View allAll Photos Tagged Freezing-Temperatures
From Jonathan Kaiman, John Lee and Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2012:
Reporting from Beijing and Los Angeles— Apple Inc. halted sales of the iPhone 4S at its retail stores in mainland China after a massive crowd waiting outside its Beijing flagship turned unruly, pelting the windows with eggs, hitting a mall employee and refusing police orders to leave.
It was the first day of sales in China for Apple's latest smartphone, and throngs of hopeful shoppers — many of them migrant workers who had been hired by scalpers to purchase the phones for later sale on the gray market — had waited overnight in freezing temperatures.
The size of the crowd, estimated to be about 2,000 people, alarmed police officials, who asked Apple not to open the store as planned Friday morning out of safety concerns.
"To ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being," Apple said in a statement.
The incident underscored the immense popularity of the Apple brand in China, which has one of the world's fastest-growing markets for mobile phones and personal computers. Less than a year ago, fights broke out and a glass door was shattered at the same Beijing store when the iPad 2 was released.
Apple's four other official stores in mainland China — one other in Beijing and three in Shanghai — did open as scheduled and quickly sold out of all iPhone 4S models, the company said. The phone is still available through the Apple website, service provider China Unicom and other authorized resellers.
People started converging Thursday outside the Apple store in one of Beijing's most popular high-end malls in the city's Sanlitun district. Some brought sleeping bags and said they were willing to pay $790 to $1,070 for the device. Tensions grew overnight and through the early morning as prospective buyers angled for positions near the front door and fights broke out between bands of migrant workers.
"Ninety percent of the people here are scalpers," said a man surnamed Jin, who said friends recruited him to stand in line.
Just before the store was set to open, a guard announced through a megaphone that the coveted phone would not be sold. A brief moment of disbelieving silence was then broken by loud expletives and shouts of "Apple lied to us!" and "Open the door!"
Soon afterward, a man arrived with a bag of eggs, which he began handing out to the crowd. A space cleared, and moments later, gooey yolk dripped down the store's glass facade.
When the mall's property manager tried to intervene, a gang of men chased after him.
"I'm not an Apple employee, I'm a mall manager!" he shouted while trying to block punches and kicks.
Last week, when Apple announced that it would be releasing the iPhone 4S in China, Chief Executive Tim Cook said that "customer response to our products in China has been off the charts."
The Cupertino, Calif., company said in October that sales in China rose to $13 billion, from $3 billion, for the fiscal year ended Sept. 24. Apple's five official stores in China generate more revenue on average than any other Apple stores in the world, the company said last year.
For many upwardly mobile urbanites, Apple is a must-have device. In June, a 17-year-old high school student reportedly sold a kidney to buy an iPad 2. And, in September, a 16-year-old girl was killed in a fight with her mother over the right to buy an Apple computer.
Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based technology consultant, said the mobs were a result of Apple delaying products and limiting supplies to create a frenzy of demand.
"It's a conscious marketing strategy by Apple, and it's going to cause a problem because things are ridiculously out of control," he said. "Nobody can be happy with Apple today in Beijing."
Because the stores limit customers' purchases, scalpers organize large groups to swarm product releases, hoping to resell the products at a cut above retail. Even when a major release is not impending, flocks of men hawking iPhones and iPads have become a regular sight outside China's authorized Apple retailers.
Buyers were reportedly recruited to line up at a Shanghai store Friday as well, with promises of a free breakfast and $15.
One member of the Beijing crowd Friday, a film extra, said he was offered about $20 to wait overnight for the phone. He said scalpers picked up hundreds like him in buses outside film studios where extras commonly work.
"After Apple said they were not selling the iPhones today, no organizers paid their temporary workers," said the man, who declined to give his name.
Another man wearing a puffy red jacket said he had organized 500 buyers to wait overnight for the release. That was more than a rival group, he said.
"They have a lot of people, but we have more," said the man, who also declined to give his name. "They will be overwhelmed."
He never got his chance. By 9 a.m., two hours after the store was supposed to open, police had managed to disperse the crowd and clear the square, in some cases lifting shoppers by their arms and legs and carrying them away from the store.
