View allAll Photos Tagged Forms
Se recomienda ampliar. It is recommended to expand.
Formas. Pintadas por el Sol y el mar sobre las piedras de la playa, al atardecer.
A Mariña lucense ya dispone de un exclusivo aparato que, entre otros, ayudará a medir la subida que está experimentando el nivel del mar como consecuencia del cambio climático. De esta manera, el mareógrafo inaugurado el pasado miércoles por la Cofradía de Pescadores Santiago Apóstol de Celeiro con motivo de su centenario, y que previsiblemente comenzará a funcionar la próxima semana, será, además de un punto de referencia atractivo para vecinos y visitantes, un instrumento que aportará valiosos datos científicos.
En forma de reloj, está ubicado en la Praza do Monumento ó Náufrago. Sus esferas han sido realizadas en cerámica de Sargadelos sobre un timón metálico con adornos en bronce fundido y están montadas sobre una columna de fundición asentada sobre una piedra maciza de 1,30 metros da altura por 1 de diámetro. En esa base se colocarán azulejos con los nombres de todos los patrones mayores de la cofradía en el último siglo. Por una parte, el artilugio indica el tiempo en horas que resta para la siguiente marea (sea bajamar o pleamar), y por otra, la altura que alcanza el nivel del mar en cada momento. «Nunha das esferas explícase de maneira didáctica como o sol e a lúa inflúen nas mareas polo desfase que ten a Terra ó xirar e á distancia á lúa», resume Antonio Lage, socio de Lages Chavín, la empresa de Viveiro especializada en la fabricación de relojes y piezas de relojería monumental que se ha ocupado del proyecto.
La Cofradía de Celeiro festeja su centenario mirando al futuro: «Calquera pobo vai seguir tendo vida se segue habendo actividade económica»
Esta esfera muestra el tiempo que resta para la próxima marea
Esta esfera muestra el tiempo que resta para la próxima marea
Una sonda sumergida
El mareógrafo de la Cofradía está conectado a dos sondas. Una de ellas está sumergida en el agua, mientras que la otra no tiene contacto con ella y funciona tipo radar. El aparato realiza las mediciones mediante un sistema electrónico que lleva a cabo de manera automática una serie de correcciones y cálculos antes de que los datos sean reflejados en las esferas.
Diseño y fabricación de una empresa de Viveiro
Tanto del diseño como de la fabricación, de principio a fin, del mareógrafo de Celeiro se ha ocupado una empresa de Viveiro, Lages Electrónica, que cuenta con más de cuarenta años de experiencia en el sector. En el 2021, la firma ya se había ocupado de llevar a cabo la compleja restauración del reloj monumental que preside la cúpula de la Cofradía, y que forma parte del patrimonio histórico-pesquero de la localidad mariñana. Su desgaste era generalizado.
En esta ocasión, Lages Electrónica, que también rehabilitó, por ejemplo, el reloj de la iglesia de Santa María, en el centro histórico, ha realizado un proyecto exclusivo, totalmente a medida. Sus profesionales se han encargado del diseño, creación y ensamblaje de los sistemas electrónicos, pero también de encargar la base de piedra, tallada de manera manual, o la columna de fundición.
Italien / Toskana - San Gimignano
Piazza Duomo
San Gimignano (Italian pronunciation: [san dʒimiɲˈɲaːno]) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls, form "an unforgettable skyline". Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiate Church and Church of Sant' Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The "Historic Centre of San Gimignano" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town also is known for saffron, the Golden Ham, pecorino cheese and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape which is grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
Territory
The municipality of San Gimignano extends for 138 km² and is located on a hill in Val d'Elsa. The altitude difference is between a minimum of 64 meters a.s.l. in the plain of the river Elsa near Certaldo at a maximum of 631 meters in the area of Cornocchio.
History
In the 3rd century BC a small Etruscan village stood on the site of San Gimignano. Chroniclers Lupi, Coppi and Pecori relate that during the Catiline conspiracy against the Roman Republic in the 1st century, two patrician brothers, Muzio and Silvio, fled Rome for Valdelsa and built two castles, Mucchio and Silvia (now San Gimignano). The name of Silvia was changed to San Gimignano in 450 AD after Bishop Geminianus, the Saint of Modena, intervened to spare the castle from destruction by the followers of Attila the Hun. As a result, a church was dedicated to the saint, and in the 6th and 7th centuries a walled village grew up around it, subsequently called the "Castle of San Gimignano" or Castle of the Forest because of the extensive woodland surrounding it. From 929 the town was ruled by the bishops of Volterra.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, it was a stopping point for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican, as it sits on the medieval Via Francigena. The city's development was also improved by the trade of agricultural products from the fertile neighbouring hills, in particular saffron, used in both cooking and dyeing cloth and Vernaccia wine, said to inspire popes and poets.
In 1199, the city made itself independent of the bishops of Volterra and established a podestà, and set about enriching the commune with churches and public buildings. However, the peace of the town was disturbed for the next two centuries by conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, and family rivalries within San Gimignano. This resulted in competing families building tower houses of increasingly greater heights. Towards the end of the Medieval period, there were 72 tower houses in number, up to 70 metres (230 feet) tall. The rivalry was finally restrained when the local council ordained that no tower was to be taller than that adjacent to the Palazzo Comunale.
While the official patron is Saint Geminianus, the town also honours Saint Fina, known also as Seraphina and Serafina, who was born in San Gimignano 1238 and whose feast day is 12 March. The Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church houses her shrine and frescos by Ghirlandaio. The house said to be her home still stands in the town.
On 8 May 1300, San Gimignano hosted Dante Alighieri in his role as ambassador of the Guelph League in Tuscany.
The city flourished until 1348, when it was struck by the Black Death that affected all of Europe, and about half the townsfolk died. The town submitted to the rule of Florence. Initially, some Gothic palazzi were built in the Florentine style, and many of the towers were reduced to the height of the houses. There was little subsequent development, and San Gimignano remained preserved in its medieval state until the 19th century, when its status as a touristic and artistic resort began to be recognised.
Description
The city is on the ridge of a hill with its main axis being north/south. It is encircled by three walls and has at its highest point, to the west, the ruins of a fortress dismantled in the 16th century. There are eight entrances into the city, set into the second wall, which dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. The main gates are Porta San Giovanni on the ridge extending south, Porta San Matteo to the north west and Porta S. Jacopo to the north east. The main streets are Via San Matteo and Via San Giovanni, which cross the city from north to south. At the heart of the town are four squares: the Piazza Duomo, on which stands the Collegiate Church; the Piazza della Cisterna, the Piazza Pecori and the Piazza delle Erbe. To the north of the town is another significant square, Piazza Agostino, on which stands the Church of Sant' Agostino. The locations of the Collegiate Church and Sant' Agostino's and their piazzas effectively divide the town into two regions.
