View allAll Photos Tagged Existence
Independence Hall is, by every estimate, the birthplace of the United States. It was within its walls that the Declaration of Independence was adopted. It was here that the Constitution of the United States was debated, drafted and signed. That document is the oldest federal constitution in existence and was framed by a convention of delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies.
Hide in your shell cos the world is out to bleed you for a ride
What will you gain making your life a little longer?
Heaven or Hell, was the journey cold that gave your eyes of steel?
Shelter behind painting your mind and playing joker
Too Frightening to listen to a stranger
Too Beautiful to put your pride in danger
You're waiting for someone to understand you
But you've got demons in your closet
And you're screaming out to stop it
Saying life's begun to cheat you
Friends are out to beat you
Grab on to what you scramble for
Don't let the tears linger on inside now
Cos it's sure time you gained control
If I can help you, if I can help you
If I can help you, just let me know
Well, let me show you the nearest signpost
To get your heartback and on the road
If I can help you, if I can help you
If I can help you, just let me know.
All through the night as you lie awake and hold yourself so tight
What do you need, a second-hand-movie-star to tend you?
I as a girl, I believed the saying the cure for pain was love
How would it be if you could see the world through my eyes?
Too Frightening- the fire's getting colder
Too Beautiful- to think you're getting older
You're looking for someone to give an answer.
But what you see is just an illusion
You're surrounded by confusion
Saying life's begun to cheat you
Friends are out to beat you
Grab on to what you can scramble for
Don't let the tears...
... just let me know
I wanna know...
I wanna know you...
Well let me know you
I wanna feel you
I wanna touch you
Please let me near you
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Well I'm hoping, I'm dreamin', I'm prayin'
I know what you're thinkin'
See what you're seein'
Never ever let yourself go
Hold yourself down, hold yourself down
Why d'ya hold yourself down?
Why don't you listen, you can
Trust me,
There's a place I know the way to
A place there is need to feel you
Feel that you're alone
Hear me
I know exactly what you're feelin'
cos all your troubles are within you
please begin to see that I'm just bleeding to
Love me, love you
Loving is the way to Help me, help you
- Why must we be so cool, oh so cool?
Oh, we're such damn fools...
"Supertramp"
Do not look at the garden of existence like a stranger
It is a thing worth looking at, look at it repeatedly
You have come into the world like a spark, beware
Lest your ephemeral life may end suddenly, beware
Granted that I am not worthy of your Sight
You should look at my zeal, and look at my perseverance
If your eyes have been opened by the longing for Sight
Look for the foot prints of the Beloved in every lane
What angels recite is your exalted name
Your threshold is exalted, your munificence is general
The stars are stable by the attraction of your Love
Your system is like the system of the sun
گلزار ہست و بود نہ بيگانہ وار ديکھ
ہے ديکھنے کي چيز اسے بار بار ديکھ
آيا ہے تو جہاں ميں مثال شرار ديکھ
دم دے نہ جائے ہستي ناپائدار ديکھ
مانا کہ تيري ديد کے قابل نہيں ہوں ميں
تو ميرا شوق ديکھ، مرا انتظار ديکھ
کھولي ہيں ذوق ديد نے آنکھيں تري اگر
ہر رہ گزر ميں نقش کف پائے يار ديکھ
the essence of existence is all about leaving traces in space, time, human memories, snow, google and ccd-sensors...
any questions?
print your photos on canvas or visit my online-shop
OK, additions made by you :))
shoes?? (farfarm)
CCTV, hansard, and court transcripts (thx liam.jon_d)
Sons (The Yele)
The construction of a new fire station to replace Gipton and Stanks fire stations and removal of 24 fulltime posts from the establishment by way of planned retirements.
Key Points:
Gipton is classed as a very high risk area and Stanks as medium risk area.
Stanks fire station is poorly located at the outer edge of the local community and access/egress from the site is problematic.
In the 5 year period between 2004/5 and 2009/10 operational demand in these areas reduced by 28% (there has been a reduction of 61% of serious fires) . 2
WYFRS has piloted a new type of vehicle (Fire Response Unit) to deal with smaller fires and incidents to free up fire appliances to respond to more serious emergencies.
The pilot has been successful and it is believed that a District based Fire Response Unit will handle in the region of 3,000 calls per year.
The new fire station would have lower running costs.
The two Killingbeck fire appliances would be supplemented by a Resilience Pump for use during spate conditions.
Targeted community safety and risk reduction work would continue.
1. Foreword
1.1 This proposal forms one of a number of similar initiatives developed by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) as part of its plans for the future provision of a highly effective and professional Fire and Rescue Service.
1.2 Each proposal is based on sound and comprehensive research, using real data from past performance and predictions of future demand and risk. Multiple sources of analysis have been used, allied to professional judgment and experience, to form the basis of robust business cases for change. The proposals are also reflective of the significant improvements in fire and community safety achieved over the past 10 years and represents a return on the investment made by the Authority on behalf of the public of West Yorkshire.
1.3 The proposals also incorporate a number of new and innovative approaches to addressing the challenge of maintaining high standards of performance for an emergency response service, within ever tightening financial constraints. The proposals have been developed as a package of inter related initiatives, representing major capital investment in local communities, whilst at the same time delivering annual recurring savings.
2. Introduction
2.1. Gipton fire station was constructed in 1937; it provides the initial emergency response cover for the residential and commercial areas of Gipton, Harehills, Burmantofts, Killingbeck, Halton Moor and Oakwood.
The fire station area covers approximately 8.45 square miles.
There is a population of 75,316.
There are approximately 2015 commercial properties within the area.
2.2. Stanks fire station was constructed 1973; it provides the initial emergency response cover for the mainly residential locations of Whinmoor, Swarcliffe, Whitkirk, Colton, Halton, Crossgates, Scarcroft, North Seacroft, Wellington Hill, Manston, Barwick-in-Elmet, Scholes and Thorner.
The station area covers approximately 14.39 square miles
There is a population of 42,452
There are approximately 663 commercial properties within the area.
2.3. Gipton has been classified as a very high risk area using the WYFRS Risk Matrix methodology. During 2009/10 there were 2196 operational incidents within this area including 86 dwelling fires and 33 Road Traffic Collisions. Stanks fire station area has been classified as medium risk and during the same period there were 688 operational incidents in the area including 34 dwelling fires and 12 Road Traffic Collisions. 1
2.4. Three fire appliances currently provide the initial fire and rescue coverage for Gipton and Stanks and are constantly crewed by 60 whole-time firefighters. The operational demand in these areas has reduced by 28% between 2004/5 and 2009/10 (there has been a reduction of 61% of serious fires) yet the provision of operational resources has remained the same over this period of time. 24
3. Community Impact Assessment
3.1. The following statement is taken from the 2011-2015 Community Risk Management Strategy and emphasises our commitment to deliver an efficient economic and effective range of services, “Every area within WYFRS will be considered in order to provide a better service at reduced cost”.
