my films."
"That same year, Joseph Goebbels wrote in her diary: "She is very enthusiastic about us." They will be just as happy to her as they are to roll out a gold carpet; in return, they will get their money’s worth, with great-spectacle films – including the one on the 1936 Olympic Games, The Stadium Gods – who remain the perfect cinematic portrait of the madness of Nazi greatness."
"The woman who would be the official filmmaker of the Reich would, after the war, spend her inexhaustible energy trying to deconstruct/reconstruct her image, denying and lying brazenly, prosecuting the court that dared to declare it pronazie and having benefited from many favours of the Hitler regime."
"Documentary filmmaker Nina Gladitz, who published a biography (not translated) in October questioning Riefenstahl’s self-proclaimed good faith, herself paid the price. She recounts in front of Michael Kloft’s camera that, during a trial, meeting Leni Riefenstahl, this one, with an astringent and murderous gaze, had told her, "You know what they would have done with you, you know where they would have sent you!"
"But the documentary filmmaker has continued her work, discovering many unpublished documents, including a report by the French secret services, written in 1945, which is not, as it should be, the most devastating: Leni Riefenstahl is highly misjudged by her collaborators: a selfish woman, vain, hard, without spirit or true culture, but cunning and endowed with a great force of seduction or, at least, of suggestion. An unqualified admirer of Hitler himself, she declared herself anti-Nazi.”
"In 1982, Nina Gladitz had filmed a documentary in which the survivors of a camp near Salzburg, where Sinté – and other representatives of Roma ethnic groups – had been selected by the filmmaker to play the “Spanish” extras in her Nazi parable. Tiefland (which will not be released until 1954), Most of them will then be sent to death camps. Riefenstahl will deny everything until this camp exists."
S:
www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2020/11/18/leni-riefenstah...
I declare these as record shots as they are taken in at Parkend, Forest of Dean. There was so little light when I arrived but the birds were around and therefore I grabbed these images before moving on to find the Boar. An ISO5000 setting was required as it was that dark.
Parkend has an area of grass, en-circled by Yew and Beech trees. A perfect location for these birds.
I do not really enjoy these locations as the birds are fed and so finding & seeing them is no challenge. Given the number of Hawfinch reports there have been in Q4 2017, I really ought to have gone looking. However, on the plus side it provides an ideal opportunity to see these bird close up, watch their flight and hear a variety of calls. As a learning exercise it is a wonderful experience.
Romani people constitute one of Romania's largest minorities. According to the 2011 census, they number 621,573 people or 3.08% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians. There are varying estimates about the size of the total population of people with Romani ancestry in Romania, varying from 4.6 percent to over 10 percent of the population, because a lot of people of Romani descent do not declare themselves Roma.
The Romani people originate from northern India, presumably from the northwestern Indian regions such as Rajasthan and Punjab.
Linguistic evidence shows that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines. More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.
Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group. According to a genetic study in 2012, ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.
In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora.
In combination with the Mongol invasion of Europe the first Romani had reached the territory of present-day Romania around the year 1241. At the beginning of the 14th century, when the Mongols withdrew from Eastern Europe, the Romani who were left were taken as prisoners and slaves. According to documents signed by Prince Dan I the first captured Romani in Wallachia dates back to year 1385.
Until their liberation on February 20, 1856, most Roms lived in slavery. They could not leave the property of their owners (the boyars and the orthodox monasteries). After their liberation in 1856, a significant number of Roms left Wallachia and Moldavia.
In Bessarabia, annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812, the Roms were liberated in 1861. Many of them migrated to other regions of the Empire, while important communities remained in Soroca, Otaci and the surroundings of Cetatea Albă, Chișinău, and Bălți. The 1918 union with Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina and Bessarabia increased the number of ethnic Romani in Romania.
Following the accession of Romania to the European Union in 2007, the Romani minority continues to be the most socially disadvantaged ethnic group in Romania. Romania has been ordered by the EU to implement a national strategy to better integrate its Roma population. But little progress seems to have been made in this regard.
After declaring an engine problem (Highly Unlikely) this shuttle landed far way from the inhabited lands of Mars
- But what were they after?
A brave move landing in Federation territory and so close to Earth - with a ship having such extensive weaponry..
Eaglemoss small diecast model.
