Discretization photos on Flickr

The chili pepper (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli[3]), from Nahuatl chīlli (Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːlːi] (About this soundlisten)), is the berry-fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum which are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae.[4] Chili peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add pungent 'heat' to dishes. Capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids are the substances giving chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically. Although this definition would technically include bell peppers, in common language they are often two discrete categories: bell peppers and chili peppers.

Chili peppers originated in Mexico.[5] After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine. This diversity has led to a wide variety of varieties and cultivars, including the annuum species, with its glabriusculum variety and New Mexico cultivar group, and the species of baccatum, chinense, frutescens, and pubescens.

Cultivars grown in North America and Europe are believed to all derive from Capsicum annuum, and have white, yellow, red or purple to black fruits. In 2016, the world's production of raw green chili peppers amounted to 34.5 million tons, with China producing half.[6]

Contents

1 History

1.1 Origins

1.2 Distribution to Europe

1.3 Distribution to Asia

2 Production

3 Species and cultivars

4 Intensity

4.1 Common peppers

4.2 Notable hot chili peppers

5 Uses

5.1 Culinary uses

5.2 Ornamental plants

5.3 Psychology

5.4 Medicinal

5.5 Chemical irritants

5.6 Crop defense

5.7 Food defense

6 Nutritional value

7 Spelling and usage

8 Gallery

9 See also

10 External links

11 Further reading

12 References

History

Origins

Capsicum fruits have been a part of human diets since about 7,500 BC, and are one of the oldest cultivated crops in the Americas,[7] as origins of cultivating chili peppers are traced to east-central Mexico some 6,000 years ago.[8][9] They were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.[7]

Peru is the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times.[10] Bolivia is the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers is consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.[10]

Distribution to Europe

When Christopher Columbus and his crew reached the Caribbean, they were the first Europeans to encounter Capsicum. They called them "peppers" because, like black pepper of the genus Piper known in Europe, they have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foods.[11]

Distribution to Asia

The spread of chili peppers to Asia occurred through its introduction by Portuguese traders, who – aware of its trade value and resemblance to the spiciness of black pepper – promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes.[7][11][12] It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of the 15th century.[13] In 21st century Asian cuisine, chili peppers are commonly used across diverse regions.[14][15]

Production

Green chili production – 2016

Region(Millions of tons)

China17.4

Mexico2.7

Turkey2.5

European Union2.3

Indonesia2.0

Spain1.1

United States0.9

World34.5

Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[6]

In 2016, 34.5 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.9 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced worldwide.[6] China was the world's largest producer of green chilis, providing half of the global total. Global production of dried chili peppers was about one ninth of fresh production, led by India with 36% of the world total.[6][16]

Species and cultivars

See also

Chili grenade, a type of weapon made with chili peppers

Hatch, New Mexico, known as the "Chile Capital of the World"

History of chocolate, which the Maya drank with ground chili peppers

International Connoisseurs of Green and Red Chile, organization for the promotion of chili peppers

Peppersoup

Ristra, an arrangement of dried chili pepper pods

Salsa (sauce)

Sweet chili sauce, a condiment for adding a sweet, mild heat taste to food

Taboo food and drink, which in some cultures includes chili peppers

Rose’s Law for Quantum Computers by Steve Jurvetson

52 33

[update in 2015: the hardware curve that is "Rose's Law" (blue diamonds) remains on track. The software and performance/qubit (red stars, as applied to certain tasks) is catching up, and may lag by a few years from the original prediction overlaid onto the graph. Updated Graph here]

When I first met Geordie Rose in 2002, I was struck by his ability to explain complex quantum physics and the “spooky” underpinnings of quantum computers. I had just read David Deutsch’s Fabric of Reality where he predicts the possibility of such computers, and so I invited Rose to one of our tech conferences.

We first invested in 2003, and Geordie predicted that he would be able to demonstrate a two-bit quantum computer within 6 months. There was a certain precision to his predictions. With one bit under his belt, and a second coming, he went on to suggest that the number of qubits in a scalable quantum computing architecture should double every year. It sounded a lot like Gordon Moore’s prediction back in 1965, when he extrapolated from just five data points on a log-scale (his original plot is below).

So I called it “Rose’s Law” and that seemed to amuse him. Well, the decade that followed has been quite amazing. I commented on Rose’s Law four years ago on flickr, but I share this graph and some potential futures for the first time today.

So, how do we read the graph above? Like Moore’s Law, a straight line describes an exponential. But unlike Moore’s Law, the computational power of the quantum computer should grow exponentially with the number of entangled qubits as well. It’s like Moore’s Law compounded. (D-Wave just put together an animated visual of each processor generation in this video, bringing us to the present day.)

And now, it gets mind bending. If we suspend disbelief for a moment, and use D-Wave’s early data on processing power scaling (more on that below), then the very near future should be the watershed moment, where quantum computers surpass conventional computers and never look back. Moore’s Law cannot catch up. A year later, it outperforms all computers on Earth combined. Double qubits again the following year, and it outperforms the universe. What the???? you may ask... Meaning, it could solve certain problems that could not be solved by any non-quantum computer, even if the entire mass and energy of the universe was at its disposal and molded into the best possible computer.

It is a completely different way to compute — as David Deutsch posits — harnessing the refractive echoes of many trillions of parallel universes to perform a computation.

First the caveat (the text in white letters on the graph). D-Wave has not built a general-purpose quantum computer. Think of it as an application-specific processor, tuned to perform one task — solving discrete optimization problems. This happens to map to many real world applications, from finance to molecular modeling to machine learning, but it is not going to change our current personal computing tasks. In the near term, assume it will apply to scientific supercomputing tasks and commercial optimization tasks where a heuristic may suffice today, and perhaps it will be lurking in the shadows of an Internet giant’s data center improving image recognition and other forms of near-AI magic. In most cases, the quantum computer would be an accelerating coprocessor to a classical compute cluster.

Second, the assumptions. There is a lot of room for surprises in the next three years. Do they hit a scaling wall or discover a heretofore unknown fracturing of the physics… perhaps finding local entanglement, noise, or some other technical hitch that might not loom large at small scales, but grows exponentially as a problem just as the theoretical performance grows exponentially with scale. I think the risk is less likely to lie in the steady qubit march, which has held true for a decade now, but in the relationship of qubit count to performance.

There is also the question of the programming model. Until recently, programming a quantum computer was more difficult than machine coding an Intel processor. Imagine having to worry about everything from analog gate voltages to algorithmic transforms of programming logic to something native to quantum computing (Shor and Grover and some bright minds have made the occasional mathematical breakthrough on that front). With the application-specific quantum processor, D-Wave has made it all much easier, and with their forthcoming Black Box overlay, programming moves to a higher level of abstraction, like training a neural network with little understanding of the inner workings required.

In any case, the possibility of a curve like this begs many philosophical and cosmological questions about our compounding capacity to compute... the beginning of infinity if you will.

While it will be fascinating to see if the next three years play out like Rose’s prediction, for today, perhaps all we should say is that it’s not impossible. And what an interesting world this may be.

discrètement by FREDBOUAINE ☮

13 5

youtu.be/u1hbwc8ADKg?si=GwLcR-_31Bn3L_Vw

Infinity by Cape Night Photography

42 9

"Infinity"

Bass Hole boardwalk. Clouds started to squeak into frame as I finished up this shot.

Technical notes: An unintentional hit from my 105 lumen LED headlamp illuminated the boardwalk in a test shot and I decided to go with it. I don't normally use a headlamp for a whole bunch of reasons ranging from trying to be discrete to not normally needing one as I have good night vision. But tonight was moonless and there was some rough terrain nearby. Better safe than sorry.

Discrètes succulentes by Martine Ferron

180 29

Sunrise (A Li Shan | 阿里山) by dynamo.photography

77 10

++++++++ from wikipedia.org ++++++++

The Alishan National Scenic Area is a mountain resort and natural preserve located in the mountains of Chiayi County in Taiwan.[citation needed]

Contents

1 Geography

2 Climate

3 Topography

4 Vegetation and wildlife

5 History

6 Attractions and landmarks

7 See also

8 References

9 Bibliography

10 External links

Geography

Alishan Forest Park.

Dawn view from Alishan.

Alishan is 415 square kilometres (41,500 ha) in area. Notable characteristics include mountain wilderness, four villages, waterfalls, high altitude tea plantations, the Alishan Forest Railway, and a number of hiking trails. The area is popular with tourists and mountain climbers. Alishan, or Mount Ali, itself has become one of the major landmarks associated with Taiwan. The area is famous for its production of high mountain tea and wasabi.[citation needed]

Alishan is well known for its sunrises, and on a suitable morning one can observe the sun come up on a sea of clouds in the area between Alishan and Yüshan. Alishan and Sun Moon Lake are two of the best known scenic spots in Asia. The indigenous people of the area, the Thao people, have only recently been recognized as a discrete ethnic group. They have long been confused with the Tsou people.

Climate

Alishan National Scenic Area spans a broad range in altitude. Lower elevations, such as in Leye Township, share the same subtropical and tropical climate as the rest of southern Taiwan, while the climate changes to temperate and alpine as the elevation increases. Snow sometimes falls at higher elevations in the winter.[citation needed]

Alishan National Scenic Area covers most, but not all, of Alishan Rural Township in Chiayi County, as well as parts of neighboring townships in Taiwan.[citation needed]

Average temperatures are moderate:[citation needed]

Low elevations: 24 °C in the summer, 16 °C in the winter.

