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The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
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 [George III] 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 harass 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 and 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 British 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 the 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.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
The snow that looks so beautiful now was very destructive. It was probably the heaviest snow I've ever felt, almost like concrete, and it snapped branches and trees with ease.
Last night, as it was ending, we ventured out to observe what was going on after hearing noises from outside. What we found was a mass of broken tree limbs and the sound of snapping branches in the distance.
These little things are very destructive if you have pretty flowers, but, while they kill 'em they sure are cute!
Scientific name: Tettigoniidae
A BIG Thank You to all that Fave my shots, it's always really appreciated! :)
The water buffalo, also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, South America and some African countries.
They were imported in the Nineteenth Century to supply meat to remote Northern settlements. The buffalo and the settlements were ultimately abandoned in 1949.
Warrior Wizard
Created with Midjourney engine.
PP work in Adobe PS Elements 2024 Raw filters.
Fierce warrior wizard casting a destructive spell --sref --ar 5:4 --sw 20
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Thanks for 6,291,108 views 🙏 May 25, 2025
Update April 02, 2025. Now I only accept new group invitation that allows all media types including VIDEOS!
Sunset in South Georgia at Providence Canyon. The canyon formation, made up of a kaleidoscope of coloured sands and clays, owes its existence to destructive early farming practices in the 19th century as is was unknown at the time that the undulating hills were made up of deep sand deposits below a very thin crust of clayey topsoil. Once the topsoil had been disturbed the natural elements did the rest with the canyon progressively deepening over the subsequent 150 years. The dramatic pinnacles which remain are sections of clay which the sand has eroded around. The erosion gullies reach depths of 150 feet (or 46m) and are referred to by the locals as Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon". Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia, United States of America.
www.robertdowniephotography.com
Love Life, Love Photography
The destructive nature of fire is no match for these Giant Sequoia trees. Their bark has a unique property of resilience to the hot flames, which occasionally sweep through the forest floor. This trick helps maintain a lifetime that spans thousand of years.
The reproductive process is also helped along as the treeâs cones open in the heat and drop their seeds onto the ground. With heavy underbrush burned away, sunlight provides nutrients and energy to the small seedlings.
Pholiota populnea
- destructive pholiota
- pholiote destructrice
- Pappel-Schüppling
- wollige bundelzwam
Location: Afrikaanderwijk, The Netherlands.
Date taken: October 6, 2024.
there is war in my country. Ugly, deceitful, destructive. Our homes, taking the lives of our children, husbands, mothers, brothers, fathers and animals. We are grateful to the world for the help and support that it gives. But now we need you to protect our sky. Because they kill, bomb the civilian population, they destroyed houses, maternity hospitals, children's hospitals and houses. They do not give a green corridor and shoot those who leave to escape. This is a new ugly reality in which we live because of one sick person.
Mount St. Helens, Mt. St. Helens National Monument, Washington State
Forty-two years after its destructive eruption, a wide swath of devastation remains (230 square miles). The mountain itself is 1300 feet shorter than it was before the blast. The collapse of the north face resulted in the largest known debris avalanche in history. Every tree for miles to the north, northeast and NW was flattened, and large areas still show little sign of rebound.
Most would probably agree that the resulting cone is not as beautiful as it once was, it is nonetheless awesome.
I might have preferred a sunny day with pretty puffy clouds dotting the skies, but I think the completely overcast sky worked as well. This is BTW, a Pano combining three photos. It's also a composite so as to have both the stump and volcano in focus. I wish it had been a prettier stump. :-)
A large warbler of the northern spruce forests, the Bay-breasted Warbler benefits from spruce budworm outbreaks when the caterpillars provide abundant food. Spraying to control the destructive outbreaks may have reduced populations of this warbler.
Storm Arwen proved quite destructive on the one hand, but equally was a great source of logs from all of those fallen trees (shame to let them go to waste)!
performance
This performance and installation honors the memory of those who russia has killed in the ongoing war. We aim to show the destructive path of russia’s war as it moves closer to the EU, with signs of the names of Ukrainian cities that suffer constant attacks or have been totally destroyed.