"Não declares que as estrelas estão mortas só porque o céu está nublado."
Provérbio árabe
Minhas fotos à venda na Getty Images: visite www.gettyimages.com e busque por "adrianoaquino"
__________
"Do not declare that the stars are dead just because the sky is cloudy."
Arab proverb
My photos for sale at Getty Images: go to www.gettyimages.com and search for "adrianoaquino"
The 1851 referendum also gave Louis Napoleon a mandate to amend the constitution. Work began on the new document in 1852. The new constitution was officially prepared by a committee of eighty experts, but was actually drafted by a small group of the Prince-President's inner circle. Under the new document, Louis-Napoleon was automatically reelected as president. Under Article Two, the president could now serve an unlimited number of 10-year terms. He alone was given the authority to declare war, sign treaties, form alliances and initiate laws. The Constitution re-established universal male suffrage, and also retained a National Assembly, but with greatly reduced authority.[58]
Louis-Napoleon's government imposed new authoritarian measures to control dissent and reduce the power of the opposition. One of his first acts was to settle scores with his old enemy, King Louis-Philippe, who had sent him to prison for life, and who had died in 1850. A decree on 23 January 1852 forbade the late King's family to own property in France, and annulled the inheritance he had given to his children before he became King.
The National Guard, whose members had sometimes joined anti-government demonstrations, was re-organized, and largely used only in parades. Government officials were required to wear uniforms at official formal occasions. The Minister of Education was given the power to dismiss professors at the universities, and to review the content of their courses. Students at the universities were forbidden to wear beards, seen as a symbol of republicanism.[59]
Photographic portrait of Louis-Napoléon (1852) by Gustave Le Gray
An election was held for a new National Assembly on 29 February 1852, and all the resources of the government were used on behalf of the candidates backing the Prince-President. Of eight million eligible voters, 5,200,000 votes went to the official candidates, and 800,000 to opposition candidates. About one third of the eligible voters abstained. The new assembly included a small number of opponents of Louis-Napoleon, including 17 monarchists, 18 conservatives, two liberal democrats, three republicans and 72 independents.[60]
For all intents and purposes, Louis-Napoléon now held all governing power in the nation. Yet he was not content with being an authoritarian president. The ink had barely dried on the new constitution when he set about making himself emperor. Following the election, the Prince-President went on a triumphal national tour. In Marseille, he laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral, a new stock exchange, and a chamber of commerce. In Bordeaux, on 9 October 1852, he gave his principal speech:
"Some people say the Empire is war. I say the Empire is peace. Like the Emperor I have many conquests to make… Like him I wish … to draw into the stream of the great popular river those hostile side-currents which lose themselves without profit to anyone. We have immense unplowed territories to cultivate; roads to open; ports to dig; rivers to be made navigable; canals to finish, a railway network to complete. We have, in front of Marseille, a vast kingdom to assimilate into France. We have all the great ports of the west to connect with the American continent by modern communications, which we still lack. We have ruins to repair, false gods to tear down, truths which we need to make triumph. This is how I see the Empire, if the Empire is re-established. These are the conquests I am considering, and you around me, who, like me, want the good of our country, you are my soldiers."[61]
When he returned to Paris at the end of his tour, the city was decorated with large arches, with banners proclaiming "To Napoleon III, emperor". In response to officially inspired requests for the return of the empire, the Senate scheduled another referendum for 21–22 November 1852 on whether to make Napoleon emperor. After an implausible 97 percent voted in favour (7,824,129 votes for and 253,159 against, with two million abstentions), on 2 December 1852—exactly one year after the coup—the Second Republic was officially ended, replaced by the Second French Empire. President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte became Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. His regnal name treats Napoleon II, who never actually ruled, as a true Emperor (he had been briefly recognized as emperor from 22 June to 7 July 1815). The 1851 constitution was retained, with the word "president" replaced by the word "emperor."
