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Welcome Ladies to the eleventh panel for cycle 4!
As you know, last cycle our judges included Me (Ruby), Lian Sun & Bella Smith. This cycle, Bella has joined me as a judge, but Lian has decided to step back from being a judge and become the creative director & model coach for your photoshoots.
This cycle has some amazing prizes! The prizes in all, include…
Cover of MOOD Magazine + 6 page spread
3 Year Contract with QX Model Management
Cover of Poise and Poise Beauty
Cover of THAT Magazine
STARDOM Magazine
Starr Magazine
This week we travelled to London, and with the new destination, came new makeovers! You girl’s had to take a fairly simple polaroid shot, but not be boring.
Let’s see how you did!
Luna: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30421249866/in/datepo...
Ruby: 8/10
Bella: 10/10
Fan Vote: 7.6/10
Elyssa: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30421250396/in/datepo...
Ruby: 9/10
Bella: 10/10
Fan Vote: 7.2/10
Emily: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30457938095/in/datepo...
Ruby: 8.5/10
Bella: 9.5/10
Fan Vote: 9.25/10
Cali: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30421250536/in/datepo...
Ruby: 7/10
Bella: 9.5/10
Fan Vote: 7.7/10
Drew: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30457938015/in/datepo...
Ruby: 10/10
Bella: 8.5/10
Fan Vote: 9.6/10
Taylor: www.flickr.com/photos/129951153@N02/30457937325/in/datepo...
Ruby: 8/10
Bella: 8/10
Fan Vote: 8.25/10
We will now go and add up the scores, then will be back with the call-out.
………….
Top photo this week goes to…
1. Drew: 28.1/30
Congratulations Drew! This was an AMAZING shot. Heres the rest of the girls:
2. Emily: 27.25/30
3. Elyssa: 26.2/30
4. Luna: 25.6/30
BOTTOM TWO:
TAYLOR & CALI
This week there is literally only 0.05 between who stays and who goes. Both of you are great models, and both of you have had careers before this cycle. Because of that, we wanted to see more from the both of you. Sadly, one of you has to go home, which is hard now that you have come this far. The girl that is continuing to compete for the title is…
Taylor! Good work. We want more from you though! You better bring it if you want to stay for the Top 4.
Score: 24.25
Cali (Score: 24.2), its so sad to see you go. But look, you made it to the top 6! That’s great! Hopefully we can see more from you. Keep rocking that blue hair.
Keep those votes coming in! We’ll see you all back for the next week, make sure to score.
xox
-Ruby
Eleventh Avenue at 28th Street.
Before the rise of the High Line, the City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan's West Side to ship freight. For safety, the railroads hired men called the "West Side Cowboys" to ride horses and wave flags in front of the trains. However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that Eleventh Avenue became known as "Death Avenue".
After years of public debate about the dangerous hazards of freight trains on 10th & 11th Avenues, the state of New York, and the New York Central Railroad agreed on the West Side Improvement Project conceived by Robert Moses. Opening in 1934, the large 13 mile project included the construction of The High Line Viaduct and The Elevated West Side Highway. It eliminated over 100 dangerous street-level railroad crossings intersecting with other traffic and reducing deadly accidents with pedestrians, it also added 32 acres to Riverside Park.
This image restoration and enhancement is the product of Photoshop, Akvis Sketch, Exposure X, Topaz and Nik plugs.
The original photograph was obtained from the Library of Congress, and can be seen via this link: www.boweryboyshistory.com/2011/06/as-high-line-expands-re...
Nearly missed the twin buds in bloom - they opened so quickly and now are just about done. I didn't miss the aroma.
The eleventh photograph in the series is entitled “Las Ewoks” and is based upon Diego Velàzquez’s Las Meninas (the Maids of Honour).
Diego Velàzquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and arguably the most important painter of the Spanish Golden Age. His Las Meninas was his crowing jewel so to speak and is one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting. The work’s complex and enigmatic composition raises several questions about the reality versus the illusion and seems to create an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. I have done my best to re-represent some of his illusions in my recreation.
As the title suggests, Velàzquez’s painting depicts the young Margaret Theresa; the future Holy Roman Empress, German Queen and her Maids of Honour. I have chosen to replace Theresa with See-Threepio as she is surrounded by her Maids of Honour; similarly, Threepio is surrounded by the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Threepio is seen as a God by the Ewoks. If you look carefully you can see that he is starting to "float" (with a little help from Luke of course!) In comparison, Theresa would have been seen as a God like being to the people of Spain. Teebo and Logray have replaced the two Maids of Honour (doña Isable de Velasco and doña Maria Augstina Sarmiento de Sotomayor). The two dwarfs have been replaced by Artoo Detoo and Wicket. These switches seemed to make sense as the older of the dwarfs is stoic and wearing a blueish dress, while the other is very curious and poking the dog with her foot. Similarly, Artoo is depicted standing straight and Wicket is poking Paploo; who has replaced the dog, with his spear. Leia and Han have replaced Theresa’s chaperone and bodyguard. Luke has replaced Velàzquez who has been thought to be painting a portrait of the King and Queen who are depicted in the mirror in the background (I have replaced them with Yoda and Obi-Wan as Force Ghosts). Finally, Darth Vader can be seen entering or exiting the Ewok hut, similarly, there is a mysterious figure who is either entering or leaving the room. Not much is know about him, but it is thought that he may be related to Velàzquez.
Enjoy!
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Visit our Cast of Star Wars Characters at www.365DaysofClones.com.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them
"For The Fallen" Laurence Binyon
Garden Of Remembrance, Anzac Park, Townsville. November 11 2009.
9/11 Memorial, Financial District, Manhattan. October 26th, 2014.
Never forget?
As if that were a possibility.
I was not in New York that day. I can never understand what my girlfriend felt every day she looked at the skyline for the past 13 years. Nor can I understand what she felt today, how much of a tautology that phrase must be:
Never forget.
For what reason do we need this museum? I'm sure those, like myself, who did not live in New York, must be drawn to this thing, this event. This thing which made us all united for a few months, and gives us a place to recount: "I was at work when I heard the news..."
For those of us foreign to New York, this museum is a memory of unity, a memory of flags. A time when everyone was a little nicer, when strangers felt a little bit of ease talking to one another. How quickly that faded.
What about New Yorkers? Is it akin to a shrine in memory of a rape? Something slightly less?
Perhaps it is different. I'll never be able to understand. All I know is the sickness my girlfriend felt as she wandered through these dark catacombs, the words slowly rising to her lips:
"What am I doing here?"
Hudson River Greenway | Eleventh Avenue 02/05/2015 16h58
The Hudson River Greenway runs parallel to the Eleventh Avenue. In the background the The Standard High Line Hotel with its rooftop bar Le Bain.
The Standard, High Line, formerly The Standard, is an 18-story luxury boutique hotel located at 848 Washington Street between West 13th and Little West 12th Streets in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, New York City. It stands 17 meters above street level, above the High Line, a former elevated railroad track reconstructed into a linear park. The hotel, which has 337 guest rooms, was designed by the architects Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership) and was completed in 2009.