Main sights
The town of San Gimignano has many examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. As well as churches and medieval fortifications, there are examples of Romanesque secular and domestic architecture which may be distinguished from each other by their round and pointed arches, respectively. A particular feature which is typical of the region of Siena is that the arches of openings are depressed, with doorways often having a second low arch set beneath a semi-circular or pointed arch. Both Romanesque and Gothic windows sometimes have a bifurcate form, with two openings divided by a stone mullion under a single arch.
Culture
San Gimignano is the birthplace of the poet Folgore da San Gimignano (1270–1332).
A fictionalised version of San Gimignano is featured in E. M. Forster's 1905 novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread as Monteriano.
M. C. Escher's 1923 woodcut San Gimignano depicts the celebrated towers.
Franco Zeffirelli used San Gimignano as a stand-in for the town of Assisi in his 1972 Saint Francis of Assisi biopic Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Most of the "Assisi" scenes were filmed here
Tea with Mussolini, a 1999 drama about the plight of English and American expatriate women in Italy during World War II, was filmed in part in San Gimignano. The frescoes that the women save from being destroyed during the German Army's withdrawal are inside the Duomo, the town's main church. The account of this episode is, to a large extent, fictional, because, although there are reports of intended retribution against the town, there is no evidence of a plan to destroy the churches. However, the reference to risk of cultural destruction is historic, as the Allies bombed the area for ten days.
In the 2005 novel The Broker by John Grisham, Joel Backman takes his second of three wives on vacation in Italy to keep her from divorcing him. They rent a 14th-century monastery near San Gimignano for a month.
A 15th-century version of the town is featured in the 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II.
(Wikpedia)
Piazza della Cisterna is a piazza in San Gimignano, Italy. It has a triangular shape with a slight natural slope and is connected to the nearby Piazza del Duomo by an open passage. The pavement is brick and the piazza is surrounded by houses and medieval towers. There are presently 5 towers onto the square or very near it and the bases of other five are visible on the facade of the various palaces, plus one, the Ridolfi tower, which is no longer in existence having collapsed in 1646 onto the family palace, thus making this relatively small area a concentrate of medieval architecture. In the south-west corner, the piazza meets the Arc of Becci, (l'arco dei Becci), an ancient city gate. The arc is flanked by the massive rectangular towers of Becci (torri dei Becci) on the left and Cugnanesi (torri dei Cugnanesi) on the right.
Past the access to via di Castello, which led down to the original Bishop’s castle, the northern side is characterized by the renaissance Cortesi Palace, which includes la torre del Diavolo, and extends along the north side of the square including the old houses of the Cattani family. There remains of two pre-existing towers are clearly visible onto the facade of the Cortesi Palace.
The west side is adorned with various towers, like the twin towers of Ardinghelli and the tower of palazzo Pellari visible over the roofs.
History
The piazza is located at the intersection of two main streets of the village of San Gimignano: la via Francigena that run north to south and la via Pisa - [[Siena]that runs east to west]. The piazza was used as a market and a stage for festivals and tournaments. Originally the area was divided in two squares by the palace and tall tower of the Ridolfi family, the Piazza dell’ Olmo in the inferior and western part and the Piazza delle Taverne in the eastern side and with the cisterna in the middle. In 1646 the tall Ridolfi tower suddenly collapsed, destroying the palace and thus the two squares were merged into one, the Piazza della Cisterna.
The piazza is named after the underground cistern (Cisterna) built in 1287. The cistern is capped by a travertine octagonal pedestal, which was built in 1346 under the mayor Guccio Malavolti whose coat of arms with the ladder is carved onto the stones, and is close to the center of the square.
(Wikipedia)
San Gimignano ist eine italienische Kleinstadt in der Toskana mit einem mittelalterlichen Stadtkern. San Gimignano wird auch „Mittelalterliches Manhattan“ oder die „Stadt der Türme“ genannt. Die Stadt liegt in der Provinz Siena und hat 7717 Einwohner (Stand 31. Dezember 2019). Sie gehört neben Florenz, Siena und Pisa zu den von Touristen meistbesuchten Zielen in der Toskana.
Allgemeines
Der historische Stadtkern ist seit dem Jahr 1990 Teil des Weltkulturerbes der UNESCO. San Gimignano besitzt noch einige der mittelalterlichen Geschlechtertürme, die in anderen Städten nur als Stümpfe erhalten blieben. Im Mittelalter versuchten die Patrizierfamilien, sich in der Höhe ihres Geschlechterturmes zu übertreffen, obwohl ein luxuriöses Leben darin nicht möglich war. Von den einst 72 Geschlechtertürmen existieren in San Gimignano heute noch 15. Die beiden höchsten, der Torre Grossa aus dem Jahr 1311 und der Torre della Rognosa, weisen eine Höhe von 54 bzw. 51 Metern auf. Die Zisterne auf der Piazza della Cisterna entstand 1287 und wurde 1346 durch den Podestà Guccio Malavolti erweitert.
Geografie
Die Stadt liegt ca. 40 km südwestlich der Regionalhauptstadt Florenz und ca. 28 km nordwestlich der Provinzhauptstadt Siena an der Via Francigena und im Elsatal. San Gimignano liegt in der klimatischen Einordnung italienischer Gemeinden in der Zone D, 2 085 GR/G.
Zu den Ortsteilen gehören Badia a Elmi (94 m, gehört teilweise zu Certaldo), Castel San Gimignano (377 m, gehört teilweise zu Colle di Val d’Elsa), Pancole (272 m), Santa Lucia (268 m) und Ulignano. Weitere wichtige Orte im Gemeindegebiet sind Montauto (277 m), Monteoliveto (275 m) Ranza und San Donato (357 m). Größter Ortsteil ist Ulignano mit ca. 690 Einwohnern.
Die wichtigsten Flüsse im Gemeindegebiet sind der Elsa (4 von 81 km im Gemeindegebiet) sowie die Torrenti Foci (4 von 15 km im Gemeindegebiet) und Riguardi (7 von 7 km im Gemeindegebiet).
Die Nachbargemeinden sind Barberino Tavarnelle (FI), Certaldo (FI), Colle di Val d’Elsa, Gambassi Terme (FI), Poggibonsi und Volterra (PI).
Geschichte
San Gimignano soll bereits um 300 bis 200 v. Chr. von den Etruskern besiedelt worden sein. Erstmals dokumentiert wurde der Ort 929. Den Namen erhielt die Stadt von dem heiligen Bischof von Modena, San Gimignano. Es heißt, er habe das Dorf vor den barbarischen Horden des Totila geschützt.