A 60-year-old woman who gave only her surname, Chen, said Friday's melee ruined her plans to give her son the latest iPhone for his birthday.
"There are so many people, and it's so cold, and now they say they won't sell us the phone," she said. "This is just so, so wrong."
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ESA’s Mars Express radar team recently made an exciting announcement: data from their instrument points to a pond of liquid water buried about 1.5 km below the icy south polar ice of Mars.
Between 2012 and 2015 Mars Express made repeated passes over the 200 km wide study region in Planum Australe, bouncing radio waves through the planet’s surface and recording the properties of the reflected signal with its Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, MARSIS.
The radar ‘footprints’ on the surface are represented in the image and are colour-coded corresponding to the ‘power’ of the signal reflected from features below the surface. The brightest reflections are coloured in blue, with data from multiple overlapping orbits defining a 20 km-wide zone corresponding to the triangular shaped patch to the right of centre in this image.
Directly below this patch, under repeating layers of ice and dust at a depth of 1.5 km, is a base layer that has radar properties corresponding to liquid water. Despite the below-freezing temperatures on Mars, it can be kept liquid by the presence of salts, and it may be heavily laden with water-saturated sediments.
Water once flowed freely on the Red Planet’s surface, but it is not stable today. Discovering liquid water buried underground is essential for understanding the evolution of Mars, the history of water on our neighbour planet, and its habitability.
Find out more about this discovery.
Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/ASI/Univ. Rome; R. Orosei et al 2018
Euromaidan (Ukrainian: ??????????, Yevromaidan, literally "Eurosquare") is a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on the night of 21 November 2013 with public protests demanding closer European integration and culminated in a coup d'etat of the reigning Ukrainian government. The scope of the protests expanded, with many calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government. Many protesters joined because of the violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November and "a will to change life in Ukraine". By 25 January 2014, the protests had been fueled by the perception of "widespread government corruption", "abuse of power", and "violation of human rights in Ukraine".
The demonstrations began on the night of 21 November 2013, when protests erupted in the capital, Kiev, after the Ukrainian government suspended preparations for signing an Association Agreement and a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, in order to seek closer economic relations with Russia. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov had asked for 20 Billion Euros (US$27) billion in loans and aid. The EU and Russia both offered Ukraine the possibility of substantial loans. Russia also offered Ukraine cheaper gas prices. On 24 November 2013, first clashes between protesters and police began. Protesters strived to break cordon. Police used tear gas and batons, protesters also used tear gas and some fire crackers (according to the police, protesters were the first to use them). After a few days of demonstrations an increasing number of university students joined the protests. The Euromaidan has been repeatedly characterised as an event of major political symbolism for the European Union itself, particularly as
"the largest ever pro-European rally in history".
The protests are ongoing despite heavy police presence, regularly sub-freezing temperatures, and snow. Escalating violence from government forces in the early morning of 30 November caused the level of protests to rise, with 400,000–800,000 protesters demonstrating in Kiev on the weekends of 1 December and 8 December. In the weeks since, protest attendance has fluctuated from 50,000 to 200,000 during organised rallies. Violent riots took place 1 December and 19 January through 25 in response to police brutality and government repression. Since 23 January several Western Ukrainian Oblast (province) Governor buildings and regional councils have been occupied in a revolt by Euromaidan activists. In the Russophone cities of Zaporizhzhya, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk, protesters also tried to take over their local government building, and have been met with considerable force from both police and government supporters.
According to journalist Lecia Bushak writing in the 18 February 2014 issue of Newsweek magazine, EuroMaidan has grown into something far bigger than just an angry response to the fallen-through EU deal. It's now about ousting Yanukovych and his corrupt government; guiding Ukraine away from its 200-year-long, deeply intertwined and painful relationship with Russia; and standing up for basic human rights to protest, speak and think freely and to act peacefully without the threat of punishment.
A turning point came in late-February, when enough members of the president's party fled or defected to lose their majority in the parliament leaving the opposition large enough to form the necessary quorum. This allowed parliament to pass a series of laws that removed police from Kiev, canceled anti-protest operations, restored the 2004 constitution, freed political detainees, and allegedly impeached the president. Yanukovych then fled to Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv, refusing to recognise the parliament's decisions. The parliament has assigned early elections for May 2014.