3.2. To enable WYFRS to deliver against this commitment a wide range of analysis and modelling tools have been used to determine the current and predicted levels of service delivery, together with their associated costs. These tools have also been used to undertake four separate impact assessments in regard to WYFRS proposals which will seek to:
Identify options which minimise reductions in service delivery standards and where there is scope for service delivery improvement.
Develop measures that will mitigate any negative impact upon service delivery and where possible maximise opportunities to achieve improvements.
3.3. WYFRS has developed a risk matrix which allocates a separate score/rating for hazards within communities. It is possible to use this risk rating in conjunction with the costs for providing services to each fire station to compare the cost of fire and rescue cover for each area. Gipton is one of the more cost effective stations in West Yorkshire but Stanks is almost 50% more expensive proportionate to the risk. 6
3.4. For most parts of the day the operational demand on resources based at the new station will be comparable to those of equally resourced fire stations. Figure 1 compares the predicted average operational activity levels for the new station with those of two other fire stations provided with two appliances. It indicates that although operational activity levels are generally comparable they are slightly higher during the evening hours due to the occurrence of smaller nuisance fires. 7
3.5. A Fire Response Unit has been piloted in Leeds District; this unit will attend small fires, car fires and certain fire alarms. These types of incident occur frequently in the East Leeds area. Figure 2 shows the level of activity in the new fire station area with the incidents the Fire response Unit attends taken out of the activity levels. The benefit of the Fire Response Unit can clearly be seen. The activity levels for the new station have been reduced considerably compared to other stations; it also shows that the new station will be less operationally active during the evening than the other local stations.
3.6. The new station in East Leeds will have a comparable level of activity to other fire stations provided with two appliances. 7
Figure 2 - Activity Timeline of Incidents Excluding Secondary Fires and Some False Alarms
Site Locations
3.7. An extensive review of emergency response cover has recently been completed and this has included the use of evaluation tools alongside local knowledge and professional judgment to identify optimum locations to build new WYFRS fire stations.
3.8. A site search mapping system has identified a number of appropriate areas across the County to build new fire stations and a number of sites have been identified within these areas which would provide the best solutions. A new fire station site must first be available for purchase and also provide access to road networks, it must not be located within flood plains and it must meet local planning permission requirements.
3.9. Analysis has been undertaken using the Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC – see also para 3.15) toolkit, together with the Phoenix/Active resource modelling toolkit.
3.10. The optimum area for a fire station between Gipton and Stanks has been identified as being situated on the A64 in the vicinity of Killingbeck police station. This proposed site is approximately 1.6 miles from Gipton Approach and 2.2 miles from Sherburn Road. The presence of a large site owned by West Yorkshire Police at this location may also present some potential to co-locate resources.
Determining where resources should be located
3.11. Independent research has assisted WYFRS to determine the potential impact that the implementation of each proposal would have on fire appliance attendance times to operational incidents. A simulation model has been used to identify the performance impact of moving resources to the new fire station. This modelling measures how the location of a new fire station would have performed if it had been in existence and responded to the actual incidents that did occurred in this area between 2007/8 and 2009/10. 4
3.12. Models have been run for locating a two fire appliances at Gipton and closing Stanks, and then run again for locating a two fire appliances at Stanks and closing Gipton, both these options provide a significantly lower level of response performance than would be achieved by locating
3.13. The proposals has a small reduction in performance in fire appliance attendance times against the Risk based Planning Assumptions for all incidents across the whole of West Yorkshire of approximately 0.3% for first appliance and 0.1% for the second appliance. 4
3.14. Local Impact – Figure 3 identifies that:
There is a reduction in response performance against the Risk Based Planning Assumptions in the Gipton station area. The main reason for this is simultaneous activity. This change will be greatly mitigated by the Fire Response Unit. The predicted response times still represent good performance and are appropriate for the. Further impact will be achieved by targeted risk reduction activities.
Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) toolkit
3.15 The FSEC software toolkit has been developed by Central Government (Department for Communities and Local Government) for use by Fire and Rescue Authorities in determining appropriate fire and emergency cover. It enables the relationship between dwelling fire casualties and the social demographics of small areas in the county (super output areas) and the location of response resources (fire stations) to be determined. Four demographic benchmarks are used to demonstrate this relationship and to represent predicted risk associated with a range of appliance response times.
3.16 Analysis of the FSEC outputs (which is a cost benefit analysis in regard to property and life risk) predicts that the relocating the fire station to Killingbeck will:
Reduce the risk to the community.
Result in significant efficiencies. 9
3.17 The FSEC modelling suggests that the impact of the Killingbeck proposal would be less than other relocation options
3.18 The Phoenix/Active software tool is another analysis tool used to identify the impact of any changes of the Risk Based Planning Assumptions referred to above. It predicts that locally there is likely to be a small adverse impact on the performance against Risk Based Planning Assumptions. Across the Brigade the impact is negligible. 10
Predicted Risk Level
3.19. A new fire station located, within the Killingbeck area would attract the same risk classification as the Gipton fire station area therefore the new fire station would be classified as very high risk. Targeted risk reduction activity will help to reduce the risk, with the aim of reducing it sufficiently enough to re-categorise the area as high risk in the future. 1
3.20. Isochrones (travel distance) can be drawn around the proposed location of the new fire station (Section 8). These indicate the distance the appliance would be able to travel within the Risk Based Planning Assumption time of 7 minutes.
3.21. Section 8 also illustrates that for this area of West Yorkshire a single fire station in the new location provides fire appliance coverage which is more proportionate to risk than the current arrangements.
Risk Reduction
3.20 During 2010 a comprehensive and integrated framework for service delivery was developed, this is outlined in the Community Risk Management Strategy 2011-15. This was implemented in 2011 and is proving a very effective means for targeting resources and reducing risk and is an essential method for reducing any negative impact of change in fire cover. Fundamental to this approach is the introduction of District Risk Reduction Teams and Local Area Risk Reductions Teams.
3.21 The location of a fire station in the Killingbeck area will enable targeted community safety activities such as Home Fire Safety Checks to continue.
4 Firefighter Safety Impact Assessment
Risk and firefighters gathering risk information about premises.
4.1 One of WYFRS’s risk indicators is dedicated solely to “Firefighter safety” and has taken cognisance of the following statement within the 2009 WYFRS Firefighter Safety Strategy; “Effective gathering and analysis of information prior to operational incident attendance is of critical importance”.