Diese Stadt verdankt ihre Existenz der Via Francigena (Frankenstraße). Auf diesem Hauptverkehrsweg des mittelalterlichen Italiens zogen Händler und Pilger vom Norden nach Rom. Der Ort bildete sich als Marktstätte zwischen dem frühmittelalterlichen Castello und der Pieve, dem Vorgängerbau der Collegiata. Ein erster Stadtmauerring wurde im 10. Jahrhundert angelegt. Dessen Verlauf markieren zwei noch erhaltene Stadttore, im Norden der Arco della Cancelleria und im Süden der Arco dei Becci.
Vom 11. Jahrhundert an dehnte sich das Stadtgebiet entlang der Frankenstraße in nördlicher und südlicher Richtung aus. An die Existenz des früheren Castello erinnern die Via di Castello, eine der ältesten Straßen, und die Kirche von San Lorenzo, die bei der Zugbrücke lag. Mindestens seit dem Jahr 929 gehörte das Kastell den Bischöfen von Volterra. Diese Bischöfe waren es auch, die die Herrschaft über die sich ausdehnende Stadt ausübten. Erst 1199 gelang es den von den Bürgern gewählten Konsuln, Verträge ohne die Zustimmung des Bischofs zu unterzeichnen. San Gimignano war nie Bischofssitz, sondern gehörte zum kirchlichen Verwaltungsbezirk (Diözese) Volterra und erlangte somit auch keine Stadtrechte. Trotzdem verlief die politische Entwicklung der Landkommune in ähnlichen Schritten wie die der großen Städte. Die Regierung der Konsuln wurde durch den Podestà (einem gewählten Administrator) abgelöst. Diesem standen ein kleiner und ein großer Rat zur Seite. Dem großen Rat gehörte eine bemerkenswert hohe Zahl von 1200 Mitgliedern an, obwohl San Gimignano nur 6000 Einwohner hatte.
Die freie Kommune stritt bis ins 14. Jahrhundert mit den Bischöfen von Volterra in langjährigen Kriegen um Besitzrechte. Sie musste gegen die Nachbarorte Castelfiorentino, gegen Colle und Poggibonsi zu Felde ziehen und nahm auf der Seite des guelfischen Florenz an den großen Machtkämpfen des 13. Jahrhunderts teil. Auch innerhalb der Stadtmauern setzten sich die Kämpfe zwischen Guelfen (Welfen) und Ghibellinen (Waiblinger) fort. Es kam zu blutigen Familienfehden zwischen den Familien der Salvucci (Ghibellinen) und der Ardinghelli (Guelfen).
Ab Mai 1300 hielt sich Dante Alighieri in diplomatischer Mission in San Gimignano auf. Vom 15. Juni bis 15. August 1300 amtierte er als eines von sechs Mitgliedern des Priorats, des höchsten Gremiums der Stadt. Im Jahre 1319 versuchte er in seiner Funktion als führender Florentiner Politiker vergeblich, die verfeindeten Parteien zu versöhnen. Eine Kommune wie San Gimignano konnte sich im 14. Jahrhundert nicht mehr neben den Großmächten behaupten. Im Jahre 1348 wurde die Stadt neben Kriegsverlusten und Familienfehden durch die Pest stark geschwächt. Vier Jahre später, im Jahre 1352, begab sich die Stadt unter den Schutz von Florenz.
Die Blütezeit der Stadt dauerte 160 Jahre an, ihr Wohlstand beruhte auf Handel und dem Anbau von Safran, mit dem man Seidenstoffe färbte. Die Frankenstraße verlor im Spätmittelalter allmählich an Bedeutung, weil der Handel die bequemeren Wege durch die weitgehend trockengelegten Sümpfe der Ebenen vorzog. Die Stadt, die einst Gesetze gegen übertriebenen Luxus erlassen hatte, verarmte.
Hochrenaissance (ca. 1500 bis 1530) und Barock (1575 bis 1770) hinterließen in San Gimignano so gut wie keine Spuren. Die Stadt war niemals ein eigenständiges Kunstzentrum. Künstler aus Siena und Florenz malten die Fresken und Altartafeln. Die Paläste und Kirchen zeigen pisanische, sienesische, lucchesische und florentinische Stilmerkmale. In San Gimignano ist die Zeit scheinbar im Jahr 1563 stehengeblieben. Der erste der toskanischen Großherzöge, Cosimo I. de’ Medici, entschied, es dürfen „auch keine geringen Summen“ mehr in diese Stadt investiert werden. Das musste akzeptiert werden, und so ist San Gimignano geblieben, wie es damals war.
(Wikipedia)
This is an image from my Fragments project.
Knowledge consists of fragments of information, of facts, of experiences. We arrange these fragments in some order and we get a narrative which forms into knowledge. If we arrange fragments in a different order, we will get a different narrative. But all the information remains.
Norwegen / Nordland - Helgelandskysten
Ågskardet
Helgeland is the most southerly district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet mountains and Svartisen glacier, which form a natural border with the Salten district. In the south, Helgeland borders Trøndelag county.
The district covers an area of about 18,832 square kilometres (7,271 sq mi), with nearly 79,000 inhabitants. There are four towns in the district: from south to north these are Brønnøysund, Mosjøen, Sandnessjøen, and Mo i Rana.
Name
The Old Norse form of the name was Hálogaland (see Hålogaland).
Geography
Helgeland is commonly divided into three or four sections:
Southern Helgeland (actually southwest), which consists of the municipalities Bindal, Sømna, Brønnøy, Vega and Vevelstad.
Central Helgeland, which is sometimes further divided into the regions:
Inner Helgeland, which consists of the municipalities Grane, Hattfjelldal and Vefsn.
Outer Helgeland, which consists of the municipalities Leirfjord, Alstahaug, Herøy and Dønna.
Northern Helgeland, which consists of the municipalities Hemnes, Rana, Nesna, Lurøy, Træna and Rødøy.
Helgeland is characterized by pointed mountains and Strandflaten, a shallow lowland area, sometimes just above the sea surface, and sometimes just below the surface. People living on the coast have settled on this lowland (while inland towns, such as Mo and Mosjøen, are situated in valleys). A consequence of the Strandflaten is thousands of islands, and shallow waters going far into the sea. This has provided some shelter from stormy weather, which might occur in winter. Some islands are fairly large, often with unique mountains, such as Torghatten, De syv søstre (The Seven Sisters), Hestmannen, Rødøyløva (in Rødøy), Dønnamannen (picture), and Træna. There are several sea bird colonies, such as Lovund with thousands of puffins. The Solvær Islands (Solværøyene) in Lurøy consists of about 300 small and flat islands and has the highest densities of Eurasian eagle-owls in Europe.
The highest mountains, are located inland, where Oksskolten is the highest mountain in Northern Norway. There are many valleys inland, such as the Dunderland Valley, Vefsndalen, and Hattfjelldal. Røssvatnet is the second largest lake in Norway. There are three large national parks in Helgeland: Saltfjellet–Svartisen National Park (partly), Børgefjell National Park (partly), and Lomsdal–Visten National Park (created in May 2009).
