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Girls go missing in West Bengal
Every year girls have disappeared from West Bengal. A total of 7917 minor girls were "untraced'' till 2011. Similarly, 3311 minor boys were missing from West Bengal, while another 2149 adult females were untraced till the end of 2011. Most of them are believed to have been swallowed up by the huge trafficking trade that is accustomed to treating poverty-ridden rural West Bengal as its catchment area.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed state governments to set up special Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in every district. The need for these cells was felt after a report by the National Human Rights Commission which said in 2006 that nearly 45,000 children go missing every year in India.
An increase of 27% is observed in the Crime of Procuration of Minor Girls, ie., 862 reported cases in 2011 compared to 679 cases in 2010. West Bengal has reported 298 such cases, indicating a share of 34.6% at national level followed by Bihar (183), Assam (142) and Andhra Pradesh (106).
Moreover, in 2011 West Bengal has accounted for 77% of the total 113 reported cases of ‘selling of girls for prostitution’.
A total of 113 reported cases under prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 were registered in the country in 2011 out of which highest were reported in West Bengal (25), followed by Maharashtra (19), Andhra Pradesh (15), Gujarat (13) and Karnataka (12).
A trip to a part of Bengal where humans are bought and sold everyday
www.ndtv.com/article/india/a-trip-to-a-part-of-bengal-whe...
Girls go missing in West Bengal
www.rnw.nl/english/article/girls-go-missing-west-bengal
Number of missing children on the rise in West Bengal
www.nchro.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic...
Missing and trafficked - Social activists blame political unrest, lack of jobs
www.telegraphindia.com/1110222/jsp/siliguri/story_1361769...
India Needs 'Political Will' To Combat Trafficking of Girls
www.globalroomforwomen.com/global-heart-blog/entry/india-...
Girl child sacrifice rampant in communist West Bengal
www.dnaindia.com/india/report_girl-child-sacrifice-rampan...
Enrolment, Dropout and Grade Completion of Girl Children in West Bengal
Piyali Sengupta and Jaba Guha; Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 37, No. 17 (Apr. 27 - May 3, 2002), pp. 1621-1637
UNICEF supports children in eastern India against early marriage
www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33928&Cr=india&...
Child Rights Violation in West Bengal- Focus on Trafficking
A Report (2012) prepared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
www.ncpcr.gov.in/Reports/Report%20on%20Visit%20to%20West%...
CHILDREN IN INDIA 2012 - A Statistical Appraisal
Ministry of statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India
mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/Children_in_India_2012.pdf
Images of Bengal, India
We were doing weekly groceries at Whole Foods last week and walked down to Apple afterward on a whim. After more than an hour there we came out with $1,600 missing from our wallets and a new iPad Pro (they're huge) and a program called Procreate that allows Matt to create layered artwork on his iPad. Driving home, Matt admitted this was no spur-of-the-moment jaunt. He's been commissioned to do a CD cover for a musician and wanted to use this new tool for that. It's looking great so far.
I had the luck of doing my first destination wedding in a beautiful area in Florida called Rosemary Beach..the sand was white and the surrounding towns were really gorgeous.. not to mention Sherr, the bride :)
You can see a few more photos on my blog
Poppy petals fragile and thin
Twirling sails, caught on the wind
Nearly tranparent they drift along
With no destination in mind.
Unlike the soul set firm in faith
Storm can not harm it
Nor steal its sweet grace
Eternity beckons it home.
VMN
South Shore Line interurban #25 has arrived at its destination that is the Amtrak Station in South Bend, Indiana. At this point in time of May 1992, service to this station stop was still active but in just a short six months, it would be discontinued. The line still serves the South Bend airport just to the north. The electrically powered interurban line is one of the last of its kind, in this country, serving over a million passengers a year.
Marco Abud Imagens
© A reprodução não autorizada desta imagem, no todo ou em parte, constitui violação da Lei de Direito Autoral, nº 9.610 de 19 de Fevereiro de 1.998.
© Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under Law No. 9.610 of February 19, 1998, on Copyright and Neighboring Rights.
Thirty-four cars Wellington Ganz Mavag EMUs are heading to South Africa where they’ll be modified for use in various parts of Africa. Another 50 cars will be shipped in the middle of next year but one two-car unit will be retained as part of Wellington’s rail heritage.
Next stop Africa for Capital's well-used trains: Thirty-four of Wellington's decommissioned Hungarian-built commuter trains, which collectively carried about 76.5 million Wellington passengers along 45.9m kilometres of track, have left for a new life in Africa.
Built in 1982, the Hungarian-made Ganz Mavag cars made their way on the back of trucks from storage at the Woburn railway workshop to CentrePort where they were loaded on to an African-bound ship.