Medium elevations: 19 °C in the summer, 12 °C in the winter.

High elevations: 14 °C in the summer, 5 °C in the winter.

Topography

Alishan is mountainous:[citation needed]

Number of peaks above 2000 meters: 25

Highest point: Da Ta Shan (大塔山), 2,663 meters.

Average height of Alishan Mountain Range: 2,500 meters.

Vegetation and wildlife

Important trees in the area include:[citation needed]

Taiwania cryptomerioides, a large coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae (the same family as the next three species)

Chamaecyparis formosensis, or Formosan Cypress

Chamaecyparis taiwanensis

Cunninghamia konishii

Pinus taiwanensis, or Taiwan Red Pine

Picea morrisonicola, or Yüshan Spruce

Pseudotsuga sinensis var. wilsoniana, or Taiwan Douglas-fir

Abies kawakamii, a species of conifer in the Pinaceae family, only found in Taiwan

Tsuga chinensis var. formosana, Taiwan or Chinese Hemlock

Ulmus uyematsui, a species of elm only found in the Alishan region

History

Longyin Temple of Chukou Village in Alishan National Scenic Area.

Boardwalk at Alishan National Scenic Area.

The Alishan area was originally settled by the Tsou tribe of the Taiwanese aborigines; the name derives from the aboriginal word Jarissang. Ethnic Han Chinese settlers first settled on the plains near modern-day Chiayi as early as the late Ming Dynasty (around the mid-17th century), but did not move into the mountains until the late 18th century, establishing the towns of Ruili (瑞里), Ruifeng (瑞峰), Xiding (隙頂), and Fenqihu (奮起湖). The resulting armed clashes between the settlers and the aborigines pushed the aborigines even further into the mountains.[citation needed]

Following the cession of Taiwan to Japan at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japanese expeditions to the area found large quantities of cypress (檜木, or hinoki in Japanese). This led to the development of the logging industry in the area and the export of local cypress and Taiwania wood. A series of narrow-gauge railways were built in the area during this time to facilitate the transportation of lumber from the mountains to the plains below, part of which continues to operate as the Alishan Forest Railway. Several new villages also began to sprout up along the railway lines. It was also during this time that the first tourists began to visit the area. Plans were even drawn up to incorporate the area into the new Niitaka (New Highest) Arisan National Park (新高阿里山国立公園).[citation needed]

With the exhaustion of forest resources by the 1970s, domestic and international tourism overtook logging to become the primary economic activity in the area. The tourism industry continued to expand with the completion of the Alisan highway in the 1980s, displacing the railroad as the primary mode of transportation up the mountain. To combat the problems associated with the growing crowds of tourists and the expanding tea and wasabi plantations, the area was declared a national scenic area in 2001.[citation needed]

On 1 December 2014, fire broke out at Alishan spreading over more than 5 hectares of land. The area affected was located near Tapang No. 3 Bridge. The fire was believed to happen due to dry ground which was vulnerable to fire because of the absence of rain in the area for months.[1]

Attractions and landmarks

A Japanese-built train on the Alishan Forest Railway.

Fenqihu (奮起湖) is a small town of low wooden buildings built into the mountainside at 1,400 meters, midpoint of the Alishan Forest Railway. It is famous for natural rock formations, mountain streams, forests, and the ruins of a Shinto temple in the vicinity, as well as for its production of high altitude food products such as bamboo shoots and aiyu jelly (愛玉). The local box lunches (奮起湖便當, Fenqihu bento), which were once sold to passengers on the rail line, are also well known.[citation needed]

Taiwan (/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ (About this sound listen)), officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbors include China (officially the People's Republic of China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations and the largest economy outside the UN.

The island of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to mass Han immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China, its effective jurisdiction has since the loss of Hainan in 1950 been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership.

In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare,[15] public education, economic freedom, and human development.[d][13][16] The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.[17][18]

The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC. Today 20 countries recognize the ROC as the sole legal representative of China,[19] but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence, though both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible.[20]

Contents

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Prehistoric Taiwan

2.2 Opening in the 17th century

2.3 Qing rule

2.4 Japanese rule

2.5 After World War II

2.6 Chinese Nationalist one-party rule

2.7 Democratization

3 Geography

3.1 Climate

3.2 Geology

4 Political and legal status

4.1 Relations with the PRC

4.2 Foreign relations

4.3 Participation in international events and organizations

4.4 Opinions within Taiwan

5 Government and politics

5.1 Major camps

5.2 Current political issues

5.3 National identity

6 Military

7 Administrative divisions

8 Economy and industry

9 Transportation

10 Education, research, and academia

11 Demographics

11.1 Ethnic groups

11.2 Languages

11.3 Religion

11.4 Largest cities

12 Public health

13 Culture

13.1 Sports

13.2 Calendar

14 See also

15 Notes

16 References

16.1 Citations

16.2 Works cited

17 Further reading

18 External links

18.1 Overviews and data

18.2 Government agencies

Etymology

See also: Chinese Taipei, Formosa, and Names of China

Taiwan

Taiwan (Chinese characters).svg

"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters

Chinese name

Traditional Chinese 臺灣 or 台灣

Simplified Chinese 台湾

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Táiwān

Bopomofo ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Tair'uan

Wade–Giles T'ai²-wan¹

Tongyong Pinyin Táiwan

IPA [tʰǎi.wán]

other Mandarin

Xiao'erjing تَاَىْوًا‎

Romanization The平-uae平

Xiang

IPA dwɛ13 ua44

Hakka

Romanization Thòi-vàn

Yue: Cantonese

Yale Romanization Tòiwāan

Jyutping Toi4waan1

Southern Min

Hokkien POJ Tâi-oân

Tâi-lô Tâi-uân

Eastern Min

Fuzhou BUC Dài-uăng

China

Traditional Chinese 中國

Simplified Chinese 中国

Literal meaning Middle or Central State[21]

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó

Bopomofo ㄓㄨㄥㄍㄨㄛˊ

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Jong'gwo

Wade–Giles Chung1-kuo2

Tongyong Pinyin Jhongguó

MPS2 Jūng-guó

IPA [ʈʂʊ́ŋ.kwǒ]

other Mandarin

Xiao'erjing ﺟْﻮﻗُﻮَع

Sichuanese Pinyin Zong1 gwe2

Romanization Tson平-koh入

Gan

Romanization Tung-koe̍t

Xiang

IPA Tan33-kwɛ24/

Hakka

Romanization Dung24-gued2

Yue: Cantonese

Yale Romanization Jūnggwok

Jyutping Zung1gwok3

Southern Min

Hokkien POJ Tiong-kok

Eastern Min

Fuzhou BUC Dṳ̆ng-guók

Pu-Xian Min

Hinghwa BUC De̤ng-go̤h

Northern Min

Jian'ou Romanized Dô̤ng-gŏ

Republic of China

Traditional Chinese 中華民國

Simplified Chinese 中华民国

Postal Chunghwa Minkuo

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnghuá Mínguó

Bopomofo ㄓㄨㄥㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Jonghwa Min'gwo

Wade–Giles Chung¹-hua² Min²-kuo²

Tongyong Pinyin Jhonghuá Mínguó

MPS2 Jūng-huá Mín-guó

IPA [ʈʂʊ́ŋxwǎ mǐnkwǒ]

other Mandarin

Xiao'erjing ﺟْﻮ ﺧُﻮَ مٍ ﻗُﻮَع

Romanization tson平 gho平 min平 koh入

Gan

Romanization tung1 fa4 min4 koet7

Hakka

Romanization Chûng-fà Mìn-koet

Yue: Cantonese

Yale Romanization Jūngwà màn'gwok

Jyutping Zung1waa4 man4gwok3

Southern Min

Hokkien POJ Tiong-hôa Bîn-kok

Tâi-lô Tiong-hûa Bîn-kok

Eastern Min

Fuzhou BUC Dṳ̆ng-huà Mìng-guók

Japanese name

Kanji 台湾

Kana たいわん

Kyūjitai 臺灣

Transcriptions

Romanization Taiwan

There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, derived from explorers or rulers by each particular period. The former name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542,[verification needed] when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island".[22] The name "Formosa" eventually "replaced all others in European literature"[23] and was in common use in English in the early 20th century.[24]

In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia (modern-day Anping, Tainan) on a coastal sandbar called "Tayouan",[25] after their ethnonym for a nearby Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, written by the Dutch and Portuguese variously as Taiouwang, Tayowan, Teijoan, etc.[26] This name was also adopted into the Chinese vernacular (in particular, Hokkien, as Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-oân/Tâi-oân) as the name of the sandbar and nearby area (Tainan). The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, which is seen in various forms (大員, 大圓, 大灣, 臺員, 臺圓 and 臺窩灣) in Chinese historical records. The area of modern-day Tainan was the first permanent settlement by Western colonists and Chinese immigrants, grew to be the most important trading centre, and served as the capital of the island until 1887. Use of the current Chinese name (臺灣) was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as "Taiwan".[27][28][29][30]