Cultural references
Helgeland is the scene for Henrik Ibsen's 1857 historical play "The Vikings at Helgeland" (Hærmændene paa Helgeland), whose plot takes place at this region during the time of Erik Blood-axe (c. 930–934).
Helgeland Kammerkor, a mixed choir with members from all parts of Helgeland, have recorded an album of folk music from Helgeland (Folketoner fra Helgeland, 2005). The album contains 27 folk tunes from Helgeland, recorded in collaboration with folk musicians from the area. The album was recorded in Alstahaug Church, a 900-year-old stone church located near Sandnessjøen.
(Wikipedia)
Ågskardet is a village in Meløy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern side of the Holandsfjorden, about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of the village of Tjong (in neighboring Rødøy Municipality). There were 127 inhabitants in 2008.
The village lies along Norwegian County Road 17, with a ferry connection to a port, just west of the village of Halsa. The ferry is the only connection to the rest of Meløy Municipality to the north. The village is situated just north of the border with Rødøy Municipality. The village has its own school, chapel/community centre, and some private companies.
(Wikipedia)
Helgeland (im Mittelalter Hålogaland) ist eine Landschaft im Norden Norwegens, die heute den südlichen Teil des Fylkes Nordland bis zum Saltfjellet umfasst. Die Region hat 78.400 Einwohner und eine Fläche von 17.936 km². Die Region hat ungefähr 15.000 Inseln.
Im Mittelalter bezeichnete Hålogaland das gesamte Territorium nördlich von Trøndelag und war vor der Christianisierung Norwegens ein selbständiges Königreich, das auch den größten Teil von Troms umfasste und sich zeitweilig bis in das von Samen dominierte Gebiet (Finnmark, Schwedisch-Lappland, Nord-Finnland und Nordwest-Russland) erstreckte. Hålogaland nimmt einen hervorragenden Platz in den Sagas ein. Die Göttinnen Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr und Irpa der Jómsvíkinga saga stammen wahrscheinlich aus Hálogaland und wurden wohl vor allem dort verehrt. Der vermutlich bekannteste Einwohner Hålogalands war der Seefahrer und Kaufmann Ottar, dessen Bericht über seine Heimat einen Platz in Alfreds des Großen Übersetzung der Weltgeschichte des Orosius fand.
Der Name stammt nicht von derselben Wurzel wie heilig, wie es schon Adam von Bremen behauptete, sondern von einer Volksbezeichnung háleygir. In Snorri Sturlusons Jüngerer Edda wird er von einem mythischen König Holgi abgeleitet. Holgi wiederum soll ein Nachfolger von Odins Sohn Sæming (Säming) gewesen sein.
Die jüngere Form des Namens findet sich ab 1380, die ältere besteht weiter in den Namen der Bistümer Sør-Hålogaland (Nordland) und Nord-Hålogaland (Troms und Finnmark) und im Namen des Obergerichtes (Hålogaland lagmannsrett), das für die drei nördlichen Provinzen Nordland, Troms und Finnmark sowie für Spitzbergen zuständig ist.
In Helgeland befand sich bei Bratland und der Insel Aldra ein Sender des Omega-Funknavigationssystems. In der Nähe von Bratland befindet sich auch der Marinesender JXN, der wie einst der Omegasender eine Drahtantenne verwendet, die über einen Fjord gespannt wurde.
(Wikipedia)
Life form is always represented in the form of order or symmetry.
The existence of life in universe is known to be contrary to the second law of thermodynamics.
The fact that human can see beauty in living beings is even more amazing. Is this perception of beauty just extension of human consciousness?
Is beauty not an objective property existed in life form or other things?
Have a great philosophical Monday!
The Crocosmia is my favorite flower these few days.
This Chandra image shows the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way a mere 7,500 light years from Earth. Chandra's sharp X-ray vision has detected over 14,000 stars in this region, revealed a diffuse X-ray glow, and provided strong evidence that massive stars have already self-destructed in this nearby supernova factory.
The lower energy X-rays in this image are red, the medium energy X-rays are green, and the highest energy X-rays are blue. The Chandra survey has a large field of 1.4 square degrees, made of a mosaic of 22 individual Chandra pointings. In total, this image represents 1.2 million seconds -- or nearly two weeks -- of Chandra observing time. A great deal of multi-wavelength data has been used in combination with this new Chandra campaign, including infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope (VLT).
Several pieces of evidence support the idea that supernova production has already begun in this star-forming region. Firstly, there is an observed deficit of bright X-ray sources in Trumpler 15, suggesting that some of the massive stars in this cluster were already destroyed in supernova explosions. Trumpler 15 is located in the northern part of the image, as shown in a labeled version, and is one of ten star clusters in the Carina complex. Several other well known clusters are shown in the labeled image.
The detection of six possible neutron stars, the dense cores often left behind after stars explode in supernovas, provides additional evidence that supernova activity is ramping up in Carina. Previous observations had only detected one neutron star in Carina. These six neutron star candidates are too faint to be easily picked out in this large-scale image of Carina.
Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/L. Townsley et al.
Read entire caption/view more images: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/carina/
Caption credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
Vintage photo card.
Today, 25 August 2026, Dolly Parton (1946-2026) passed away at the age of 80. Her family announced this in a video message on Instagram. Parton was one of the most famous and decidedly likeable country singers America has ever produced. Famous for her high-pitched voice and enormous bosom, Dolly was not only a singer but also an actress, businesswoman and philanthropist. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in 1946 in a simple wooden cabin on the bank of the Little Pigeon River in Tennessee. Her father grew tobacco, her mother took care of the twelve children, of whom Dolly was number four. Thanks to her father Lee, she became a businesswoman; thanks to her mother Avie, a musician, she always said. As an 8-year-old girl, she was already a local country starlet, performing on local radio and regional TV stations, and at just 13 she released her first regionally distributed record: 'Puppy Love' (1959). When she earned her high school diploma in 1964, she left the next day literally for the country music capital, Nashville, where she began singing on the streets in the hope of being discovered. She was 18. By then, she had already been writing her own songs for ten years. Her professional career in the music industry began as a songwriter with evident talent, employed by Combine Publishing, a company that supplied country hits to artists such as Bill Phillips, Hank Williams Jr., and Kitty Wells. They sang Dolly R. Parton's first country hits on the country charts. In 1965, Monument Records signed the then 19-year-old Parton with the plan to turn her into a teen singer in the bubblegum pop category. But when the label heard the hits she had composed for others, she was allowed to try her hand at the country genre. Even before her breakthrough, she married her beloved Carl Dean, who ran a paving company, in 1966, just 20 years old. They would remain inseparable until Dean passed away at the age of 82 in March 2025, after 59 years of marriage. Throughout those years, he managed to stay almost entirely out of the media as Dolly’s husband. The couple themselves remained childless, but five of Dolly’s younger siblings moved in with them and were raised by Carl and Dolly. Meanwhile, the flow began of – eventually – more than two hundred singles and a staggering fifty albums, if you disregard collaborations, live albums, soundtracks, and the nearly 250 compilations. Parton would eventually sell more than one hundred million records.