#StopRussiasNuclearBlackmail #MakeRussiaPay #taurusjetzt #UkraineNeedsAirDefense
A large & destructive storm is coming in from the south.
It had just caused a lot of damage in Sydney -- Hail & wind.
Pholiota populnea
- destructive pholiota
- pholiote destructrice
- Pappel-Schüppling
- wollige bundelzwam
Location: Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Date taken: October 6, 2024.
The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.
Ernest Dimnet
Extract from the Preston Chronicle January 25, 1879.
Of interest is the way that the journalist describes the location of the mill as "a country place"
An aerial photograph of the re-built mill can be seen below (see related image)
Trees with beautiful blossoms on Duffins trail in Discovery bay , Martin’s photographs , Ajax , Ontario , Canada , May 29. 2022
Looking down at the front end of my bicycle
Bicycle
Four days after the destructive storm of 21 May 2022
old apple trees with beautiful blossoms
old orchard on the waterfront trail of Lake Ontario
blue sky in Squires beach
May 2022
Blossoms
Flowering trees
apple trees with blossoms
old orchard on the waterfront trail
Old orchard
Trees with blossoms
vista with colourful trees ,
bulrushes
tall grasses
the large stone block walls
system to keep the Carp from entering Duffins marsh and creek system
viewed from the bridge across the marsh in Squires beach
Having a nice walk with granny in the woods
Family
Sunset
May 2022
Shrubs
Oak tree
Trees with blossoms
Trees
Stones
Reflections
Reflection
Dogwood
Orange yellow Tamarack tree
Duffins trail
blue sky
cloud cover
yellow Tamarack tree
Tamarack tree
Tamarac
American Larch tree
Beautiful Nettles and it’s flowers
Nettles
Waterfront trail on Lake Ontario
Waterfront trail of Lake Ontario
Black eye Susan’s
Colourful bird houses
Autumn
Shadows
Reflections
Garter snake
Large mushroom
Bird houses
Autumn
Duffins creek
Discovery bay
cropped photograph
closeup photograph
Martin’s photographs
Ajax
Ontario
Canada
Duffins creek
Favourites
IPhone XR
Mushroom
Large Mushroom
wildflowers
Trout lilies
Lake Ontario
Mouth of Duffins creek marsh
white Deadnetles
River
Dogwood
Woods
Granny
Favourites
White Trilliums
Duffins marsh
Duffins trail
Ferns
Trilliums
Large tree
©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Monday 23rd May 2022
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1397013864 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
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©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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**** This frame was chosen on Tuesday 24th May 2022 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #240. This is my 214th photograph to be selected.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres at 11:36am on Thursday May 12th 2022 off the Mall and Horse Guards Road within the grounds of St James's Park in Central London, one of the Royal parks of London situated in South West London.
THE EASTERN GRAY/EASTERN GREY SQUIRREL (SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS)
By Paul Williams
The Grey (or Gray) squirrel, you either love 'em or you hate 'em. Cute and fluffy little funsters or destructive critters who ruin trees, kill bird chicks and trees and damage our homes... oh and it's their fault we lost our native Red squirrels as well!
OK
I get it and I see both sides of the story of course. For my part, I am a nature, wildlife and landscape photographer who prefers the company of animals and natural beauty to fellow humans who are systematically plundering Mother Earth's resources and killing off her beautiful creatures at an alarming rate! I believe there is a natural order of things, creatures kill other creatures to survive, they adapt to situations and when mankind encroaches on their territory to make a fast buck, those animals sometimes adapt to survive and the order changes. That is the balance of nature which is ever changing and affected by us..... the dumbest of the great apes. Some species are driven out by others, some may be destined to become extinct, the fittest will survive, and sometime a species will need intervention and help from mankind in order to survive... usually as a direct consequence of mankind's own actions in destroying the animal kingdom's natural habitat of course.
I adore these little fellas and at almost sixty years old, I never grew up knowing red squirrels at all. I've seen reds in Scotland and black squirrels in Stanley Park on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, but in my beloved home country of England I have always known and loved the cute little Greys. They visit my garden and give me hours, days, weeks of happiness and wonderful photographic opportunities, and I see them in Parks and forests all around me, so it's time to offer up an insight into the Grey squirrel, much loved, much hated... a sort of Marmite rodent if you will.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A SQUIRREL?