In his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349), Wang Dayuan used "Liuqiu" as a name for the island of Taiwan, or the part of it near to Penghu.[31] Elsewhere, the name was used for the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa, the largest of them; indeed the name Ryūkyū is the Japanese form of Liúqiú. The name also appears in the Book of Sui (636) and other early works, but scholars cannot agree on whether these references are to the Ryukyus, Taiwan or even Luzon.[32]

The official name of the state is the "Republic of China"; it has also been known under various names throughout its existence. Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, while it was still located on the Chinese mainland, the government used the short form "China" Zhōngguó (中國), to refer to itself, which derives from zhōng ("central" or "middle") and guó ("state, nation-state"), [e] A term which also developed under the Zhou Dynasty in reference to its royal demesne[f] and the name was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qingera .[34] During the 1950s and 1960s, after the government had fled to Taiwan due to losing the Chinese Civil War, it was commonly referred to as "Nationalist China" (or "Free China") to differentiate it from "Communist China" (or "Red China").[36] It was a member of the United Nations representing "China" until 1971, when it lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become commonly known as "Taiwan", after the island that comprises 99% of the territory under its control. In some contexts, especially official ones from the ROC government, the name is written as "Republic of China (Taiwan)", "Republic of China/Taiwan", or sometimes "Taiwan (ROC)."[37] The Republic of China participates in most international forums and organizations under the name "Chinese Taipei" due to diplomatic pressure from the People's Republic of China. For instance, it is the name under which it has competed at the Olympic Games since 1984, and its name as an observer at the World Health Organization.[38]

History

Main articles: History of Taiwan and History of the Republic of China

See the History of China article for historical information in the Chinese Mainland before 1949.

Prehistoric Taiwan

Main article: Prehistory of Taiwan

A young Tsou man

Taiwan was joined to the mainland in the Late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10,000 years ago. Fragmentary human remains dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago have been found on the island, as well as later artefacts of a Paleolithic culture.[39][40][41]

Around 6,000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers, most likely from mainland China.[42] They are believed to be the ancestors of today's Taiwanese aborigines, whose languages belong to the Austronesian language family, but show much greater diversity than the rest of the family, which spans a huge area from Maritime Southeast Asia west to Madagascar and east as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. This has led linguists to propose Taiwan as the urheimat of the family, from which seafaring peoples dispersed across Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.[43][44]

Han Chinese fishermen began settling in the Penghu islands in the 13th century, but Taiwan's hostile tribes and its lack of valuable trade products meant that few outsiders visited the island until the 16th century, when visits to the coast by fishermen from Fujian and Chinese and Japanese pirates became more frequent.[45]

Opening in the 17th century

Main articles: Dutch Formosa, Spanish Formosa, and Kingdom of Tungning

Fort Zeelandia, the Governor's residence in Dutch Formosa

The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a trading outpost on the Penghu Islands (Pescadores) in 1622, but were militarily defeated and driven off by the Ming authorities.[46]

In 1624, the company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan, which is now part of the main island at Anping, Tainan.[30] David Wright, a Scottish agent of the company who lived on the island in the 1650s, described the lowland areas of the island as being divided among 11 chiefdoms ranging in size from two settlements to 72. Some of these fell under Dutch control, while others remained independent.[30][47] The Company began to import labourers from Fujian and Penghu (Pescadores), many of whom settled.[46]

In 1626, the Spanish Empire landed on and occupied northern Taiwan, at the ports of Keelung and Tamsui, as a base to extend their trading. This colonial period lasted 16 years until 1642, when the last Spanish fortress fell to Dutch forces.

Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), a self-styled Ming loyalist, arrived on the island and captured Fort Zeelandia in 1662, expelling the Dutch Empire and military from the island. Koxinga established the Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683), with his capital at Tainan. He and his heirs, Zheng Jing, who ruled from 1662 to 1682, and Zheng Keshuang, who ruled less than a year, continued to launch raids on the southeast coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty era.[46]

Qing rule

Main article: Taiwan under Qing Dynasty rule

Hunting deer, painted in 1746

In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing imperial government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines becoming sinicized while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between groups of Han Chinese from different regions of southern Fujian, particularly between those from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and between southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines.

Northern Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were the scene of subsidiary campaigns in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The French occupied Keelung on 1 October 1884, but were repulsed from Tamsui a few days later. The French won some tactical victories but were unable to exploit them, and the Keelung Campaign ended in stalemate. The Pescadores Campaign, beginning on 31 March 1885, was a French victory, but had no long-term consequences. The French evacuated both Keelung and the Penghu archipelago after the end of the war.

In 1887, the Qing upgraded the island's administration from Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian to Fujian-Taiwan-Province (福建臺灣省), the twentieth in the empire, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building China's first railroad.[48]

Japanese rule

Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule and Republic of Formosa

Japanese colonial soldiers march Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident from the Tainan jail to court, 1915.

As the Qing dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Taiwan, along with Penghu and Liaodong Peninsula, were ceded in full sovereignty to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Inhabitants on Taiwan and Penghu wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and move to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as feasible.[49] On 25 May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on 21 October 1895.[50] Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately took the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5% of the population.[51] Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese (the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930) were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule.

Japanese colonial rule was instrumental in the industrialization of the island, extending the railroads and other transportation networks, building an extensive sanitation system, and establishing a formal education system.[52] Japanese rule ended the practice of headhunting.[53] During this period the human and natural resources of Taiwan were used to aid the development of Japan and the production of cash crops such as rice and sugar greatly increased. By 1939, Taiwan was the seventh greatest sugar producer in the world.[54] Still, the Taiwanese and aborigines were classified as second- and third-class citizens. After suppressing Chinese guerrillas in the first decade of their rule, Japanese authorities engaged in a series of bloody campaigns against the mountain aboriginals, culminating in the Musha Incident of 1930.[55] Also, those intellectual and labours who participated in left-wing movement of Taiwan were arrested and massacred (e.g. Tsiúnn Uī-Suí(蔣渭水), masanosuke watanabe(渡辺政之辅)).[56]

Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire and people were taught to see themselves as Japanese under the Kominka Movement, during which time Taiwanese culture and religion were outlawed and the citizens were encouraged to adopt Japanese surnames.[57] The "South Strike Group" was based at the Taihoku Imperial University in Taipei. During World War II, tens of thousands of Taiwanese served in the Japanese military.[58] For example, former ROC President Lee Teng-hui's elder brother served in the Japanese navy and was killed in action in the Philippines in February 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy operated heavily out of Taiwanese ports. In October 1944, the Formosa Air Battle was fought between American carriers and Japanese forces based in Taiwan. Important Japanese military bases and industrial centres throughout Taiwan, like Kaohsiung, were targets of heavy American bombings.[59] Also during this time, over 2,000 women were forced into sexual slavery for Imperial Japanese troops, now euphemistically called "comfort women."[60]

In 1938, there were 309,000 Japanese settlers in Taiwan.[61] After World War II, most of the Japanese were expelled and sent to Japan.[62]

After World War II

Main article: Taiwan after World War II

General Chen Yi (right) accepting the receipt of General Order No. 1 from Rikichi Andō (left), the last Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan, in Taipei City Hall

On 25 October 1945, the US Navy ferried ROC troops to Taiwan in order to accept the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taipei on behalf of the Allied Powers, as part of General Order No. 1 for temporary military occupation. General Rikichi Andō, governor-general of Taiwan and commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island, signed the receipt and handed it over to General Chen Yi of the ROC military to complete the official turnover. Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be "Taiwan Retrocession Day", but the Allies considered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to be under military occupation and still under Japanese sovereignty until 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco took effect.[63][64] Although the 1943 Cairo Declaration had envisaged returning these territories to China, in the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Taipei Japan has renounced all claim to them without specifying to what country they were to be surrendered. This introduced the problem of the legal status of Taiwan.

The ROC administration of Taiwan under Chen Yi was strained by increasing tensions between Taiwanese-born people and newly arrived mainlanders, which were compounded by economic woes, such as hyperinflation. Furthermore, cultural and linguistic conflicts between the two groups quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new government, while the mass movement led by the working committee of the communist also aimed to bring down the Kuomintang government.[65][66] The shooting of a civilian on 28 February 1947 triggered island-wide unrest, which was suppressed with military force in what is now called the February 28 Incident. Mainstream estimates of the number killed range from 18,000 to 30,000. Those killed were mainly members of the Taiwanese elite.[67][68]

Chinese Nationalist one-party rule

Main articles: Chinese Civil War, Chinese Communist Revolution, and History of the Republic of China § Republic of China on Taiwan (1949–present)

For the history of Republic of China before 1949, see Republic of China (1912–49).

The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.