In her early years, Dolly Parton formed a successful duo with entertainer Porter Wagoner, who also secured her a regular spot on his TV show, The Porter Wagoner Show (even before she had a hit of her own). Several duets with Wagoner were successful singles, but Dolly’s first self-written hit single as a solo artist was 'Just Because I’m a Woman' (1967), a song with lyrics daring for the Nashville of that time regarding a woman’s sexual past and what her lover feels entitled to think of it: ‘My mistakes are no worse than yours, just because I’m a woman.’ Thus, as a fledgling young singer, she became a feminist voice in the lion’s den: country, a bastion of conservative men. They sang the truth to Dolly with a smile: ‘If you don’t love me, leave me – and don’t let it trouble your mind.’ 'The Bridge' (1968) is chilling, sung from the perspective of a young woman who, pregnant and abandoned, sees only one way out. In the songs of the 22-year-old Parton, women’s suffering was sometimes sung about that went far beyond a few tears of heartbreak. She established her name with it and scored such massive country hits that no traditionally minded male record executive could ignore her any longer: 'Joshua' (1971) was her first number one on the country charts. In 1973, she wrote the two songs that time has designated as her most famous, although the chart rankings at the time do not reflect that: 'Jolene' and 'I Will Always Love You'. Both singles reached number one on the country chart, but initially, only 'Jolene' became a modest hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In the following years, 'Jolene' would become a worldwide pop classic on its own merits. Whitney Houston’s cover version (1992) for the film The Bodyguard played a role in the eventual success of 'I Will Always Love You'. Years later, a cassette tape from Parton’s archive proved that she wrote the two songs on the same evening. That is not how she remembered it. ‘A lucrative evening, in hindsight,’ she said.
Dolly Parton had her big breakthrough in 1980 when she landed her first major film role and sang the title song to the top of the global charts: 9 to 5 (Colin Higgins, 1980). The lighthearted feminist comedy was tailor-made for Parton: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and herself as three women who take over the power of their sexist boss at the office. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. With that, Parton truly became mainstream. More films followed. She starred with Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Colin Higgins, 1982), with Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984), with Sally Field in Steel Magnolias (Herbert Ross, 1989), Straight Talk (Barnet Kellman, 1992), and with Queen Latifah in Joyful Noise (Todd Graff, 2012). The singer was also known for her entrepreneurship. Among other things, she was the director of media company Dolly Parton Enterprises. Her production company turned the musicals '9 to 5' (2008) and, more recently, 'Dolly' (2024) into box office successes. Through The Dollywood Company, she ran the Dollywood theme park, which attracts over three million visitors annually, a Dolly water park, and a Dolly-themed hotel. In 2025, she announced the opening of her own museum: Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum. However, most importantly, Dolly Parton was an icon of country music and one of the most successful pop women of all time. She had another huge hit with her duet with country star Kenny Rogers, 'Islands in the Stream'. With her collaborations with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt ('Trio' in 1987 and 'Trio II' in 1999), she won over two generations of serious Americana enthusiasts once again, just as she did with a series of no-frills bluegrass albums, starting with 'The Grass Is Blue' (1999). In life, she was already an American national heritage, a woman who so gracefully infused her feminism with juicy self-mockery that all contradictions instantly evaporated. Conservatives saw in her an ‘all-American girl,’ a cheerful country girl from a poor farming family in Tennessee, who embodied both the national country ideal and the American Dream: rising from abject poverty to stratospheric wealth and fame through her own efforts. Progressives saw in her, besides Dolly, the incorrigibly optimistic philanthropist who, as kitsch queen and mother of the global queer community, could so delightfully poke fun at herself. Recently, the singer had been struggling with health issues, forcing her to cancel shows and take things easier. Despite her age and health problems, Parton remained true to her craft and her audience. Her husband, Carl Dean, with whom she was married for nearly sixty years, passed away in March of last year at the age of 82. "The love we felt for each other for more than sixty years cannot be expressed in words," she said after his passing. The farewell of Dolly Parton will take place in private.
Sources: Menno Pot (De Volkskrant - Dutch), Nu.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘) - Wet Land (1993)
For almost everyone, Spring is associated with an abundance of nascent forms and a variety of vibrant colors...
I suggest we look at this magical time without "superfluous" colors. After all, colors usually adhere to existing forms. This means that form and content are the foundation upon which we can apply as many layers of the most vibrant and impressive colors as we like... But if form and content are absent... then color becomes superfluous...
Nature gives us a great variety of forms, imbuing them with a wide variety of meanings and purposes. After all, if you look closely, everything around us carries something special; something that can serve us in a variety of ways – inspire, help us heal, impart valuable lessons, nourish us, and even... send us to other dimensions...
Previously, I wrote that everything around us is connected. And we are connected to everything. Moreover, there is a feeling that everything around us is different forms of the same thing. Different forms of ...Ourselves ...Source ...Nature ...God ...Universe...
What forms fill your life?
What do you feel when the form becomes more tangible?
Well, here's the first of my Halo Flood uploads. Though I was planning for three, I made two of these little guys. They've actually been "done" for a while...I just haven't been super happy with them. But now, they're done I guess. :) So please enjoy! Please comment and leave a fav if you'd like! I really love the feedback guys! ;D
-Reference Material:
halo.wikia.com/wiki/Flood_Infection_Form
-Parts used:
Believe it or not, they're almost completely made of cut-up LEGO parts, four to be exact.
- LEGO Spider
- 1x1 tan tooth
- 1x1 tan stud
- LEGO fang
~ paper clips
~ bits of fabric
~ super glue
~ paint
-How it's made:
The legs are LEGO spider legs, cut off and bent. The "face" is actually the body of that spider. The middle is just a 1x1 tooth piece with two opposite sides cut off and the "tooth" removed and glued back on at an angle. The thing that the legs sit on is just a 1x1 stud with the bottom cut off. and glued into the indent on the 1x1. The "feelers" are just bent paperclips that were glued into holes that I drilled into the spider's body. Then I glued bits of fabric onto the ends and painted them red. The whole thing is also painted an off-tan color but actually I used all tan LEGO parts (excluding the spider).
Please give credit and tag me if you happen to make one! I'd love to see it!
-Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life!
Modern photo with a retro twist.