Some looked the worse for wear, missing windows and covered in graffiti.
The old Ganz Mavags were replaced by the Korean-built Matangi units.
The Ganz Mavags were bought by a rolling stock broker in South Africa who will convert them into locomotive-hauled carriages to be used in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Greater Wellington Regional Council bought the old trains for about $1 off Kiwirail in 2011 as part of the Wellington Metropolitan Rail Agreement.
Council rail operation manager Angus Gabara said there had been " a few interested parties" looking at shipping them to African countries.
"If we could not find a suitable buyer they would have been scrapped."
The fleet of 44 Ganz Mavag, 2-car units originally cost $33m. At the time it was the largest single order of rolling stock in the history of the New Zealand Railways.
The cost was partially offset by a barter agreement involving the Hungarian Government buying New Zealand dairy products, chiefly butter.
When the next fleet of Matangi trains arrives in Wellington from mid-2015, all but one of the remaining Ganz Mavags will go to Africa. Because of this, Gabara would not reveal the sale price of the 34 cars that have already left our shores.
One Ganz Mavag unit of two cars will be retained by the council for heritage purposes. - Stuff.co.nz 3/3/2014.
Destination on Podma River.
# Always ask for my permission before using any of my image.
MDRAZIB's Photography_ON_facebook
RAN © 2016-mdrazib
Destination blind shows 'Brighton Road' as destination due to 'Tour down Under' festivities on Jetty Road. © Henk Graalman
A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the universe's expansion rate using a technique that is completely independent of any previous method.
Knowing the precise value for how fast the universe expands is important for determining the age, size and fate of the cosmos. Unraveling this mystery has been one of the greatest challenges in astrophysics in recent years. The new study adds evidence to the idea that new theories may be needed to explain what scientists are finding.
The researchers' result further strengthens a troubling discrepancy between the expansion rate, called the Hubble constant, calculated from measurements of the local universe and the rate as predicted from background radiation in the early universe, a time before galaxies and stars even existed.
This latest value represents the most precise measurement yet using the gravitational lensing method, where the gravity of a foreground galaxy acts like a giant magnifying lens, amplifying and distorting light from background objects. This latest study did not rely on the traditional "cosmic distance ladder" technique to measure accurate distances to galaxies by using various types of stars as "milepost markers." Instead, the researchers employed the exotic physics of gravitational lensing to calculate the universe's expansion rate.
The astronomy team that made the new Hubble constant measurements is dubbed H0LiCOW (H0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL's Wellspring). COSMOGRAIL is the acronym for Cosmological Monitoring of Gravitational Lenses, a large international project whose goal is monitoring gravitational lenses. "Wellspring" refers to the abundant supply of quasar lensing systems.
The research team derived the H0LiCOW value for the Hubble constant through observing and analysis techniques that have been greatly refined over the past two decades.
H0LiCOW and other recent measurements suggest a faster expansion rate in the local universe than was expected based on observations by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite of how the cosmos behaved more than 13 billion years ago.
The gulf between the two values has important implications for understanding the universe's underlying physical parameters and may require new physics to account for the mismatch.
"If these results do not agree, it may be a hint that we do not yet fully understand how matter and energy evolved over time, particularly at early times," said H0LiCOW team leader Sherry Suyu of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, the Technical University of Munich, and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taipei, Taiwan.
How They Did It
The H0LiCOW team used Hubble to observe the light from six faraway quasars, the brilliant searchlights from gas orbiting supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. Quasars are ideal background objects for many reasons; for example, they are bright, extremely distant and scattered all over the sky. The telescope observed how the light from each quasar was multiplied into four images by the gravity of a massive foreground galaxy. The galaxies studied are 3 billion to 6.5 billion light-years away. The quasars' average distance is 5.5 billion light-years from Earth.
The light rays from each lensed quasar image take a slightly different path through space to reach Earth. The pathway's length depends on the amount of matter that is distorting space along the line of sight to the quasar. To trace each pathway, the astronomers monitor the flickering of the quasar's light as its black hole gobbles up material. When the light flickers, each lensed image brightens at a different time.
This flickering sequence allows researchers to measure the time delays between each image as the lensed light travels along its path to Earth. To fully understand these delays, the team first used Hubble to make accurate maps of the distribution of matter in each lensing galaxy. Astronomers could then reliably deduce the distances from the galaxy to the quasar, and from Earth to the galaxy and to the background quasar. By comparing these distance values, the researchers measured the universe's expansion rate.
"The length of each time delay indicates how fast the universe is expanding," said team member Kenneth Wong of the University of Tokyo's Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, lead author of the H0LiCOW collaboration's most recent paper. "If the time delays are shorter, then the universe is expanding at a faster rate. If they are longer, then the expansion rate is slower."