After the end of World War II, the Chinese Civil War resumed between the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang), led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong. Throughout the months of 1949, a series of Chinese Communist offensives led to the capture of its capital Nanjing on 23 April and the subsequent defeat of the Nationalist army on the mainland, and the Communists founded the People's Republic of China on 1 October.[69]

On 7 December 1949, after the loss of four capitals, Chiang evacuated his Nationalist government to Taiwan and made Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC (also called the "wartime capital" by Chiang Kai-shek).[70] Some 2 million people, consisting mainly of soldiers, members of the ruling Kuomintang and intellectual and business elites, were evacuated from mainland China to Taiwan at that time, adding to the earlier population of approximately six million. In addition, the ROC government took to Taipei many national treasures and much of China's gold reserves and foreign currency reserves.[71][72][73]

After losing most of the mainland, the Kuomintang held remaining control of Tibet, the portions of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Yunnan provinces along with the Hainan Island until 1951 before the Communists subsequently captured both territories. From this point onwards, the Kuomintang's territory was reduced to Taiwan, Penghu, the portions of the Fujian province (Kinmen and Matsu Islands), and two major islands of Dongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. The Kuomintang continued to claim sovereignty over all "China", which it defined to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. On mainland China, the victorious Communists claimed they ruled the sole and only China (which they claimed included Taiwan) and that the Republic of China no longer existed.[74]

A Chinese man in military uniform, smiling and looking towards the left. He holds a sword in his left hand and has a medal in shape of a sun on his chest.

Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang from 1925 until his death in 1975

Martial law, declared on Taiwan in May 1949,[75] continued to be in effect after the central government relocated to Taiwan. It was not repealed until 1987,[75] and was used as a way to suppress the political opposition in the intervening years.[76] During the White Terror, as the period is known, 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed for being perceived as anti-KMT or pro-Communist.[77] Many citizens were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived link to the Communists. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite, an entire generation of political and social leaders was decimated. In 1998 law was passed to create the "Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts" which oversaw compensation to White Terror victims and families. President Ma Ying-jeou made an official apology in 2008, expressing hope that there will never be a tragedy similar to White Terror.[78]

Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950 the conflict between North Korea and South Korea, which had been ongoing since the Japanese withdrawal in 1945, escalated into full-blown war, and in the context of the Cold War, US President Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the US Navy's 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent hostilities between Taiwan and mainland China.[79] In the Treaty of San Francisco and the Treaty of Taipei, which came into force respectively on 28 April 1952 and 5 August 1952, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Taiwan and Penghu, and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Neither treaty specified to whom sovereignty over the islands should be transferred, because the United States and the United Kingdom disagreed on whether the ROC or the PRC was the legitimate government of China.[80] Continuing conflict of the Chinese Civil War through the 1950s, and intervention by the United States notably resulted in legislation such as the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the Formosa Resolution of 1955.

With President Chiang Kai-shek, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.

As the Chinese Civil War continued without truce, the government built up military fortifications throughout Taiwan. Within this effort, KMT veterans built the now famous Central Cross-Island Highway through the Taroko Gorge in the 1950s. The two sides would continue to engage in sporadic military clashes with seldom publicized details well into the 1960s on the China coastal islands with an unknown number of night raids. During the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in September 1958, Taiwan's landscape saw Nike-Hercules missile batteries added, with the formation of the 1st Missile Battalion Chinese Army that would not be deactivated until 1997. Newer generations of missile batteries have since replaced the Nike Hercules systems throughout the island.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the ROC maintained an authoritarian, single-party government while its economy became industrialized and technology oriented. This rapid economic growth, known as the Taiwan Miracle, was the result of a fiscal regime independent from mainland China and backed up, among others, by the support of US funds and demand for Taiwanese products.[81][82] In the 1970s, Taiwan was economically the second fastest growing state in Asia after Japan.[83] Taiwan, along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, became known as one of the Four Asian Tigers. Because of the Cold War, most Western nations and the United Nations regarded the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China until the 1970s. Later, especially after the termination of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, most nations switched diplomatic recognition to the PRC (see United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758).

Up until the 1970s, the government was regarded by Western critics as undemocratic for upholding martial law, for severely repressing any political opposition and for controlling media. The KMT did not allow the creation of new parties and those that existed did not seriously compete with the KMT. Thus, competitive democratic elections did not exist.[84][85][86][87][88] From the late 1970s to the 1990s, however, Taiwan went through reforms and social changes that transformed it from an authoritarian state to a democracy. In 1979, a pro-democracy protest known as the Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung to celebrate Human Rights Day. Although the protest was rapidly crushed by the authorities, it is today considered as the main event that united Taiwan's opposition.[89]

Democratization

Main articles: Democratic reforms of Taiwan and Elections in Taiwan

Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son and successor as the president, began to liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwanese-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his vice-president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A year later, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan (martial law was lifted on Penghu in 1979, Matsu island in 1992 and Kinmen island in 1993). With the advent of democratization, the issue of the political status of Taiwan gradually resurfaced as a controversial issue where, previously, the discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was taboo.

After the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan, and streamlining the Taiwan Provincial Government with most of its functions transferred to the Executive Yuan. Under Lee, the original members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly(a former supreme legislative body defunct in 2005）,[90] elected in 1947 to represent mainland Chinese constituencies and having held the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were forced to resign in 1991. The previously nominal representation in the Legislative Yuan was brought to an end, reflecting the reality that the ROC had no jurisdiction over mainland China, and vice versa. Restrictions on the use of Taiwanese Hokkien in the broadcast media and in schools were also lifted.[citation needed]

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Taiwan's special envoy to the APEC summit, Lien Chan, November 2011

Democratic reforms continued in the 1990s, with Lee Teng-hui re-elected in 1996, in the first direct presidential election in the history of the ROC.[91] During the later years of Lee's administration, he was involved in corruption controversies relating to government release of land and weapons purchase, although no legal proceedings commenced. In 1997,"To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification",[92] the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China was passed and then the former "constitution of five powers" turns to be more tripartite. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected as the first non-Kuomintang (KMT) President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favouring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favouring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwanese independence.[93][clarification needed] In early 2006, President Chen Shui-bian remarked: “The National Unification Council will cease to function. No budget will be ear-marked for it and its personnel must return to their original posts...The National Unification Guidelines will cease to apply."[94]

The ruling DPP has traditionally leaned in favour of Taiwan independence and rejects the so-called "One-China policy".

On 30 September 2007, the ruling DPP approved a resolution asserting a separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the country's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.[95] The Chen administration also pushed for referendums on national defence and UN entry in the 2004 and 2008 elections, which failed due to voter turnout below the required legal threshold of 50% of all registered voters.[96] The Chen administration was dogged by public concerns over reduced economic growth, legislative gridlock due to a pan-blue, opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan and corruption involving the First Family as well as government officials.[97][98]

The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial".[96] Ma took office on 20 May 2008, the same day that President Chen Shui-bian stepped down and was notified by prosecutors of possible corruption charges. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stems from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization. However, some analysts say that despite the election of Ma Ying-jeou, the diplomatic and military tensions with the PRC have not been reduced.[99]

Male Blackbird by Dean Pickford

Trying to be discrete at Abney Hall Park, Stockport

La discrète maison blanche by Lise Tiolu

32 1

... dans son écrin de verdure, près du lac.

Discrete Grosbeak by Dale Wiley

Semi-discrète by Maurice Sabatier

7 6

Il a fallu être un peu patient pour voir apparaître cette talève sultane (Porphyrio porphyrio ) hors de la végétation. Toute son attention était à arracher les nouvelles feuilles de massettes (Typha), de joncs (Juncus) et à en consommer la partie basse la plus tendre.

Jiwaka Woman 6913 by Ursula in Aus

9 1

In Papua New Guinea, there are more than more than 850 discrete spoken languages, and until recently, none of them were written down. Even today, adult literacy sits at less than 62%. In a historically nonliterate society with more than 7000 diverse cultural groups, one of the most popular means of education has been through costume, song, and dance.

This is one reason sing sings so important.

For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/feathers-fur-and-face...

Lincoln Memorial by Jack Parrott

9 1

The Lincoln Memorial is an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument. The architect was Henry Bacon; the designer of the primary statue – Abraham Lincoln, 1920 – was Daniel Chester French; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers;[2] and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president. It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has been a symbolic center focused on race relations.

The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, "The Gettysburg Address" and his Second Inaugural Address. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Like other monuments on the National Mall – including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial – the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966. It is open to the public 24 hours a day. In 2007, it was ranked seventh on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Since 2010, approximately 6 million people visit the memorial annually.[3]

Contents [hide]

1History

1.1Vandalism

2Exterior

3Interior

4Statue

4.1Sculptural features

5Sacred space

6Depictions on U.S. currency

7In popular culture

8See also

9References

10External links

History[edit]

The first public memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., was a statue by Lot Flannery erected in front of the District of Columbia City Hall in 1868, three years after Lincoln's assassination.[4][5] Demands for a fitting national memorial had been voiced since the time of Lincoln's death. In 1867, Congress passed the first of many bills incorporating a commission to erect a monument for the sixteenth president. An American sculptor, Clark Mills, was chosen to design the monument. His plans reflected the nationalistic spirit of the time, and called for a 70-foot (21 m) structure adorned with six equestrian and 31 pedestrian statues of colossal proportions, crowned by a 12-foot (3.7 m) statue of Abraham Lincoln. Subscriptions for the project were insufficient.[6]

The matter lay dormant until the start of the 20th century, when, under the leadership of Senator Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois, six separate bills were introduced in Congress for the incorporation of a new memorial commission. The first five bills, proposed in the years 1901, 1902, and 1908, met with defeat because of opposition from Speaker Joe Cannon. The sixth bill (Senate Bill 9449), introduced on December 13, 1910, passed. The Lincoln Memorial Commission had its first meeting the following year and U.S. President William H. Taft was chosen as the commission's president. Progress continued at a steady pace and by 1913 Congress had approved of the Commission's choice of design and location.