The word 'Squirrel', was first recorded in 1327 and hails from the Anglo-Norman word 'Esquirel', from old French 'Escurel', which was a reflex for the Latin word 'Sciurus'.The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is also known as the Eastern Grey squirrel or simply grey squirrel depending on the region of the world it is found. It is a tree squirrel, of the squirrel family Sciuridae including over one hundred arboreal species native to all continents of the world other than Antarctica and Oceania. Tree squirrels live mostly in trees, apart from the flying squirrel. The best known genus is Sciurus, containing most of the bushy tailed squirrels which are found in Europe, North America, temperate Asia as well as central and south America.
The scientific classification for the Eastern Grey is:
KINGDOM: ANIMALIA PHYLUM: CHORDATA CLASS: MAMMALIA ORDER: RODENTIA FAMILY: SCIURIDAE GENUS: SCIURUS SUBGENUS: SCIURUS SPECIES: SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS
They were first noted by German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist - Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788.
A mammal and rodent, predominantly herbivorous they are none the less an omnivore with a life span of between two and ten years. They can grow to 70cm in length and weigh up to 8kg. There are more than two hundred and sixty species of worldwide squirrel, the smallest being the African pygmy squirrel at just 10cm in length, whereas the Indian giant squirrel is three feet long! The oldest fossil of a squirrel, Hesperopetes, dates back to the late Eocene epoch period Chadronian period of 40-35 million years ago. The tree squirrels rotate their ankles by 180 degrees, so that the hind paws pointy backwards gripping tree bark which enables them to descend a tree headfirst.
Originally native to Eastern and Midwestern United States of America, they were first introduced into the United Kingdom in 1876 in Henbury Park, Macclesfield in Cheshire when Victorian banker Thomas V. Brocklehurst released a pair of Greys that he brought back from a business trip to America after their attraction as pets had waned. Victorians had a penchant for collecting exotic animals and birds of the world, but trends came and went and subsequently animals were simply discarded into the wilderness. There are early records of greys released near Denbighshire in north Wales from private collections. Later introduced to several regions in the UK, they quickly settled and spread, colonizing an area of three hundred miles in a quarter of a century between Argyll and Stirlingshire in Scotland.
Introductions of the Greys between 1902 and 1929 (the year of the last recorded introduction), included: Regent’s Park in London, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, Devon, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Hampshire. Grey Squirrels spread into Gloucestershire and eastern Wiltshire with animals coming directly from the United States or from Woburn. One hundred greys were released in Richmond Park in Surrey in 1902, Ninety one into Regent’s Park between 1905 and 1907 and a further ten New Jersey imported greys were introduced into Woburn Park in Bedfordshire.
Predators include hawks, weasels, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, domestic and feral cats, snakes, owls, and dogs, African harrier-hawks in Africa and... oh yes, Mankind pretty much everywhere who despise, mistreat, cull or eat it .
FACTS, MYTHS AND THAT POXY PARAPOX!
The massive decline in native red squirrels blamed upon the spread of the invasive greys has always been perhaps a little harsh as reds were already in a steep decline due to loss of habitat and disease and thus the greys simply took over the areas where the reds were dwindling. It's also a fact that reds were also seen as a plague, branded as pests who killed birds and damaged trees and the culling of reds almost brought them to the brink of extinction. Licenses to kill reds could still be obtained up until the seventies!
Reds suffered at the hands of mankind thanks to a combination of agricultural deforestation also linked with war and fuel needs which caused extinction in Southern Scotland and Ireland by the early eighteenth century, way before greys had been introduced. Harsh winters killed off the less hardy red population in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Greys are more adept at finding food and adapting to locations and environments, but also carry the squirrel poxvirus (SQPV) which although not particularly harmful to them, is a serious infection for the reds.