One of the first priorities of Napoleon III was the modernization of the French economy, which had fallen far behind that of the United Kingdom and some of the German states. Political economics had long been a passion of the Emperor: While in Britain he had visited factories and railway yards, and in prison he had studied and written about the sugar industry and policies to reduce poverty. He wanted the government to play an active, not a passive, role in the economy. In 1839, he had written: "Government is not a necessary evil, as some people claim; it is instead the benevolent motor for the whole social organism."[62] He did not advocate the government getting directly involved in industry. Instead, the government took a very active role in building the infrastructure for economic growth; stimulating the stock market and investment banks to provide credit; building railways, ports, canals and roads; and providing training and education. He also opened up French markets to foreign goods, such as railway tracks from England, forcing French industry to become more efficient and more competitive.[63]
The period was favorable for industrial expansion. The gold rushes in California and Australia increased the European money supply. In the early years of the Empire, the economy also benefited from the coming of age of those born during the baby boom of the Restoration period.[64] The steady rise of prices caused by the increase of the money supply encouraged company promotion and investment of capital.
Beginning in 1852, he encouraged the creation of new banks, such as Crédit Mobilier, which sold shares to the public and provided loans to both private industry and to the government. Crédit Lyonnais was founded in 1863, and Société Générale in 1864. These banks provided the funding for Napoléon III's major projects, from railway and canals to the rebuilding of Paris.
In 1851 France had only 3,500 kilometers of railway, compared with 10,000 kilometers in England and 800 kilometers in Belgium, a country one-twentieth the size of France. Within days of the coup d'état Napoléon III's Minister of Public Works launched a project to build a railway line around Paris, connecting the different independent lines coming into Paris from around the country. The government provided guarantees for loans to build new lines, and urged railway companies to consolidate. There were 18 railway companies in 1848, and six at the end of the Empire. By 1870, France had 20,000 kilometers of railway, linked to the French ports and to the railway systems of the neighbouring countries, which carried over 100 million passengers a year and transported the products of France's new steel mills, mines and factories.
Following the model of the Kings of France and of his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III moved his official residence to the Tuileries Palace, where he had a suite of rooms on the ground floor of the south wing between the Seine and the "Pavillon de l'Horloge" (Clock pavilion), facing the garden.
The word Tuilerie, plural Tuileries, means Brickworks or Tile-making works. The Palace was given that name because the neighbourhood in which it had been built in 1564 was previously known for its numerous mason and tiler businesses.
Napoleon III's bedroom was decorated with a talisman from Charlemagne, a symbol of good luck for the Bonaparte family, while his office featured a portrait of Julius Caesar by Ingres, and a large map of Paris, which he used to show his ideas for the reconstruction of Paris to his prefect of the Seine department, Baron Haussmann. The Emperor's rooms were overheated and were filled with smoke, as he smoked cigarette after cigarette. The Empress occupied a suite of rooms just above his, highly decorated in the style of Louis XVI with a pink salon, a green salon and a blue salon.[103]
The court moved with the Emperor and Empress from palace to palace each year following a regular calendar. At the beginning of May, the Emperor and court moved to the Château de Saint-Cloud, for outdoor activities in the park. In June and July, they moved with selected guests to the Palace of Fontainebleau, for walks in the forest, and boating on the lake. In July, the court moved to a thermal bath for a health cure; first to Plombières, then to Vichy, then, after 1856, to the military camp and residence he had built at Châlons-sur-Marne (nowadays: Châlons-en-Champagne) where he could take the waters and review military parades and exercises. Beginning in 1856, the Emperor and Empress spent each September in Biarritz in the Villa Eugenie, a large villa overlooking the sea.
Biarritz (French pronunciation: [bjaʁits]; Basque: Biarritz [biarits̻] or Miarritze [miarits̻e]; Gascon Occitan: Biàrritz [ˈbjarits]) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais (originally built for the Empress Eugénie circa 1855), its casinos and its surfing culture.In Basque, its name is Biarritz or Miarritze. Its current Occitan Gascon name is Biàrrits. The name for an inhabitant is Biarrot; Biarriztar ou Miarriztar in Basque. The suffix -itz (cp. Isturitz) is a Basque locative. The name appears as Bearriz in 1170, Bearids in 1186, and Bearritz in 1249.