There were questions regarding the commission's plan. Many thought that architect Henry Bacon's Greek temple design was far too ostentatious for a man of Lincoln's humble character. Instead they proposed a simple log cabin shrine. The site too did not go unopposed. The recently reclaimed land in West Potomac Park was seen by many to be either too swampy or too inaccessible. Other sites, such as Union Station, were put forth. The Commission stood firm in its recommendation, feeling that the Potomac Park location, situated on the Washington Monument-Capitol axis, overlooking the Potomac River and surrounded by open land, was ideal. Furthermore, the Potomac Park site had already been designated in the McMillan Plan of 1901 to be the location of a future monument comparable to that of the Washington Monument.[6][7]

With Congressional approval and a $300,000 allocation, the project got underway. On February 12, 1914, a dedication ceremony was conducted and the following month the actual construction began. Work progressed steadily according to schedule. Some changes were made to the plan. The statue of Lincoln, originally designed to be 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, was enlarged to 19 feet (5.8 m) to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the huge chamber. As late as 1920, the decision was made to substitute an open portal for the bronze and glass grille which was to have guarded the entrance. Despite these changes, the Memorial was finished on schedule. Commission president William H. Taft – who was then Chief Justice of the United States – dedicated the Memorial on May 30, 1922 and presented it to President Warren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. Lincoln's only surviving son, 78-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance.[8]

The Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.[9]

Vandalism[edit]

In September 1962, vandals painted the words "nigger lover" in foot-high pink letters on the rear wall.[10]

On the morning of July 26, 2013, the memorial was shut down after the statue's base and legs were splashed with green paint.[11] It reopened later that day.[12] A 58-year-old Chinese national, Jiamei Tian, was later found responsible for the vandalism. Following her arrest at the Washington National Cathedral, she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric facility, and was later found to be incompetent to stand trial; she has since been released from the hospital.[13]

Exterior[edit]

The exterior of the Memorial echoes a classic Greek temple and features Yule marble from Colorado. The structure measures 189.7 by 118.5 feet (57.8 by 36.1 m) and is 99 feet (30 m) tall. It is surrounded by a peristyle of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death, and two columns in-antis at the entrance behind the colonnade. The columns stand 44 feet (13 m) tall with a base diameter of 7.5 feet (2.3 m). Each column is built from 12 drums including the capital. The columns, like the exterior walls and facades, are inclined slightly toward the building's interior. This is to compensate for perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear to bulge out at the top when compared with the bottom, a common feature of Ancient Greek architecture.[14]

Detail of the Memorial's friezes

Above the colonnade, inscribed on the frieze, are the names of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death and the dates in which they entered the Union. Their names are separated by double wreath medallions in bas-relief. The cornice is composed of a carved scroll regularly interspersed with projecting lions' heads and ornamented with palmetto cresting along the upper edge. Above this on the attic frieze are inscribed the names of the 48 states present at the time of the Memorial's dedication. A bit higher is a garland joined by ribbons and palm leaves, supported by the wings of eagles. All ornamentation on the friezes and cornices was done by Ernest C. Bairstow.[14]

The Memorial is anchored in a concrete foundation, 44 to 66 feet (13 to 20 m) in depth, constructed by M. F. Comer and Company and the National Foundation and Engineering Company, and is encompassed by a 187-by-257-foot (57 by 78 m) rectangular granite retaining wall measuring 14 feet (4.3 m) in height.[14]

Leading up to the shrine on the east side are the main steps. Beginning at the edge of the Reflecting Pool, the steps rise to the Lincoln Memorial Circle roadway surrounding the edifice, then to the main portal, intermittently spaced with a series of platforms. Flanking the steps as they approach the entrance are two buttresses each crowned with an 11-foot (3.4 m) tall tripod carved from pink Tennessee marble[14] by the Piccirilli Brothers.[15]

Interior[edit]

The area where the statue stands is 60 feet wide, 74 feet long, and 60 feet high.[16] The interior of the Memorial is divided into three chambers by two rows of Ionic columns. These columns, four in each row, are 50 feet (15 m) tall and 5.5 feet (1.7 m) in diameter at their base. The north and south side chambers contain carved inscriptions of Lincoln's second inaugural address and his Gettysburg Address.[notes 1] Bordering these inscriptions are pilasters ornamented with fasces, eagles, and wreaths. The inscriptions and adjoining ornamentation were done by Evelyn Beatrice Longman.[14]

The Memorial is filled with symbolism: the 36 columns represent the states in the union at the time of Lincoln's death, the 48 stone festoons on the attic above the columns represent the 48 states in 1922. Above each of the inscriptions is a 60-by-12-foot (18.3 by 3.7 m) mural painted by Jules Guerin graphically portraying governing principles evident in Lincoln's life. On the south wall mural, Freedom, Liberty, Immortality, Justice, and the Law are pictured, while the north wall portrays Unity, Fraternity, and Charity. Both scenes contain a background of cypress trees, the emblem of Eternity. The murals were crafted with a special mixture of paint which included elements of kerosene and wax to protect the exposed artwork from fluctuations in temperature and moisture conditions.[17]

The ceiling of the Memorial, 60 feet (18 m) above the floor, is composed of bronze girders, ornamented with laurel and oak leaves. Between the girders are panels of Alabama marble, saturated with paraffin to increase their translucency. Despite the increased light from this device, Bacon and French felt the statue required even more light. They decided upon an artificial lighting system in which a louvered lighting panel would be set in the ceiling with metal slats to conceal the great floodlights. Custodians could adjust the lights from a control room, varying them according to the outside light. Funds for this expensive system were appropriated by Congress in 1926, and in 1929, seven years after the dedication, the statue was properly lighted. Since that time, only one major alteration has taken place in the Memorial's design. This was the addition of an elevator within the structure to aid handicapped visitors, which was installed in the mid-1970s.[17]

Abraham Lincoln, by Daniel Chester French

Statue[edit]

IN THIS TEMPLE

AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE

FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION

THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

Epitaph by Royal Cortissoz above Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French

Main article: Abraham Lincoln (French 1920)

Lying between the north and south chambers is the central hall containing the solitary figure of Lincoln sitting in contemplation. The statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, and took four years to complete. The statue, originally intended to be only 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, was, on further consideration, enlarged so that it finally stood 19 feet (5.8 m) tall from head to foot, the scale being such that if Lincoln were standing, he would be 28 feet (8.5 m) tall. The extreme width of the statue is the same as its height. The Georgia white marble sculpture weighs 175 short tons (159 t) and had to be shipped in 28 separate pieces.[17]

The statue rests upon an oblong pedestal of Tennessee marble 10 feet (3.0 m) high, 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, and 17 feet (5.2 m) deep. Directly beneath this lies a platform of Tennessee marble about 34.5 feet (10.5 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, and 6.5 inches (0.17 m) high. Lincoln's arms rest on representations of Roman fasces, a subtle touch that associates the statue with the Augustan (and imperial) theme (obelisk and funerary monuments) of the Washington Mall.[18] The statue is discretely bordered by two pilasters, one on each side. Between these pilasters and above Lincoln's head stands the engraved epitaph,[17] composed by Royal Cortissoz, shown in the box to the left.[19]

Sculptural features[edit]

The sculpture has been at the center of two urban legends. Some have claimed that the face of General Robert E. Lee was carved onto the back of Lincoln's head,[20] and looks back across the Potomac toward his former home, Arlington House, now within the bounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Another popular legend is that Lincoln is shown using sign language to represent his initials, with his left hand shaped to form an "A" and his right hand to form an "L", the president's initials. The National Park Service denies both legends.[20]

The March on Washington in 1963 brought 250,000 people to the National Mall and is famous for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

The location on the steps where King delivered the speech is commemorated with this inscription

However, historian Gerald Prokopowicz writes that, while it is not clear that sculptor Daniel Chester French intended Lincoln's hands to be formed into sign language versions of his initials, it is possible that French did intend it, because he was familiar with American Sign Language, and he would have had a reason to do so, that is, to pay tribute to Lincoln for having signed the federal legislation giving Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf, the authority to grant college degrees.[21] The National Geographic Society's publication, "Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C." states that Daniel Chester French had a son who was deaf and that the sculptor was familiar with sign language.[22][23] Historian James A. Percoco has observed that, although there are no extant documents showing that French had Lincoln's hands carved to represent the letters "A" and "L" in American Sign Language, "I think you can conclude that it's reasonable to have that kind of summation about the hands."[24]

Sacred space[edit]

As Sandage (1993) demonstrates, the Memorial has become a symbolically sacred venue especially for the Civil Rights movement. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow the African-American contralto Marian Anderson to perform before an integrated audience at the organization's Constitution Hall. At the suggestion of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harold L. Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, arranged for a performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday of that year, to a live audience of 70,000, and a nationwide radio audience.