Parapox in red squirrels causes swollen lesions around the mouth, eyes, ears and nose also the front paws and sometimes genitals and skin ulcers and kills a red within fifteen days. There is no definitive correlation between the spread of the virus and the spread of the Greys, it actually arrived in several areas before the greys began to colonize there. An epidemic virus was observed in Red squirrels from at least 1900 with isolation attempts failing, and the first case of Parapox in the UK was in 1980 in the county of Norfolk. Greys cannot transmit the virus to reds via saliva or faeces, but reds can between each other from bodily secretions and at animal feeders in gardens. The transmission from greys to reds is though to come from parasites. Eight to ten per cent of reds survive the virus, and there is some evidence that reds are slowly building an evolved resistance.
Greys are seen as pests to forest land, stripping bark from trees during May and June, and are also capable of destroying household bins, water pipes, causing roof damage not to mention taking eggs and killing young chicks of ground nesting and songbird populations. They also take from bird feeders and there is a whole industry for creating squirrel proof feeders these days.
THE CULLING OF GREY SQUIRRELS
Grey squirrels have limited legal protection and can be legally controlled all year round by a variety of methods including shooting and trapping. Methods of trapping and killing include Drey poking and shooting, Tunnel trapping using spring traps set in accordance with BASC’s trapping pest mammals code of practice. They can also be shot using a shotgun or powerful air rifle or up until September 30th 2014 poisoned by Warfarin (Now outlawed).
Whilst professional trapping and extermination is hopefully done as humanely as possible, there have been cases, many of them where cost savings have been gained by battering the squirrels to death! Grey squirrels are trapped in ghastly metal contraptions for hours and hours, wearing themselves out frantically trying to escape by gnawing at the metals bars. They bite the floor and scratch at them with their claws and do not get a moments peace or rest through absolute fear. Once the traps are retrieved, each squirrel, terrified will be thrown into a sack and smacked on the head countless times with a blunt instrument. When a mother is slaughtered, her babies who are totally dependent on her, will die a slow death of thirst and starvation.
There is an argument for the control of Greys on many grounds but also a counter argument that Culling does not work, and has not on countless times where, once a population of greys have been culled, the nearest group will move back in and claim the land. The university of Bristol concluded that there was little evidence that culling greys to save red squirrels was effective, and that perhaps finding a way of boosting red squirrel immunity to the poxvirus or planting areas of yew trees where reds are known to thrive and spending money on research into positive moves might be a better option.
In Ireland, the re-introduction of the Pine marten, a species made extinct originally by the very same land owners who also wish to do the same to the grey squirrel, has seen the rapid demise of the grey and the reintroction of the native reds. Red squirrels are smaller and more nimble than their grey counterparts, and as such can get to the very ends of tree branches where neither the pine martins, nor more importantly the heavier greys can, thus surviving and thriving. As a result in Ireland, the grey squirrel population has crashed in approximately 9,000 km2 of its former range and the reds has become common once more after a thirty year absence... oh and Pine Martens are protected again!
In Scotland, Pine Martens exist in areas where Red squirrels thrive, and greys do not. So perhaps there is a lesson here, as in England where there are no pine martens, the greys are prolific breeders. So there is an argument against the barbarity of shooting and poisoning greys, and if, as so many believe, the greys MUST be controlled, how about a more humane and natural method that nature intended.. with re-introduction of predators. Just a thought!
So a few facts and figures on the greys and to wrap up, from a purely personal perspective I love these little guys, as I do almost every creature in nature other than those eight legged beasties that shall not be named and for which I have a deep and powerful phobia that borders on paranoia!
I could no more harm an animal deliberately than eat a McDonald's McRib (Once saw how they are made and let me just say... eeeuuuuuwwwww!!).
They are small, cute, cuddly, furry, they photograph beautifully, have great personality and make me smile. They trust me enough to take food from my hand in parks, and I can't bare the though of ugly, hairy land owners sticking a shotgun in their face and blowing them away! I appreciate they can be a pest, a problem, a menace, that their PR managers might have a bit of a problem winning you over when they flay small chicks alive on your lawn or decimate the songbird population by stealing their eggs.... and perhaps there is a need to keep the population under control and try and re-establish the red population.....
Yep I get that....