Artwork ©jackiecrossley
© All rights reserved. This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying & recording without my written permission. This image is not authorised for use on your blogs, pinboards, websites or use in any other way. You may not download this image without written permission from me. Thank you.
Anicka Yi (b.1971 South Korea ) ..... Destabilising demarcations between the organic and the synthetic, science and fiction, human and non-human, Anicka Yi’s protean creations are undergirded by what the artist describes as the “biopolitics of the senses”. Yi’s new body of work centres on recent enquiries into “biologizing the machine” as she focuses in on the sensorium of the machine and contemplates how new channels of communication can be established between artificial intelligence (AI) entities and organic life forms.
Fotosöndag: tema Form
Dekoration
Filter pålagt efteråt för bättre effekt
Theme: shape
Decoration
Filter applied afterwards for better effect
''Americanism in all its forms seemed to be trashy and wasteful and crude, even brutal. There was a metaphor ready to hand in my native Hampshire. Until some time after the war, the squirrels of England had been red. I can still vaguely remember these sweet Beatrix Potter–type creatures, smaller and prettier and more agile and lacking the rat-like features that disclose themselves when you get close to a gray squirrel. These latter riffraff, once imported from America by some kind of regrettable accident, had escaped from captivity and gradually massacred and driven out the more demure and refined English breed. It was said that the gray squirrels didn't fight fair and would with a raking motion of their back paws castrate the luckless red ones. Whatever the truth of that, the sighting of a native English squirrel was soon to be a rarity, confined to the north of Scotland and the Isle of Wight, and this seemed to be emblematic, for the anxious lower middle class, of a more general massification and de-gentrification and, well, Americanization of everything.”Christopher Hitchens
The 7 elements of design: form, shape, line, space, value, color and texture.
Line: Graphic Unifier, Curved, Straight. Directional Thrust: Horizontal, Vertical, and Diagonal
Shape: Naturalistic, Geometric
Space /Size: Large, Medium, Small, Proportion or Scale
Value: Light, Dark
Color: Hue, Chroma, and Value
Texture: Rough, Smooth, Soft, Hard
Form: shape+depth
that has been misunderstood.
Form and function should be
one, joined in a spiritual union.
- Frank Lloyd Wright
(This is probably my favorite photo from Saturday's trip.)
This Mountain Hare is resting in its form on a heather covered hillside at Glenshee in the Scottish Highlands.
In the UK, Mountain Hares live in the Scottish Highlands and England's Peak District, grazing on vegetation and nibbling bark from young trees and bushes. They shelter in a ‘form’, which is simply a shallow depression in the ground or heather.
They are at their most visible in spring, when the snow has melted but the hares are still white, like this one.
Mountain Hares can reach 65cm in length and can weigh up to 5.3kg.
Tortoise
CD :
Tortoise
Touch
International Anthem
IARC 0099
Sounds . Dan Bitney . John Herndon . Douglas McCombs .
John McEntire . Jeff Parker
Layout & Design . Jeremiah Chiu
Use Hearing Protection
Merci japanese forms
GMA
3/4 - The cycle of the redwood forest. Trees falling, forming geometry.
My newest video is out now! A simple trip into a close-by park in my new home, the bay area of California. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did getting out there.
Link is in my bio.
On our planet, water is life. But how did it get here? Are there similar environments around other stars?
Webb has us one step closer to the answers. In a still-developing “solar system,” Webb detected water in the zone where rocky planets like Earth may form.
PDS 70 is a K-type star cooler than our Sun. Around it is a huge disk made up of planet-forming materials, including 2 known gas giant planets in the making. Webb found water vapor in the inner disk of PDS 70, within 100 million miles of the star.
Though we’ve seen water in similar disks, Webb’s discovery is the first detection of water in the “rocky planet zone” of a system known to have 2 or more developing planets. That means if rocky planets someday form around PDS 70, they’ll have water ready and waiting.
Follow-up observations will dive deeper into new mysteries, such as the origins of the water around PDS 70. In turn, studying other worlds will help us gain insight into our own. More: go.nasa.gov/3O8NL2j
This image: ARTIST ILLUSTRATION
This artist concept portrays the star PDS 70 and its inner protoplanetary disk. New measurements by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected water vapor at distances of less than 100 million miles from the star – the region where rocky, terrestrial planets may be forming. This is the first detection of water in the terrestrial region of a disk already known to host two or more protoplanets, one of which is shown at upper right.
Credits
Image
NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
Image description: Left of center, a bright light source illuminates a surrounding disk colored dusky red. The disk has spiral features and a scattering of small, rocky objects. At upper right, there is a gap through which background stars can be seen. At the outer edge of the gap is a dusky globe representing a gas giant planet. Beyond it is additional disk material, some of which is falling onto the planet.
Harz / Germany
See where this picture was taken. [?]
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Manjuvajra, a form of Manjushri, Budhisattva of wisdom (Kashmir 8th century AD) - Green chlorite - MAO Oriental Art Museum of Turin
Il patrimonio del MAO comprende quasi 2300 opere che coprono un arco temporale che parte dal Neolitico e arriva fino agli inizi del secolo scorso. A queste si aggiungono più di 1400 reperti di scavo di periodo pre-islamico provenienti dagli scavi iracheni di Seleucia e Coche che, nel percorso museale, sono suddivise e distribuite in cinque distinte Gallerie secondo l’ambito storico-geografico di provenienza: Asia meridionale e Sud-est asiatico, Cina, Giappone, Regione Himalayana, Paesi Islamici.
MAO's patrimony includes almost 2300 works that cover a time span that starts from the Neolithic and goes up to the beginning of the last century. To these are added more than 1400 pre-Islamic excavation finds from the Iraqi excavations of Seleucia and Coche which, in the museum itinerary, are divided and distributed in five distinct galleries according to the historical-geographical area of origin: South Asia and Southeast Asia, China, Japan, the Himalayan region, Islamic countries.
Acontias lineatus Striped Dwarf Legless Skink melanistic form. From Cederberg, Western Cape. www.tyroneping.co.za/lizards/acontias-lineatus-striped-dw...
Brauweiler Abbey (German: Abtei Brauweiler) is a former Benedictine monastery located at Brauweiler, now in Pulheim near Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany.
It was founded and endowed in 1024 by Pfalzgraf Ezzo, count palatine of Lotharingia of the Ezzonian dynasty and his wife Matilda of Saxony, a daughter of Emperor Otto II and Theophano. Ezzo and Matilda were buried here, as were their two eldest sons Liudolf, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (d. 1031) and Otto II, Duke of Swabia (d. 1047).
From 1065 until his death in 1091, Wolfhelm of Brauweiler, later Saint Wolfhelm, was abbot here. His relics were enshrined in the abbey church, and miracles were reported at his tomb,[1] but all traces of them were lost centuries ago.
