Mural entitled “Tug of War” by Blek le Rat aka @blekleratoriginal with background by RISKY aka @riskrock, seen at 4829 Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Affordable Housing Complex" by David Ellis aka @ewrks_ for Mural Mania, seen in the Racine Avenue viaduct north of 16th Street in the Pilsen area of Chicago, Illinois.

Photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Peregrinos" by Diego Penuela aka @diegoillustration for Titan Walls 2022, seen at the District Brew Yards, 417 North Ashland Avenue in the West Town area of Chicago, Illinois.

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

From my set entitled “Regensburg”

farm3.static.flickr.com/2351/2325592080_c77fe5918a_s.jpg

In my collection entitled “Rhine Main Danube”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760702...

In my photostream

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg

Regensburg, also Ratisbon, Latin: Ratisbona, Czech: Řezno, originally Castra Regina, meaning Fortresses on the Regen river) is a city (population 131,000 in 2007) in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate. The large medieval center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first settlements in Regensburg date to the Stone Age. The Celtic name Radasbona was the oldest name given to a settlement near the present city. Around AD 90 the Romans built a small "cohort-fort" in what would now be the suburbs.

In 179 the Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen") was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.[1] It was an important camp on the most northern point of the Danube: it corresponds to what is today the core of Regensburg's Altstadt ("Old City") east of the Obere and Untere Bachgasse and West of the Schwanenplatz. It is believed that even in late Roman times it was the seat of a bishop, and St Boniface re-established the Bishopric of Regensburg in 739.

From the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of the Agilolfa ruling family, and in 843, Regensburg was the seat of the Eastern Frankish ruler, Louis II the German. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, it was the capital of Bavaria. In 1135–46 a bridge across the Danube, the Steinerne Brücke, was built. This stone bridge opened major international trade routes between Northern Europe and Venice, and this started Regensburg's golden age as a city of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the cultural center of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work and fabrics.

In 845, fourteen Bohemian princes came to Regensburg to receive baptism there. This was the starting point of Christianization of the Czech people, and the diocese of Regensburg became the mother diocese of Prague. These events had a wide impact on the cultural history of the Czech lands, as consequently they were incorporated in the Roman Catholic and not into the Slavic-Orthodox world. The fact is well remembered, and a memorial plate at St John's Church (the alleged place of the baptism) was unveiled a few years ago, commemorating the incident in the Czech and German languages.

In 1245 Regensburg became a Free Imperial City and was a trade center before the shifting of trade routes in the late Middle Ages. Regensburg became part of the Duchy of Bavaria in 1486, but its independence was restored by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1496.

The city adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1542, and its Town Council remained entirely Lutheran until the incorporation of the city into the Principality of Regensburg under Carl von Dalberg in 1803. A minority of the population stayed Roman Catholic and Roman Catholics were excluded from civil rights ("Bürgerrecht"). The town of Regensburg must not be confused with the Bishopric of Regensburg. Although the Imperial city had adopted the Reformation, the town remained the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop and several abbeys. Three of the latter, St. Emmeram, Niedermünster and Obermünster, were estates of their own within the Holy Roman Empire, meaning that they were granted a seat and a vote at the Imperial diet (Reichstag). So there was the unique situation that the town of Regensburg comprised five independent "states" (in terms of the Holy Roman Empire): the Protestant city itself, the Roman Catholic bishopric and the three monasteries mentioned above.

From 1663 to 1806, the city was the permanent seat of the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus Regensburg was one of the central towns of the Empire, attracting visitors in large numbers. In 1803 the city lost its status as a free city. It was handed over to the Archbishop of Mainz and Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire Carl von Dalberg in compensation for Mainz, which had become French under the terms of the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. The archbishopric of Mainz was formally transferred to Regensburg. Dalberg united the bishopric, the monsteries and the town itself, making up the Principality of Regensburg (Fürstentum Regensburg). Dalberg strictly modernised public life. Most importantly he awarded equal rights to Protestants and Roman Catholics. In 1810 Dalberg ceded Regensburg to the Kingdom of Bavaria, he himself being compensated by the towns of Fulda and Hanau being given to him under the title of "Grand Duke of Frankfurt".

Between April 19 and April 23, 1809, Regensburg was the scene of the Battle of Ratisbon between forces commanded by Baron de Coutaud (the 65th Ligne) and retreating Austrian forces. It was eventually overrun after supplies and ammunition ran out. The city suffered severe damage during the fight with about 150 houses being burnt and others being looted.

During World War II, Regensburg was an Area Headquarters of Military District XIII (Wehrkreis XIII), under the command of Lieutenant General Bruno Edler von Kiesling auf Kieslingstein. This Area Command was in charge of the military forces of Regensburg, Passau, Straubing, Weiden and Amberg. On August 17, 1943 during the war, industrial facilities in Regensburg and nearby Schweinfurt were the target of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, a bombing raid flown by B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Regensburg was the site of a facility at which Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft were built.

In contrast to almost all other major German cities, Regensburg had little damage from Allied air raids during World War II and thus has an almost intact medieval city center, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most important cultural loss is the Romanesque church of Obermünster, which was completely destroyed in an air raid in March 1945 and never rebuilt; only the belfry survived

Pope Benedict XVI (professor of theology at the University of Regensburg from 1969 to 1977, and still classed as honorary professor, was never a resident of the city of Regensburg, however his house in Pentling lies less than 1 kilometer from the city in the district of Regensburg, and he has been an honorary citizen since 2006)

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=...

An onion dome (Russian: луковичная глава, lúkovichnaya glava) is a type of unioform architectural dome seen across Eastern Europe and often associated with Russian Orthodox churches. Common in Germany, where they are known as Zwiebeltürme (singular: Zwiebelturm), onion domes appear on many Baroque churches and municipal buildings. Such domes are larger in diameter than the drum upon which they are set, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point, and strongly resemble the onion, after which they are named.

ift.tt/1L2Qu9W @trunkieygm collabs with @georgethepoet on the song entitled Pavements/Relate. Out 3pm on @linkuptv #UKMUSIC #CAM #LINKUPTV #PavementsRelate

I'm away until this eveninig, but will be around to visit later today and tomorrow morning.

From my set entitled “Colonial Williamsburg”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157606227083949/

In my collection entitled “Virginia: Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown: May 2008”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760622...

In my photostream

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

Reproduced from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg is the historic district of the independent city of Williamsburg, Virginia. It consists of many of the buildings that, from 1699 to 1780, formed colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of two of the original shires of Virginia, James City Shire (now James City County), and Charles River Shire (now York County). For most of the 18th century, Williamsburg was the center of government, education and culture in the Colony of Virginia.

Colonial Williamsburg is meant to be an interpretation of a Colonial American city, with exhibits including dozens of authentic or accurately-recreated colonial houses and relating to American Revolutionary War history. Prominent buildings in Colonial Williamsburg include the Raleigh Tavern, the Capitol, The Governor's Palace, and Bruton Parish Church. However, rather than simply an effort to preserve antiquity, the combination of extensive restoration and thoughtful recreation of the entire colonial town facilitates envisioning the atmosphere and understanding the ideals of 18th century American revolutionary leaders. It was here that Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Monroe, James Madison, George Wythe, Peyton Randolph, and dozens more helped mold democracy in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States.

The Historic Area is located just east of the College of William and Mary, founded at Middle Plantation in 1693, just prior to the establishment of the town as capital of Virginia and its renaming. The university's historic Wren Building stands at the west end of Duke of Gloucester Street.