On August 28, 1963, the memorial grounds were the site of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which proved to be a high point of the American Civil Rights Movement. It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to the event, where they heard Martin Luther King, Jr., deliver his historic speech, "I Have a Dream", before the memorial honoring the president who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years earlier. King's speech, with its language of patriotism and its evocation of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, was meant to match the symbolism of the Lincoln Memorial as a monument to national unity.[25] The D.C. police also appreciated the location because it was surrounded on three sides by water, so that any incident could be easily contained.[26] Twenty years later, on August 28, 1983, crowds gathered again to mark the 20th Anniversary Mobilization for Jobs, Peace and Freedom, to reflect on progress in gaining civil rights for African Americans and to commit to correcting continuing injustices. The "I Have a Dream" speech is such a part of the Lincoln Memorial story, that the spot on which King stood, on the landing eighteen steps below Lincoln's statue, was engraved in 2003 in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event.

At the memorial on May 9, 1970, President Richard Nixon had a middle-of-the-night impromptu, brief meeting with protesters who, just days after the Kent State shootings, were preparing to march against the Vietnam War.

Depictions on U.S. currency[edit]

Reverse of a 2003 five-dollar note and 2006 Lincoln cent

From 1959 to 2008, the Lincoln Memorial was shown on the reverse of the United States one cent coin, which bears Lincoln's portrait bust on the front. The statue of Lincoln can be seen in the monument. This was done to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

The memorial also appears on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill, the front of which bears Lincoln's portrait.

In popular culture[edit]

Literature

1978: In the Clive Cussler novel Vixen 03, the memorial is destroyed by a shell fired from the USS Iowa, however, the statue of Lincoln remains intact.

Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool

at sunrise

at dusk

External video

Lincoln Memorial in June 2012.jpg

Laser Scan: Lincoln Memorial (0:33), DJS Associates[27]

Films

1939: In a key scene in the Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the statue and its inscription provide inspiration to freshman Senator Jefferson Smith, played by James Stewart.

1951: In the science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu/Mr. Carpenter and Billy visit the Lincoln Memorial, provoking Klaatu, a visitor from the stars, to say: "Those are great words, he must have been a great man?"

1976: In the science fiction film Logan's Run, the statue of Lincoln reveals to the characters the look of old age.

1993: In more than one scene, Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo sit on the steps of the Memorial in In the Line of Fire.

1994: In a scene from the film Forrest Gump, Forrest (Tom Hanks) delivers a speech standing on a podium in front of the Memorial facing the reflecting pool.

1995: In a memorable scene in the film Nixon, President Richard Nixon (played by Anthony Hopkins) pays an impromptu, late-night visit to the Memorial, which is being occupied by Vietnam War protesters. The scene was based on a real-life incident when Nixon and his White House butler paid a visit to the Memorial in the early morning hours of May 9, 1970.

1996: In the science fiction movie Independence Day, the Lincoln Memorial can be seen as a massive alien spacecraft enters the sky around Washington, D.C.

2001: In the science fiction film Planet Of The Apes the Lincoln Memorial is shown in an alternate timeline as being a memorial for an ape named General Thade.

2004: In the Disney film National Treasure, main characters Ben Gates and Riley Poole discuss the possibility of stealing the Declaration of Independence while sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

2005: In the comedy movie, Wedding Crashers, the two main characters, played by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, watch the sunrise on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and question whether they're getting too old to continue crashing weddings for sport.

2009: In the comedy movie Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, the statue of Lincoln comes to life (voiced by Hank Azaria) and has a short conversation with the characters of Ben Stiller and Amy Adams and helps them defeat the Horus warriors.

2011: In the superhero movie, X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr are seen playing chess and talking on the steps of the memorial.

2011: In the science fiction movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Megatron destroys the statue of Lincoln and then sits on the chair. This is a callback to "Atlantis, Arise!", a season 2 episode of the original The Transformers series where G1 Megatron did the same.

2013: In the movie White House Down, the President (played by Jamie Foxx) requests a fly-by of the Lincoln Memorial, at both the beginning and the end of the movie to pay homage to his hero.

2016: In the horror movie The Purge: Election Year, the Lincoln Memorial is shown with dead bodies and a fire with burning bodies on the steps and the columns having giant letters that spell out "PURGE" written in human blood.

Television

1991: In The Simpsons episode "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington", Lisa Simpson goes to the Memorial hoping to be inspired by the spirit of Lincoln. She arrives to find a crush of tourists ahead of her, and detours to the Jefferson Memorial. The spirit of Thomas Jefferson speaks to her there, but is annoyed that she came to him only as a second choice.

1993: In the Ren & Stimpy Show episode "An Abe Divided", Ren and Stimpy get jobs working at the Lincoln Memorial where Ren overhears about treasure inside the memorial's head. Ren and Stimpy then saw off Lincoln's head only to find caramel corn inside, but are left with a headless-Lincoln. They spend the episode trying to fix their mess with disastrous results.

2004: In the "The Stormy Present" episode of the TV series The West Wing, President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) visits the Lincoln Memorial after being prompted by a letter to "Go see Lincoln and listen."

2015: In "Reunion", the penultimate episode of Falling Skies, it is determined that the alien queen is located at the Lincoln Memorial and this is where they must go to win the war. In the series finale "Reborn", resistance leader Tom Mason confronts the queen face to face in the ruins of the Lincoln Memorial and kills her, destroying the alien invaders. Months later, the Memorial has been rebuilt and is where a united humanity gathers to choose a new leader.

Video games

2000: In the video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, the Lincoln Memorial can be seen in missions that take place in Washington, D.C. In the Allied Campaign Lincolns head was replaced by a head of Stalin before America was liberated. In the Soviet Campaign, it was destroyed for a cash bounty.

2008: In the video game Fallout 3, 200 years after a nuclear war set in 2077, the Lincoln Memorial has been badly damaged, including Lincoln's head having gone missing from the statue. The head is later found in the possession of several escaped slaves who want to return it to the memorial and restore it to its original condition.

Music videos

1985: The music video for "We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)" by Starship features a still shot of the Memorial interior. A view has the group and onlookers singing the refrain upwards to Lincoln's statue. The view then switches to the statue coming to life—literally moved by their conviction—standing up, and sings along.

Discrète grenouille by **Meg's Photos**

Yves Saint Laurent by Ben Heine

90 16

NEW: I NOW CREATE MUSIC, JOIN ME ON SOUNDCLOUD!

SHOP: www.icanvas.com/canvas-art-prints/artist/ben-heine

Prints of this illustration now available here: www.deviantart.com/print/34215920

I made this drawing on paper because I love Yves Saint Laurent.

___________________________________

For more information about my art: info@benheine.com

___________________________________

Yves Saint Laurent: The man who changed the way women dress forever

By Lisa Adams

He was the king of cutting-edge couture who, by rewriting the rules of fashion, changed forever the way women dress.

Talented, controversial but always cool, Yves Saint Laurent was the last great designer from a generation which made Paris the fashion capital of the world.

With 20th century gurus Christian Dior and Coco Chanel gone, fashionistas could still believe in the power of style through YSL.

His death on Sunday aged 71, following a year-long fight against brain cancer, marks the end of an era.

However, his legacy lives on - as the French president revealed in a glowing tribute yesterday.

Nicolas Sarkozy said: "One of the greatest names in fashion has disappeared.

"Yves Saint Laurent was the first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art, and that gave him global influence.

"He infused his label with his creative genius, elegant and refined personality - discrete and distinguished during a half-century of work in both luxury and ready-to-wear - because he was convinced beauty was a necessary luxury for all men and all women."

Pierre Berge described his former lover and business partner - the first designer to put women in trousers - as a "true creator" who had empowered women.

He said: "Chanel gave women freedom but Saint Laurent gave them power.

"He was a libertarian, anarchic, and he threw bombs at the legs of society."

It's a spark which brought us the ultra elegant tuxedo smoking jacket.

When that hit the catwalks in 1966, it transformed the way ordinary women dressed for the evening.

Worn together with sharply tailored trousers, it offered a modern alternative to the formal evening dress, rapidly becoming a wardrobe staple for women.

The tuxedo has been updated for every collection since then, with supermodel Kate Moss looking effortlessly cool in this season's Le Smoking jacket.

Saint Laurent's label was worth £45million when he sold it to Gucci in 1999 and the most beautiful women on the planet have long clamoured to wear his clothes.

He created Bianca Jagger's iconic white wedding suit as well as dressing stars including Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso and Lauren Bacall.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell said she was blessed to be working for YSL while her colleagues Claudia Schiffer and Carla Bruni hailed him as the most influential designer of his time on his retirement in 2002.

He could only have dreamed about such recognition growing up as a shy boy with a passion for drawing, in Oran, Algeria.

Born the son of a shipping executive on August 1, 1936, the fiercely ambitious Saint Laurent shied away from his

conventional home life to dream of cocktail dresses.

Taunted for being gay, he took refuge in his fascination for clothes.

After escaping to the bright lights of Paris aged 17, Saint Laurent finally discovered people who truly believed in his talents.

He won his place at the prestigious Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture after monopolising a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat.

He had scooped three out of four of the categories - the fourth went to Karl Lagerfeld, now at Chanel.

Months later, in 1954, he was introduced to a man who would change his life, Christian Dior.

Dior was so impressed he hired him on the spot. Aged 21, when most designers are starting out, Saint Laurent was named head of the fashion house after Dior died suddenly.

But four years later, just as his career was really taking off, he was conscripted in to the French army during the Algerian War of Independence.

Already physically frail, his time in service was a horror which haunted the rest of his life.

He suffered a nervous breakdown and endured months of electroshock therapy in a psychiatric unit.