[ More info: Wikipedia - The Standard High Line ]
“Never run when you’re scared.”
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+ Components Details +
♦️Shape: Kidorable – Tyrian Bento Shape – Youth / BABY FACE – Thimble Event
♦️Body:Bebe – Youth Fitted Mesh Body (For 5-12 years look)
♦️Head: GENUS Project- Genus Head – Baby Face
♦️Skin:Bf. Face Haji 400 ( Purchased Body Applier Separate: BF Body Slim – Bebe) Available in Tones 100-900 Don’t forget to Try demo.
♦️Hair: : Unorthodox– Fire Hair ( Hair Style Hud / You can apply to any mesh head by using the Omega Hud. BOM Compatible )
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+Apparel Details +
♦️Outfit:{Feral Youth}– 11thDr ( Suit , Fez + Shoes(Sodocs) – Thimble Event
UPDATE, 10/1/17: Complete revamp of the torso decals.
The first variant. The Doctor without his coat!
Please give credit if used.
(Flesh Head,White Torso, White Arms, Flesh Hands, Black Waist, Black Legs)
Fog off of Lake Michigan envelops the skyline of Chicago's South Loop, seen from the 11th Street bridge over the Grant Park Cut and Metra Electric District's tracks.
Things have changed here quite a bit in the last decade. When I first came to Chicago in 2008, the old Illinois Central Roosevelt Road station- basically unchanged since the days when it served as Central Station's suburban platforms- was on its last legs. On my first and only visit there, I was caught in a rainstorm and sought (leaky) shelter in its damp, wooden waiting room. By the next year, what was known by then to many commuters as the "Wild West station" was gone, replaced by a modern facility.
While I regret not having taken any photos of the original station, I'm fond of its current iteration, (known now as 11th Street-Museum Campus, for the pedestrianized street and nearby Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium) which tastefully harmonizes with the civic greenery of Grant Park, on either side of the former IC tracks.
The only constant being change, modernization continues here- CTC-controlled signalling has finally been installed at the the 11th Street interlocking (just out of frame here to the right) rendering the old switchtender's cabin defunct. In days past, this interlocking saw IC freights into and out of Congress Street Yard, (now occupied by the McCormick Place Busway) equipment moves from long-distance passenger and mail trains at Central Station, in addition to handling the electric suburban and interurban traffic that still passes through here.
www.formentalhealth.altervista.org www.persalutementale.altervista.org/leros.html
August 1993
Leros, a small island in the Dodecanese, near the Turkish coast. *
I first entered ward B1 in the eleventh Pavilion of Leros Psychiatric Hospital in August 1993. Four huge rooms, each containing 20 beds. No sheets or pillows, just filthy rubber mattresses and an old cover - all year round, winter and summer. A large refectory, with tables and chairs set out only at stated hours. A wardrobe for everyday clothes of 56 people. Two showers - one of them unusable. A kitchen where nothing is actually cooked, but where meals for inmates brought from the central kitchens are distributed.
For all - for 20 years, for 30 years - the hours and years have been marked only by eating, by the distribution of cigarettes, by the weekly shower.
Eating: a dish of food in the middle of the table for four or five people, one or two plastic cups, also for four or five people, to save washing up. Meals last five minutes by the clock. Food is meagre and poor.
The ablutions - ten people a day, five in the morning and five in the afternoon - each waiting their turn naked in the corridor, in front of the ward entrance. Even those who could wash themselves are washed. The whole process lasts at most 20 minutes per group.
Cigarettes, after meals, these can be from two or three, or none, depending on the whim of the distributor.
For some there is work. One inmate organises the distribution of food, and with meticulous care cleans the showers and lavatories for twelve hours a day. In return he has the authority to give or withhold a piece of bread, and to claim a section of the only wardrobe for his work clothes. Other patients clean the refectory, make up what little there is of the beds, take out the rubbish or deliver the dirty clothes to the central laundry.
For those wanting to get outside even for a short time, if they have the energy, there are two hours each morning in the parade ground in front of the building. The parade ground marked the centre of the naval base that for 50 years, from the start of the century, housed more than 3000 Italian soldiers; barracks for soldiers, arsenals, store rooms for seaplanes, submarines and cannons, villas for the officers and office space. That is how it was; now it is the Psychiatric Hospital of Leros.
The parade ground, that enormous expanse of red earth, beaten by the winter winds and the torrid summer sun, has for years been the theatre of solitude for hundred of inmates.
Bedraggled men, poorly clothed or naked, prone or crouching on the ground or walking up and down silently. Furtive glances. Sudden bursts of movement without apparent cause. One cries and another shouts.
For a few hours of the day nobody tells you what to do. Paradoxically this freedom just goes to confirm for these men that, however much they do, for them there is nothing to do.
The nurses in the hospital - 400 for 400 inmates: not one is a nurse. They are filakes (guards). Farm labourers or fisherman who have found through working for the State an answer to the impoverishment of the island. They have never been told or shown that a hospital can/should be a place of care, of rehabilitation.
The guards, I watch and talk to them. I see ancient faces, hands that have tilled the soil, people who know the meaning of hard work. They express strong feelings, take pleasure in sharing the beauty of their land but are afraid of loosing the livelihood the hospital provides.
They too are abandoned in the same pavilions, resisting and then succumbing to the situation, abiding by the law of the strongest and concealing their compassion for the patients.
Sadism, exploitation were the rule. Compassion, protection, the exception.
Towards the end of my first visit a man approached me and cautiously handed me a strange object. It was a knotted bundle of plaited pieces of old material.
I remember in that corridor a barrel of drinking water with one beaker for 56 people, the television - overhead, noises of aluminium saucepans, voices.
I remember the look, the silver hair, and the agile angular body of an old man.
I remember my embarrassment, but also the relief and sense of gratitude for this human form that without asking for anything just affirmed his existence in that desolation.
November 1993
When, months later, it was at last possible to start an initiative in the ward, the practical program was very "simple", take the patients out.
And so every day, from that ward, six or seven people were taken on outings.
To go out meant breaking the normal routine of the ward. It meant needing clothes and money. A hot shower outside specified times. Each outing meant a new way of getting to know each patient and, significant for him and for us, measuring the reality of each person, of things, of nature, of what is outside, of what they and we are able to compare.
Eleven o’clock of a splendid day in January 1994
Vassili (the man who had given me the present some months back), Sofia a young worker from the rehabilitation program, Maria a cleaner in the ward and I went out together.
Vassili: a jacket, a tie, all a bit creased and a few sizes too small for him.
Nevertheless, Vassili's evident pride in his appearance, despite years of living amongst hunger, cold and fear almost put us to shame.
Where should we go? To the restaurant by the sea.
We all sit down and a variety of different dishes are ordered. Meanwhile Vassili, clearly indifferent to the unusual abundance, with his hands to his mouth is mumbling away rather like one of those story tellers.