Biarritz appears as Bearids and Bearriz in 1150, Beiarridz in 1165, Bearriz and Beariz in 1170, Bearidz (1186), Bearriz and Beariz (12th century), lo port de Beiarriz and Bearridz in 1261, (cartulaire de Bayonne). Other forms include Beiarid (1199), Bearritz (1249), Beiarriz and Beiarrids (1261), Bearridz (1281), Bearrits (1338), (rôles gascons), Bearritz (1498, chapitre de Bayonne38), Sanctus Martinus de Biarriz (1689, collations du diocèse de Bayonne39), mearritcen (1712), Biarrits (1863, dictionnaire topographique Béarn-Pays basque) et Biarritze et Miarritze au XIXe siècleNote.On the other hand, the château of Belay (first mentioned in 1342), also called château de Ferragus, protected the coast and the current Port-Vieux (old port), while religious life and community assemblies took place at Notre-Dame-de-Pitié (a chapel mentioned in 1498), dominating the Port-des-Pêcheurs, or fishing port.
A document dated May 26, 1342 attested to this fishing activity, authorising les Biarrots to "(…) remit to Bayonne all the fresh fish that we and succeeding inhabitantsof Biarritz can fish from the salt sea". Construction of the château de Ferragus was decided by the English, on the foundations of a Roman work, at the summit of the promontory overlooking the sea, named Atalaye, used as a whale-observation post. This château had a double crenulated wall two meters thick, a drawbridge and four towers. Mentions of this château occur as late as 1603, in the letters patent of Henry IV. One tower remained as of 1739, when a daymark was established there, called de la Haille, then de la Humade. The tower disappeared in 1856.Most of the documents, records and official agreements gathered in the archives from Biarritz mention whaling. This was the principal local industry. Consequently, the town's coat of arms features the image of a whale below a rowing boat manned by five sailors wearing berets, one of whom is preparing to throw a harpoon. This inscription is written on it: Aura, sidus, mare, adjuvant me (The air, the stars and the seas are helping me).
Biarritz has long made its living from the sea: from the 12th century onwards, it was a whaling town. In the 18th century, doctors claimed that the ocean at Biarritz had therapeutic properties, inspiring patients to make pilgrimages to the beach for alleged cures for their ailments. After the 7th century, Biarritz had many confrontations with Baiona, with the Kingdom of England – Lapurdi was under its control – and with the Bishop of Baiona. Almost all of the disputes were about whale hunting. In 1284, the town's right to hunt whales was reinstated by the authorities of Lapurdi and the Duchy of Aquitaine.
From the Middle Ages and Early modern period a watchtower has looked down over the sea at Biarritz, from “La Humade”, waiting for the sight of a whale. Whenever those keeping watch saw a whale, they would burn wet straw, to create a large amount of smoke and thus communicate the news to their fellow countrymen. Eventually, however, the tower disappeared.
In the 16th century, as a consequence of the attacks suffered in this area, or for other reasons, the whales migrated to other places. Whale hunters from Lapurdi therefore crossed the Atlantic Ocean in pursuit of them, and they spent some time in the Labrador Peninsula and in Newfoundland (island). Later, instead of hunting whales, they started cod fishing in Newfoundland. A century later, due to the ban on fishing off the coasts of America and the steely competence of English and Dutch fishermen, the number of fishing boats from Biarritz diminished and nowadays, the Biarritz fishing industry in these areas has come to an end.
Even though the population from Biarritz was originally Basque, it is hard to assert whether the main language of the village was Basque or French.
The first lighthouse of the village was built in 1650.
Biarritz was an independent municipality, until 1784, a clergyman, four sworn and the city was governed by twelve deputies. Deputies were democratically chosen: there were four neighbourhoods (Portua, Bustingorri, Hurlaga and Alto), and three deputies has to be chosen from each of them. However, deputies were chosen by the abbot and sworn. Since they had no Town House, they gathered in a ward near the church. As they did not have place for all the attending people, they made their meetings in the cemetery. That time, Biarritz was composed of around 1,700 citizens.
In the mid-18th century, the city began to change into a worldwide known bath-city.
From 1784 onwards, after the French Revolution, taking a bath at the sea was no longer a behaviour of those who were fools; sea-baths were fashionable. In 1808, Napoleon himself broke prejudices and took a bath on the Basque Country’s coastal water.
In 1840, the Town House or Municipality of Biarritz started to organize an initiative in order to promote and attract those who loved most the sea.