A 35 man (plus guides) trip to the Ukraine exploring Chernobyl, the village, Duga 3, Pripyat and Kiev including Maidan (Independence Square) and observing the peaceful protests underway.
Some new faces, some old, made new friends and generally we were in our elements.
Rhetorical question but did we have a blast? You bet!
Amazing group, top guys. Till the next time!
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Here’s another sunset I shot at this years Oregon State Fair while making my way to my car. I remember how hot it was and wishing for freezing temperatures to bring some relief. Now that the cold of winter has arrived and that dreaded yearly holiday is here all I can think about is 95 to 100 degree days and NOT having to get together with my relatives. BAH!!!! tttthhhhrrrrpppppppp..........
Here is the other sunset I shot from the same day: www.flickr.com/photos/31246066@N04/6129352600
Sunrise@Silver Lake...we were there at 6 o'clock in the morning when there was freezing temperature..our hands were almost freezed with almost no sensation...the water was not still..sad for us..:(
exposure blending in Photomatix and adjusted contrast, sharpness in Lightroom..
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French Journal Day 75 (Travel Diary Day 155)
Twas as dark as the pit at 6:00am this morning as we readied ourselves for the drive up the Pyrenees. Unfortunately we only had about 4 hours for the round trip, and since no-one was around to give us advice on good spots for shooting, we eventually settled on a view-point called Col d’Aspin, an hour drive from our place.
Skirting along the winding ro
ads, we came to a petrol station which was closed. It’s automated credit card pump was available so we pulled in. Under the cover of darkness, in the middle of nowhere, and in freezing temperatures a scantily clad young lass approached me while I was at the pump. She asked me if I was going to a particular town that we’d already passed about 5 miles back. She was looking for a ride, I’d assumed.
I apologised and said we were headed in the opposite direction. In my innocent mind I thought ‘poor girl, walking all that way in these conditions’. When I got into the car and explained the exchange to Rachel. She rather cynically said ‘Are you sure she wasn’t a prostitute?’
I think Rachel got a tinge of jealousy, although she wouldn’t admit it.
She may have been a prostitute but I prefer to think that she saw a handsome fella with a flash Ford Mondeo, sporting a red frilly scarf (I borrowed it from the woman who we are house sitting for), and thought ‘Wow, I wonder if this sexy, kind, and well-dressed man would drive me to work’.
Anyway, the drive was lovely and although our view wasn’t the most spectacular due to lack of planning, I did get some shots of the beautiful snow-capped mountains that have been staring at us for the past 2 days.
The rest of the day was glorious. It was 20C. We ate lunch in the garden and then visited our elderly neighbours who were fantastic. Being so close to Spain, the people here tend to roll their ‘Rs’ instead of the French guttural ‘R’. It’s actually a lovely accent, and quite clear to my untrained ears.
They are the key-bearers to the church next door. We borrowed the keys and spent a few minutes in the 250 year-old establishment taking pictures (see below).
Rachel even forced me to go out for a run. It’s such a rewarding feeling pounding the country roads and paths to the beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees.
Today’s Photo – l’Eglise
This is the church that the house is attached to.
Many HDRists have said it before, and I’m going to repeat it here – for me, Photomatix is an important step in the HDR process but it is only the beginning. In fact, as you can see below (see blog post for before & After photo - strange-lands.com/daily/2012/12/16/leglise/
), my post-photomatix images are as flat as humanly possible (with the exception of the blown-out light to the left). The last thing I try to achieve in Photomatix is contrast and colourisation. That’s for photoshop and various plugins.
Here I applied various Nik filters in Color Efex, including Detail Extractor, Glamour Glow & a Vignette. I’m very selective about the Detail Extractor. I used it for the wood grain and the details of the window arches to the left mainly.
Obviously this tree still made chlorophyll in autumn even after last night freezing temperature so the leaves have not exposed other pigments that show the typical yellow or red colours. Below, more typical yellow on the ground….