I just hope we can solve the problem more humanely to create a peaceful coexistence of the reds and greys in different areas. A man can dream can't he.
Paul Williams June 18th 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams).
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Nikon D850 Focal length 150mm Shutter speed: 1/640s Aperture f/6.3 ISO160 Hand held with Tamron VR Vibration reduction enabled on setting 1. Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). (14 bit uncompressed file) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled AF-Area mode: 3D-Tracking Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4770K). Colour space: RGB. High ISO NR: ON (Low) Active D-Lighting: Auto Vignette control: Normal Picture control: (SD) Standard with sharpening +3 and clarity +1.00
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Often portrayed as destructive monsters that hold light captive, black holes take on a less villainous role in the latest research from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. A black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 is creating stars rather than gobbling them up. The black hole is apparently contributing to the firestorm of new star formation taking place in the galaxy. The dwarf galaxy lies 30 million light-years away, in the southern constellation Pyxis.
A decade ago this small galaxy set off debate among astronomers as to whether dwarf galaxies were home to black holes proportional to the supermassive behemoths found in the hearts of larger galaxies. This new discovery has little Henize 2-10, containing only one-tenth the number of stars found in our Milky Way, poised to play a big part in solving the mystery of where supermassive black holes came from in the first place.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Zachary Schutte (XGI), Amy Reines (XGI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
#NASA #NASAMarshall #Hubble #galaxy #blackhole
Beautiful mushrooms on a tree at trail near the shore of Duffins marsh in Discovery bay , Martin’s photographs , Ajax , Ontario , Canada , June 11. 2022
Mushrooms on a tree
Closeup photograph of this wrecked old tree I found laying across Duffins trail
June 2022
Looking down at the front end of my bicycle
Bicycle
Hours after the destructive storm of 21 May 2022
old apple trees with beautiful blossoms
old orchard on the waterfront trail of Lake Ontario
blue sky in Squires beach
May 2022
Blossoms
Flowering trees
apple trees with blossoms
old orchard on the waterfront trail
Old orchard
Trees with blossoms
vista with colourful trees ,
bulrushes
tall grasses
the large stone block walls
system to keep the Carp from entering Duffins marsh and creek system
viewed from the bridge across the marsh in Squires beach
Having a nice walk with granny in the woods
Family
Sunset
May 2022
Shrubs
Oak tree
Trees
Stones
Reflections
Reflection
Dogwood
Orange yellow Tamarack tree
Duffins trail
blue sky
cloud cover
yellow Tamarack tree
Tamarack tree
Tamarac
American Larch tree
Beautiful Nettles and it’s flowers
Nettles
Black eye Susan’s
Colourful bird houses
Autumn
Shadows
Reflections
Large mushroom
Autumn
Duffins creek
Discovery bay
Martin’s photographs
Ajax
Ontario
Canada
Duffins creek
Favourites
IPhone XR
Mushroom
Large Mushroom
wildflowers
Trout lilies
Lake Ontario
Mouth of Duffins creek marsh
white Deadnetles
River
Dogwood
Woods
Granny
Favourites
White Trilliums
Duffins marsh
Duffins trail
Ferns
Trilliums
Large tree
Firstly, it's not a caterpillar...but it looks like one and Bokelarvae doesn't sound so cool, they are sawfly larvae and I think Croesus septentrionalis, although I am awaiting an official identification from the Natural History Museum [where i work, lol!]. These little buggers are eating my silver birch and when I say eating I mean stripping. They can "do" a leaf in about 30 mins. However, they look quite cool and do this defensive tail wagging when approached. This shot was a mare to take - very windy and with baby on hip so it's not totally in focus and blown out.
Secret number 29: while pregnant with Violet I acquired a strange craving - grass. On my walk from home to the train station I passed several waist height gardens and their grass was so lush and green that my mouth would water. They say if you crave something while pregnant it's usually because you're missing it in your diet - so, perhaps i needed to eat more greens? Anyway, this craving has never passed and I still look longingly at lush neatly mowed grass.
HBW!
Night, the beloved.
Night, when words fade and things come to life. When the destructive analysis of day is over and what is really important becomes whole again and resonates.