The time-delay process is analogous to four trains leaving the same station at exactly the same time and traveling at the same speed to reach the same destination. However, each of the trains arrives at the destination at a different time. That’s because each train takes a different route, and the distance for each route is not the same. Some trains travel over hills. Others go through valleys, and still others chug around mountains. From the varied arrival times, one can infer that each train traveled a different distance to reach the same stop. Similarly, the quasar flickering pattern does not appear at the same time because some of the light is delayed by traveling around bends created by the gravity of dense matter in the intervening galaxy.
How it Compares
The researchers calculated a Hubble constant value of 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec (with 2.4% uncertainty). This means that for every additional 3.3 million light-years away a galaxy is from Earth, it appears to be moving 73 kilometers per second faster, because of the universe's expansion.
The team's measurement also is close to the Hubble constant value of 74 calculated by the Supernova H0 for the Equation of State (SH0ES) team, which used the cosmic distance ladder technique. The SH0ES measurement is based on gauging the distances to galaxies near and far from Earth by using Cepheid variable stars and supernovas as measuring sticks to the galaxies.
The SH0ES and H0LiCOW values significantly differ from the Planck number of 67, strengthening the tension between Hubble constant measurements of the modern universe and the predicted value based on observations of the early universe.
"One of the challenges we overcame was having dedicated monitoring programs through COSMOGRAIL to get the time delays for several of these quasar lensing systems," said Frédéric Courbin of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, leader of the COSMOGRAIL project.
Suyu added: "At the same time, new mass modeling techniques were developed to measure a galaxy's matter distribution, including models we designed to make use of the high-resolution Hubble imaging. The images enabled us to reconstruct, for example, the quasars' host galaxies. These images, along with additional wider-field images taken from ground-based telescopes, also allow us to characterize the environment of the lens system, which affects the bending of light rays. The new mass modeling techniques, in combination with the time delays, help us to measure precise distances to the galaxies."
Begun in 2012, the H0LiCOW team now has Hubble images and time-delay information for 10 lensed quasars and intervening lensing galaxies. The team will continue to search for and follow up on new lensed quasars in collaboration with researchers from two new programs. One program, called STRIDES (STRong-lensing Insights into Dark Energy Survey), is searching for new lensed quasar systems. The second, called SHARP (Strong-lensing at High Angular Resolution Program), uses adaptive optics with the W.M. Keck telescopes to image the lensed systems. The team's goal is to observe 30 more lensed quasar systems to reduce their 2.4% percent uncertainty to 1%.
NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2021, may help them achieve their goal of 1% uncertainty much faster through Webb's ability to map the velocities of stars in a lensing galaxy, which will allow astronomers to develop more precise models of the galaxy's distribution of dark matter.
The H0LiCOW team's work also paves the way for studying hundreds of lensed quasars that astronomers are discovering through surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and PanSTARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System), and the upcoming National Science Foundation's Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is expected to uncover thousands of additional sources.
In addition, NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will help astronomers address the disagreement in the Hubble constant value by tracing the expansion history of the universe. The mission will also use multiple techniques, such as sampling thousands of supernovae and other objects at various distances, to help determine whether the discrepancy is a result of measurement errors, observational technique, or whether astronomers need to adjust the theory from which they derive their predictions.
The team will present its results at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.
For more information: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/cosmic-magnifying-glass...
Credits: NASA, ESA, S.H. Suyu (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Technical University of Munich, and Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics) and K.C. Wong (University of Tokyo’s Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe)
On Monday evening I got a message from a contact on Flickr saying she worked near to the Flatiron Building, and would we like to meet? We would, but it turned out that technical issues with Jools’ new mobile, and whatever meant that once we left the hotel room, we could not make contact with her, so we said we would be out front of the Flatiron at three, hope to see her there.
She had recommended that we visit the Oculus at the World Trade Center, a huge white egg-shaped building, which is a transport hub, and is very photogenic.
We left the hotel and walked down to the 24hour diner, had breakfast; then walked to the subway station and boarded a southbound train to the new WTC station.
Turns out Diane was right, the building is huge, pure white and supported by ribs like some kind of monster’s skeleton. I am trying to describe it, but really, words fail me on this. At either end there were ergonomically designed stairways that looked amazing.
We went outside, and were dazzled by the ring of huge buildings, including the new Freedom Tower. On the ground in front of us was an artisan market, that we did not look at.
We walked round the building, back inside to look for the subway station to take us to Midtown, but the signs took us on a long route, coming to another new part of the interchange, and another stunning piece of building design.
We stopped to take more pictures, obviously.
We took a train north, getting off near to Central Park, emerging back into the daylight at the corner of the park, where a dozen folks suggested that the park was so big we should consider taking a rickshaw or a carriage. We declined and went to walk on our own.