I only took one opportunity to get out to the Gorge during this recent cold snap, but I tried to make the most of it. In truth I was not all that excited about photographing frozen waterfalls, or at least not the same ones I have done year in and year out for the last several years. I AM always interested in being out in these conditions though, that doesn't change. There is a beautiful harshness in the unforgiving state of below-freezing temperatures.
Anyway, so I made a quick trip out and hiked the trail up to Upper McCord Creek Falls and enjoyed it immensely. I had to worm my way through an upside down forest of over-sized icicles at one point, which was exhilarating, not due to much danger but mostly the challenge of not disturbing this delicate phenomenon. I took along a borrowed Fuji 6x17 and photographically-speaking that was enough of a change to make the trip interesting from that perspective too.
I had to hurry back down to keep Thanksgiving obligations but I did stop at Horsetail long enough to put together this image with the Fuji. Sometimes I really have to go hunting for the photos, other times they are just waiting there right in front of me. This was one of the latter. I guess I am starting to think more and more like a panoramic camera these days.
On a film geek note, this film was Kodak BW400CN. Never been too fond of that film. Nothing against it, there were just always better films to use. Now I understand it is pretty much discontinued, and somehow I ended up with a roll in my camera bag. So I figured, why not use it in the camera that only gets four shots a roll? Perfect! Goodness knows there is no telling just how long it has been kicking around in my bag of film too, at least a year and probably several. But this is a straight scan from the film, so I would say it performed pretty admirably.
(Doesn't mean I am going to go out of my way to shoot anymore of it though :-p)
Another failed Ice Bucket Challenge. Learn from Elsa and don't try this challenge in below freezing temperatures.
I REALLY wanted to write a "BONK!" sound effect on the drawing, but decided it was to much :)
pencil, prismacolor, white acrylic, cellphone photo
It was pretty cold in the attic and I really have to commend Dakota, despite the freezing temperatures she was able to pose and get the photo done.
Eight years ago, I made my first trip to Patagonia, at which time I vowed to return. Earlier this month, I finally made it back to the southern most tip of South America.
I rented a car and made my way across over a thousand kilometers between both Chile and Argentina. I spent several nights in three different National Parks, and put many more kilometers on my hiking shoes.
The weather down here is unpredictable at best. Fierce winds, rain, snow, freezing temperatures.... I experienced all of that. To top it off, the sun rose at 5:00 AM and did not set until 10:00 PM. Many more hours to explore :-)
I love this area. I think it is one the most beautiful landscapes on earth. It is also relatively untouched by humans, and still feels truly wild.
This first image is from Torres Del Paine. I bushwacked my way to this spot, only to find out that these puffy green bushes are actually 100% thorns!
A daffodil in our garden. We had freezing temperatures last night; I haven't yet gone outside to check the flowers.
*# indicates a photo
Day 18
That was one hell of a night to go without socks, once the clouds cleared the temperature dropped below freezing. All the puddles from yesterdays rain are frozen and so is all the mud. There is a thin layer of ice inside my tent from condensation and outside my tent too from dew. My water bottles are also frozen.
When I woke up, before venturing out side I layered up to stay warm. I grabbed my camera gear and headed outside. Carl was still sleeping in his tent. I walked over to the spot I had seen yesterday and waited for the sun to illuminate the ridge. The melt-water pond was not completely frozen, it was only frozen around the edges. As I waited I kept moving to stay warm. The ice ringing the pond was growing as I watched and by the time the first rays of morning light touched the ridgeline the ice had doubled in size.
*1 By the time I had finished photographing it had doubled again. I went back to the tents, by now the entire west side of the pass was illuminated. Carl was now up and taking his own photos. I boiled water for tea and offered him some. He accepted.
The sunlight finally reached our tents and two large rocks next to them. Both of us lied out our wet, frozen clothes on one of the rocks to dry them out and on the other large rock we draped the rain flies from our tents to defrost and dry.
It was at this point that I reached into my pack to get my toilet paper and just like my socks last night, it too was wet. I had planned on staying in six more days, but if my waterproof pack cover isn't working and my stuff is getting wet and if we get more storms, I can't stay in longer. I need to exit and get a new pack cover before continuing. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving all this weather, the rain, clouds, lighting and hail, I want more but I cant have my stuff getting wet, especially my socks and toilet paper, both of which are essential. (I do keep my TP in a ziplock bag, but it must have developed a hole)
Carl is exiting toady at Pine Creek. I told him my situation, and asked if I could hike out with him and get a ride to whatever town he was headed to.