Colonial Williamsburg is a major source of tourism to Williamsburg, as well as a touchstone for many world leaders and heads of state, including U.S. Presidents. The United States hosted the first World Economic Conference at Colonial Williamsburg in 1983. It is the centerpiece of the surrounding Historic Triangle of Virginia area, which has become a popular tourist destination for visitors domestic and foreign. The other two points of the Historic Triangle are Jamestown and Yorktown.

Contents

Early in the 20th century, the restoration and recreation of Colonial Williamsburg, one of the largest historic restorations ever undertaken, was championed by the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and the patriarch of the Rockefeller family, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., along with the active participation of his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who wanted to celebrate the patriots and the early history of the United States.

Many of the missing Colonial structures were reconstructed on their original sites during the 1930s. Other structures were restored to the best estimates of how they would have looked during the eighteenth century, with all traces of later buildings and improvements removed. Dependency structures and animals help complete the ambiance. Most buildings are open for tourists to look through, with the exception of several buildings that serve as residences for Colonial Williamsburg employees.

Notable structures include the large Capitol and the Governor's Palace, each carefully recreated and landscaped as closely as possible to original 18th century specifications, as well as Bruton Parish Church and the Raleigh Tavern.

The major goal of the Restoration was not to merely preserve or recreate the physical environment of the colonial period, but to facilitate education about the origins of the idea of America, which was conceived during many decades before the American Revolution.

In this environment, Colonial Williamsburg strives to tell the story of how diverse peoples, having different and sometimes conflicting ambitions, evolved into a society that valued liberty and equality.

Post Processing: PhotoShop Elements 5: sharpen, straighten, darken, dry brush

Topaz Add-On: Detail (HDR)

The background picture is entitled: St. Louis, May 1940. "Downtown street on Sunday morning." and is the property of Shorpy.com. The original picture can be viewed here

* Obviously the following commentary is quite lengthy and makes for difficult reading "on screen". (If) you care to take to trouble of reading the entire text, my suggestion would be to copy the text and paste it into a Word document.

........... and you think the world is in chaos today?..............

The New York Stock Exchange crashed in October 1929 throwing the nation into the grips of poverty and financial despair. 1930 was the beginning of the Great Depression. It would last a decade in the United States, where, at its nadir in 1933, 25 percent of all workers and 37 percent of all nonfarm workers were completely out of work. Some people starved; many others lost their farms and homes. Homeless vagabonds sneaked aboard the freight trains that crossed the nation. Dispossessed cotton farmers, the “Okies,” stuffed their possessions into dilapidated Model Ts and migrated to California in the false hope that the posters about plentiful jobs were true. Although the U.S. economy began to recover in the second quarter of 1933, the recovery largely stalled for most of 1934 and 1935. A more vigorous recovery commenced in late 1935 and continued into 1937, when a new depression occurred. The American economy had yet to fully recover from the Great Depression when the United States was drawn into World War II in December 1941. Because of this agonizingly slow recovery, the entire decade of the 1930s in the United States is often referred to as the Great Depression.

Socialism declared the Death of Capitalism; Hitler rose to power; From July 1936 to April 1939 Spain was ravaged by a Civil War, In 1931, the Japanese Kwangtung Army attacked Chinese troops in Manchuria. Ominous clouds of impending war loomed on the horizon. In the United States, the majority of its citizens were too preoccupied with trying to survive another day under the strains of the depression to notice.

But all of this drove technology forward: Radio was now the dominant mass medium in the so-called civilized world; the first commercial intercontinental airline flights began.

Some inventions and innovations of the 1930s and 40’s that shaped the culture:

1930: Planet discovered: Pluto, by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory

1930: Photoflash bulb

1930: Freon invented by Midgley et al.

1930: Artificial fabric polymerized from acetylene (J. Walter Reppe, Germany)

1930: High-octane gasoline invented by Ipatief (Russia)

1931: Cyclotron invented (Ernest O. Lawrence, USA)

1931: Neoprene (synthetic rubber) developed by Julius A. Nieuwland

1931: Synthetic resin, invented by Hill (England)

1931: Electronic microscope, Lroll & Ruska (Germany)

1932: Vitamin D discovered

1933: Electronic television invented by Philo Farnsworth (USA)

1933: Pure Vitamin C synthesized by Tadeusz Reichstein

1934: Launderette, invented by Cantrell (USA)

1935: Aircraft-detecting radar, by Robert Watson Watt

1935: First sulfa drug (Prontosil) for streptococcal infections (G. Domagk, Germany)

1936: Artificial Heart invented by Dr. Alexis Carrel

1937: Nylon patented for DuPont by Wallace H. Carothers

1937: First jet engine, built by Frank Whittle

1938: Fiberglass invented at Owens-Corning

1938: Teflon invented at Du Pont

1938: Vitamin E identified

1938: Fluorescent lamp, at General Electric

1939: First nylon stockings

1939: Polyethylene invented

1939: First helicopter, built by Igor Sikorsky (Russian-American)

1939: FM (Frequency Modulation) radio invented by Edwin H. Armstrong

1940: First USA helicopter flight, Vought-Sikorsky Corporation

1940: Penicillin perfected by Howard Florey as useful antibiotic

1940: Cavity Magnetron developed (key to Radar)

1940: First transuranic element (Neptunium) discovered (Philip Abelson & Edwin McMillan)

1940: First electron microscope, RCA

Meanwhile, Hitler's Nazi party gained power (in 1930), and soon led to the annexation of Austria (1938) and the invasion of Poland (1939), which drew France and Great Britain into World War II, despite the dithering of Neville Chamberlain. In June of 1940 the rapidly advancing German Army captured Paris. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is U.S. president (1932 into the next decade). Great Britain sees three kings in the decade: Edward VIII, George V, and George VI.

1930 – 1940 (what were we reading, what were we watching and what were we listening to)

BOOKS:

1932 Aldous Huxley: "Brave New World"

1932 “Tobacco Road” by Erskine Caldwell is published. It is about Georgia sharecroppers.

1938 Ayn Rand: "Anthem”

1939 James Joyce: "Finnegans Wake"

1939 “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck is published.

MOVIES:

1931 “Frankenstein”

1932"The Mummy" - With Boris Karloff.

1933 “Deluge” - New York is wiped out by tsunami. Based on 1928 novel of same name by S.

Fowler Wright. (Plot sound familiar?)

1933 “The Invisible Man” - with Claude Rains as Dr. Jack Giffin, John Carradine, Walter Brennan,

directed by James Whale.

1933 “King Kong” - with Leslie Fenton, Conrad Veidt, Jill Esmond, George Merritt. Directed by Karl Hartl.

1934 "The Thin Man" - With William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan. Based on the book by

Dashiell Hammett.

1935 "Top Hat" - With Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore.

1936 “Flash Gordon” (many sequels to follow)

1936"The Charge of the Light Brigade" - With Erroll Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Donald Crisp, Nigel

Bruce, Patric Knowles, David Niven.

1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

1938 "The Adventures of Robin Hood" - With Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude

Rains, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale. Directed by Michael Curtiz.

1939 "Gone With the Wind" - With Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia DeHavilland,

Thomas Mitchell, Hattie McDaniel.

1940 "The Grapes of Wrath" - With Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine. Directed by John

Ford.

1940 "The Bank Dick" - With W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Franklin Pangborn, Shemp

Howard, Grady Sutton.