4.2 The firefighter safety indicator captures the following information to reflect this statement:
The predominance of specified commercial properties within each fire station area.
The availability of associated risk information held for commercial properties.
The predominance of high-rise properties within each fire station area.
4.3 The swift arrival of supporting resources can have a beneficial impact upon the safe management of operational incidents and this is the rationale for this information being captured by the indicator.
4.4 Following the 2009/10 evaluation process the firefighter safety risk bandings for Gipton and Stanks have been determined as high and very low respectively. 1
8
4.5 The targets for operational risk information for the 2012/13 IRMP Action Plan will be set in a proportionate manner, with areas of higher risk levels receiving a greater number of operational risk information inspections. More inspections will take place in areas such as Gipton to increase the availability of risk information available to firefighters via the Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) and as more information is made available the corresponding risk level will be reduced.
4.6 The Premises Data-base currently indicates that there are a total of 1650 commercial properties within the Gipton and Stanks area that have not been made subject to an operational information inspection. A high priority has been placed on firefighters in Gipton visiting the premises where incidents could potentially occur. 11
4.7 It is therefore anticipated that the availability of risk information via the Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s) for properties within all areas will be considerably improved by 2015, by which time the corresponding firefighter safety risk banding will have been reduced to Medium
The arrival times of the 2nd fire appliance
4.9. During 2009/10 there were a total of 333 operational incidents within the areas of Gipton and Stanks which required the attendance of more than one pumping appliance (one every 1.1 days). 12
4.10. Currently the North and East Leeds area has two fire appliances based at Gipton, Moortown and Leeds with one at Rothwell, Garforth, Stanks and Wetherby.
4.11. Increased second pump arrival times require the first attending crew to manage the initial stages of certain incidents in isolation; there is some potential for fires to become more developed in these initial stages.
4.12. The proposal improves the second appliance attendance times into Garforth station areas and there is little impact for the others local station areas.
5. Equality Impact Assessment
5.1 The new Public Sector Equality Duty places a requirement on the organisation to ensure where changes affect service delivery to the community or employees WYFRS assess those changes for any possible negative impact on equality. In this context equality refers to the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010, race, gender, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation, age, gender-reassignment, maternity and pregnancy and marriage and civil partnerships.
5.2 This Equality Impact Assessment has been completed by using information drawn from the Office for National Statistics in regard to this area and has been used to determine whether the removal of a fire appliance from the area will lead to an adverse or disproportionate impact upon any sections of the population. 13
5.3 A 2008 report provided by the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department analysed the correlation between dwelling fires and socio demographics. This report has been used to provide an indication of whether any particular groups within the population are at heightened risk from fire. The report indicates that sick/disabled persons, lone pensioners and Black Caribbean/African groups were associated with a greater incidence of dwelling fires.
5.4 The Gipton and Harehills population was estimated as being 24,904 during 2001 with a fairly equal gender distribution. The predominant ethnic group within the population is White British with Asian/Asian British representing the next major group, followed by Pakistani, Black British/Caribbean and Asian/British Bangladeshi.
9
5.5 Approximately 49% of the resident Gipton and Harehills population are Christians, 23% are of Muslim faith and 25% declared no religious preference. In 2001 16% of the population was aged over 60 and 20% of the population had a limiting long-term illness.
5.6 The WYFRS Prevention strategy contained within the 2011-2015 Community Risk Management Strategy emphasises that risk reduction activities will be focussed toward areas of the county identified as being at higher risk from dwelling fires, deliberate fire setting and road traffic collisions and that an appropriate and proportionate allocation of resources will be made available for District Risk Reduction Teams (DRRT) to achieve this.
5.7 Although the Ward statistics indicate that the communities of Gipton and Harehills are very diverse the findings of the Equality Impact Assessment are that this proposal will not lead to any negative changes in the delivery of Prevention, Protection and Response services and consequently there will be no anticipated impact upon any under-represented groups. The Equality Impact Assessment also confirms that there is no negative impact on any employee group.
6. Organisational Impact Assessment
Efficiencies
6.1 This proposal will enable WYFRS to manage some of the financial deficit caused by reduced government funding.
6.2. The proposal has considered the less than optimal positioning of existing fire stations and appliances together with the reduced operational demand placed and associated costs. The most cost effective solution to these issues is to provide a new fire station and ensure that two fire appliances will be crewed by nine firefighters who will respond to emergencies in less than two minutes from being mobilised.
6.3. This can be achieved by reducing the staffing at Gipton and Stanks by 24 posts; this will be done by way of planned retirements. The staffing and duty system at the new fire station will remain the same.
6.4. The removal of posts that coincide with forecasted retirements will achieve significant revenue savings.
6.5. Although capital investment will be required to construct a new fire station, part of these costs will potentially be off-set by the sale of the two existing fire station sites.
6.6. There will be other associated savings delivered by this proposal, including:
Reduction of Personal Protective Equipment.
Reduction in consumables and station maintenance costs.
The new station will be more environmentally friendly and have energy efficiency technology.
6.7. The analysis undertaken for Gipton and Stanks has identified that there is considerable overlap in the existing Risk Based Planning Assumption isochrones (footprints) for these areas. This overlap represents a duplication of resource coverage and therefore one of the objectives for providing a more efficient service within these areas is to reduce this overlap. 14
10
Impact across West Yorkshire and Resilience
6.8 The reduction in pumping appliances in this area does have a small impact upon attendance times against the Risk Based Planning Assumptions across West Yorkshire for all incidents; performance is reduced by 0.3% for first appliances and 0.1% for second appliances. 4
6.9 In order to maintain WYFRS’s operational resilience, the fire appliance currently sited at Stanks will be relocated at the new fire station. This fire appliance will not be continually staff but will be activated during periods of anticipated or unanticipated high levels of operational activity and in response to significant events which could affect emergency response; such as wide area flooding, bonfire night, periods of bad weather or when attending very large incidents.
6.10 The use of Resilience Pumps supports WYFRS strategy of staffing the appropriate number of fire appliances for normal levels of activity and having the mechanisms to add further fire appliance when required. This strategy is important in maintaining an excellent fire and rescue service whilst meeting the efficiencies required by the reduction in public service budgets.
7. Conclusions
7.1 The existing fire stations at Gipton and Stanks are 3.7 miles apart and consolidating resources at a new fire station at a central location is an economic, effective and efficient way of providing fire and rescue services for these areas.
7.2 The provision of two front-line fire appliances constantly crewed by whole-time firefighters is still deemed appropriate for this area despite the success of previous year’s risk reduction activities.