He said that would be fine and that he was headed to Mammoth Lakes, exactly where I needed to go, so that was perfect. He then handed me some of his toilet paper.
Once our tents were dry, and our clothes were as good as they were going to get, we packed up and headed back to the scree slope between our camping area and the tarn we sheltered at yesterday. *2 We climbed steeply up to the top, following a barely visible path, that I had not noticed before, that was covered in patches of hail from the previous day's storms.
At the top the terrain leveled out and we hiked through the bed of a dried up tarn.
He pointed to a peak off in the distance, "There's Mt. Julius Caesar (13199), and that saddle just this side is Italy Pass, that's where we're headed."
We hiked a ways further and the terrain sloped down on our left and rose up to a ridge on the right. Here we stopped to examine the terrain and plan the best route over large talus blocks and multiple snow fields. Carl pointed out a "bench" that contoured the ridgeline and led directly to Italy Pass. "That looks like the best route, what do you think?" He said, looking at me.
"Yeah, looks good." I replied.
We started to make our way towards it. *3 Ahead of us lay a snow field that covered the slope and we would need to cross it. It's glistening, sculpted surface was a hard crust from the freezing temperatures last night, not yet softened up by the warmth of the sun today. One slip and nothing would stop you until you hit the talus below. He went first, carving each footstep into the snow before taking the next, while using his trekking poles to steady himself. I followed, stepping where he stepped. Slowly we worked our way across. Once we reached the other side we aimed for the bench.
We rock hopped over talus, crossed a few more snow fields. Then we came to an area of slabs, multiple trickles of water flowed out of the cracks that crisscrossed them, making them just as slippery as the snow fields. Then after that was behind us more talus awaited us.
Finally we reached Italy Pass (12400), where we stopped for a break. To the east lay Granite Park, two blue lakes dominated the the landscape, a ridge rising beyond them. We could see where yesterdays storms had dumped their hail, some mountainsides had a dusting of white while others did not.
Carl took a chocolate bar out of his pack, broke a piece of it off and handed it to me, “I was saving this for this moment, a sort of... victory snack.”
“Thank you,” I said sticking it in my mouth, “Ooo super dark and bitter, my favorite.”
“Not many People like their chocolate this dark,” he said, “Nice to see someone else appreciates it as much as me.”
We began hiking down the east side of the pass into Granite Park. Before we got too far we came across another backpacker headed up. He asked, “How's the terrain on the west side going down to the lake, I hear its treacherous?”
“Lake Italy?” I asked
“Yeah.”
Carl explained, “We came form Bear Lakes, so I cant say. But there is lots of talus.”
We talked with him a bit longer, then continued on.
Granite park was not what either of us expected from the name. We both were expecting lots and lots of slabs, but it was talus and boulder fields, just like everywhere else. As we continued the terrain changed into grass covered meadows with meandering creeks snaking through them. The trail followed their edge. The creek would then drop by waterfall and cascade into another meadow, while the trail switch-backed down. There must have been at least five levels to the meadows and waterfalls. We both added these meadows to our list of places to come back to.
The meadowlands turned into forest and we eventually reached Honeymoon lake (10435) and the trail junction just below it. If I had to estimate the time, I would say we reached here around 1:30 or 2:00 and so far not a single cloud was to be seen. I might have been able to have stayed in and continued instead of exiting, but I’d rather be safe than sorry, plus my toilet paper is still soggy. We turned left and continued downhill to Upper Pine Lake then on to Lower Pine Lake (9942). After that the forest ended and there was a long downhill stretch of unshaded trail that hugged the contour of the mountain as it descended and switch-backed the last 2062 ft to the trailhead. That particular stretch of trail seemed annoyingly long. Carl's pack was significantly lighter than mine, as he had eaten all his food, I still had about 6 days worth of food left. After about 10 miles of hiking there was about 2 miles left, even though it was all down hill from here, the weight of my pack was starting to slow me down. We stopped for a long break at the now closed Brownstone Mine. Then continued and reached a creek gushing from a spring where we filled up on desperately needed water. After that we reached the end of the unshaded section, as a thick forest closed in around the trail. Just beyond the forest was the parking lot (7880) at Pine Creek trailhead. Carl was already there waiting for me.