MUSIC – 1940

“When You Wish Upon a Star” - Glenn Miller

“In The Mood” - Glenn Miller

“When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano” - Ink Spots

“Frenesi” - Artie Shaw

“Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar” - Will Bradley

“Tuxedo Junction” - Glenn Miller

“Body and Soul” - Coleman Hawkins

“I'll Never Smile Again” - Tommy Dorsey

“Sierra Sue” - Bing Crosby

“Blueberry Hill” - Glenn Miller

“Careless” - Glenn Miller

“Ferryboat Serenade” - Andrews Sisters

“The Woodpecker Song” - Glenn Miller

“Only Forever” - Bing Crosby

“Imagination” - Glenn Miller

RADIO:

Although the origins of television can be traced back as far as 1873 the discovery of the photoconductivity of the element selenium by Willoughby Smith, the first regularly scheduled television service in the United States was not available until July 2, 1928 and yet then it was in its infancy and certainly not perfected and not a widely accepted form of media. Radio was the media of the time. Most Americans, although barely able to put food on the table or clothes on their backs, had some type of radio in their living quarters.

1932, November 7th - the First radio broadcast of "Buck Rogers" www.buck-rogers.com/radio_serial/

What followed was a whole host of Science fiction, mystery, comedy, westerns, detective and music programs. During the mid to late 30’s and 40’s millions of American families gathered around their radios in the evening listening to their favorite radio shows. Radio broadcasts continued well into the late 50’s when eventually television became readily accessible and affordable to most Americans.

A few of the earliest radio shows:

“Flash Gordon” – September, 1935: www.oldradioworld.com/media/Flash%20Gordon%201935-09-07%2...

“The Town Crier” 1929 - 1942: www.oldradioworld.com/media/The%20Town%20Crier%20Twenty%2...

“Sam Bass, Death Valley Days” 1930 – 1945: www.oldradioworld.com/media/Death%20Valley%20Days%201936-...

“The Aldrich Family” – 1939 - 1953: www.oldradioworld.com/media/The%20Aldrich%20Family%201952...

If you would care to delve a little further into the world of radio entertainment (before the days of sex, graphic violence and endless commercials on TV), I suggest you check out this excellent site - www.oldradioworld.com/

Notable events:

1931 - Empire State Building opens in New York City

1931, September – Japanese invade Manchuria

1932 - Ford introduces the Model B, the first low-priced car to have a V-8 engine

1933 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt sworn in as President; he is the last president to be inaugurated on

March 4.

1933, February - Less than a month after Hitler became chancellor, the Reichstag burns down. When the police arrive they find Marinus van der Lubbe on the premises. Upon being tortured by the Gestapo van der Lubbe confesses to starting the fire. However he denies that he was part of a Communist

Conspiracy. Hitler later gives orders that all leaders of the German Communist Party "will be

hanged that very night." Hermann Goering announces that the Nazi Party plans "to exterminate" German communists.

1934 Chancellor Dollfuss of Austria assassinated by Nazis. Hitler becomes führer. USSR admitted to League of Nations.

1934 - John Dillinger is killed in Chicago

1935 - Mussolini invades Ethiopia; League of Nations invokes sanctions. Roosevelt opens second

phase of New Deal in U.S., calling for social security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm assistance. Huey Long assassinated in Louisiana.

1935, September - The Nuremberg Race Laws deprive German Jews of their rights of citizenship, giving them the status of "subjects" in Hitler's Reich. The laws also make it forbidden for Jews to marry or have sexual relations with Aryans or to employ young Aryan women as household help. The Nazis settle on defining a "full Jew" as a person with three Jewish grandparents. Those with less were designated as Mischlinge or a "mixed blood."

1937, May - the German passenger airship, the Hindenburg, catches fire and is destroyed while attempting to dock during a electrical storm at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Of the 97 people on board, 15 are killed along with people killed on the ground. The exact cause for this disaster is still unknown.

1936, August – The 1936 Summer Olympics officially known as Games of the XI Olympiad, are held in Berlin, Germany. Jesse Owens wins four gold medals: the 100m sprint, the long jump, 200m sprint and after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, he won his fourth on August 9.

* Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, while at the time blacks in many parts of the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York City ticker-tape parade of Fifth Avenue in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria to reach the reception honoring him.......... a sad chapter in the history of the United States. Owens said, "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram." On the other hand, Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself. Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor were honors bestowed upon him by president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or his successor Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower honored Owens by naming him an "Ambassador of Sports."

1936 - Germans occupy Rhineland. Italy annexes Ethiopia. Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed (Japan to join

in 1940). Trotsky exiled to Mexico.

1937 - Hitler repudiates war guilt clause of Versailles Treaty; continues to build German power. Italy withdraws from League of Nations. U.S. gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese in Yangtze River.

Japan invades China, conquers most of coastal area. Amelia Earhart lost somewhere in Pacific

on round-the-world flight. Picasso's Guernica mural – an abstract depicting the chaos and human calamity of the Spanish Civil War.

1938, November - The Kristallnacht or the "Night of Broken Glass" is a night when the Gestapo and the SS go through towns of Austria and smash the windows of Jewish occupations. Thousands of homes and businesses are ransacked, 91 Jews are murdered and 25,000 to 30,000 are arrested and placed in concentration camps.

1938, March - The Anschluss, Germany takes over Austria. The German speaking part of Austria wanted to unite with Germany and Hitler states that this was his purpose for the annexation of Austria. However, this is against the Treaty of Versailles.

1939, September - Nazi-Germany attacks Poland, essentially the beginning of World War II. Many

countries around Germany declared war on Germany but do not take overt action against the Third Reich. Recently, Adolf Hitler had agreed in the Munich Agreement that he would not invade Poland. Great Britain and Poland have a mutual aid treaty that requires either country to come to the aid of the other in the event of war. When Germany invades Poland, Britain (and the Commonwealth) is obligated to come to the aid of Poland by declaring war on Germany. The United States, however, does not officially declare war against Germany. Many countries rise up and voiced anger over Hitler’s betrayal but only Britain and the Commonwealth take overt actions to try and stop Hilter’s military aggression.

1939 - President Roosevelt, appears at the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, becoming the first President to give a speech that is broadcast on television. Semi-regular broadcasts air during the next two years

1940, August - The Battle of Britain begins. The German Luftwaffe attempts to take over British airspace and destroy the Royal Air Force with the intention of eventually invading England. Against all odds, Britain and The Royal Air Force resist the Luftwaffe aggression causing Hitler to abandon the idea of invading Britain and to turn his attention to Russia.

1940, March - "Lend/Lease" is the name of the program under which the US supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material in return for military bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the British West Indies. It

was intended to promote the defense of the US. This act also ended the neutrality of the United States.

1940, May (This picture) – A mostly vacant downtown area of St. Louis on an early Sunday

morning.

As this picture suggests, the United States lay basically asleep, as many Americans are either unaware , or prefer to ignore the ominous winds of war swirling all around them. In a few short months, the hammer would fall and Americans would find themselves anxiously gathered around their radios listening to the President of the United States announce:

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.”

From this day forward, life as American’s knew it, will be drastically and forever changed.

I'm writing an article for Smashing Magazine entitled "10 Principles of Beautiful Photography", and, in so doing, I am making one of the notions therein that it helps if you can learn to draw. Now, last year, I could barely draw a bath and my portraits looked worse than my 7-year-old's!