"Leros, Lipsi, Athina, Volos, Kalkida, Kimi" "LEROS, LIPSI, ATHINA, VOLOS, KALKIDA, KIMI" and then:
"OMONIA............",
and a number of other words I didn't understand.
The table is slowly filled with plates of squid, tzaziki, omelette, tuna, nibbles............... Vassili at last asked for a fresh orange juice.
What was this list of names? Were they places?
They represent the stopping places of a journey begun, who knows how many years ago, in his village on the island of Eubea, near Kimi.
Vassili mumbles something about being a labourer in Volos and Athens............... and then: "I want to go back to my village. "
Clearly, unmistakably, full of meaning.
Sofia, Maria and I pay attention, we chat away with Vassili, but there is a sense that this chanting, which till today had been considered a kind of raving, not only had a past reality, but - also more important - a possible future.
"OMONIA" and other words sung out, words I couldn't understand but had a steady rhythm. OMONIA which is round, which is in the centre of Athens.
How many years ago? More than 20, perhaps 30 years ago.
Then a list of bars, shops all round Omonia Square.
Omonia, the heart of Athens thirty years ago!
He talks, or rather sings, of market traders, shopkeepers, prostitutes, sailors, pimps, musicians, people from the East and the West, people from all over the world , just as though he was there amongst them.
"I want to go to my village" "I want to go to Athens" "Yes Vassili"
Then Vassili stood up and began to shout loudly. The restaurant was almost empty. I didn't understand a word of what he was saying. Nor did I understand what Dimitri, the restaurant owner, said to him. But it was obviously something directed at Vassili as a real person. A conversation consisting of a few retorts from each of them, ending with both parties clearly satisfied.
That morning Vassili had been listened to, understood, spoken to, and treated as a person. With a history, a personality, perhaps a future.
We returned to the hospital and at the daily staff meeting we reported what had happened that morning. It was proposed that we should indeed organise a journey into the past with Vassili. We talked about him in some detail with reminders of past incidents, of concerns. Was such a trip practical? What were the risks? What could be the outcome?
Some questioned whether returning to a family who had abandoned him thirty years ago would risk Vassili returning to Leros depressed.
Common sense prevailed. It was agreed to find out whether the staff as a whole, and specifically three or four of them, were prepared to organise and take responsibility for the trip, or rather be prepared to participate and share in Vassili's experience outside those walls......
I don't believe I shall ever forget that meeting. Those present fell into two camps: on one side there were the filakes with 15, 20, 30 years of work experience and on the other side were youngsters working as part of the programme funded by the European Union. The older people couldn't help being suspicious - what was the point of changing a life which it bad been a struggle to adjust to in the first place, although it was evident that several of them had adjusted rather too well to the status quo.
These older people would have been responsible on each shift for up to 100 inmates: one hundred strangers whose deportation to Leros had stripped them of identity or history.
The fight for survival in these conditions was not just the lot of inmates but also of those who worked there, 1 realised that for one and all the only thing that mattered was survival.
During that meeting a deal was struck between the two groups; nobody was telling the filakes that what they were doing was wrong, but simply that more could be done. A return to one's home, perhaps finding a gravestone, the wails of a childhood h6me, or even seeing a school companion, might be a help in this fight for survival. The filakes had not yet lost their love for their homes, their graves, and their ruins and childhood friends.
To conclude, it was decided that the funds were there. All that was needed were some volunteers.
February 1994
Today is the twenty second, of the second, nineteen hundred and ninety four: twenty two plus two, twenty four, plus one is twenty five, plus nine is thirty four, plus nine is forty three, plus four is forty seven and minus one is forty six. Divided by two is twenty three. Tomorrow is the twenty third. Are we going out?"
Blessed Vassili!!! playing with numbers as he has done for the last 23 years, possibly the salvation, while everybody assumed that his bits of material, his songs and number games were just delirious raving.
A meeting was held with the discussion focusing on Vassili's clinical records: parents dead, a brother and a sister in his native village, two other brothers' whereabouts unknown, no contact in the 23 years since his internment in Leros, neither with family nor anyone else. Two different dates of birth - seven years between them - a first hospitalisation in Athens in 1965 ... but, most important, a discussion followed with everyone there: impressions, memories. And then a problem raised by several people that Vassili was to be among half a dozen inmates who would be the first to leave the ward and move into an apartment to live semi-independently. Vassili however showed no response, neither a yes or no, to this prospect, but kept up a firm reminder of his wish to travel to his village.
Vassili found himself, or rather I feel he made himself, the centre of attention. There was no acting on his part: he had already become a strong personality on his ward, someone who commanded a degree of respect. It was also due to his indomitable refusal to be tamed: for
example in 20 years it had been impossible to stop Vassili from cutting up the sheets which he then made into his lively little objects. But also belts and bits which elegantly replaced the shirt buttons that were so often missing.
Vassili however knew how to benefit from the new climate, which in a paradoxical way was emerging in the ward and focusing on him. In fact he seemed not to expect it to be otherwise.
When changing, his clothes in anticipation of an outing he took steps to ensure that he was not observed, yet at the same time let it be known that he was aware of being watched. He emptied his pockets of countless personal possessions - put on an old blue striped suit with restrained haste - and then..... off out.
Since his first outing a visit to the barber had become a must. He liked being looked after by someone else - a couple of sentences exchanged - perhaps a sense of being clean - then to the "piazza". The main square in the village, at the cafe. He observed, watched life go by around him, perhaps trying to recognise what had changed and what would never change.
At the bar he would never ask for anything and would only accept a coffee or an orange drink after some persuasion. The way he did this made us think that his minimalist attitude was deliberate, consciously reducing his needs to zero, never asking for anything, and never expecting anything. So it wasn't a process of adapting to institutionalisation (after 23 years), a situation of having no rights, but rather a conscious decision of never asking for anything, thus saying to the Institution and those in charge:
"You have the power, but I would never ask you for anything because your giving or not giving is totally arbitrary, it is all just part of your wish to show who's boss."
Occasionally he would explode with anger. And just as quickly as it started it would stop. Inevitably: the impression of a strong desire to make his presence felt. Raising his voice in a manner which I feel was accepted by those around as part of a Mediterranean temperament where feelings are often expressed publicly, almost theatrically.
And then- alone- in the neighbourhood.
Short walks, excursions from which he never returned empty handed: a packet of nuts, some fruit or a box of matches. A result of his incredible capacity for meeting people. Excursions from B 1 were becoming more and more frequent with the entire life and system of the hospital under discussion. Resistance was always strong, seeing that the entire economy of the island had been founded and run using the mental hospital as a source of money and privilege. To me this resistance on the part of the hospital staff did not seem to be totally unjustified; seeming to say:
"It's not as though you are talking about great things, after all the only thing that can actually change is the person in charge which will change nothing!?"
In other words the game was becoming very interesting.
Then Vassili's' "volunteers" for his trip appeared. Lianna, Psychologist in charge of organising the apartment in which Vassili was to go and live, and Iannis, the nurse who would work in the same apartment. Permission granted, preparations completed, the necessary funds, documents, pieces to stay arranged .....it was Vassili who challenged the idea at the last minute:
"If I go back to the village, I'll never come back to Leros !"