When man stitches up his own Self fragmented and grows with the tree calm.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
For Par Condicio (Fairness Doctrine)
Sometimes at night I'm awake in bed and wonder, "Where did I go wrong?". Then a voice says to me: "It will take more than one night for it."
(Charlie Brown)
I am convinced that when you think you have all the answers, the night will change all questions.
(Charlie Brown)
: )
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I had a slight mental breakdown yesterday. I think it was a mixture of stress from finals and a feeling of photographic inadequacy. I keep seeing the amazing photos others are creating and the success they are having and feeling like mine will never be as good. I kept looking back at all my photos and found that most of the ones I was most proud of were from months ago or were followed by ones that I really don’t care for. I started having a personal identity crisis and just wanted to crawl into a hole and hibernate until I was ready to face the world. I eventually decided that what I really needed was to go out and lose myself in the forest. I ended up going to a completely different area of the forest and just wandering about and ended up finding an amazing area that I plan on shooting in a lot. It was exactly what I needed. I eventually got out of my funk and realized that I was the only one creating my problems and was the only one who could fix them. If I want to get better I need to put in more effort. It’s as simple as that. So today while editing this I made myself become a perfectionist, working every detail until I got it how I wanted it. And then my computer shut off for no reason at all, of course on the one day that I wasn’t saving every so often. I wanted to rage/cry. But instead I just turned it back on and started all over again. I got this.
Also on a separate note, a lot of you are commenting on how cold I must have been. Well surprisingly it hasn’t actually been that cold. It’s usually been around only 32ºF, yesterday even getting up to 37! This is like October weather for Montana. Usually by now we could easily be having wind chill down to -20ºF or colder!
I'm going to put a rotated version of this on my Facebook becasue it loses the concept but has a strange uneasiness to it. Formspring. Tumblr
Shot this beauty today. First time shooting a Fiat and it's the first time I could get up close and personal with an Abarth. Fantastic little car!!
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"And that’s the difference between us, Toa – I don’t care what the Matoran think. I don’t care what the Great Spirit Mata Nui thinks."
"I don’t care what anyone thinks, and that’s why I’ll always be free and you’ll always be fighting someone else’s fights.”
Destructive, Reckless, Insane;
This former thief was loathed by the other Piraka for good reason:
In a barrage of Heat Vision, Lava and Mental Blasts, Hakann's first approach to a problem more-often-than-not amounted to ‘set all aflame’ – enemies, allies, surroundings, bystanders, and himself all in equal measure.
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[ Hakann, the Explosive ] [ old version ]
[ Vezon, the Disaster (Spear) ] [ (Scythe) ]
[ Toa Kongu, the Wrangler ] [ old version ]
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Hakann had a knack for being in the centre of every conflict, constantly making risky maneuvres, sabotaging alliances, and neglecting his own safety. One of Bionicle's 'Chaotic Stupids' for sure!
I aimed to capture this manic, destructive nature with his oversized shotgun & shells, exposed chest, spiked armour, and of course that manic grin, which I felt the helmet accentuated.
More photos are available on my:
“What are those?”
“Kikanalo,” Balta answered. “They eat plants, when they can find them. They are very big and powerful, and their stampedes are frightening… but they’re mostly harmless.”
Hakann smiled. Then he stared hard at the Kikanalo for a few seconds. Crimson bolts of energy erupted from his forehead and struck the Rahi, completely obliterating them. All that was left was a few wisps of smoke.
“And now,” Hakann said, satisfied, “they are not even that.”
“Why – why did you do that?” Balta sputtered, stunned. “They were no threat to anyone!”
“They were blocking my view.” Hakann replied casually.
after a long, destructive battle, everything just finished.... finally a king won... another fallen... but the standing king does not find anyone around to rule.... he is the king, for what he dreamed so much, but he is the king of dead land...
Fig tree's destructive roots slowly ripping apart ancient Khmer temples and returning the area back to nature's own design at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
It's all in your perspective. What is beautiful? What is destructive? How do you know the difference? Does it matter?