7.3 Targeted risk reduction initiatives co-ordinated by the Leeds Outer North East, Inner North East and Outer East Local Area Risk Reduction Teams will be undertaken.
7.4 It is expected that the targets established for gathering safety critical risk information, will mitigate the impact upon the safety of WYFRS firefighters resulting from the removal of a pumping appliance from this area.
7.5 The introduction of a Resilience Pump will maintain three appliances in the area and support WYFRSs resilience arrangements
7.6 The consolidation of Gipton and Stanks resources at one central location together with the addition of a Resilience Pump will deliver significant efficiency savings whilst maintaining a high level of service delivery and providing employees with vastly improved accommodation facilities.
Everything that grow up will fall down; some cottonwoods sooner. We walked Sage Trail around the south of the pond when we were trekking out at North Boulder Open Space some time back. I got stuck when I caught this downed cottonwood in the corner of my eye. This detail has texture that I could never pass up if it registers with me first. This tight frame includes a wealth of texture. Frankly, I don't get details often enough, IMHO. This monoculture of moss really jumps from the capture. It's a good thing the light has already softened and that I had the monopod in tow. Dead cottonwoods provide little more that humus. This is the Boulder Valley Ranch. The pasture grasses here were so well watered that it looks like Ireland out there, magnificent but not Colorado. This shot was from early summer but... we are still getting unusual weather not unlike the entire globe. Few areas have not been impacted by more violent weather. This day dripped on me before I got back in the car but I had a grocery bag in my back pocket to put over the camera.
On this day, it was our project to walk the Sage Trail ahead. Our outdoors time might be limited today from the look of the sky over the closer hills and the Flatirons just west. The darker foothills behind are already under clouding. Translating for the young now, a flat iron was an iron for clothes that was left on a wood/coal burning stove to heat up. Using the irons was never exact science particularly when they were hot enough! Doing laundry could be a scorching experience.
*They started their primordial existence as microscopic lifeforms placed on separate parts of the Earth's Oceans by a dying race of ancients with the hopes of reviving a once great species. Over ions of existence the unpredictable conditions of this planet slowly morphed them into strange and unrecognizable versions of themselves."
"Like her sister, was born in water. But unlike her sister she felt cradled by the dark. The depths of the ocean provided solitude. She feared the sun and it's violent rays. Unable to stand even the faint light that peaked through the surface she delved into the darkest depths she could find. A large section of this ocean is an endless expanse of pitch black water or an "abyss" which interconnects with countless maze-like rocky passageways that expand for thousands of miles. This entire area, completely void of sunlight and home to very few lifeforms, provided a shelter for the her. However, while these underwater caverns are mostly void of life, the few that do manage to exist are extremely aggressive and monstrous in appearance. In the abyss she evolved into a silent ambush predator to feed and hide from horrifying creatures that roam the deep dark. Millenniums pass and she can heard the voices of humans in the water. They tell legends of her and call her Sobek. After ions of lonely existence something in the void calls to her and she discovers an ancient life form of unknown origin even older than herself. A sentient orb covered in metallic scales that is able to telepathically communicate with her. The creature reveals ancient cosmic knowledge, telling her she has a sister, and proposes a trade. It will guide her to her brethren and protect her from the sunlight she fears, but only if she allows the scaled orb to bond with her flesh."
Sobek is a OOAK Nnaji in Milk skintone and Busty chest option. Her body blushing is lilac and burned turquoise. Her head is covered in hand sculpted scales to enhance her monstrous looks. Her lips and nails are a palest pearl pink and her fanged teeth share the same steel grey as her alien gharial eyes. Sobek wears a hand stitched haute couture armour with a poseable tail, each sequin sewn to a form sculpture that bristles in the back as gharial scales, adorns the shoulders leaving sensuous naked spots and exaggerates the hips for a feminine silhouette. She wears spiky heels painted to match her skintone.
This is a commission order for a private collector, not for sale.
Here's to explain the existence and role of this picture. It's been done as a response to a challenge by this great group www.flickr.com/groups/flickr64challenge/ . Check it out, it's a group very much alive and fun, unlike other dinosaur groups on Flickr, this one has a pulse and sets you racing around, hunting for the best you can shoot. I asked this two lovely gentlemen to help me out in beating my opponent, so this shot is my response to this duel www.flickr.com/groups/flickr64challenge/discuss/721576308..., which I have lost, by the way.
The Mount Elliott Mining Complex is an aggregation of the remnants of copper mining and smelting operations from the early 20th century and the associated former mining township of Selwyn. The earliest copper mining at Mount Elliott was in 1906 with smelting operations commencing shortly after. Significant upgrades to the mining and smelting operations occurred under the management of W.R. Corbould during 1909 - 1910. Following these upgrades and increases in production, the Selwyn Township grew quickly and had 1500 residents by 1918. The Mount Elliott Company took over other companies on the Cloncurry field in the 1920s, including the Mount Cuthbert and Kuridala smelters. Mount Elliott operations were taken over by Mount Isa Mines in 1943 to ensure the supply of copper during World War Two. The Mount Elliott Company was eventually liquidated in 1953.
The Mount Elliott Smelter:
The existence of copper in the Leichhardt River area of north western Queensland had been known since Ernest Henry discovered the Great Australia Mine in 1867 at Cloncurry. In 1899 James Elliott discovered copper on the conical hill that became Mount Elliott, but having no capital to develop the mine, he sold an interest to James Morphett, a pastoralist of Fort Constantine station near Cloncurry. Morphett, being drought stricken, in turn sold out to John Moffat of Irvinebank, the most successful mining promoter in Queensland at the time.
Plentiful capital and cheap transport were prerequisites for developing the Cloncurry field, which had stagnated for forty years. Without capital it was impossible to explore and prove ore-bodies; without proof of large reserves of wealth it was futile to build a railway; and without a railway it was hazardous to invest capital in finding large reserves of ore. The mining investor or the railway builder had to break the impasse.
In 1906 - 1907 copper averaged £87 a ton on the London market, the highest price for thirty years, and the Cloncurry field grew. The railway was extended west of Richmond in 1905 - 1906 by the Government and mines were floated on the Melbourne Stock Exchange. At Mount Elliott a prospecting shaft had been sunk and on the 1st of August 1906 a Cornish boiler and winding plant were installed on the site.
Mount Elliott Limited was floated in Melbourne on the 13th of July 1906. In 1907 it was taken over by British and French interests and restructured. Combining with its competitor, Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Limited, Mount Elliott formed a special company to finance and construct the railway from Cloncurry to Malbon, Kuridala (then Friezeland) and Mount Elliott (later Selwyn). This new company then entered into an agreement with the Queensland Railways Department in July 1908.