The argument with Vassili was charged - as can be imagined - sometimes sharp and at other times patronising. In the end Vassili was convinced. The discussion or rather the discussions, were held - for the first time in the ward's history - in the nurses' room; Vassili sat in one of the chairs normally reserved for staff, and everyone could see this through the glass door.
Thank you Vassili; for killing off one of the small taboos.
Athens, Saturday 2nd March (for Vassili 23 years later)
We disembarked from the ship which brought us to Piraeus from Leros at 8 am. Vassili, Lianna, Iannis and his wife - and me.
We had reserved two rooms at the hotel "EI Greco", a couple of steps from Omonia and we were there. Diving into the big market which at that time of day was just coming to life, especially in Athinas Odos, the street where our hotel was located.
Black people speaking Greek like natives, selling designer scarves and hi-fi equipment, former Soviet citizens with a Zeiss camera, a spanner, a Lenin badge set out on a cloth, women dressed in black, children and cigarettes, watches, sun glasses, leather jackets ...
walking through all this we watched and were watched. We watched Vassili, who moved as if he had always been there. He looks, and then for a few seconds he stops in front of a shop window, brushes his hand against a passer-by: a man, an old woman, a boy and a woman. Several of them notice and turn around enquiringly. But the touch had been so delicate, light, and non-intrusive..... that nobody protested. Contact. I had never seen Vassili do anything like this before and I never saw him do anything like it again.
Increasingly we become engulfed by both the crowds and traffic. Lianna is from Athens and is accustomed to this, whereas for Iannis and his wife it is their first trip away from their life on Leros. We walk once, twice around the main square. Perambulating almost aimlessly with our hands behind our backs. Vassili looks, stops, and observes intently. Life goes on around us at a frenetic pace but for us it is as though time has left us behind. The only thing that matters is Vassili and this: his reintroduction into this world which has changed so very much. Where everything is very different but at the same times perhaps not so very different in terms of the daily goings on, sounds, the mixture of races, history and looks. Vassili appears totally at ease, unperturbed about his surroundings. Not even a gesture, a single word betrayed a sense of discomfort, fear or distance.
And then one of us made a suggestion, almost in response to our collective unspoken anxiety as to what should be done next:
" Vassili what about finding a barber shop where you could get a shave?" " My brother's a barber here in Athens"
" ....Do you remember where?" " Of course!"
" What about how to get there.. Can you remember?" " Yes of course! Come on let's go."
We are surprised. Very surprised. We set off guided entirely by Vassili.
Excited and on tenterhooks we cross Athens. Vassili leads the way in a very decisive manner. He tells us of a square right next to his brother's shop. Lianna recognises the street but leaves it to Vassili to lead the way. Vassili in front, and the four of us following behind.
Then we are lost. Lianna stops to ask directions, we lose her ... but find the square.
We retrace our steps a little and find Lianna, then it is Vassili again who takes the lead. Iannis smiles unbelievingly. A small alley way and Vassili stops outside an ironmonger's. Then up and down the alley we go but no sign of the barber's shop, . At that point Vassili and Lianna go into the ironmonger's to ask. Yes, it had been a barber shop until four years ago when the owner had retired. Do you know where we could find the barber? This is his brother and they haven't seen each other for many years. We really would like to find him. No, sorry, but try asking at the café just down there. We go there and arrive just as a young handicapped boy is closing up. No, his father isn't in and, no, he knows nothing about any barber and anyway the cafe is now closed,
And so there we were back in the middle of the road and in limbo.
Suddenly we are called from both sides of the road: from one way by the ironmonger and from the other the father of the boy. The ironmonger is at first a little anxious, but says he has thought about it again and gives us Vassili's brother's telephone number. Simultaneously the bar owner starts to volunteer the same address!
We try to phone from the first shop but there is no answer. To reduce the emotional stress we decide and have lunch and talk about what to do in the restaurant.
Emotions? Iannis can't believe his eyes, how can Vassili remember after thirty years? This place that Iannis sees only as chaos and full of mystery.
Lianna calls from the restaurant:
"Yes, I've found the brother! We've made an appointment at the hotel at 4.30 p.m."
The brother was surprised, incredulous and possibly rather threatened and that is why he suggested coming to the hotel rather than meeting Vassili at home.....
The reunion was planned in the nicest of the rooms, two armchairs a small table and a coffee. Only Lianna would be there from our group.
The brother arrived dead on time and less than ten minutes later Lianna emerges to say that all three of them are going to go back to the brother's home.
They came back three hours later. Lianna was shattered but Vassili was totally unperturbed, clean-shaven and sporting a new hair cut.
If you heard it told it almost sounds like a film script; apparently Vassili and his brother talked as if no had happened, Vassili's brother had cut his hair and given him a shave. It had also been decided that on Monday, the day after tomorrow, "the new found brother" would go back to his native village too!
We get ready to go out. After all it is Saturday night and we are in Athens! Vassili is wearing his purple flannel jacket tucked into his trousers. Instead of a belt he is wearing a purple strip of cloth. He is also wearing a matching tie. His jacket looks like a bolero the way he has put it on. Vassili dressed like this could be described as rather extravagant or eccentric, but certainly elegant and he knew he looked good. His way of dressing took on new meaning, it was a sense of identity, a sense of expressing who he was. And so out we went ... there is little that could shock anyone in Athens. We spent the evening in an Ouzo bar (a local alcoholic drink derived from aniseed),
We each enjoyed our evening in our own way, I ate and drank. Vassili, tiring of things, spent the evening almost with his back to us, listening intently to the conversation of a couple at the next table. He openly scrutinised two young women engrossed in conversation who in turn neither spoke to him nor ignored him.
Trieste, May 1998
Vassili has been back to his village twice. He has revisited people and buildings. He surprised everybody remembering names and events from all those years ago. He was not able, or didn't want, to get close to his brother and sister who lived in the village in the old family house. Or rather in the one room which they had split into two by building a simple partition. The brother, who had been paralysed from birth depended on the help of local villagers, while she, after thirty years in Athens spent either on the street or in local psychiatric hospitals, had finally escaped to her village and lives there marginalised from the rest of society.
It hasn't been possible to guarantee the support needed from the mental health services to help with Vassili's reintegration into society. Nor to organise a pension for him to live off: the village mayor, a contemporary of Vassili's at school, has tried with no success.
Between his first and second trip to the village, Vassili:
• Bought his friend Helias in ward B1 a pair of new shoes from Athens. Helias seems the exact opposite of Vassili - he appears to be so vulnerable and dependent. The shoes were a precious gift - both in themselves and symbolically. The Vassili who returned from his trip, and who wished to go back immediately to take his place with his 'pedia' ("the boys") has improved the quality of the relationship between all the inmates to a degree that is different from any I have ever known. I think it has the characteristics of relationships between prisoners. These men have had to embrace violence and love, and learn how to make them meet.