There was no cell service at the parking lot so he drove down to the tiny community of Rovana where he pulled over and we both made numerous phone calls to friends and family informing them we were still alive. I have a GPS beacon that updates my positions on a map every few minutes so friends and family can track my progress, it also has an S.O.S. button if I need search and rescue. It does not show me anything except a flashing green light when it is transmitting. Every one I called had gotten worried when I deviated from my planed route, so I had to reassure everyone that I was fine, but a failing pack cover and wet toilet paper made me have to change plans. (All of my navigating on this journey has been done with only a topographical map and matching that with the terrain around me. I have no compass and the GPS beacon I have does nothing to help me navigate, it is purely for the piece of mind of those back home, and mine if I screw up bad enough to need an extraction.) After the reconnection with the world, we headed to Mammoth Lakes.
Once we reached town Carl asked me, “Before I drop you off I'm assuming you'd want to get some food?”
“Yes please” I answered.
We stopped at his favorite place, Mammoth Tavern. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a side of sweet potato fries, and I asked for a bottle of hot sauce. The burger was cooked rare, so rare that the middle was almost raw and was oozing. It was the best damn burger I've ever had. After dinner he drove me over to the mammoth RV park. I payed for a campground. Then both of us went to the pool and soaked in the jacuzzi until the pool closed. Then I thanked him and we went our separate ways.
I was on trail for six day, it was suppose to be 12-13 days, it stormed for four of the six days, today not a single cloud anywhere in the sky.
....................
When my grandparents met me six days ago in Bishop and gave me a ride to the trailhead at North Lake, they offered to give me a ride to Mammoth instead so I wouldn’t have to hike there. My response was “Why?” That would defeat the purpose of why I came out here; to hike among the sculpted temples of granite, the low forested cathedrals of the river valleys and to swim in the alpine lakes (or at least attempt to, most have been to cold), to breathe the cleanest air and sleep under the watchful gaze of innumerable stars, to bask in the silence and solitude of this vast wilderness and of course to bear witness to unmatched landscapes and vistas and to capture those great views in photographs. There is no other place I'd rather be and nothing else I’d rather be doing.
...
A late winter thaw at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island, NY. A bit of sun and slightly above freezing temperatures tease the coming of Spring. via 500px ift.tt/2lbuOOl
I ask your indulgence twice.
First, I hope you will read this...please indulge me.
Second, an explanation of this photo needs your indulgence as well.
This has been a pretty bad year. From early spring the pandemic has dramatically limited...well...almost everything. My usual three-seasons daily driver, seen above, has remained parked and covered. Then, to add to the awfulness, on August 10 we had the almost armageddon-like inland hurricane -- derecho -- the 140mph winds of which destroyed so very much in my city. Driving a low-slung super sports car like this was LITERALLY impossible.
By my birthday, mid-October, we had already had three snowfalls, including one substantial one. These cars are not winter driving cars...nor are they much fun in the cold; we've already had too many sub-freezing temperatures.
So today...US election day...we got 'Indian Summer'. Temps into the 70s. Blue sky, bright sunshine. Who could resist taking the car out. Plus, by this date there are still likely to be some migrating waterfowl visiting the lake, so there I went, and had to take the car, top dropped.
Finally, over the last months we've been bombarded to the point of mania by all of the political advertisements and shenanigans. Getting out and escaping...first to the lake, and then on the road a bit...best medicine possible.
This weather is supposed to stay around for some days. Here's hoping. And I hope you enjoy the photo of of one my passions.
While most of the country is mired sub freezing temperatures and a weekend snow storm is predicted for my old stomping grounds in the northeast, I am glad to report that it is still bikini weather down here in the tropics! ( yes I know it's not a bikini but rather a tankini, as I don't do bikinis........yet!)