The present abbey church, now the parish church of Saint Nicholas and Saint Medardus, is the third building on the site, built between 1136 and 1220 or later. The abbey was dissolved in the secularisation of 1803. The premises were subsequently used, under a Napoleonic law, as a hostel for beggars, and from 1815 under the Prussian regime as a workhouse.
From 1933 to 1945 the buildings were used for the internment, torture, and murder of political and social "undesirables" by the Gestapo and the civil authorities of the Nazi government. Prisoners included Konrad Adenauer, the former mayor of Cologne and first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1945 to 1949, it was an open camp for displaced persons administered first by the British Army and then by UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration).
The abbey buildings are now used by the Rheinisches Amt für Denkmalpflege ("Rhenish Department for the Care of Historic Monuments").
Die Abtei Brauweiler liegt im Stadtteil Brauweiler der Stadt Pulheim in Nordrhein-Westfalen, nordwestlich von Köln.
Eine Besiedlung im heutigen Ortsgebiet Brauweiler lässt sich durch Funde von Keramikscherben, behauenem Flint und einem Hallstattbrandgrab seit der älteren Eisenzeit nachweisen. Aus der Römerzeit stammt eine befestigte Anlage. Bei Grabungen 1983/1984 wurden auf dem Gelände der Abtei Reste eines römischen Herrenhauses (villa rustica) mit zwei Gebäudeflügeln gefunden, die zu einem Gutshof gehörten. Brandschichten deuten darauf hin, dass dieser Gutshof im 4. Jahrhundert abbrannte und nicht wieder aufgebaut worden ist.
In der Fundatio monasterii Brunwilarensis (erzählende Quelle eines Brauweiler Mönches gegen Ende des 11. Jahrhunderts) wird auf dem Platz der Bau einer hölzernen Kapelle beschrieben, für deren Altar ein gewisser Brun Reliquien des hl. Medardus aus Soissons mitbrachte. Zeitlich eingeordnet werden könnte der Bau in die Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts, urkundliche Beweise fehlen jedoch. Der Erzählung nach wurden die verfallenen Überreste der Kapelle um 985 wieder aufgefunden. Pfalzgraf Hermann I. ließ eine neue Kapelle aus Stein erbauen und durch den Erzbischof Warin von Köln weihen. Neben der Kapelle wurde ein ebenfalls zerstörtes Hofgut neu aufgebaut. Dieses Anwesen entwickelte sich zum Mittelpunkt einer Besiedlung, die bis heute nicht mehr aufgegeben wurde.
Um 991 bis 993 fand auf dem Hofgut die Hochzeit zwischen dem Pfalzgrafen Ezzo-Ehrenfried, einem Sohn Hermanns I., und Mathilde, einer Tochter von Kaiser Otto II. und Theophanu, statt. Dabei übertrug Ezzo seiner Frau das Gut, diese widmete es in der Medarduskapelle Christus und den Heiligen.
St. Nikolaus, frühere Abteikirche der Abtei Brauweiler
In dieser Zeit war es für den reichen Adel üblich, Klöster und Kirchen bauen zu lassen, um zwischen der Kirche und den Angehörigen des Geschlechts einen lebendigen Zusammenhang herzustellen. Bei einer Wallfahrt nach Rom vor 1024 erhielten Ezzo und Mathilde von Papst Benedikt VIII. Reliquien und ein Kreuz zur Gründung eines Klosters. Als Gründungsort wurde wohl deshalb Brauweiler ausgewählt, weil sich hier Eigenbesitz der pfalzgräflichen Familie konzentrierte und der Platz strategisch günstig an zwei Straßenverbindungen von Köln nach Aachen und Roermond lag.
Der damals bedeutende Reformabt Poppo von Stablo wurde nach Vermittlung durch Erzbischof Pilgrim von Köln mit der Klostergründung beauftragt. Poppo stand dabei für eine Klosterreform, die eine strenge Befolgung der klösterlichen Regeln verlangte und damit im Einklang mit Reichskirche und den Adligen stand. Am 14. April 1024 erreichten sieben von Poppo entsandte Mönche Brauweiler und begannen mit dem Bau des Klosters auf dem höchsten Punkt des Geländes, die Kapelle wurde in den Bau mit einbezogen. Die Kirche selbst wurde etwa 26 Meter nördlich dieser Kapelle errichtet. Noch während der Bauarbeiten starb Pfalzgräfin Mathilde am 20. November 1025 in Aeccheze (vermutlich Echtz bei Düren) und wurde in der Mitte des Kreuzganges vor einem Altar begraben. Kirche und Kloster konnten am 8. November 1028 durch Erzbischof Pilgrim geweiht werden.
Imagine a world before the Internet, where there was hardly any form of communication amongst the crossdressing/transvestite community. All was not completely lost however. One single light in the UK during the 1980's and 90's was Swish Publications's "World of Transvestism" (or WOTV as it became abbreviated). A successor to the much earlier "Tranz" magazine, WOTV was published monthly, inside was an "Aladin's Cave" of letters, photos (black and white), occasionally stories and illustrations. The publishing quality was quite poor and WOTV was not cheap (I think it was £6 when I first started to acquire my own personal copies).The cover usually graced some of the more photogenic girls, many of whom I am pleased to say are on Flickr. In view of their privacy I shall not post those, but I would like to share this cover showing an example of the sorts of illustrations that were often printed.
Stockists were few in fact in my area there was only one newsagent that stocked maybe one or two copies a month, but one could travel to Swish's main store in Greek Street London, to purchase missing copies or "bargain bundles".
Sadly I now longer have the magazines, but I did scan all the covers and most of the images of some of the girls from those magazines. If you did appear and would either like a scan, or have no objection to your cover (or image) being published here, by all means get in touch. The issues I have scans from are below.
Vol 11_10, Vol 12_01, Vol 12_02, Vol 12_03, Vol 12_05, Vol 12_09, Vol 13_01, Vol 13_02, Vol 13_04, Vol 13_08, Vol 13_09, Vol 13_10, Vol 13_11, Vol 13_12, Vol 14_01, Vol 14_02, Vol 14_03, Vol 14_04, Vol 14_05, Vol 14_06, Vol 14_07, Vol 14_08, Vol 14_09, Vol 14_10, Vol 14_11, Vol 14_12, Vol 15_01, Vol 15_02, Vol 15_03, Vol 15_04, Vol 15_05, Vol 15_06, Vol 15_07, Vol 15_08, Vol 15_09, Vol 15_10, Vol 15_12, Vol 16_01, Vol 16_02, Vol 16_03, Vol 16_04, Vol 16_06, Vol 16_11, Vol 17_04, Vol 17_05, Vol 17_07, Vol 18_10, Vol 19_03, Vol 20_06, Vol 21_01, Vol 21_04, Vol 21_05, Vol 21_12, Vol 22_02.