He told everybody the story of his journey, sitting in the large refectory, for once the scene of emotions that had found expression. Some said "what about me?", while others just thought it. People's pasts and personal stories began to emerge, each with its own validity.
He started to tell anecdotes. For example how as a sixteen year old boy he used to take food to the partisans in the mountains. Then he was called up into the regular army and tells of how, when driving a jeep, a bomb laid by one of the partisans was set off. He doesn't go into details and no one presses to know more.
He asked to meet and speak to the President of the Hospital's Administrative Council and had a talk with him - on his own.
He has moved into a house in the countryside, with five other inmates. The party held when they moved in, organised by the neighbours -local farmers - was conducted in true Greek spirit.
After a bitter verbal confrontation with one of his old 'guards' from the hospital, he was put on a course of drug treatment which seriously upsets him. "Den borume" ("it's impossible, we cannot, we will never reach our goal")he said to me. At the end of his tether. But the respect and friendships he has developed throughout the island, even though he cannot get the drug reduced, carry him through this troubled time.
He moves around the island freely on his own, with his own landmarks - houses always open to him - hiding places for his possessions.
He returns now and then to visit ward B and the look of compassion in his eyes tells us how much more we still have to do.
After the second visit to his village
Vassili has decided to stay on Leros.
We are all given only one past, and Vassili and many others on Leros have only the past of Leros.
I have been back to Leros a couple of times in the past few years. And I know that, like me, other staff have returned and will continue to return, under the spell of its sweet and fierce character - subtle and overpowering, like the wind that sweeps through it from the East.
I imagine - or rather I know - that others feel as I do the depths of feeling Vassili and many others allowed us to touch. For once a rare perception of our own humanity.
Maurizio Costantino °
* Place of intervention of an Italian experts' group for the European Community
° Trieste Mental Health Department
Italian version: www.persalutementale.altervista.org/leros.html
The eleventh image in my #paintitblack project. Painted this wooden tulip with #blk3 #blackestblack black paint (paint created by @StuartSemple) to minimise reflections from the studio flash and create a silhouette effect; then added some 'blood' roots. Some artistic licence employed as a tulip should really have a bulb.
The eleventh among the 24 solar terms falls around 7 July when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 105 degrees, signifying the start of the year’s hottest period but the hottest time is yet to arrive.
Observe food hygiene as intake of unclean food is the main cause of most gastrointestinal disorders in the summer. Don't eat too much spicy, oily, raw and cold food. Soup and congee made with American ginseng, lotus leaf, glabrous greenbrier rhizome, mung bean, kidney bean and coix seed can dispel internal heat. Maintain a good balance between work and rest and keep the mind calm and peaceful.
Eleventh-generation Ford Thunderbird (2001 - '05).
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois
Sunday, October 4, 2015.
Nikkormat FTn w/Vivitar 85-205mm f 3.8 Zoom
Apollo 17 Pad 39A
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command module.
Mission planners had two primary goals in deciding on the landing site: to sample lunar highland material older than that at Mare Imbrium and to investigate the possibility of relatively recent volcanic activity. They therefore selected Taurus–Littrow, where formations that had been viewed and pictured from orbit were thought to be volcanic in nature. Since all three crew members had backed up previous Apollo lunar missions, they were familiar with the Apollo spacecraft and had more time for geology training.
Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, following the only launch-pad delay in the course of the whole Apollo program that was caused by a hardware problem, Apollo 17 was a "J-type" mission that included three days on the lunar surface, expanded scientific capability, and the use of the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Cernan and Schmitt landed in the Taurus–Littrow valley, completed three moonwalks, took lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments. Orange soil was discovered at Shorty crater; it proved to be volcanic in origin, although from early in the Moon's history. Evans remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), taking scientific measurements and photographs. The spacecraft returned to Earth on December 19.
The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days, 14 hours),[7] greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest time on the lunar surface (75 hours), longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes),[8] largest lunar-sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days, 4 hours),[7] and greatest number of lunar orbits (75).[9]
Crew and key Mission Control personnel
Position[10] Astronaut
Commander Eugene A. Cernan
Third and last spaceflight
Command Module Pilot (CMP) Ronald E. Evans
Only spaceflight
Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Harrison H. Schmitt
Only spaceflight
In 1969, NASA announced[11] that the backup crew of Apollo 14 would be Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and former X-15 pilot Joe Engle.[12][13] This put them in line to be the prime crew of Apollo 17, because the Apollo program's crew rotation generally meant that a backup crew would fly as prime crew three missions later. Harrison Schmitt, who was a professional geologist as well as an astronaut, had served on the backup crew of Apollo 15, and thus, because of the rotation, would have been due to fly as lunar module pilot on Apollo 18.[14]
In September 1970, the plan to launch Apollo 18 was cancelled. The scientific community pressed NASA to assign a geologist, rather than a pilot with non-professional geological training, to an Apollo landing. NASA subsequently assigned Schmitt to Apollo 17 as the lunar module pilot. After that, NASA's director of flight crew operations, Deke Slayton, was left with the question of who would fill the two other Apollo 17 slots: the rest of the Apollo 15 backup crew (Dick Gordon and Vance Brand), or Cernan and Evans from the Apollo 14 backup crew. Slayton ultimately chose Cernan and Evans.[11] Support at NASA for assigning Cernan was not unanimous. Cernan had crashed a Bell 47G helicopter into the Indian River near Cape Kennedy during a training exercise in January 1971; the accident was later attributed to pilot error, as Cernan had misjudged his altitude before crashing into the water. Jim McDivitt, who was manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at the time, objected to Cernan's selection because of this accident, but Slayton dismissed the concern. After Cernan was offered command of the mission, he advocated for Engle to fly with him on the mission, but it was made clear to him that Schmitt would be assigned instead, with or without Cernan, so he acquiesced.[15][16] The prime crew of Apollo 17 was publicly announced on August 13, 1971.[17]
When assigned to Apollo 17, Cernan was a 38-year-old captain in the United States Navy; he had been selected in the third group of astronauts in 1963, and flown as pilot of Gemini 9A in 1966 and as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in 1969 before he served on Apollo 14's backup crew. Evans, 39 years old when assigned to Apollo 17, had been selected as part of the fifth group of astronauts in 1966, and had been a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. Schmitt, a civilian, was 37 years old when assigned Apollo 17, had a doctorate in geology from Harvard University, and had been selected in the fourth group of astronauts in 1965. Both Evans and Schmitt were making their first spaceflights.[18]