The railway, which was known as the 'Syndicate Railway', aroused opposition in 1908 from the trade unions and Labor movement generally, who contended that railways should be State-owned. However, the Hampden-Mount Elliott Railway Bill was passed by the Queensland Parliament and assented to on the 21st of April 1908; construction finished in December 1910. The railway terminated at the Mount Elliott smelter.
By 1907 the main underlie shaft had been sunk and construction of the smelters was underway using a second-hand water-jacket blast furnace and converters. At this time, W.H. Corbould was appointed general manager of Mount Elliott Limited.
The second-hand blast furnace and converters were commissioned or 'blown in' in May 1909, but were problematic causing hold-ups. Corbould referred to the equipment in use as being the 'worst collection of worn-out junk he had ever come across'. Corbould soon convinced his directors to scrap the plant and let him design new works.
Corbould was a metallurgist and geologist as well as mine/smelter manager. He foresaw a need to obtain control and thereby ensure a reliable supply of ore from a cross-section of mines in the region. He also saw a need to implement an effective strategy to manage the economies of smelting low-grade ore. Smelting operations in the region were made difficult by the technical and economic problems posed by the deterioration in the grade of ore. Corbould resolved the issue by a process of blending ores with different chemical properties, increasing the throughput capacity of the smelter and by championing the unification of smelting operations in the region. In 1912, Corbould acquired Hampden Consols Mine at Kuridala for Mount Elliott Limited, followed with the purchases of other small mines in the district.
Walkers Limited of Maryborough was commissioned to manufacture a new 200 ton water jacket furnace for the smelters. An air compressor and blower for the smelters were constructed in the powerhouse and an electric motor and dynamo provided power for the crane and lighting for the smelter and mine.
The new smelter was blown in September 1910, a month after the first train arrived, and it ran well, producing 2040 tons of blister copper by the end of the year. The new smelting plant made it possible to cope with low-grade sulphide ores at Mount Elliott. The use of 1000 tons of low-grade sulphide ores bought from the Hampden Consols Mine in 1911 made it clear that if a supply of higher sulphur ore could be obtained and blended, performance, and economy would improve. Accordingly, the company bought a number of smaller mines in the district in 1912.
Corbould mined with cut and fill stoping but a young Mines Inspector condemned the system, ordered it dismantled and replaced with square set timbering. In 1911, after gradual movement in stopes on the No. 3 level, the smelter was closed for two months. Nevertheless, 5447 tons of blister copper was produced in 1911, rising to 6690 tons in 1912 - the company's best year. Many of the surviving structures at the site were built at this time.
Troubles for Mount Elliott started in 1913. In February, a fire at the Consols Mine closed it for months. In June, a thirteen week strike closed the whole operation, severely depleting the workforce. The year 1913 was also bad for industrial accidents in the area, possibly due to inexperienced people replacing the strikers. Nevertheless, the company paid generous dividends that year.
At the end of 1914 smelting ceased for more than a year due to shortage of ore. Although 3200 tons of blister copper was produced in 1913, production fell to 1840 tons in 1914 and the workforce dwindled to only 40 men. For the second half of 1915 and early 1916 the smelter treated ore railed south from Mount Cuthbert. At the end of July 1916 the smelting plant at Selwyn was dismantled except for the flue chambers and stacks. A new furnace with a capacity of 500 tons per day was built, a large amount of second-hand equipment was obtained and the converters were increased in size.
After the enlarged furnace was commissioned in June 1917, continuing industrial unrest retarded production which amounted to only 1000 tons of copper that year. The point of contention was the efficiency of the new smelter which processed twice as much ore while employing fewer men. The company decided to close down the smelter in October and reduce the size of the furnace, the largest in Australia, from 6.5m to 5.5m. In the meantime the price of copper had almost doubled from 1916 due to wartime consumption of munitions.
The new furnace commenced on the 16th of January 1918 and 77,482 tons of ore were smelted yielding 3580 tons of blister copper which were sent to the Bowen refinery before export to Britain. Local coal and coke supply was a problem and materials were being sourced from the distant Bowen Colliery. The smelter had a good run for almost a year except for a strike in July and another in December, which caused Corbould to close down the plant until New Year. In 1919, following relaxation of wartime controls by the British Metal Corporation, the copper price plunged from about £110 per ton at the start of the year to £75 per ton in April, dashing the company's optimism regarding treatment of low grade ores. The smelter finally closed after two months operation and most employees were laid off.
For much of the period 1919 to 1922, Corbould was in England trying to raise capital to reorganise the company's operations but he failed and resigned from the company in 1922. The Mount Elliott Company took over the assets of the other companies on the Cloncurry field in the 1920s - Mount Cuthbert in 1925 and Kuridala in 1926. Mount Isa Mines bought the Mount Elliott plant and machinery, including the three smelters, in 1943 for £2,300, enabling them to start copper production in the middle of the Second World War. The Mount Elliott Company was finally liquidated in 1953.
In 1950 A.E. Powell took up the Mount Elliott Reward Claim at Selwyn and worked close to the old smelter buildings. An open cut mine commenced at Starra, south of Mount Elliott and Selwyn, in 1988 and is Australia's third largest copper producer producing copper-gold concentrates from flotation and gold bullion from carbon-in-leach processing.
Profitable copper-gold ore bodies were recently proved at depth beneath the Mount Elliott smelter and old underground workings by Cyprus Gold Australia Pty Ltd. These deposits were subsequently acquired by Arimco Mining Pty Ltd for underground development which commenced in July 1993. A decline tunnel portal, ore and overburden dumps now occupy a large area of the Maggie Creek valley south-west of the smelter which was formerly the site of early miner's camps.
The Old Selwyn Township:
In 1907, the first hotel, run by H. Williams, was opened at the site. The township was surveyed later, around 1910, by the Mines Department. The town was to be situated north of the mine and smelter operations adjacent the railway, about 1.5km distant. It took its name from the nearby Selwyn Ranges which were named, during Burke's expedition, after the Victorian Government Geologist, A.R. Selwyn. The town has also been known by the name of Mount Elliott, after the nearby mines and smelter.
Many of the residents either worked at the Mount Elliott Mine and Smelter or worked in the service industries which grew around the mining and smelting operations. Little documentation exists about the everyday life of the town's residents. Surrounding sheep and cattle stations, however, meant that meat was available cheaply and vegetables grown in the area were delivered to the township by horse and cart. Imported commodities were, however, expensive.