17 mile drive on the Monterey Peninsula -- A bit of heaven on earth
Nearby forest fires, though kind of sad and destructive, made for a dramatic sky over the beautiful Sedona skyline.
Taken from a turnout off Upper Red Rock Loop Road.
Two years ago a destructive fire affected the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, an impressive monument of early Gothic architecture. It was the place where I used to linger for a long time, to be silent, in my frequent pilgrimages through the French capital. In February 2020 (on my last trip to Paris, before the terrible pandemic) I was again near the cathedral and what I saw gives me hope that in a few years this architectural gem will be reborn from the ashes, more splendid and stronger, like the Phoenix bird...
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“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”
Salvador Dalí . Sometimes what we perceive as real is actually surreal, while what we see as surreal is actually real. A orange and red river runs past white islands of borax salt (sodium borate) in Laguna Colorada. The red and orange colours in the lake are from pigmentation in algae which grows in the borax rich water. The lake sits high (4278m or 14035ft) in the Bolivian Altiplano in the Andes. Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve. Bolivia.
Love Life, Love Photography
I'm a little old-fashioned in my approach to photography. Actually, I'm old-fashioned in my approach to writing and recording music, too, and in a very similar way. I love digital tools. The portability, flexibility, power and non-destructive nature of the editing process make photography, for me, a fantastic creative medium. (That non-destructive aspect is also a very powerful learning mechanism, but that is likely the subject of another study.) With all that power and flexibility comes the need for discipline, though, the need for very specific objectives when approaching an exposure, and, for me, the need for establishing rules that govern my processing methods, both in general and specific to the photograph i'm developing.
One rule, or philosophy, that i have applied pretty faithfully in all my creative work is to emulate analog processes and workflows as much as possible, not because i think it's better to do it this way, more because it's a better fit for the way I think and work and for the things I create. There are many, many amazing photographic artists pushing the limits of the medium with transformative digital approaches. And honestly, I love the work and the people creating those new spaces for us to explore and inhabit. But that's not my choice, at least for now. My choice is to be faithful to the analog approach, transported to digital media. That's why I do most of my editing in lightroom and silver efex. These tools feel very organic to me, and support me in a very non-intrusive way. For me, they are tools that are simple enough to stay out of my way, yet powerful enough to enable my creative process. In other words, they are tools that stay tools, for me. But i digress …
Today's study began its life on a terrace in Manarola, Italy, just after the sun had set. This presented the classic, tricky exposure challenge with a bright sky and a shadowy foreground. So, I exposed this image for the highlights, knowing that the shadows would retain some detail (in this case, a lot of detail.) Sure enough, the hills in the foreground were deep black in the raw image (at least 2 stops under-exposed), and the sky and sea were a little bright (maybe a half-stop over-exposed.) Getting this corrected would require a little dodging and burning in those two areas.
I dodged (using LR's adjustment tool) the hills to the left and right of the deep cleft that defines this beautiful village, leaving the houses and structures untouched. The roofs and flat surfaces picked up just enough sky light, and combined with the few incandescent lights, scattered through the foreground, the core of the village was at just the right exposure to produce the effect I wanted, that twilight time when the light of living shifts from the natural to the manufactured.
I burned the sky down to the horizon line, using LR's graduated filter with a very light touch of exposure reduction (maybe a tenth of a stop) combined with a slight increase in saturation and some small adjustments to contrast, highlights and shadows, just enough to enhance the definition in the clouds and bring out that touch of light on the leading edge of all the scattered clouds.
And, finally, I burned the sea (again with the adjustment tool), applying a very subtle reduction in exposure (not even a tenth of a stop) and the same approach to saturation, contrast, highlights and shadow adjustments to bring out more definition in the reflections and the texture of the surface near the shoreline.
And there you have it - a pretty simple study of dodging and burning in digital photography. Best of all, I kinda like the result.
littletinperson
p.s. For those of you following the continuing saga of nick, this photograph was the source for the sky in chapter 40. And charlotte hedman, with her simple question about where a person might find a sky like this, was the unknowing instigator behind this study. If you like this image, you can thank her by visiting her photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/111778568@N06/.