For the backup crews of Apollo 16 and 17, the final Apollo lunar missions, NASA selected astronauts who had already flown Apollo lunar missions, to take advantage of their experience, and avoid investing time and money in training rookies who would be unlikely to ever fly an Apollo mission.[19][20] The original backup crew for Apollo 17, announced at the same time as the prime crew,[17] was the crew of Apollo 15: David Scott as commander, Alfred Worden as CMP and James Irwin as LMP, but in May 1972 they were removed from the backup crew because of their roles in the Apollo 15 postal covers incident.[21] They were replaced with the landing crew of Apollo 16: John W. Young as backup crew commander, Charles Duke as LMP, and Apollo 14's CMP, Stuart Roosa.[18][22][23] Originally, Apollo 16's CMP, Ken Mattingly, was to be assigned along with his crewmates, but he declined so he could spend more time with his family, his son having just been born, and instead took an assignment to the Space Shuttle program.[24] Roosa had also served as backup CMP for Apollo 16.[25]
For the Apollo program, in addition to the prime and backup crews that had been used in the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA assigned a third crew of astronauts, known as the support crew. Their role was to provide any assistance in preparing for the missions that the missions director assigned then. Preparations took place in meetings at facilities across the US and sometimes needed a member of the flight crew to attend them. Because McDivitt was concerned that problems could be created if a prime or backup crew member was unable to attend a meeting, Slayton created the support crews to ensure that someone would be able to attend in their stead.[26] Usually low in seniority, they also assembled the mission's rules, flight plan and checklists, and kept them updated;[27][28] for Apollo 17, they were Robert F. Overmyer, Robert A. Parker and C. Gordon Fullerton.[29]
Flight directors were Gerry Griffin, first shift, Gene Kranz and Neil B. Hutchinson, second shift, and Pete Frank and Charles R. Lewis, third shift.[30] According to Kranz, flight directors during the program Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success."[31] Capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) were Fullerton, Parker, Young, Duke, Mattingly, Roosa, Alan Shepard and Joseph P. Allen.[32]
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
In a far away field they fought as a team
Where no one back home could hear their screams
No time was theirs to say goodbye
Loved ones remember with a tear in their eye
Some sons , brothers , husbands and fathers
Their unit made up to be first responders
For off to war they`re destiny to fall
Names now etched on a remembrance wall
On this the day of all the elevens
Remembering those at peace now in heaven
..................... Copyright (c) Rodney Harrison 2014
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Saint Colman of Stockerau
October 13 is the feastday of an Irish saint who met a particularly sad fate in early eleventh-century Austria. Below is a paper from the Irish Ecclesiastical Record by Father J.F. Hogan on the life of Saint Colman (Coloman) in which he describes the circumstances which led this Irishman to be adopted as a patron of the Austrian people. I particularly enjoyed the description of the saint by the Viennese chronicler who said 'God sent us from Ireland, which is situated at the extreme end of the world a saint who was to be the intercessor and advocate of our whole nation, and who would teach us by his example to despise all earthly things, and seek only those which lead to heaven.' The idea of Ireland as being at the extreme end of the world is a concept to which Saint Patrick himself would have related. Finally, let's also spare a thought for Saint Gothalmus, the faithful servant of Saint Colman, who shared both his master's journey and his fate. May they continue to intercede for Austria and its people and for this island 'at the extreme end of the world'.
ST. COLMAN, PATRON OF LOWER AUSTRIA
The story of St. Colman is very different from that of most other Irish saints whose names are still venerated in distant countries. He was not an apostle in any ordinary sense of the word. He was not sent nor did he go to preach the Gospel, nor to convert the heathen. He may, indeed, have had in his mind some ultimate aim of the kind, but it had not yet matured nor assumed definite shape when he was overtaken by the fate of the martyr. Neither was it his immediate intention to settle in any of the monasteries founded by his countrymen in the centre of Europe, nor to devote himself to teaching, nor to study, nor to the pious exercises of religious life. It is, we believe, more than probable that he would in due course have become a monk, a teacher, and a preacher ; but his most pressing purpose at the time of his death was to wend his way to the Holy Land, to visit Nazareth, Bethlehem, Caphernaum, Jerusalem ; to follow the footsteps of the Master through Samaria and Galilee ; to venerate the earth on which He had walked in the flesh, where He was born, where He lived, and where He died ; to meditate on Jordan's banks and on the Mountain of Beatitudes; to assuage his spiritual thirst at the fountain of Siloe and at Cedron's holy brook; and, above all, to fill his soul with memories of the Garden of Olives, of the Way of the Cross, and of Mount Calvary.
This was the motive which urged Colman to leave his country, and in obedience to which he one day found himself in a strange land, unknown, unfriended, and unable to make himself understood. It is also remarkable that, notwithstanding that he was an utter stranger to the people who afterwards adopted him as their patron and protector, from the very first he took possession of their hearts, and retained his hold upon them, only with increasing power, through many changing centuries. It is really wonderful how his fame spread from the wood near the little town of Stockerau, where he was tortured and hanged, all over the province of Austria proper, away through Styria, Istria, and Carniola, through Hungary, Bohemia, Bavaria, and Poland. Kings and princes were called by his name at baptism; churches and chapels were dedicated in his honour. Coloman, King of Hungary, the nephew of St. Ladislas, and one of the immediate successors of St. Stephen the Great, promoted the fame of his holy patron wherever his influence extended. Rudolph IV. of Hapsburg was equally devoted to his memory. This most peaceful and mildest of saints had always a great attraction for soldiers. One of them, a brave Austrian knight, who served under the Emperor Ferdinand III., lies buried near the tomb of his patron, in the great Benedictine Abbey of Molck, on the banks of the Danube; and on the marble sarcophagus erected over his grave appears the inscription:
HEUS VIATOR!
HUC OCULOS, HUC MENTEM MODICUM REFER.
EX VEXILLO FIDELITATEM, EX LEONE VIGILANTIAM PENSA.
FIDELIS FUI
DEO, CAESARI, AMICIS
USQUE AD ARAS.
VIGILAVI DONEC OBDORMIREM IN MORTE.
ET QUOD SOMNUS ESSET SUAVIOR,
HANC UMBRAM QUAESIVI
TUTELARIS MEI SANCTI COLOMANNI.
St. Colman's Irish nationality is universally and gratefully recognised in Austria. The standard work on The Life and Miracles of the saint is that of Father Gotfreid Deppisch, which was published in Vienna, by the University Press, in 1743. This learned writer was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Moelck, on the Danube, and his work on St. Colman is dedicated to the illustrious Adrian, abbot of the monastery, and "Rector Magnificus" of the University of Vienna. He took great pains to find out all that was known about the honoured patron of his country. He came specially from Vienna to the Franciscan Convent of St. Antony of Padua, at Louvain, in order to consult the Annals of the Four Masters, the works of Ussher, Stanihurst, and Ware, but especially some manuscript materials that had been left by Father John Colgan and Father Hugh Ward concerning the origin and descent of St. Colman. He was hospitably received by Father Antony McCarthy, then guardian of the convent, who made all the researches the learned Benedictine required, and submitted them to him. The result could not be more satisfactory. The author takes much trouble to place St. Colman's Irish origin beyond all doubt; and he devotes several pages to refute the Scotch pretension that the saint was a son of King Malcolm III. and of St. Margaret of Scotland.