By 1910 the town had four hotels. There was also an aerated water manufacturer, three stores, four fruiterers, a butcher, baker, saddler, garage, police, hospital, banks, post office (officially from 1906 to 1928, then unofficially until 1975) and a railway station. There was even an orchestra of ten players in 1912. The population of Selwyn rose from 1000 in 1911 to 1500 in 1918, before gradually declining.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
Picture of different bodies (vehicles) whether or not we’re aware of them on different planes of existence. The light body being a vehicle of energy being able to explore things our human mind can’t even truly begin to perceive.Increasingly science agrees with the poetry of direct human experience: we are more than the atoms and molecules that make up our bodies, but beings of light as well. Biophotons are emitted by the human body, can be released through mental intention, and may modulate fundamental processes within cell-to-cell communication and DNA.
Nothing is more amazing than the highly improbable fact that we exist. We often ignore this fact, oblivious to the reality that instead of something there could be nothing at all, i.e. why is there a universe (poignantly aware of itself through us) and not some void completely unconscious of itself?
Consider that from light, air, water, basic minerals within the crust of the earth, and the at least 3 billion year old information contained within the nucleus of one diploid zygote cell, the human body is formed, and within that body a soul capable of at least trying to comprehend its bodily and spiritual origins.
Given the sheer insanity of our existential condition, and bodily incarnation as a whole, and considering that our earthly existence is partially formed from sunlight and requires the continual consumption of condensed sunlight in the form of food, it may not sound so farfetched that our body emits light.
Indeed, the human body emits biophotons, also known as ultraweak photon emissions (UPE), with a visibility 1,000 times lower than the sensitivity of our naked eye. While not visible to us, these particles of light (or waves, depending on how you are measuring them) are part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum (380-780 nm) and are detectable via sophisticated modern instrumentation.
The Physical and "Mental" Eye Emits Light
The eye itself, which is continually exposed to ambient powerful photons that pass through various ocular tissues, emit spontaneous and visible light-induced ultraweak photon emissions. It has even been hypothesized that visible light induces delayed bioluminescence within the exposed eye tissue, providing an explanation for the origin of the negative afterimage.
These light emissions have also been correlated with cerebral energy metabolism and oxidative stress within the mammalian brain. And yet, biophoton emissions are not necessarily epiphenomenal. Bókkon's hypothesis suggests that photons released from chemical processes within the brain produce biophysical pictures during visual imagery, and a recent study found that when subjects actively imagined light in a very dark environment their intention produced significant increases in ultraweak photo emissions. This is consistent with an emerging view that biophotons are not solely cellular metabolic by-products, but rather, because biophoton intensity can be considerably higher inside cells than outside, it is possible for the mind to access this energy gradient to create intrinsic biophysical pictures during visual perception and imagery.
The Human Eye Emits Light
Our Cells and DNA Use Biophotons To Store and Communicate Information
Apparently biophotons are used by the cells of many living organisms to communicate, which facilitates energy/information transfer that is several orders of magnitude faster than chemical diffusion. According to a 2010 study, "Cell to cell communication by biophotons have been demonstrated in plants, bacteria, animal neutriophil granulocytes and kidney cells." Researchers were able to demonstrate that "...different spectral light stimulation (infrared, red, yellow, blue, green and white) at one end of the spinal sensory or motor nerve roots resulted in a significant increase in the biophotonic activity at the other end." Researchers interpreted their finding to suggest that "...light stimulation can generate biophotons that conduct along the neural fibers, probably as neural communication signals."
Even when we go down to the molecular level of our genome, DNA can be identified to be a source of biophoton emissions as well. One author proposes that DNA is so biophoton dependent that is has excimer laser-like properties, enabling it to exist in a stable state far from thermal equilibrium at threshold.
Technically speaking a biophoton is an elementary particle or quantum of light of non-thermal origin in the visible and ultraviolet spectrum emitted from a biological system. They are generally believed to be produced as a result of energy metabolism within our cells, or more formally as a "...by-product of biochemical reactions in which excited molecules are produced from bioenergetic processes that involves active oxygen species,"
The Body's Circadian Biophoton Output
Because the metabolism of the body changes in a circadian fashion, biophoton emissions also variate along the axis of diurnal time. Research has mapped out distinct anatomical locations within the body where biophoton emissions are stronger and weaker, depending on the time of the day:
Generally, the fluctuation in photon counts over the body was lower in the morning than in the afternoon. The thorax-abdomen region emitted lowest and most constantly. The upper extremities and the head region emitted most and increasingly over the day. Spectral analysis of low, intermediate and high emission from the superior frontal part of the right leg, the forehead and the palms in the sensitivity range of the photomultiplier showed the major spontaneous emission at 470-570 nm. The central palm area of hand emission showed a larger contribution of the 420-470 nm range in the spectrum of spontaneous emission from the hand in autumn/winter. The spectrum of delayed luminescence from the hand showed major emission in the same range as spontaneous emission.
The researchers concluded that "The spectral data suggest that measurements might well provide quantitative data on the individual pattern of peroxidative and anti-oxidative processes in vivo."
Meditation and Herbs Affect Biophoton Output
Research has found an oxidative stress-mediated difference in biophoton emission among mediators versus non-meditators. Those who meditate regularly tend to have lower ultra-weak photon emission (UPE, biophoton emission), which is believed to result from the lower level of free radical reactions occurring in their bodies. In one clinical study involving practitioners of transcendental meditation (TM) researchers found:
The lowest UPE intensities were observed in two subjects who regularly meditate. Spectral analysis of human UPE has suggested that ultra-weak emission is probably, at least in part, a reflection of free radical reactions in a living system. It has been documented that various physiologic and biochemical shifts follow the long-term practice of meditation and it is inferred that meditation may impact free radical activity.
Interestingly, an herb well-known for its use in stress reduction (including inducing measurable declines in cortisol), and associated heightened oxidative stress, has been tested clinically in reducing the level of biophotons emitted in human subjects. Known as rhodiola, a study published in 2009 in the journal Phytotherapeutic Research found that those who took the herb for 1 week has a significant decrease in photon emission in comparison with the placebo group.
Human Skin May Capture Energy and Information from Sunlight
Perhaps most extraordinary of all is the possibility that our bodily surface contains cells capable of efficiently trapping the energy and information from ultraviolet radiation. A study published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology in 1993, titled, "Artificial sunlight irradiation induces ultraweak photon emission in human skin fibroblasts," discovered that when light from an artificial sunlight source was applied to fibroblasts from either normal subjects or with the condition xeroderma pigmentosum, characterized by deficient DNA repair mechanisms, it induced far higher emissions of ultraweak photons (10-20 times) in the xeroderma pigmentosum group. The researchers concluded from this experiment that "These data suggest that xeroderma pigmentosum cells tend to lose the capacity of efficient storage of ultraweak photons, indicating the existence of an efficient intracellular photon trapping system within human cells."More recent research has also identified measurable differences in biophoton emission between normal and melanoma cells.