But get this... I have a very good friend at work named Gustaf with whom I made a bet. Now, the guy is brilliant and a great designer, but he is absolutely terrible at Photoshop. I thought that was unacceptable, and I also thought my complete lack of drawing skills was unacceptable. Since I am mega-competitive, I made a bet with him that I could teach myself to be passable at drawing before he could teach himself to be passable at photoshop. I won the competition, as it should be, but he still has time to learn (he got a girlfriend and it kind of threw a wrench into the whole competition).

I’ve always admired people that can draw. “Man, I always wanted to do that!” I thought, remorsefully.

But after practicing in secret for many months, I feel like I am a little bit better. I’m not great, by any means. Before getting into it, I knew there were natural savants out there that can naturally draw from birth. I knew I could not ever get to that level, but I wanted to get to a point where I felt better about my ability to capture a scene or feeling with just charcoal and paper.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite drawings over the past 6 months or so. They are in chronological order with the most recent ones on top. You'll probably need to visit my blog here to see everything in a decent size.

And I'll post the article as soon as it comes out over at www.stuckincustoms.com

In the fall of 1965, the "family space adventure" Lost in Space debuted on CBS television.

The storyline concerned the launch of the Jupiter 2 on October 16, 1997. Professor John Robinson, his wife Maureen and their children, Judy, Penny and Will, along with Major Don West (the spaceship's pilot) compromised the world's first "space family," selected to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system. They would all be frozen in suspended animation for a 98-year journey. Dr. Zachary Smith became trapped on board while sabotaging the Robinsons’ spaceship prior to launch. His dastardly handiwork causes the ship to spiral off course and crash-land on a desert planet.

Another member of the crew was the wonderfully impressive Environmental Control Robot known simply as "Robot". Art Director Robert Kinoshita (the talent behind Robby the Robot from the movie, Forbidden Planet) designed the automaton, finishing the suit to accomodate diminutive character actor Bob May. May spoke the robot's lines on stage, pressing a small telegraph switch inside the left claw in sync with the syllables to activate the neon in the chest plate. He would see out through the slatted collar with the upper half of his face blackened to avoid showing up on camera.

The television voice of Robot was provided by Dick Tufeld, already employed as the show's announcer. During the interview/sound test, producer Irwin Allen explained he wanted a cultured, laid back voice for his robot. After twenty minutes, Allen decided that Tufeld just wasn't what he was looking for. As he turned to leave, Tufeld asked him if could try one more thing. He delivered a series of robotian mechanical lines as he had originally intended, including the now famous "Warning, that does not compute." Allen looked stunned and said, "That's it! What took you so long?"

Dick Tufeld was never on the set for filming of the episodes. During post-production, he would come into the studio and loop the robots voice, using recordings of Bob May's lines delivered on the set played through headphones to synchronize with the original soundtrack. The sound engineers would then work to mix Tufeld's voice into the show. Depending on the number of lines to be recorded (the Robot often having more lines than the principal actors), it could take one and a half to two hours to lay down 60 to 70 lines of dialogue for one episode.

Tufeld reprised his role some 30 years later in 1998 for the motion picture version of Lost In Space.

- from various internet sources

__________________________________________________

If you can, please make a contribution towards the disaster relief

efforts in New Orleans by donating to the American Red Cross.

ALSO - To bid on a signed (by myself and Jolene) 10x8 photographic print of my image entitled "Clash Of The Titans" for the Flickr Katrina Relief Auction, click HERE. All proceeds go to the above charity. My talented friend seanhfoto has started the bidding. Now, show him what you can do now.

__________________________________________________

[+]

As a way of returning the extraordinary generosity and support you

have all shown me in this great community, whenever I upload a new

pic or series of shots this year, I'll provide a link to another flickr

photog whose work, personality, or spirit I feel you should discover.

Visit and introduce yourself. Make a friend. Share the love.

Open your eyes to neuskool today.

From my set entitled “Virginia Beach”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157605213848560/

In my collection entitled “Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown”

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760622...

From my photostream:

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Beach,_Virginia

Click link to check footnotes

Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the South Hampton Roads area in the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most populous city in Virginia and the 41st largest city in the United States, with an estimated population of 435,619 in 2006.[3]

Virginia Beach is the easternmost of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads that make up the core of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties and towns of Hampton Roads.

Virginia Beach is best known as a resort, with miles of beaches and hundreds of hotels, motels, and restaurants along its oceanfront. Every year it is host to the East Coast Surfing Championship as well as the North American Sand Soccer Championship that attracts teams from around the world. It is also home to several state parks, several long protected beach areas, three military bases, a number of large corporations, two universities, and historic sites. Near the point where the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet, Cape Henry was the site of the first landing of the English colonists bound for Jamestown on April 26, 1607.

The city is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the longest pleasure beach in the world. It is located at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the longest bridge-tunnel complex in the world.[4]

Chesepians were the first inhabitants of the area now known as South Hampton Roads in Virginia of which anything is known.[5] The Algonquian word "Chesepioc" means "Great Shellfish Bay", a reference to the Chesapeake Bay. They occupied an area which is now the independent cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.[6]

In 1607, after a voyage of 144 days, three ships headed by Captain Christopher Newport carrying 105 men and boys made their first landfall in the New World where the Atlantic Ocean meets the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the northeastern part of the city. They named it Cape Henry, after Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King James I of England. However, these English colonists of the Virginia Company of London left the area, as they were under orders to seek a site further inland which would be more sheltered from ships of competing European countries. They created their first permanent settlement at Jamestown.[7]

Adam Thoroughgood (1604-1640) of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England is one of the earliest Englishmen to settle in the area which became Virginia Beach. At the age of 18, he became an indentured servant to pay for passage to the Virginia Colony. He earned his freedom and became a leading citizen of the area. In 1629, he was elected to the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth Cittie [sic], one of four "citties" (or incorporations) which were subdivided areas established in 1619. [8]

In 1634, the Colony was divided into the original eight shires of Virginia, soon renamed as counties. Thoroughgood is credited with using the name of his home in England when helping name New Norfolk County in 1637. The following year, New Norfolk County was split into Upper Norfolk County (soon renamed Nansemond County) and Lower Norfolk County. Thoroughgood's choice of residence after 1634 was along the Lynnhaven River, also named for his home in England. Lower Norfolk County was quite large, and stretched all the way from the Atlantic Ocean west past the Elizabeth River, encompassing the entire area now within the modern cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach.[8]

In 1691, Lower Norfolk County was divided to form Norfolk County and Princess Anne County. Princess Anne, the easternmost county in South Hampton Roads, extended northward from the North Carolina border to Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and included all of the area fronting the Atlantic Ocean. Princess Anne County was to last from 1691 to 1963, over 250 years.[9]

The small resort area of Virginia Beach grew in Princess Anne County beginning in the late 19th century, particularly after the 1888 arrival of rail service and electricity and the opening of the original Princess Anne Hotel at the oceanfront near the tiny community of Seatack. In 1891, guests at the new hotel watched the wreck and rescue efforts of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Norwegian bark Dictator. The ship's figurehead, which washed up on the beach several days later, was erected as a modest monument to the victims and rescuers along the oceanfront for more than 50 years, and later became the inspiration for the current matching Norwegian Lady Monuments in Virginia Beach, and Moss, Norway.[10]