DISCLAIMER: I am not the copyright owner of the image and my publication on flickr is not intended to infringe any such copyright. I seek to make no financial gain from the reproduction. If you are the original copyright owner and wish the image to be removed, please contact myself.
The waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833
Waterbuck are rather sedentary in nature. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years, but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. Predominantly a grazer, the waterbuck is mostly found on grassland.
The waterbuck is of a robust build. The shaggy coat is reddish brown to grey, and becomes progressively darker with age. Males are darker than females. Though apparently thick, the hair is sparse on the coat. The hair on the neck is, however, long and shaggy. When excited, the skin of the waterbuck secretes a greasy substance with the odour of musk, giving it the name "greasy kob". The odor of this is so unpleasant that it repels predators. This secretion also assists in water-proofing the body when the animal dives into water. The facial features include a white muzzle and light eyebrows and lighter insides of the ears. There is a cream-coloured patch (called "bib") on the throat. Waterbuck are characterised by a long neck and short, strong and black legs.
The long, spiral horns curve backward, then forward. Found only on males, the horns range from 55 to 99 cm (22 to 39 in) in length. To some extent, the length of the horns is related to the bull's age. A rudimentary horn in the form of a bone lump may be found on the skulls of females.
In 1931, industrialist and philanthropist Charles Stewart Mott purchased assets near Clewiston, Florida from a 1920s bankrupt sugarcane company, Southern Sugar Company, to form the United States Sugar Corporation. In the 1940s, U.S. Sugar was charged with slavery violation.
Mott later transferred shares to his Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. In 1969 with a law passed limiting private family foundations could hold of a corporation, the foundation gave a large number of shares to the Mott Children's Health Center, a Flint charitable medical organization founded in 1939, to be below the 35% limit.
In 1962, the company opened the Bryant Sugar House, which at the time was the largest and most advanced sugarcane processing mill in the world. The mill had a capacity of 5,000 tons of sugarcane per day.
After C.S. Mott died in 1973, C.S. Harding Mott, his son, took over as chairman of the corporation. With sugar at 60 cents a pound in the 1970s and purchasers switching to corn syrup, the company expanded into other areas of farming including cattle, citrus and vegetables. In 1980, U.S. acquired South Bay Growers. South Bay Growers produced 13% of the US's leafy vegetables growing lettuce, celery and others. In late 1985, U.S. Sugar began planting orange trees. In 1983, the company formed an Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in an attempt to go private. U.S. Sugar borrowed millions in long-term debt to create the ESOP. Some shareholders did not sell out believing the price per share to be too low triggering a class action law suit.
The ESOP and Mott group of owners in October 1987 offered $80 per share for the other 110,000 voting shares held by 500 public shareholders. This took the company private and reduced its reporting costs.
Most of South Bay Growers was closed down on September 4, 1994 after four out of five prior years of losses including 10 million in 1994. South Bay's salad processing plant with customers like McDonald's and Burger King and 146 employees would continue to operate while seeking new ownership.
Big sugar moved in the early 1990s to mechanical cane harvesters. The displaced cane field workers filed a class action lawsuit in which the company paid $5 million plus in 1998. In 2004, U.S. Sugar closed a mill and laid off workers. Its Bryant mill was closed in 2007.
In February 2008, the corporation, CEO Robert Buker, Chairman William S. White and his family and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation were sued by employees claiming that they were not getting full value for the ESOP stock given two bids for the company stock for amounts more than ESOP redemption were offered by outside parties. Employees alleged that the Gaylor Lawrence family agro-conglomerate offered $293 per share for the company twice, once in August 2005 and in January 2007. Supposedly US Sugar president was terminated and paid hush money to hide the offer. At the time, share redemption was from $193 to $200.
On 24 June 2008, Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist, announced the state was in negotiations to buy 187,000 acres (760 km2) of land and all of its manufacturing and production facilities for an estimated $1.7 billion from the company as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Under the proposals, the company would continue to farm the land for the next six years and convert the land back to its original natural marshland state. In November 2008, the agreement was revised to offer $1.34 billion, allowing sugar mills in Clewiston to remain in production. Critics of the revised plan say that it ensures sugarcane will be grown in the Everglades for at least another decade.
In October 2010 the company sold 26,800 acres of land to the South Florida Water Management District for the "River of Grass" Restoration Project.
U.S. Sugar powers its facilities with renewable resources – the residual sugarcane fiber after juice is extracted, known as bagasse. Bagasse is a clean, fibrous biofuel that results from the sugarcane extraction process. Every ton of bagasse powers the equivalent of 50 gallons of fuel oil.
A boiler produces steam during the milling process by burning bagasse. Steam is co-generated into electricity on-site. In essence, each year's cane crop provides power for both the sugar factory and U.S. Sugar's refinery operations.
U.S. Sugar's farmers have been integral to the success of sending cleaner water to the Everglades since 1994. The company, along with other Glades-area farmers, worked with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) to develop soil and water cleansing techniques called best management practices (BMPs). These techniques include holding farm runoff on company property, laser leveling fields, and the growth of foliage along drainage canals bordering farms to help absorb nutrients. The BMP program has helped to yield tremendous success. According to the South Florida Management District, in 2017, Everglades Agricultural Area farmers achieved a 70 percent annual reduction in phosphorus – nearly three times higher than the 25 percent required by the 1994 Everglades Forever Act. Additionally, more than 95 percent of the Everglades is meeting the stringent 10 parts per billion clean water standard for phosphorus.
Despite claims made by environmental activists over air quality, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Glades communities such as Clewiston enjoy some of the cleanest air quality in the state of Florida. In its rankings, the foundation lists Hendry County in the lower third of counties experiencing the worst incidences of particulate matter in the air.
According to the Florida Sugarcane League, sugarcane farming has a $3.2 billion impact and supports more than 12,500 jobs. With more than 2,500 employees, U.S. Sugar is one of the "largest agribusiness employers in the Everglades region."
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
Red-figure terracotta rhyton in the form of a ram's head, with touches of white paint. The ram's head is black, the horns left in the color of the clay and marked with red transverse lines; the cornea of the eyes are yellow with black spots, and the pupils black. Around the lip of the cup is egg-molding; on either side of the design are palmettes.
On the cuff, a youthful Dionysos is seated on a cushion and wearing a white fillet, the ends hanging down, a wreath, and a himation over his thighs. In the crook of his left arm is an ivy-topped thyrsos and at his right side is a kottabos-stand, to which is attached a white taenia (ribbon). Before him is a dancing satyr, with his left hand raised.
Greek, made in Apulia (part of Magna Graecia, the Greek colonies in Italy), ca. 370-350 BCE. Attributed to the Iliupersis Painter.
Height: 19.05 cm (7.5 in.)
British Museum, London (1846,0629.47)