From the 11th century, Biarritz was a village dedicated to whale hunting, until Victor Hugo, found it in 1843. This writer made to Biarritz the following compliments on his book “Alpeak eta Pirinioak” :
« I have not met in the world any place more pleasant and perfect than Biarritz. I have never seen the old Neptune throwing joy and glory with such a force in the old Cybele. All this coast is full of humming. Gascony’s sea grinds, scratches, and stretches on the reefs its never ending whisper. Friendly population and white cheerful houses, large dunes, fine sand, great caves and proud sea, Biarritz is amazing. My only fear is Biarritz becoming fashionable. Whether this happens, the wild village, rural and still honest Biarritz, will be money-hungry. Biarritz will put poplars in the hills, railings in the dunes, kiosks in the rocks, seats in the caves, trousers worn on tourists. »
Either for good or for bad, Victor Hugo’s prophecy was fulfilled. Biarritz planted poplars, tamarinds, hydrangeas, roses and pitosforuses on the slopes and the hills, set railings on the dunes, covered moats with elegant stairs… and polluted with the speculation of the land and the money-hunger.
Humble and proud tourists praise Biarritz’s coast, from the beach at the limit of Bidarte (Plage des Basques), to the cape of San Martin. There it can be found a white lighthouse 44 metres (144 feet) tall, built in 1834 replacing the one Louis XIV ordered to build. Various hotels were made, as well as a municipal casino, the club Belleuve and the casino were opened in 1857, the thalassotherapy house, and wonderful luxury houses. Luxurious store shops from London and Paris were also set up in Biarritz, and 36 small newspapers were published in the village.
Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz, France(2).JPG
Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz, France (2)
Biarritz became more renowned in 1854 when Empress Eugenie (the wife of Napoleon III) built a palace on the beach (now the Hôtel du Palais). European royalty, including British monarchs Queen Victoria and King Edward VII (who caused a minor scandal when he called H. H. Asquith to kiss hands at Biarritz in 1908 rather than return to London for the purpose),[2] and the Spanish king Alfonso XIII, were frequent visitors.
Biarritz's casino (opened 10 August 1901) and beaches make the town a notable tourist centre for Europeans and East Coast North Americans. The city has also become a prime destination for surfers from around the world, developing a nightlife and surf-based culture.
Originally, there were two settlement sites: the neighbourhood that was around the church of San Martin, and the fishing-port defended by Belay or Ferragus Castle. The coat of arms was a whaler, which was a symbol of the town.
Opened in June 1893, Biarritz’s salt-baths were designed and built by the architect Lagarde. From the gatzagas of Beskoitz and after passing through a 20-kilometre (12 mi) pipe, water ten times saltier than the sea was used. The baths were closed in 1953 and demolished in 1968.
The presence of French Republic’s authorities and the fact of having launched the Paris-Henday train, led Biarritz to become one of the most outstanding tourist areas all over Europe. The queen of the beaches became the beach of the kings: Oskar II from Sweden, Leopoldo from Belgium, tireless traveller, the empress of Russia, Nikolas II’s mother, Elisabeth from Austria, Natalia from Serbia, and her ill son Alexandro, Jurgi V from England, Eduardo VII and England’s Queen Victoria, Alfonso XIII from Spain, aristocrats, rich people, actors, from Europe and South America… In the summer-time, high-status people gathered in Biarritz. Therefore, the number of population remarkably increased, from 5,000 to 18,000. At the end of the 19th century, 50,000 vacationers were gathering in Biarritz.
The big store named Biarritz Bonheur, created in 1894, enlarged twice (in 1911 and 1926), and still operating, became the temple of luxury and fashion. At the start of the 20th century, most of its workers spoke in English.
At the end of World War II in Europe, the U.S. Army's Information and Educational Branch was ordered to establish an overseas university campus for demobilized American service men and women in the French resort town of Biarritz. Under General Samuel L. McCroskey, the hotels and casinos of Biarritz were converted into quarters, labs, and class spaces for U.S. service personnel. The University opened 10 August 1945 and about 10,000 students attended an eight-week term. This campus was set up to provide a transition between army life and subsequent attendance at a university in the USA, so students attended for just one term. After three successful terms, the G.I. University closed in March 1946 (see G. I. American Universities)
In 1957, the American film director Peter Viertel was in Biarritz with his wife Deborah Kerr working on the film The Sun Also Rises. One of his Californian friends came for a visit, and his use of a surfboard off Biarritz is recognized as the first time surfing was practised in Europe. Biarritz eventually became one of the most popular European surfing spots.