Although the resort was initially dependent upon railroad and electric trolley service, the completion of Virginia Beach Boulevard in 1922, which extended from Norfolk to the oceanfront, opened the way for automobiles, buses, trucks, and passenger rail service, the latter of which was eventually discontinued. The growing resort of Virginia Beach became an incorporated town in 1906. In 1927 The Cavalier Hotel opened and became an extremely popular vacation spot for both the wealthy and celebrities of the time. Over the next 45 years, Virginia Beach continued to grow in popularity as a seasonal vacation spot, and casinos gave way to amusement parks and family-oriented attractions. Virginia Beach became politically independent of Princess Anne County as an independent city in 1952, although the numerous ties between Virginia Beach and Princess Anne remained. In 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County, and with the approval of the Virginia General Assembly, the two political subdivisions were consolidated as a new, much larger independent city, retaining the better-known name of the Virginia Beach resort.[11]

Real estate, defense, and tourism are major sectors of the Virginia Beach economy, but the city has begun to run out of clear land available for new construction above the Green Line, an urban growth boundary dividing the urban northern and rural southern sections of the city.[12]

As such, while Virginia Beach does not have a redevelopment authority, local public and private groups have maintained a vested interest in real-estate redevelopment, resulting in a number of joint public-private projects such as commercial parks. Examples of this are the Virginia Beach Convention Center, the Oceanfront Hilton Hotel, and the Virginia Beach Town Center. Using tax increment financing through creation of special tax districts and street and infrastructure construction, the City was able to assist in financing the projects making them a reality. The Town Center opened in 2003 and still has construction taking place, while the Convention Center opened in 2005.[13] [14]

In addition, some unique structures like the Alan B. Sheppard Dome ("The Dome"), a geodesic dome and convention center designed by Buckminster Fuller and dedicated to the career of astronaut Alan Shepard that was built in the 1960s were destroyed by the city.[15]

Infill and development of residential neighborhoods has placed a number of operating constraints on Naval Air Station Oceana, a major fighter jet base for the U.S. Navy. While the airbase currently enjoys wide support from Virginia Beach at large, the Pentagon Base Realignment and Closure commission has proposed closure of Oceana within the next decade.[16]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasailing

Parasailing, also known as parascending, is a recreational activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle (usually a boat) while attached to a specially designed parachute, known as a parasail. The boat then drives off, carrying the parascender into the air. If the boat is powerful enough, two or three people can parasail behind it at the same time. The parascender has little or no control over the parachute.

There are six parts of a parasail. The harness attaches the pilot to the parasail, which is connected to the boat, or other speeding vehicle, by the tow rope. The activity is primarily an amusement ride, not to be confused with the sport of paragliding. There are parasailing locations all over the world.

Land based parasailing has also been formed into competition sport in Northern Europe and especially in Finland. In land based parasailing, the parasail is towed behind a car or a snowmobile. In accuracy competitions the tow-vehicle controls the speed and height, and the parascender controls the lateral movement of the parasail. The competitions consist of two parts: dropping or throwing a streamer to a target, and accuracy landing. The sport was developed at the end of the 1990s in growing rapidly. The first international competitions were held in 2004.

Post Processing:

PhotoShop Elements 5: posterization, sumi-e, slanted strokes.

Busy for a good deal of today. Will be around to visit later today and tomorrow .

From my set entitled “Twelve Mile Lake, 2008”

flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607787077684/

In my collection entitled “Places”

flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/72157600763089...

In my photostream

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Action de grâce), is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. Some people thank God for this bounty. [1] The holiday is celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all jurisdictions except New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island. [2]

As a liturgical festival, Thanksgiving corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival, with churches decorated with cornucopias, pumpkins, corn, wheat sheaves, and other harvest bounty, English and European harvest hymns sung on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and scriptural elections drawn from the biblical stories relating to the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.

While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of the three day weekend. Thanksgiving is often celebrated with family, it is also often a time for weekend getaways for couples to observe the autumn leaves, spend one last weekend at the cottage, or participate in various outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, and hunting.

Much like its American counterpart, Canada's top professional football league, the Canadian Football League, holds a nationally televised doubleheader known as the "Thanksgiving Day Classic." It is one of two weeks in which the league plays on Monday afternoons, the other being the Labour Day Classic. Unlike the Labour Day games, the teams that play on the Thanksgiving Day Classic rotate each year.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. The feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in North America, although celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops had been a long-standing tradition throughout North America by various First Nations and Native American groups. First Nations and Native Americans throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Cree and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America [3]. Frobisher was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him — Frobisher Bay.

At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their First Nations neighbours.

After the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 handing over New France to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving days were observed beginning in 1799 but did not occur every year. After the American Revolution, American refugees who remained loyal to Great Britain moved from the United States and came to Canada. They brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. The first Thanksgiving Day after Canadian Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed every year but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year. The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed year to year to reflect an important event to be thankful for. In the early years it was for an abundant harvest and occasionally for a special anniversary.

After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays, and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.

On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed:

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.[1]

Post processing: Topaz vibrance (HDR), posterization, watercolour, ink outlines, sandstone filter

Mural entitled "Redemption" by Gaia aka @gaiastreetart, seen at 1599 Central Street in Dubuque, Iowa.

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "What May Seem Like an Eternity" by Egypt aka @graffitiegypt for AOTA Fest 2024, seen at 1014 NW 6th Street in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Kallpa" by Congo aka @congoart for the aWalls Mural Project, seen at the Madison Middle School at 3400 NW 87th Street in Hialeah, Florida.

The artist states: "My last mural for @awallmuralprojects during ART BASEL Miami that seeks to remember the ancestral force that we all carry within us to face life. That’s what KALLPA means, LIFE FORCE, it is a word in Quechua (an ancestral Peruvian language)."

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Whilst heading for the station in Crewe I spotted this fine example of entitled parking. Never a parking warden when you need one. Quite likely to get scratched and damaged by passing bikes too.

This old girl deserves to be spoiled like never before.

In a book entitled, The Last Unknowns, a book by John Brockman filled with people's answers to that very question.

Freeman Dyson's answer in the form of a question...

Is it ultimately possible for life to bend the shape of the universe to fit life's purpose as we are bending the shape of our environment here on earth?

Mural entitled "Journey to Jenin" by Last Wave aka @1457Wave for Paint Memphis, seen at 1512 Lamar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee,

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

I entitled this image A Parting Shot.. because I am going to be going to Montana tomorrow to take care of some family matters...

I'm going to go visit my dear mother.. she is buried in the Ronan cometary. Final closer will come to me there..

I will catch up with your wonderful images when I return.

Take care and be safe my friends..

hugs for all.. nick ;-)

(Please View Large)

Missouri painter Sidney Larson completed this painting entitled "France, Late 18th Century" in 1969 as part of the "The Riback Mural," commissioned by Harold H. Riback for the Riback Pipe and Steel Company building on the east end of Business Loop 70 in Columbia, Missouri.

The Ribacks sold the business to Plumb Supply Company in 2015. The building housing the mural is scheduled to be remodeled in January of 2022, and the paintings will be destroyed. According to the State Historical Society of Missouri's Art Collections Manager Greig Thompson, the mural can't be preserved due to the method the mural was installed.

Notley Hawkins took photographs of the mural on December 21, 2021, at the request of Vicky Riback-Wilson to preserve a record of the paintings. Notley Hawkins studied painting and drawing with Sidney Larson at Columbia College and earned his BFA in 1987.