" We must now [he writes] bring forward proofs that cannot be contradicted to show that the native land of our glorious patron is no other than the kingdom of Ireland, and that he was born and bred an Irishman. The oldest and the strongest is to be found in that ancient chronicle of the Austrian Margraves of Babenberg, which a learned priest, named Aloldus of Bechlarn, composed in the year 1063, and which the illustrious Father Jerome Hanthaler, annalist of the Monastery of Lilienfeld, accidentally discovered, about three years ago, in the library of Maria-Zell, in Austria, to the great honour and profit of historical studies in our country. The next is that of Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach, a canon of the Cathedral of Vienna, teacher of Holy Scriptures, and celebrated Austrian historian, who lived in the time of the Emperors Albert and Frederick III. This learned author, amongst other valuable works, has left us a long and beautiful eulogium of St. Colman, in which he tells us that 'God sent us from Ireland, which is situated at the extreme end of the world, a saint who was to be the intercessor and advocate of our whole nation, and who would teach us by his example to despise all earthly things, and seek only those which lead to heaven.'
The author further quotes several passages from chronicles and annals kept in different parts of Germany, many of which are to be found collected by Father Jerome Fez, the famous librarian of Moelck, and editor of two of the most valuable collections of historical documents ever published in Europe. It would, indeed, be a mere waste of time and space to dwell further on a matter which is universally admitted.
St. Colman seems to have belonged to some distinguished family in Ireland, and was, possibly, as Ward suggested, son of Malachy, high king of Ireland, who lived towards the end of the tenth century. The only reference made to St. Colman in any of the older Irish books is that found in the Calendar of Donegal, in which we read: " Colman ailithir in Austria mac Maoilscheachluinn mor mac Dohmnuill." "Colman the pilgrim in Austria, son of Maolsechlaim Mor, son of Dohmnall." He was accompanied by a servant, Gothalmus, on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; and is usually spoken of as having made great worldly sacrifices in order to devote himself entirely to the service of God. The pilgrim's road to Jerusalem, in these days, lay through Austria, Hungary, and Turkey ; and as it happened the throne of the Holy Roman Empire was then occupied by the pious Henry II. and his saintly queen, Cunigunde. St. Stephen was king of Hungary, and the province of Austria was governed by the wise and prudent Margrave, Henry of Bahenberg. Great political troubles disturbed all these countries at the time we write about ; for the Austrians were beginning to assume that supremacy over their neighbours which they vindicated under several chiefs of the young Bahenberg dynasty, and have maintained to the present day under the time-honoured aegis of the Hapsburgs.
When St. Colman arrived in the midst of their province, in the year 1014, it was overrun by soldiers from Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. The minds of the people were greatly excited ; and when they found a stranger amongst them, ignorant of their language, and hurrying on from one village to another, they came to the conclusion that he was a foreign spy, seeking information and an opportunity to betray them to their enemies. It was in vain that the poor pilgrim protested his innocence, kissed his crucifix, and pointed towards the east. What was regarded by them as hypocrisy only enraged them the more. A cruel and infuriated mob laid hold of him in the village of Stockerau, and led him out to a neighbouring wood, where they bound him hand and foot, and hung him from a gibbet, erected specially for the purpose. Nor were they satisfied with the cruel death which they decreed to the servant of God. They had recourse to other refinements of barbarism, which even at this distance are enough to make one shudder. They scourged him with whips before his execution ; they applied burning irons to his body while he was struggling for life ; and they tore and lacerated his flesh till he had scarcely the human shape. The author of the hymn which was sung in his honour in the Middle Ages accurately describes the nature of his torture :
"Scilices, ignita ova,
Flagra tibi, vulnera
Imprimebant, nec non nova
Tormentorum genera.
Carnes tuas vellicabant
Forcipe ferrarrii ;
Ossa tua lacerabant
Serra carpentarii."
When the evil work was done, its authors hurried off to some kindred task, and so little thought did they bestow on the poor victim they left hanging in the wood that their crime seems to have passed without any special notice ; for it was only a few years afterwards that some of the inhabitants of Stockerau were startled at the sight which they beheld at the spot where the saint had suffered. There was the gibbet still ; but fresh leaves had grown from the dry wood, and flowers that gave forth a fragrant perfume had blossomed from the beam. There was still the body of the saint hanging in the air : but it was whole and uncorrupted.
" Mire fragrans, indestructus
Permanens biennio."
The birds of the air had respected the temple of so pure a soul. The hair and beard had grown down over the pilgrim's frock, and a smile of heavenly peace and forgiveness seemed to light up the countenance of the victim. The people were struck with amazement when they witnessed the spectacle. They began to fear that the vengeance of God would overtake them and punish them for the crime that was perpetrated in their midst. The clergy were at once informed of the prodigy, and the remains of the saint were reverently taken away and placed in the church of Stockerau, where wonderful miracles testified to the sanctity of the murdered pilgrim.
An account of all these strange occurrences soon reached the ears of Henry, Margrave of Austria, who was greatly struck by all he heard, and proceeded to make a careful investigation into the whole history. When he was satisfied of the undoubtedly genuine nature of all the events narrated, he called together the bishops and clergy of the country, and had the body of St. Colman transferred to the important town of Moelck, where he himself resided. There, in the Church of the Benedictine Abbey, it remains to this day, surrounded by the veneration and love of a whole country. A short time after the remains of the saint were transferred to Moelck, the King of Hungary took possession of them, and carried them away for awhile, but they were duly recovered by the people of Austria. Poppo, Bishop of Treves, arranged the first transfer; but Providence evidently destined the saint to be the patron and protector of Austria. A rich mausoleum in Corinthian style is erected over the shrine of the saint. "Justus ut palma florebit " is written near its summit, and "Sepulchrum Sancti Colomanni Martyris," indicates the contents of the shrine. Here pilgrimages still come from all parts of Austria, and the glories of the saint are heard in the strong German tongue.
Churches were dedicated to him at Stockerau, Moelck, Laab, Aggstein, Vienna, Abenthull, Eysgarn, Aichabrunn, St. Veit, Steyer, Lebenan, Berlach, and many other places. A stone that was marked with the blood of the saint was brought by Rudolf IV. to Vienna, where it may still be seen in one of the walls of the Cathedral of St. Stephan. This same illustrious duke had an elaborate cross manufactured, in which he had large relics of St. Colman encased, and surrounded by the relics of other saints. This precious memorial of princely faith is still to be seen in the treasury of Moelck, with an inscription bearing testimony to the motives and object of the donor.
The learned Johannes Stabius, biographer of the Emperor Maximilian I., wrote an elegant poem in praise of the saint, commencing with the lines:
"Austriae Sanctus canitur patronus,
Fulgidum sidus radians ab alto,
Scoticae gentis Colomanus acer
Regia proles."
It is curious, that although St. Colman could not be said to have been put to death in odium fidei, yet, on account of the violent character of his execution, he is generally regarded as a martyr. Not only do all the early writers of Austria itself, but also the learned Baronius, and several Popes speak of him as a martyr. His, however, is not the only case in which custom has sanctioned a title which technically belongs by right only to those who give their lives for Christ as witnesses to the truth.