Human Skin and Light
In a previous article, Does Skin Pigment Act Like A Natural Solar-Panel, we explored the role of melanin in converting ultraviolet light into metabolic energy:
Melanin is capable of transforming ultraviolet light energy into heat in a process known as "ultrafast internal conversion"; more than 99.9% of the absorbed UV radiation is transformed from potentially genotoxic (DNA-damaging) ultraviolet light into harmless heat.
If melanin can convert light into heat, could it not also transform UV radiation into other biologically/metabolically useful forms of energy? This may not seem so farfetched when one considers that even gamma radiation, which is highly toxic to most forms of life, is a source of sustenance for certain types of fungi and bacteria. More on melanin-mediated energy production here.
Gerald Pollack, PhD, who wrote The 4th Phase of Water has identified water molecules, which constitute 99% of the molecules in our body by number, as capable of storing the energy of sunlight like batteries and driving the majority of processes within our body as a primary, non-ATP-based source of energy. Dr. Pollack wrote a guest article for us on the topic here, Can Humans Harvest The Sun's Energy Directly Like Plants?
The Body's Biophoton Outputs Are Governed by Solar and Lunar Forces
It appears that modern science is only now coming to recognize the ability of the human body to receive and emit energy and information directly from the light given off from the Sun.
There is also a growing realization that the Sun and Moon affect biophoton emissions through gravitational influences. Recently, biophoton emissions from wheat seedlings in Germany and Brazil were found to be synchronized transcontinentally according to rhythms associated with the lunisolar tide.[18] In fact, the lunisolar tidal force, to which the Sun contributes 30 % and the Moon 60 % of the combined gravitational acceleration, has been found to regulate a number of features of plant growth upon Earth.[19]
Intention Is a Living Force of Physiology
Even human intention itself, the so-called ghost in the machine, may have an empirical basis in biophotons.
A recent commentary published in the journal Investigacion clinica titled "Evidence about the power of intention" addressed this connection:
Intention is defined as a directed thought to perform a determined action. Thoughts targeted to an end can affect inanimate objects and practically all living things from unicellular organisms to human beings. The emission of light particles (biophotons) seems to be the mechanism through which an intention produces its effects. All living organisms emit a constant current of photons as a mean to direct instantaneous nonlocal signals from one part of the body to another and to the outside world. Biophotons are stored in the intracellular DNA. When the organism is sick changes in biophotons emissions are produced. Direct intention manifests itself as an electric and magnetic energy producing an ordered flux of photons. Our intentions seem to operate as highly coherent frequencies capable of changing the molecular structure of matter. For the intention to be effective it is necessary to choose the appropriate time. In fact, living beings are mutually synchronized and to the earth and its constant changes of magnetic energy. It has been shown that the energy of thought can also alter the environment. Hypnosis, stigmata phenomena and the placebo effect can also be considered as types of intention, as instructions to the brain during a particular state of consciousness. Cases of spontaneous cures or of remote healing of extremely ill patients represent instances of an exceedingly great intention to control diseases menacing our lives. The intention to heal as well as the beliefs of the sick person on the efficacy of the healing influences promote his healing. In conclusion, studies on thought and consciousness are emerging as fundamental aspects and not as mere epiphenomena that are rapidly leading to a profound change in the paradigms of Biology and Medicine.
So there you have it. Science increasingly agrees with direct human experience: we are more than the atoms and molecules of which we are composed, but beings that emit, communicate with, and are formed from light.
www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/biophotons-human-body-emits-com...
A Minstrel Bug Graphosoma lineatum on a wild carrot seedhead, there is a spider lurking on the underside- I am not sure the spider is a threat to this large bug, but smaller insects are probably supper for the spider.
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Eine Streifenwanze , Graphosoma lineatum auf einer Wilden Rübe- unten lauert eine Spinne. Ich glaube zwar nicht dass die Spinne eine Gefahr ist für diesen grossen Käfer, aber kleine Insekten sind bestimmt eine Mahlzeit für die Spinne.
Hi Guys! My store in Existence is finally opened -- so please drop on by and take a look and the things available. All releases are mesh items so you would need a mesh viewer to see it. To see if you have a compatible viewer, check out if the deer head in the store rezzes for you; if it doesn't, then please download either Viewer 3.0, Firestorm or Kristen!
Taxi to Beetlebones
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
(view in lightbox)
The oldest motorised bus still in existence in the world. It dates from 1904 and was specially designed for public transport in London.
At the time, there were fewer than twenty motorised double-deckers in London; two years later there would be about four-hundred, of which half were manufactured by Milnes-Daimler.
The bus is painted in the livery of one of London’s most famous bus companies of the time, Thomas Tilling Ltd. It was initially delivered to the Southborough & District Bus Company in Tunbridge Wells, but the company was financially weak and had to sell the bus a few months later. In 1907 the bus was converted to chain drive. Originally, the drive was taken directly to the rear wheels via a cogwheel system. This was better suited to carrying heavy loads but was also very noisy.
Milnes-Daimler was created in 1902 after the German Daimler company took over the English tramcar and lorry manufacturer G.F. Milnes & Co. Ltd.
4 in-line
45 hp
Vmax : 35 km/h
Louwman Museum
Den Haag - The Hague
Nederland - Netherlands
August 2012
Quorn.
The first European squatters and pastoralists arrived in the Quorn area in the 1850s but the town did not come into existence until 1875. It was named after Quorn in Leicestershire by Governor Jervois whose private secretary came from there. South Australian Railways chose the site for the town of Quorn and in 1878 the government sold the first blocks of land. In 1879 Quorn became the first terminus of the Great Northern Railway line from Port Augusta. The current station with its charming Dutch gables was built in 1916. However Quorn’s greatest period of importance as a railway centre was between 1917 and 1937 when it was the junction for both the western line to Perth and the northern line to Oodnadatta and Alice Springs. This importance continued during World War II when over 400 people in the town were employed by the railways as it was a major troop stop over point with the Country Women’s Association providing over 1 million meals to the servicemen. The establishment of a new standard gauge railway to Marree and the Leigh Creek coal fields west of the Flinders Ranges in 1956 saw the town decline. The various hotels in the main street located to service the needs of travelling rail passengers then became a movie set for several films including: The Sundowners, Sunday Too Far Away, Robbery under Arms, The Shiralee and more recently Gallipoli.