With the help of S.C. Steinberg, Sidney Larson published a booklet entitled The Riback Mural in 1980. The following description was included when noting the painting:

"Benjamin Franklin landed in France in December of 1776 and soon after set up quarters at Passy outside of Paris. His purpose was to solicit aid from the French toward the defeat of the British during the American Revolution. He proved to be a very popular man and was in great demand. He did suffer from attacks of gout for which his doctor recommended hot baths. For this, Franklin had the slipper tub, pictured above, built for him. He took hot baths twice a week, each one lasting as long as two hours. Hence the occasional meeting held while in his tub.

The 18th century brought imagination to bathing devices and there appeared, in addition to those pictured above, tin tubs shaped like large decorated flowers."

The photograph was taken with a Canon EOS R5 camera with a Canon RF24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM lens at ƒ/5.6 with a 1/100-second exposure at ISO 1600. Processed with Adobe Lightroom CC.

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www.notleyhawkins.com/

©Notley Hawkins. All rights reserved.

This artwork entitled "The Hunted" was created on the promenade in Eastbourne. Redundant shelters have been boarded up and this work has been created by Sarah Gillings (aka (S.o.S) assisted by Zara Wilkins.

It has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund, via the Welcome Back Fund.

For more info visit Sarah's website www.iamsos.com

From my set entitled "My Town...Streetsville"

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157600421957589/

In my collection entitled "Places"

www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760074...

Murphy's Ice Cream Parlour is a major institution here in Streetsville. It was started by the Murphy family over twenty years ago, and was meant to be a small source of cash to supplement family income from the husband's job. It was was originally situated in a little garage beside the house that forms the basis of the current business. The Murphys ran it for a number of years until the family moved to follow the husband's work.

The new owner was interested in creating a shop that would be in harmony with the nineteenth century structures at Main and Queen Streets.

Murphy's does a rip-roaring business in the summer months, but should be closing for the winter pretty soon. It's great to sit under that awning on a really hot day.

Post Processing:

PhotoShop Elements 5, crop, sharpen, posterization, sandstone

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 27, 2015; Vivid Sydney installation called Entitle which references both Eastern and Western culture to enhance the theme of overindulgence using the lavish Chinese lantern technique, the overly ornate Rococo-inspired design Artist: Amanda Parer

Entitled: "Bad night at the Holiday Inn"

(At least he left me my cardigan... but now what???)

Mural entitled "Be Your Higher Self" by Rahmaan Statik aka @rahmaanstatik, seen at 450 North Clark Street in the River North area of Chicago, Illinois.

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Icarian Flight" by El Mac aka @mac_arte and Augustine Kofie aka @keepdrafting, seen at 289 South Sweetzer Avenue in Los Angeles. California.

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

The photographic portfolio entitled “GLOBALIZING CONTAMINATIONS” was among the finalists at the PORTFOLIO SIFEST 2018 international award (Italy). This photography project is the result of a one-month period lived in Africa from Kenya to Tanzania. In the 1950s and 1960s, the European colonial powers gradually ceased to administer their African territories. The process of “apparent decolonization” led to the gradual departure of all the expatriate personnel of the colonizing nations: administrators, soldiers and all those who had settled in the “colony”. This process favored the creation of independent states and paved the way for new foreign influences over those of the colonial powers. Therefore, after some years living in Africa, I came to ask myself: “How has the influence, after decolonization, of European countries evolved in the face of the emancipation of African countries and the competition of new powers?”

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Mural entitled “Out of Jail” by @ektagraff seen on the railroad underpass of the B_Line at 400 North Racine Avenue in the West Town area of Chicago, Illinois.

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

The third photograph in the series is entitled “Cantina” and is based upon Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. Hopper’s painting depicts a couple, a solitary man and of course a diner worker in a New York diner late at night. There has been some discussion over the years in regards to the meaning of Hopper’s painting, but to most Historians it has remained very ambiguous...

I have decided to recreate the infamous Cantina scene from a New Hope. It is at this point that our Hero; Luke, has found his droids, discovered who Obi-Wan Kenobi really is and has lost his aunt and uncle to the Empire. Kenobi, Skywalker and the droids are looking for a means of escape and as a result end up in the Mos Eisley Space Port and more specifically, the Cantina. I have chosen to only include the needed characters for the recreation of this important part of the film. Skywalker, Kenobi, Wuher (the bartender) and of course Ponda Baba. This was done for a couple reasons, but mainly because the original painting only has four characters in it. When I was a child, I remember watching this scene over and over. It was one of the turning points of the film for me. The Cantina was what really introduced me to the wonderful universe of Star Wars. All the different characters and creatures where truly unique and who could forget that Cantina Band? Mos Eisley and the Cantina were also where we first saw a Jedi; Kenobi, and the Force in action!

Enjoy!

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Visit our Cast of Star Wars Characters at www.365DaysofClones.com.

Mural entitled "Miami Vice" by sef aka @sef.01 seen on the wall of Paul Lawrence Dunbar School at 505 NW 20th Street in Miami Florida.

The artist states: " When I was little, I really enjoyed watching TV with my parents. One of the series we watched together was Miami Vice, that TV show from the 80s and early 90s, which became a Miami icon. It was almost natural for me to choose this theme for my wall design that I just finished for my friends at @awalls for ART Basel Edition 2021. A wall that for me, represents not only the essence, the color and the spirit of the Magic City, it also shows companionship and equality."

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Note: this photo was published in an Aug 5, 2008 NowPublic blog entitled "Waiting for iPhone 3g." It was also published in a Mar 25, 2010 Wikimedia Commons blog with the title "File:Sleeping-1-dot-jpg." It was also published in a Nov 8, 2008 blog titled "The Importance of Sleep to Teenagers." And it was published in a Jul 6, 2010 blog titled "Keep Dreaming, Kid: Rhode Island High School Tells Students to Sleep In." It was also published in a Sep 8, 2010 blog titled "Sleep less than 6 hours a night? Hello, diabetes..." And it was published ina Dec 21, 2010 blog titled "Not Just for Kids — the Surprising Health Issues of Midlife Women.."

The photo was also published in a Feb 7, 2011 blog titled "40代の心の危機." And it was published in a May 25, 2011 Cool iPhone images blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a May 27, 2011 "The Daily Sleep" blog in a posting titled "Too Much Going On In Teen Life." And it was published in a Jun 29, 2011 Cool Sleep Importance Issues blog, with the same caption and detailed notes I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (early Jul 2011) blog titled "5 Reasons Sleep Affects Your Fitness." And it was published in a Sep 16, 2011 Slate blog posting titled "Le bonheur appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt." It was also published in an Oct 12, 2011 blog titled "Donne e problemi notturni/1: il cervello lavora fino a tardy." And it was published in a Nov 28, 2011 blog titled "How to Perfect Your Sleep Cycle." It was also published in a Dec 15, 2011 blog titled "Dormi più di dieci ore per notte? Leggi qui."