Several Popes conferred rich indulgences on all who would visit with the proper dispositions, the shrine of the great national patron. Those granted by Innocent IV., Honorius IV., Boniface VIII., Clement VI., Boniface IX., Benedict XIV., and by a great number of bishops, archbishops, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, are enumerated by Father Deppisch, in the admirable work on St. Colman, to which we have already made frequent allusion. It is but right to add that Gothalmus, the faithful companion and servant of Colman, who shared with his master the hardships of the journey and his cruel death, shares likewise in his glory; for he, too, is honoured as a saint, and his memory is faithfully cherished, and can never be dissociated from that of his master. Father Deppisch gives a full description of the solemnities that were celebrated in his time at Moelck and in other Austrian churches, in honour of St. Colman. We understand that they have lost nothing of their impressiveness and popularity in later times, and that they are always attended by some representative of the royal Hapsburgs, who regard St. Colman as one of the most faithful protectors of their own interests, and of those of their people.
J. F. HOGAN.
THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD Volume 15, AUGUST, 1894, 673-682.
Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.
---
On 13 October 1014, his relics were transferred to the Abbey of Melk by Bishop Megingard at the request of Marquis Saint Henry of Austria. Decades later, they were taken to Hungary. Coleman became the object of a popular cult, and many churches and chapels in Austria, the Electorate of the Palatinate, Hungary, and Bavaria were dedicated to him. He is also venerated in Ireland.
A legend states that Coleman's body remained incorruptible for eighteen months, remaining undisturbed by birds and beasts. The scaffolding itself is said to have taken root and to have blossomed with green branches, one of which is preserved under the high altar of the Franciscan church at Stockerau.
Géza I of Hungary named one of his sons, King Coleman of Hungary, in his honor. In the 13th century, the younger brother of King Bela IV of Hungary was named Coloman of Galicia-Lodomeria in honor of the saint.
Eventually, the relics of Saint Coleman were taken back from the Cathedral of Székesfehérvár to Melk Abbey in Austria, where they are still kept. Many Austrian rulers made modifications to the tomb of this saint, and the actual reliquary was made in the Baroque style (Wikipedia).
Welcome to my Pokémon project! In this project I will be making creations based on the popular video-game franchise Pokémon, made by Nintendo. The creations are made by me, but the original design of the Pokémons are owned by Nintendo and the Pokemon Company.
The eleventh batch includes Beedrill, Haunter, Ralts and Duskull. Which one is your favorite?
Original concept and design of the characters © 1996-2010 Nintendo, Gamefreak and the Pokémon Company.
LEGO and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Company.
Photo and creations © 2010 Filip Johannes Felberg
My eleventh weekly build for Andromeda's Gates on Eurobricks. Full story here.
Couldn't get to my bricks this week, so had to go for a digital build. Rendered with Bluerender.
Eleventh model in a mini series of Miniland-scale versions of LEGO sets is this Dom's 1970 Dodge Charger from the film 'Fast & Furious'. Again, this car has been released in LEGO form in two LEGO themes,The LEGO version of this car was new for 2022 in the SpeedChampions series, set nr. 76912. And in 2020, this model became available in LEGO Technic, set nr. 42111.
Though the 'Fast & Furious' film series use (and destroy) plenty of cars across the franchise, the one car that remains central to the story is the 1970 Dodge Charger driven by lead Domonic Toretto (Dom), played by Vin Diesel.
Despite being involved in many crashes, this is a car that doesn't seem to die (or just keeps being rebuilt into an increasingly immaculate representation of itself).
Over time the car does undergo some metamorphosis (sometime ridiculous), but is shown here in ts relatively original configuration.
Period Chargers were pretty hardcore though, some versions packing 440 CID V8 engines producing 390 hp.
Dom's Charger, originally built and raced by his father is reputed to produce 900 hp assisted by a sizable supercharger.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston
Boston, officially the City of Boston, is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the Northeastern United States. The city boundaries encompass an area of about 48.4 sq mi (125 km2) and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to 4,941,632 people as of 2020, ranking as the eleventh-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Worcester, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the seventh-most populous in the United States.
Boston is one of the nation's oldest municipalities, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from the English town of the same name. During the American Revolution and the nation's founding, Boston was the location of several key events, including the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the hanging of Paul Revere's lantern signal in Old North Church, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the siege of Boston. Following American independence from Great Britain, the city continued to play an important role as a port, manufacturing hub, and center for American education and culture. The city has expanded beyond the original peninsula through land reclamation and municipal annexation. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing more than 20 million visitors per year. Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public park (Boston Common, 1634), the first public school (Boston Latin School, 1635), the first subway system (Tremont Street subway, 1897), and the first large public library (Boston Public Library, 1848).
In the 21st century, Boston has emerged as a global leader in higher education and academic research. Greater Boston's many colleges and universities include Harvard University and MIT, both located in suburban Cambridge and both routinely included among the world's most highly ranked universities. The city is also a national leader in scientific research, law, medicine, engineering, and business. With nearly 5,000 startup companies, the city is considered a global pioneer in innovation and entrepreneurship. Boston's economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, and government activities. Households in the city claim the highest average rate of philanthropy in the United States. Boston businesses and institutions rank among the top in the country for environmental sustainability and new investment.
Additional Foreign Language Tags:
(United States) "الولايات المتحدة" "Vereinigte Staaten" "アメリカ" "美国" "미국" "Estados Unidos" "États-Unis"
(Massachusetts) "ماساتشوستس" "麻萨诸塞州" "मैसाचुसेट्स" "マサチューセッツ" "매사추세츠 주" "Массачусетс"
(Boston) "بوسطن" "波士顿" "बोस्टन" "ボストン" "보스턴" "Бостон"
Barbara Tober, Donald Tober, Nancy Corzine, Steve Leber, Bonnie Lautenberg
©Patrick McMullan
Photo - Patrick McMullan/PMC
A fourth variant of my Eleventh Doctor decals! This time his outfit is based on that from "Vincent and the Doctor."
I also updated both the first variant, and the original.
Please give credit if used.
(Flesh Head,Medium Nougat Torso, Medium Nougat Arms, Flesh Hands, Black Waist, Black Legs)
The eleventh of the labors performed by Herakles was to fetch the golden apples for Eurystheus. Herakles, holding his club and wearing the leonté, is portrayed near the magic tree producing the golden apples that the hero is about to fetch. Two Hesperides are in the opposite side. The scene here depicted refers the version of the myth where Herakles is able to fetch the apples without Atlas’ help.
The mythical Garden of the Hesperides was near the Atlas mountains, where the goddess Hera had planted the tree of immortality, which bore golden apples. Hesiod tells us that other species of fruit-bearing trees also grew in this magical garden, and they were all guarded by the Hesperides (Hesiod, Theogony 215–16). The place was so lovely that Zeus and Hera made love there for the first time, as Euripides (Hippolytus 748–51) implies.
Attic black-figured amphora
Height 43 cm.
Ca. 540 BC
Panckoucke Collection Inv. 431/3
Boulogne-sur-mer, Musée