It cost him his chance at Dior but, as he slowly recovered, Saint Laurent bravely started his own label, YSL.

His Rive Gauche boutiques for women were established in 1966, and Le Smoking jacket secured his stardom.

His creation of sleek trouser suits for women perfectly captured the "equality of the sexes" spirit of the era.

His Beatnik chic - a black leather jacket, turtleneck and high boots - was also bang on trend.

Always striking, Saint Laurent saw it as vital to create clothes which women felt comfortable wearing.

His safari-style trouser suits in khaki cotton were instant hits in his Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques in London and Paris.

The navy blue pea coat over white pants - debuted in 1962 - was also one of his hallmarks.

He said: "I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant.

"They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes."

Saint Laurent's strength lay in never being afraid to be different.

He was ahead of his time, the first designer to challenge the blue-eyed, blonde-haired idea of perfection by hiring black models for his shows.

The trouser suits he so fervently believed in quickly triggered controversy away from the catwalk.

Women wearing them were turned away from hotels and restaurants in London and New York.

His see-through blouses, which showed off women's breasts, were next to cause outrage.

But his vision for fashion stretched beyond the cut of the clothes.

He said: "Fashion is not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves".

Saint Laurent was never afraid to shock the public.

He posed nude in the advertising campaign for Pour Homme, the first YSL men's fragrance.

Then his launch in the mid-Seventies of a perfume called Opium brought accusations that he was condoning drug use.

Drugs - as well as depression and intense loneliness - were a problem for him away from the bright lights and air kisses of the fashion world.

Saint Laurent said: "I've known fear and terrible solitude, tranquillisers and drugs - those phoney friends - the prison of depression and hospitals.

"I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

Despite that loneliness, he created a timeless template for women's fashion.

One of today's hottest designers, Marc Jacobs, admits looking to YSL's Seventies glory years for inspiration.

And Dame of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood, yesterday described YSL as "one of the great couturiers, one of the few who have achieved perfection with everything they touched."

In today's brave new world of fast fashion, froth and window dressing, few achieve that.

He will be missed.

(--> This tribute appeared on www.dailyrecord.co.uk)

-------------

Obituary: Yves Saint Laurent (BBC)

Yves Saint Laurent changed the face of the fashion industry when he became chief designer of the House of Dior at the age of 21.

His creations adorned some of the world's most famous women; he counted Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso and Princess Grace of Monaco among his most ardent admirers.

But so much too of what ordinary women wear today has been influenced by Saint Laurent.

He designed clothes that reflected women's changing role in society; more confident personally, sexually and in the work-place.

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Algeria, on 1st August 1936. Although his parents were wealthy (his father owned a chain of cinemas), French Algerians were often looked down upon by people in mainland France.

The young Yves had an unhappy childhood. Because of his homosexuality, he said, he was bullied and generally ill-treated at school.

His mother brought him to Paris and he joined the House of Dior in 1954, and such was his impact that he became chief designer when Christian Dior died three years later.

There followed a period of unremitting success. He was credited with introducing short skirts and leather jackets to the world of haute couture in 1960.

But later that same year his world and career collapsed. He was conscripted into the French Army at the height of the Algerian war, and suffered a nervous breakdown.

After three months in hospital he was discharged from the Army as medically unfit. But his return to the House of Dior was short-lived - he left almost immediately amid rumours that he had been dismissed.

He denied this, and claimed that he had resigned because the fashion house wanted him to work in London.

A lean period followed, but he made a comeback designing costumes for Zizi Jeanmaire, the French cabaret artiste. His love of the theatre led to many more triumphs as a set and costume designer.

Razia Iqbal looks back at the life of Yves Saint Laurent

In 1962, with his business and personal partner, Pierre Berge, he founded what was to become the multi-million-pound Saint Laurent fashion and perfume empire.

His flair re-established him as one of the world's top designers, dictating couture and ready-to-wear fashions. He brought in the safari jacket, the cape, peasant flounces and military blousons.

Trouser suits were almost unheard of before Yves Saint Laurent. Biker jackets, blazers and turtleneck sweaters came courtesy of him. He made women's clothes both more sexy and elegant.

But his personal life was less successful. The depression that ended his military career persisted - his partner, Pierre Berge, once said Saint Laurent had been born with a nervous breakdown. His ego was famously fragile.

In the 1970s and '80s, he retreated into excess, becoming addicted to drink and drugs. He also indulged in what he himself called "an extraordinary sex life".

He and Berge split romantically but remained business partners. Reclusive, Saint Laurent rarely left his Paris flat, where he lived surrounded by a massive art collection.

In 1999, he and Berge, having failed to find a suitable successor of their choice, sold their ready-to-wear company Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche to Gucci for $1bn after it had run into financial difficulties.

(This obituary appeared on news.bbc.co.uk)

-------------

Official Yves Saint Laurent Web Site : www.ysl.com/

traffic by DOLCEVITALUX

6 8

traffic can be stressful unless you could find a way to while off the time such as doing photography discretely and carefully . here are some images of these moments

Digital splitting of a real rainbow capture - Arc-en-ciel by eagle1effi

8 2

Horizontal und Vertikal begradigt ergibt eine Auffächerung des arc.

View On Black

The supernumerary bows are the repeated green and purple bands just inside the primary bow.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

The apparent discreteness of main colours is an artefact of human perception

and the exact number of main colours is a somewhat arbitrary choice.

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

Arc or arch, a bowed or curved structure.

Discrete hunt by Jair Letto

They walked around the woods near the city. Bardalph knew by experience that any stray would hidden somewhere near. So he and his protegee pretend to be having a nice stroll in the woods where in fact they were looking for any sign of the rogue whereabouts. They even brought Lenore's hound, that was very skillful and trained for it. Mostly like they look like a old father escorting his daughter with her dog. That surely made him smiled wider, actually even enjoying the pretending.

Canonnière Dornéenne Braha'tok, vue de profil by Pierre MiniBricks

28 2

La très discrète canonnière Dornéenne de la flotte de l'Alliance Rebelle.

The very discreet Dornean gunship of the Rebel Alliance fleet.

One little back door to Hell by Tangent~Artifact, here sometimes :)

44 47

For everyone to have a look and a chance to figure out. OUT...

Rarely one expresses clearly the wish to head for the big gates (but to make a provocative statement, or out of insanity). While a myriad of little back doors are more easily approached. More discrete and welcoming, perhaps.

A feminine figure, here. OK, please wait... I declined a position in the inquisition... :) I just flipped coins. Woman it was. Had it been man, honestly, maybe I would have cheated, out of a sense of aesthetics. And said I’d cheated :) But definitely not me to make some utterly stupid associations.

I also did it for the sake of controversy :) Who wage war? Who commit mass murders? Who dare separate the mother and the child, in a dark and icy morning when the train is about to leave for hideous places? Who-men? I know there are exceptions to the evident facts. But come on, fellow guys... Well, there is good news, sometimes: The “Girl of Qatif”, rape victim sentenced to six month in jail and 200 lashes, has just been pardoned by the Saudi monarch (here, AP). Though “strongly” suggested a decision, maybe this was not such a simple one to take, even for a king. I’m so glad he did.

ps: 66? I SWEAR this is the true stuff - I wanted to erase it, too obvious a detail. Just a strange coincidence, too good to be scratched out, I thought. Well... Because the third digit is up to us, I guess.

On black? medium - large

pps, just in case... Technicalities. I "only" used four pictures, the door (WITH the number :), the model and blinds, the scorched earth, and small bits of winter trees. No stock images. Obviously, the sky is fake. As a good Brazilian friend stated recently, anyway real colors are fake :)

A la limite de l'ombre by Mikaël Aguirre

26 9

Two lovers discretely hiding in the sunset shadow.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/oriotophotography

My bests!

Facebook

Photoblog

Fellini Couture- Sparkling Diamond by joy fellini

19 11

All in a somptuous immaculate white, this gown sparkles everywhere. The simple corset with discrete flowers and leaves on the chest ends on the bottom with a big belt made of millions lil sparkling diamonds and other flowers.

The skirt has a form of a princess's gown with a lil train in the back. A stunning hat made with same materials as the dress complete the outfit and gives a mysterious aspect by covering a little the eyes.

Available in our store:

slurl.com/secondlife/Avenue%20Champs%20Elysees/201/173/32

pose by my dear Di !!!!

her store:

Di's Opera - Shape Design & Poses

slurl.com/secondlife/Rue%20DAntibes/198/128/28

{...} by k.a.s.i.a.

12 27

{on black}

♪ ♫ and turn up the volume.

***

Please NO large, noisy or flashy graphics/logos.

I prefer personal comments. If you must, please use comment codes WITHOUT ICONS or use discrete ones.

Thank you.

***

Tornadic Sunset Thunderstorm by Northern_Nights

Taken 30 minutes after sunset and moments after the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for this rotating thunderstorm just east of Chugwater, Wyoming (~40 miles to my north and at extreme right in this image). The core of this storm registered purple (extemely intense). Lightning was active and I did manage to capture some discrete bolts but smoke and falling precipitation limited the show for me.

Jambo Festival by Lara Parmeggiani

Another discrete panning.