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in an undated (late Jan 2012) blog titled "Serial dilution, or ... How to Count to a Million." It was also published in a Feb 6, 2012 blog titled "t10 Reasons It's Awesome to Be an Insomniac." And it was published in a Feb 20, 2012 "Mag for Women" blog titled "6 Signs of Sleep Deprivation." It was also published in a May 23, 2012 blog titled "Sleep Bot, la aplicación que le ayudará a tener dulcet sueños." And it was published in an undated (early Jun 2012) blog titled "効果的な予防策は？" It was also published in a Jun 15, 2012 blog titled "Dormir pouco pode aumentar consumo de comidas gordurosas, did estudo." And it was published in an undated (mid-Jun 2012) blog titled "I RIMEDI NATURALI PER LA PRESSIONE BASSA." And it was published in a Jun 14, 2012 blog titled "Dormir pouco pode aumentar consumo de comidas gordurosas, diz estudo." It was also published in a Jun 30, 2012 blog titled "Nice Healthy Gadgets photos." And it was published in a Jul 18, 2012 blog titled "How Much Sleep Do You Need To Keep Your Memory Sharp?" It was also published in an Aug 31, 2012 blog titled "Crampi allo stomaco notturni, quali sono i rimedi." And it was published in an Oct 20, 2012 blog titled "Sonno e salute, ecco 9 motivi per dormire di più." It was also published in a Nov 24, 2012 blog titled Scoperto l'antidoto all'ipersonnia, aiuterà la Bella Addormentata? And it was published in a Dec 10, 2012 blog titled "OCD and Sleep."

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in an undated (late Feb 2013) blog titled "I RIMEDI NATURALI PER LA PRESSIONE BASSA." It was also published in a Mar 5, 2013 blog titled "Gros dormeurs : le gouvernement vote le passage aux 25 heures," as well as a Mar 13, 2013 blog titled "Student health and effects of sleep deprivation: Best study habits include adequate sleep," as well as a Mar 26, 2013 blog titled "How to Help Your Teen Get a Good Night’s Sleep." And it was published in an Apr 8, 2013 blog titled "WHAT DO I DO IF I CAN’T GET ALONG WITH MY TRAVEL BUDDY?" It was also published in a May 25, 2013 blog titled "Feeling Sleep Deprived? Blame Facebook," as well as a Jul 29, 2013 blog titled "Nefarious NapStealers and the Importance of Sleep." And it was published in a Sep 5, 2013 blog titled "Should High Schools Have Later Start Times?"

***********************************************

Silly me: after the iPhone 3g had been out for a full week, I thought I could stroll right into the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue & 59th Street in mid-town Manhattan, and simply buy one without any muss, fuss, bother, or delay.

But when I arrived at 11 AM, I found a line of approximately 150 people waiting outside in the broiling sun, not seeming to move forward at all; it turned out that the Apple store "concierge" folks were letting them in in groups of ten, when the previous ten had been taken care of. When I asked the woman how long she had been waiting, she said, "Four hours" -- she had arrived at 7 AM, having already determined that the AT&T stores were sold out throughout New Jersey and Connecticut.

Well, I'm a gadget freak and a Mac fan, but there's a limit to my passion for such things; four hours was just too much. So instead, I decided to take a bunch of pictures of the people who were in the line. Of course, I have no idea whethere the people queued up in front of Apple stores in other cities (or at other stores here in NYC) are similar to this group ... but I'm inclined to think that they are. And if that's true, then the demographics of this group -- in terms of age, gender, nationality, ethnic groups, etc. -- is particularly intriguing. I saw only one guy dressed in a corporate uniform of suit and tie; Apple may be trying to break into the "enterprise" market, but that's not who was standing in line for all those hours in the sun...

Mural entitled "The Sleeping Knight" by Betz_Etam aka @betz_etam seen at 201 South Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Traspasando la Herencia" (Passing on the Inheritance) by Evaristo Angurria aka @angurria, seen at 505 NW 20th Street in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

on black, obviously

i heard this interview of richard dawkins at WNYC radiolab entitled 'in defense of darwin' this morning and it fit perfectly with the picture i shot yesterday.

i took the time to write down a bit of the interview on my blog, if you're inclined to further reading.

EDIT: i decided to add the text here, after all... those with patience can continue:

-----

Q: your daughter is driving around with you and you look and… she’s 6 years old. she sees a field of flowers. you say to her, well, what do you think they’re for? she says 'well, to make the world pretty and to help bees make honey for us. and you think, well, i’m sorry to tell her that this wasn’t true. and i explained to her that the flowers are not there to make the world beautiful and they are not there to delight bees or anything else. they’re in the world to copy their DNA.'

this is to a six-year old.

(audience laughs)

but essentially what you’re doing there is you’re addressing you’re opening the notion to her that the world is a purposeless, indifferent machine where the meaning of things is not clear, if it exists at all. you’ve found it, i think, kind of brave to say to your daughter , look, step into the wind…

(richard interrupts)

A: no, exciting! it’s a far more exciting view of flowers to understand what they’re really doing and, as six years old, she had no problem understanding that. i explained it to her.

but to come to your ‘what’s it for’ question, it’s a piece of massive presumption to think that the ‘what it’s for’ question deserves an answer. there’s no reason at all why something should have a ‘for’ about it. if i said to you, ‘what is the sun for?’ or 'what is mt. everest for', you would say 'don’t be so silly... it’s not an appropriate question'… but, because it’s flowers, you sort of feel there ought to be a ‘what is it for’ question.

Q: no actually i think it’s a harder question than that. i think most human beings have some deep impulse to explain their being here to wonder about the origins of here and the destiny of them and here. and that question, the meaning of it all is not a silly question.

A: that’s not a silly question and it has a perfectly good answer, which is not an answer to be couched in the language of purpose. it’s an answer to be couched in the language of scientific causation. what brought us all to be here… what is the explanation for our existence… that has a perfectly good scientific answer… and you go back in evolutionary time to the origin of life, and you go back before the origin of life to the origin of the world, the origin of the solar system, the origin of the universe… and that becomes deeply mysterious. needless to say, it’s not a question i could even begin to answer and i don’t think that, at the present stage, physics can either. but to the extent that there’s going to be an answer, it’s going to come from science and that is a deeply satisfying kind of answer to the question, 'why are we here?' we already have, in principle, the answer to that question and it is not an answer of the form ‘we are here in order to achieve some purpose’ it’s an answer of the form, ‘we are here because something happened, which led that something else that happened, which led to something else that happened'.

Q: are you … let me ask you the harder question … is this hard-looking and this telling your 6-year old, this leads to this leads to this, this kind of reductionist way of thinking about everything … does that seem to you to be less than joyously imaginative ?

A: no, i think that’s kind of super-romantic to actually understand that flowers are devices … beautiful devices, elegant devices which are shaped precisely to attract insects and hummingbirds and bats to take pollen from one to another… that is such a mind-blowing thought compared to the tame, sort of washed-out view that flowers are just sort of nice things to have around.’

(audience claps)

interviewer to audience: 'don’t encourage him.'

"The Wigwam, High and Pitt Streets, Carlisle. This card entitles you to one mystic reading (confidential). Clairvoyant--Enchant, Calirvoyante--Ismel (International Mystics)."

O. N. Pruitt's exhibition entitled "Mr. Pruitt's Possum Town: Trouble and Resilience in the American South" at the Center of Missouri Studies art gallery at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia. Photography by Notley Hawkins. Taken with a Canon EOS R5 camera with a Canon RF24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM lens at ƒ/4.0 with a 1/125-second exposure at ISO 250, processed with Adobe Lightroom CC.

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While the image is entitled "Examination Hall, Mount Melleray", what is really interesting is the stance of the monks and other men along the avenue. They seem to be waiting on an arrival - but of what or whom??