Quorn’s early development was similar to that of many SA towns. One of the first structures (1878) was a flour mill for the wheat farmers built by Mr Cowan. Mr Dunn the wealthy flour miller of Mt Barker built a second three storied flour mill in 1879. It was converted to a motel in the 1960s and is now a backpacker’s accommodation centre. Other early buildings were the Austral Hotel (1878), where many of us will stay, and the Criterion Hotel built in 1881 and the Transcontinental Hotel in 1878. The first National Bank opened in 1878, along with the Post Office, the Court House (1879) and Matthews Emporium (1886). The first church in town was a Methodist Church in 1880, followed by the Anglican (1880 replaced in 1897), Catholic (1883), the Salvation Army Hall in 1884(now a gallery) and the Lutheran Church in 1890. Three years after its founding, Quorn had a population of 540 and was the 19th largest town north of Adelaide! A reservoir was made for the railways and the town. Other important public town buildings were the Institute (1881) and the Town Hall (1907). A school started soon after the founding of the town and in 1909 it became a Higher Primary School and then in 1914 it became a High School. It was the first high school in the north of SA. Quorn grew in importance once the railway was extended from Quorn through to Oodnadatta in 1891.
Colebrook Home in Quorn was established by the Australian Aborigines Mission. It began as a children’s home for Aboriginals in Oodnadatta in 1926 .In 1927 the home moved to Quorn with 12 children in residence. In 1933 the Mission got a new house, 2 miles outside Quorn and in 1935 the 30 resident children were sent to Magill for the summer holidays. This practice continued until 1940 when the children spent the summer holidays at Eden Hills. Following this, the Mission established Colebrook Children’s Home at Eden Hills. Among the children raised at Colebrook were prominent Aboriginal leaders in SA -Lowitcha O’Donoghue, Faith Thomas, Ruby Ahchee( Hammond).
Created for We're here visiting Double Indemnity
The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by Harold Pinter written in 1957. It combines the classic characteristics of early Pinter – a paucity of information and an atmosphere of menace, working-class small-talk in a claustrophobic setting – with an oblique but palpable political edge and, in so doing, can be seen as containing the germ of Pinter's entire dramatic oeuvre.
Two hit-men, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment. As the play begins, Ben, the senior member of the team, is reading a newspaper, and Gus, the junior member, is tying his shoes. Gus asks Ben many questions as he gets ready for their job and tries to make tea. They argue over the semantics of "light the kettle" and "put on the kettle". Ben continues reading his paper for most of the time, occasionally reading excerpts of it to Gus. Ben gets increasingly animated, and Gus's questions become more pointed, at times nearly nonsensical.
In the back of the room is a dumbwaiter, which delivers occasional food orders. This is mysterious and both characters seem to be puzzled why these orders keep coming. At one point they send up some snack food that Gus had brought along. Ben has to explain to the people above via the dumbwaiter's "speaking tube" that there is no food. This whole sequence is rather odd because the basement is clearly not outfitted for fulfilment of the orders.
Gus leaves the room to get a drink of water in the bathroom, and the dumbwaiter's speaking tube whistles (a sign that there is a person on the other end who wishes to communicate). Ben listens carefully—we gather from his replies that their victim has arrived and is on his way to the room. Ben shouts for Gus, who is still out of the room. The door that the target is supposed to enter from flies open, Ben rounds on it with his gun, and Gus enters, stripped of his jacket, waistcoat, tie and gun. There is a long silence as the two stare at each other before the curtain comes down (the implication is that Gus is the person that Ben has been employed to kill).
In the theatre, the emotional power of the play is more readily felt than understood. Pinter "created his own theatrical grammar – he didn't merely write characters that had an emotional response to something... But instead, through his characters' interactions and phrasings, Pinter seemed to conjure the very visceral emotion itself.
The dumb waiter of the title refers to the serving hatch and food lift that delivers orders to the gunmen. It could also refer to Gus, who fails to realise that he is waiting to be the victim, or even to Ben, whose obedience to a higher authority eventually forces him to eliminate his partner.
Although the play is realistic in many ways, particularly the dialogue between Ben and Gus, there are also elements that are unexplained and seemingly absurd, particularly the messages delivered by the dumb waiter itself, and the delivery of an envelope containing twelve matchsticks. Pinter is notable for leaving the plays open to interpretation, "wanting his audience to complete his plays, to resolve in their own ways these irresolvable matters". Pinter stated that "between my lack of biographical data about [the characters] and the ambiguity of what they say lies a territory which is not only worthy of exploration but which it is compulsory to explore".
One interpretation is that the play is an absurdist comedy about two men waiting in a universe without meaning or purpose, like Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. "The Dumb Waiter.... achieves, through its unique blend of absurdity, farce, and surface realism, a profoundly moving statement about the modern human condition".
Another interpretation is that the play is a political drama showing how the individual is destroyed by a higher power. "Each of Harold Pinter's [first] four plays ends in the virtual annihilation of an individual.... It is by his bitter dramas of dehumanisation that he implies "the importance of humanity". The religion and society, which have traditionally structured human morality, are, in Pinter's plays, the immoral agents that destroy the individual." Pinter supported the interpretation of The Birthday Party and The Dumb Waiter as "political plays about power and victimisation".
Overall, "it makes much more sense if seen as a play about the dynamics of power and the nature of partnership. Ben and Gus are both victims of some unseen authority and a surrogate married couple quarrelling, testing, talking past each other and raking over old times". It is "a strongly political play about the way a hierarchical society, in pitting the rebel against the conformist, places both at its mercy", but at the same time "a deeply personal play about the destructiveness of betrayal".
"For an audience to gaze into Ben and Gus' closed basement room and overhear their everyday prattle is to gain insight into the terrifying vision of the dominant-subservient battle for power, a battle in which societies and individuals engage as a part of daily existence".
"I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey."
~ Brian Molko
Dhaka | Bangladesh | 2015
there were multiple inspirations for this creation..
the design is from an osho tartot card of the same name..i actually tried to recreate ths earlier in my stream with a baby in the lotus flower instead..it was not very good.. hence the re-do
and so i decided that i would 'bare all' so to speak and do a selfie ( actually i am wearing shorts that i edited out) mostly because i have been thinking about the belief that some people have about being modest.. and that somehow showing skin makes you a "whore" and is not right in the eyes of Divine..
i wholeheartedly disagree with this viewpoint...
and so this is my expression of my belief that nakedness is next to Godliness.. and that repression of the natural energies is what causes all forms of sexual dysfunction including all fetishes and rape..
having said that.. again.. i am not saying i want to walk around naked and post naked pictures on flickr.. because we don't live in a utopian world.. i'll stay happy and free enough with my tank tops and shorts.
:)
also have to mention cate loughran for inspiring me with her beautiful night life, photo based series