Aston Martin DB9 Project Kahn - Serbia, Belgrade by Helvetics_VS

Spotted this beautiful DB9 with a discrete Project Kahn kit near Sava River, in a cool parking lot with a lot of interesting cars and plates!

Trompettes discrètes by Lobbin Desbois

12 3

Juste pour vous inciter à regarder aussi à vos pieds quand vous vous baladez. Ici un coussinet de lichens du genre Cladonia agrippées à leur rocher, qlq mm de haut, dans les Vosges (mais çà pousse aussi ailleurs !).

Focus stacking (empilement avec variation de la zone de mise au point) de 20 photos passées à la moulinette de Photoshop pour fusionner ces 20 photos en une photo unique nette sur une grande profondeur de champ. Autrefois il fallait passer par des logiciels annexes (payants) style Helicon, aujourd'hui un abonnement à Lightroom-Photoshop permet d'obtenir un résultat équivalent sans l'achat de ces logiciels.

Infrared Freeze by GR

Lifepixel 50D with 40 2.8 Canon "Pancake"

The 40 2.8 is my "walkaround" lens. Very discrete and inexpensive.

Discrete french by NailClicks

18 2

17:21 by n d c

9 34

Rolleiflex 70mm f3,5

Espiègle et discrète by Edith

Plateau de Beille (Ariège)

Black Hairstreak DSC_1063 by Lynn Martin

36 19

Black Hairstreak / satyrium pruni. Glapthorn Cow Pastures, Northamptonshire. 14/06/17.

Lots of activity from these beauties yesterday around their favoured nectaring 'stations', the Dewberry brambles. They seem to be on the wing earlier this year, and some already looked rather worn. I'm pleased I decided to visit Glapthorn when I did as things are moving on apace there and BHs have such a short flight period to photograph them in!

The Very Discrete is Now Visible by Tizzy Canucci

Link to machinima/video: vimeo.com/verydiscretenowvisible

Performance by SaveMe Oh, with music by DeceptionsDigital, December 2016

Anecdotes urbaines : Discrètement, M.W se faufilait entre les visiteurs pour apprécier l'expo. #mtl #montreal #placevillemarie #bw #bnw #bnw_city #bnw_one #bnw_dark #bnw_of_our_world #blackandwhite #bnwlovers #bnw_life #bnw_demand #vty_2022 #photography # by Vannara

5 1

via Instagram instagr.am/p/CZhGu1nLA-Z/

Zipper by Rich

23 8

Zipper is the typical thug you can find in an alley. However, he is very discrete about his jobs

Discrete Cluster by Jeff Anderson

25 2

Nikon F100 Nikon AF Nikkor 28-105mm 1:3.5-4.5D Delta 100@200 LegacyPro Eco Pro 1:1 09/04/2023

100 Strangers | 69: Raechel [EXPLORE 2015.09.19] by Facundity

238 42

The location where I met this stranger was the EXPO New Mexico Flea Market: the state’s oldest and largest open-air market. Located in Albuquerque at the state fairgrounds, more than 1,300 vendors situate on 25 acres. Though parking is free, the walk-in entrance is $1.00 (.) It runs every Sunday, except during the 10 days of the state fair. Vendors pay $20 for a spot to sell odds and ends, like used toys, shoes, religious statues, books, used furniture, costume jewelry, cowboy boots, tires, dart guns, belts, fresh and dried chile peppers, old tools, old junk, and used junk. You find whatever can fit on the back of a pickup truck, or in a small rented moving van, or on a trailer, and that can be hauled out to an asphalt patch.

So as not to attract undue attention, I stowed my camera discretely inside my arm-bag. It was around 9:30 am that I began to walk around the merchants for a look-see.

Eventually I walked by two booths situated next to each other with shade covers, and where the vendors each looked to be in the 20-30 y/o range. Considering my recent streak of octogenarians, lovely and interesting as they are, I wanted to engage with some younger people.

On the left was a bearded hipster who was loudly blasting some dub (loud vocal-free drum and bass music) and selling mixed tapes and old records. He was wearing dark sunglasses under the shade of the tent cover. His music volume would have required me to shout the ask to photograph him. Instead I let him provide the soundtrack to my encounter with the next stranger.

On the right was a young woman selling paperback books, trinkets, and random bits of this and that. She was sitting between rainbow-colored organza curtain panels. These were a portiere hanging at the ledge of a small rental van that was backed up to her merchandise area. The curtains were blowing around either side of her in the breeze. She was wearing a brightly flowered house dress and a pair of green eyeglasses that caught my attention.

I walked under her shade cover and up to her and explained the stranger project. I asked if she would like to participate. She agreed and we introduced ourselves by name. While she is the second stranger whose name is pronounced the same as mine, her spelling was different from mine and from that of my stranger No.30 also with the same name.

Meet Raechel, my 69/100 strangers. She is 24 y/o and originally from Alaska. Raechel is a mother of two children. The oldest is a 5 y/o boy who lives in AK with his father. Raechel didn’t explain the details of the custody arrangement, but she expressed a longing to see her son. She mentioned that her own mother is helping to raise him and the fresh air in Alaska, which is good for him.

One of the reasons I noticed Raechel was her green eyeglasses, which I mentioned to her.

“These were cheap glasses, even with the lenses," she said. "I bought them online and they used to be my backups. I’ve been wearing them for three years. Luckily they haven’t broken yet like all the others. I'm sure my prescription has changed, but I still need them."

In her present situation, Raechel lacks the extra money for an optometric appointment and a new pair of eyeglasses.

Right now, Raechel is a full-time mother of Everleigh, a 2 y/o daughter who was within earshot, behind her, inside the van cabin. As we were speaking, the child moved out of the van and closer to her mother, eventually into her mother’s lap. The toddler’s orbit lifted the forlorn mood. Children are a blessing in so many ways.

Raechel doesn’t speak Spanish, the Lingua Franca of the Flea market and she’s not used to being in New Mexico. She moved here to be with Everleigh’s father.

After the photographs and conversation, I bought an orange plastic bracelet from her for $1.00 (.) It could easily have been worn as part of the ensemble she was wearing. It was put on the table to move on to a new owner and hopefully bring in cash.

Raechel gave me her email address, I sent her the photos, and I never heard back from her. Subjects from the millennial generation have grown up with Myspace and Facebook. I get the sense that they don’t place much value on images of themselves considering the abundant selfies stored in their phones and on the cloud.

To view the strangers I have photographed and to read the stories that accompanied the encounters, visit my submissions to the 100 Strangers Flickr Group: flic.kr/s/aHsk9s8ZQb .

Learn more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.

Last but not least, this is my No.4 submission to The Human Family group. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily.

Smoothing It Out by m dee88

12 31

The intense red and orange hues of the sky at sunset and sunrise are mainly caused by scattering of sunlight off dust particles, soot particles, other solid aerosols, and liquid aerosols floating in the earth's atmosphere. These enhanced red and orange colors at sunset and sunrise are mathematically explained by mie theory or the discrete dipole approximation -Wikipedia (click on the links for a very complicated look into sunsets)

i was searching sunset colors and boy, what a surprise... it so simple now, with wikipedia... just google and voila! but the explanation isn't to be underestimated. here's a more simple look into sunsets =)

happy friday!!

Glimpsed... by Bob Longworth

7 4

A discretely parked Porsche.

discrète ... by minus1349

14 8

Tribal Warrior 1764 by Ursula in Aus

11 3

This is one reason sing sings so important.

For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/feathers-fur-and-face...

Femelle canard nette rousse - Red-crested Pochard duck - 255A0466 by les oiseaux de Paris

9 4

La femelle est plus discrète : dessus de la tête brun, joues blanc grisâtre, dos brun, dessous plus clair.

The female is more discreet: brown top of the head, grayish white cheeks, brown back, lighter underside.

long years of urbanity... by fadi

12 26

A Bulang Woman by **El-Len**

24 25

Who are the Bulang?

The Bulang (Blang) are one of the indigenous people of China's southwestern Yunnan province, having lived there for more than 2000 years. They live in discrete, subtropical "mountain islands" at altitudes of 1500 m (5000 ft) on the lands that border China and Myanmar.

The majority of the Bulang people are distributed across southwestern Yunnan province, where they number 119,000, but others reside in Mayanmar, Laos and Thailand. Their spoken language belongs to the Palaung–Wa branch of the Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Khmer) family. The Bulang are consummate tea growers and their time is spent tending mountain-grown tea plantations, harvesting tea leaves and processing the leaves for tea production. Their product is a cornerstone of the great Tea Horse trading route that begins locally in Xishuangbanna and ends in the Tibetan plateau.

The Bulang are thought to be descendants of the ancient Pu tribe who lived in Xishuangbanna around 2200 years ago. At the time, they lived as hunter-gatherers but exposure to the Dai people in the 14th century resulted in an evolution from hunting-gathering to farming and from animistic polytheism with ancestor worship to Theravada (southern) Buddhist worship. The Bulang like to drink wine and smoke and they greatly admire teeth discolored from chewing betel nuts. The women usually wear long black skirts, the men wide black trousers and both like to wear turbans.

Nongyang Village in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China

Young Woman 1787 by Ursula in Aus

7 1

This is one reason sing sings so important.

For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/feathers-fur-and-face...

1 2 ••• 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ••• 79 80

Tags Discretization

View allAll Photos Tagged Discretization