Based on input from RorySherlock and Niall McAuley, we are happy to map this to the location of the (now demolished) exam hall of the Mount Melleray abbey and seminary. Niall McAuley and sharon.corbet also help us refine the date range - narrowing the 5 decade catalogue range to perhaps 2 decades or so around the 1870s/80s. On the subject, we're still unsure as to what's happening. However, as today's commentators point-out, there is more than a few similar examples in the collection. Perhaps indicating that this seemingly odd arrangement of subjects wasn't a "one off". And maybe therefore what's captured here is a routine monastic observance of some kind.....

Photographer: Robert French

Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection

Date: Catalogue range c.1865-1914. Though likely in the first half of this range (perhaps 1870s/1880s). See comments.

NLI Ref: L_CAB_01439

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Mural entitled "The Space Between" by Ally Grimm aka @a.i._grime for SprayseeMO 2025, seen at 1407 West 11th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

The artist states: "'The Space Between' creates conversation around the passage of Time (represented through the male figure “Saturn”) and the search for Truth or Unconcealment (represented through the female figure “VERITAS”). As a resilient Saturn reflects stoically on the past, VERITAS looks hopefully towards a future in which righteousness leads communities forward // Around them, the Sun and Moon cycle, representing the inevitable passage of Time.

In an age where “old” often has a negative connotation, my hope is that we can carry on Veritas’ legacy of accountability and consideration. that we can learn to respect and preserve history without compromising on innovation. Time never stops moving, but we can choose how we value quality, history, and creation. When humans can learn to detach from an addiction to convenience, we can learn to take pride in process, honor the inevitability of time, and appreciate the gifts of the present moment."

Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

For more details: fashioncollecker.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/its-almost-hall...

A Tea for the Tillerman

Wickedly Delicious and Delightful

Years ago while doing research for a boring university project I stumbled across old archives for the Glamorgan Gazette from the pre-Great War 1900s.

A story entitled ‘Tea Party Misadventure’ caught my eye.

It was of interest mostly because my mum likes to put on elaborate dress-up tea parties of her own doing in our almost one-hectare backyard garden at home.

There was not much to this old story really, only reporting that at a certain fancy Tea held at the manor house recently the hostess and several guests reported jewels had turned up missing. I was suspiciously under the impression that they were wearing said jewels at the time, for no mention of them being nicked from rooms was made.

This piqued my curiosity because, due I’m sure to some quirk in my DNA, I get perilous shivers thinking some uncommon thief could be that skilled, he/she could undetected, nick the very jewels I’m wearing. Would love to know if I’m unique in that feeling.

That said ….

No mention of an investigation, the cause, or any outcome was given. Nor could I find a follow-up story.

I hate it when I cannot find answers to stories. And this one certainly piqued my rather offbeat interest over how something like that could occur.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Then, much more recently, I had been out with Ginny to see the movie “Cruella.” She had “commandeered” her older Brother’s twin 8-year-old daughters for the occasion.

The movie basically sets up how Cruella became a thief, starting out with these tendencies as a young child.

I will admit that as we sat drinking at the pub afterward later that same evening (after seeing the giggling twin girls off back to thief mum) my mind pictured some of my own Mum’s past fancy tea parties.

I soon combined third memories with that long ago newspaper story of ‘misadventure at a similar function.

Certain scenes of that movie clicked in my alcohol-induced mind as to how the ladies at the fancy tea may have lost their jewellery.

Soon I came up with the seeds of the fictional story below using bits of those tea parties and my ideas on how dropping in a resourceful thief amongst the dressed-up guests' midst them could play out the unanswered questions in the Glamorgan Gazette’s missing jewellery storyline. Sort of filling in the gaps.

The descriptions of that tea described below are taken from years of tea parties Mum has hosted. The details are accurate including the settings, clothing, and jewels worn by the hostess(Mum) and her guests, including Ginny and I at various times.

The character studies of Estella, the wooden bead lady, and the Shannons are also loosely based on past tea party guests.

I guess any posh affair of that sort if carried on for enough years will have its odd occurrences and occasional uninvited guests. Which we have…

And of course, the story as told is a work of fiction.

No actual robbery-related misadventures have ever occurred at one of my Mum’s teas. They were always known to be sensible affairs.

I need to say that because mum still popularly puts them on, and I don't wish to scare anyone off. They are such fun.

The story below may seem far-fetched, but is it really? For something indeed quite odd had happened at that tea in Glamorgan to warrant a reporter’s story?

Next up :

Acte 1

My Tale

A Brief Characterization

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

A Tea for the Tillerman

Acte 1

A Brief Characterization

Like her Mum before her(my Gamma), mine liked to hold these once a fortnight dress up “High” tea affairs with her friends. Held either inside the sunroom, or larger parties carried out in the backyard gardens during warmer months.

The invited were pretty much just ladies our mum knew, which was extensive. But during the summer months, these friends were more than welcome to also invite along daughters, relatives, and such.

They all would certainly get in the mood and have fun with the ongoing theme of a posh tea, trying to outdo one another in the dress-up department.

Elegant evening attire mixed in with cocktail dresses, silk and satin blouses with formal long skirts, and even the occasional repurposed wedding or bridesmaid gowns were the unwritten attire required to attend.

Copious displays of pearls and rhinestones were displayed with added panache. And many a real gemstone was snuck in to show its glitter and gleam off.

It was like they were expecting a member of the royal family to attend, Mum’s affair had grown to be simply that posh.

Tea (and stronger drink) was served and by the time the soirée died down by twilight, our yard(or house) contained a very happily cheerful lot. A laughing and huggy group of well-dressed, inebriated ladies.

A pickpockets dream, I always fancifully told myself as I watched it all play out many times.

This time it was no different, with soon giggling ladies, whom it became very apparent on the day of this tale, would have presented easy marks for the tomfoolery of someone without convictions (As the Culture Club song goes)!

Next up the Acte 2

Tea Party Misadventure

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Mural entitled “Road King” by Andres Von Chrzanowski (CASE) aka @case_maclaim for Street Art for Mankind, seen at 411 Main Street in Houston, Texas.

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee.

Mural entitled "Interconnectedness" by Danielle SeeWalker aka @seewalker_art and Cante Eagle Horse aka @savronthegreat, seen at 1408 Del Mar Parkway in Aurora, Colorado.

The artist states: "This one is packed full of so many symbols and meaning as it relates to our Lakota roots. There is a Lakota story called “The Great Race”, that tells the story of uŋkčékhiȟa (magpie). Magpie was the winner of the race for the Lakota people despite it being known as a goofy and clumsy bird. Our winged relative, Magpie, won through persistence and determination and ever since, it’s been a respected bird to our people.

The colors of the crisp lines that encompass the piece all have significance:

RED= signifies our grandmother earth and the dirt that nourishes and provides for our plant relatives and ultimately for us

BLUE = representing mní (water), the blood of our grandmother earth and the source of all life. Also to honor the water relatives that make it their home

YELLOW = to honor our grandfather sun and all he provides for life to exist…& for the gift of warmth

GREEN = representing our plant relatives and all they provide for us

BLACK / WHITE: represent the balance + harmony of all things which also run parallel to our foundational philosophy: Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (everything is related).

In the middle of these four intersections is a conglomerate of all shades of colors to represent that it all interacts with one another. Not one is more important than another and you can’t have one by itself."

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

Edit by Teee

Mural entitled "Protect your light" by Natalie Clare Shugailo aka @sub_urban_warrior for Rensselaer Art Walk 2023, seen at 117 North van Rensselaer Street in Rensselaer, Indiana.

Drone photo by James aka @urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.

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