The park is something for everyone; a park, sports arena, exercise gym, wildlife sanctuary, quiet space. And so on.
We wander heading across the park, stopping to look at wildlife when we saw it, grackles, starlings, sparrows, butterflies and squirrels.
I had a plan, to walk down 5th Avenue to be at the Flatiron to meet Diane. Simples. I suppose its about 330 or so blocks, which didn’t sound so bad. But, upper 5th Avenue is lined with designer shops, all with no customers, but the sidewalks jammed with people made walking a real struggle.
We passed Trump Tower or shot central as I renamed it. Down and down we walked, hot and bothered and very footsore. Down one of the side streets I saw a pub. They’re pubs not bars now, anyway, we go in get a table and have lunch. Nachos with chili for me, and a glass of Hoegaarden, which hit the spot.
It is always fun to people watch, and especially guess the story of the Russian couple sitting on the next table.
Once we had eaten and drunk well of beer, Coke and water, we went back onto 5th Avenue and carried on south. But we made good time, and we were soon passing Empire State Building, so from there it was just a handful of blocks to our destination, and we arrived with nearly an hour to spare.
We sat in Madison Park for a while, then went out to the front of the Flatiron to wait.
Three came and went, so I went to look at people waiting, and after a while saw a lady with a DSLR and large lens attached, she was waiting at a table:
Diane I asked. It was.
We went back over to meet with Jools, then walk up to a Belgian bar for a brew and to talk. And talk.
Time flew, I guess we were there a couple of hours, but we had one final appointment, that is to snap Manhattan from the ferry in the blue hour. So, we bid Diane farewell, and we walked west to the subway station to catch another train back to South Ferry.
We arrive at just gone 5, and with ferries departing every 15 minutes, we had to time our trip to ensure the sun had set and there was still light in the sky. We waited at the waterfront, watching the sun set behind the distant Statue of Liberty.
At the last minute I decide we needed to be on the six o’clock sailing, with that having dicked, we had to rush to the terminal, but get on and take up position at the railings on the starboard side as it had the best views.
The sun was setting, casting stunning light on Manhattan, I took many shots until the scen went out of view as we sailed further out into the Hudson River.
The sun set red and angry behind the Jersey shore, and made for more great shots. But already thoughts were on whether we could catch the next ferry back.
The ferry docked, and we rushed round to board it, and at least with a return sailing at this time of the day meant the ferry was almost empty. But then we’re all photographers now, so the railings on the port side.
We had timed it perfectly, as once we neared the City again, there was some light in the sky, and the skyscrapers were all lit u. It was magical really, just the shots I wanted to take. I rattled off dozens of shots, as did Jools on her new phone.
Soon enough we were back on land.
We caught a train north to Chambers Street, getting off to find the place we ate at the first night we were in the city. We found it, and they had a table. The waitress even recognised us as she took our order. We had ribs and corn again, and was just as good, as we waited I took in the atmosphere of watching the game in New York as the Yankees were preparing to save their season against the Red Sox.
We had eaten after two innings, with the score still at zeros.
I say we should make tracks now, so I could watch the conclusion in our room. It is half an hour walk to the hotel, but our feet now knew the way, so we stumbled down darkened streets and convenience stores all lit up like Christmas.
When we got back, the Sox were 3-0 u, and score a forth with a homer. I lay on the bed watching the game, and nearly did it, but slipped into sleep in the middle of the 9th, thus missing out on the climax of the game. It would be morning before I found out the Sox held on to win 4-3.
Paddle steamer Waverley, the last sea going paddler, departs from Helensburgh, and heads across the mouth of Gare Loch and back into the Clyde. Silverhawk had a flight for this view.
Véhicule : SETRA S 431 DT €6
Identification : Mont Blanc (ES-021-LY)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 517 HD €6
Identification : Dôme du Goûter (DX-187-VY)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 516 HD/2 €6
Identification : Aiguille du Midi (DQ-830-VE)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 516 HD/2 €6
Identification : Pointe d'Antenne (DX-195-VY)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 515 HD €6
Identification : Les Quatre Têtes (EG-495-WN)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 515 HD €6
Identification : Mont Joly (DM-106-NL)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : SETRA S 511 HD €6
Identification : Aiguille de Bionassay (DP-809-TG)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Véhicule : MERCEDES-BENZ O510 Tourino
Identification : (CZ-103-WL)
Exploitant : Autocars Borini
Réseau : n.a.
Dépôt : Combloux
Ligne : n.a.
Service : Tourisme - Occasionnel
Destination : n.c.
Merci à Anthony Levrot, Joël, Alain Mugica.
29/03/2019 11:13
Route de Plan Mouille, Combloux