Entitled: Men Laden With Tea Sichuan Sheng China JUL [1908] EH Wilson [RESTORED] Very little retouching except for a few scratches and spots. Minor contrast and sepia tone added. The original resides in Harvard University Library's permanent collection, and can be found using their Visual Information Access (VIA) Search System by using the title.
Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson was an explorer botanist who traveled extensively to the far east between 1899 and 1918, collecting seed specimens and recording with both journals and camera. About sixty Asian plant species bear his name. One of his most famous photographs (above) has repeatedly been mistakenly attributed to another legendary botanist (Joseph Rock) who was also working in Asia.
From Wilson's personal notations (with misspellings as is):
"Men laden with 'Brick Tea' for Thibet. One man's load weighs 317 lbs. Avoird. The other's 298 lbs. Avoird.!! Men carry this tea as far as Tachien lu accomplishing about 6 miles per day over vile roads, 5000 ft."
I suspect that Wilson made a mistake; either miscalculating a conversion from Chinese Imperial to European weight measure, or that he believed an inflated figure offered him by a less than honest native. However, others purportedly shared the same beliefs that some porters did in fact, carry upwards of 300 pound loads. In a rare 2003 interview with several retired former porters, still alive and in their 80's. They stated that while the average was really more between 60-110 Kg; they acknowledged that some (only the very strongest) could shoulder a superhuman 150 Kg load; someone like Giant Chang Woo Gow, or one of his kin, perhaps? An excerpt about that interview:
"The Burden of Human Portage
As recently as the first decades of the 20th century, much of the tea transported by the ancient Tea-Horse Road was carried not by mule caravan, but by human porters, giving real substance to the once widely-employed designation ‘coolie’, a term thought to have been derived from the Chinese kuli or ‘bitter labour’. This was particularly true of smaller tracks and trails leading from remote tea-picking areas to the arterial Tea-Horse routes, both in Yunnan and in Sichuan. Perhaps because this human portage played a less economically significant role than the large – sometimes huge – yak, pony and mule caravans, and perhaps because there is little or no romance attached to the piteous sight of over-burdened, inadequately-clad and under-nourished porters hauling themselves and their massive loads across muddy valleys and freezing mountain passes, less information is available to us concerning tea porters than about tea caravans.
Fortunately some black-and-white images of these incredibly wiry, tough, hard-bitten men have come down to us from Sichuan, as well as at least one 150-year-old French-made lithograph from Yunnan, in addition to some rare oral accounts describing the immense difficulties these hardy wretches had to face. In the latter category, as recently as 2003 China Daily carried an interview with four former tea porters in Ganxipo Village, near Tianquan County to the southwest of Ya’an. Now in their 80s, these veterans recall hard times before the completion of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in 1954 when they would carry almost impossibly heavy loads of Sichuan Pu’er tea over a narrow mountain trail across the freezing heights of Erlang Shan (‘Two Wolves Mountain’) to Luding and onwards, across the Dadu River, to the tea distribution centre at Kangding.
According to 81-year-old former tea porter Li Zhongquan, tea was carried by human portage all the way from Tianquan County to Kangding, a distance of 180km (112 miles) each way on narrow mountain tracks, much of the way at dangerously high altitudes in freezing temperatures. According to Li, an able-bodied porter would carry 10 to 12 packs of tea, each weighing between 6 and 9 kg. To this had to be added 7 to 8 kg of grain for sustenance en route, as well as ‘five or six pairs of homemade straw sandals to change on the way’. The strongest porters could carry 15 packs of tea, making a total load of around 150 kg (330 imperial pounds). ‘The grain lasted no longer than half the journey’, Li remembered, ‘and you had to replenish your food supply at your own expense’. As for the multiple pairs of straw sandals: ‘these would be worn out quickly, as the mountain path was extremely rough’.
To make the portage of such heavy loads possible, and to help guard against the ever-present danger of overbalancing and falling into one of the many deep ravines skirted by the narrow mountain trail, tea porters carried iron-tipped T-shaped walking sticks both to assist in struggling over the steep, rocky path, and to rest the load on, without taking it off their backs, when they paused for breath. A surviving section of the old stone path near Ganxipo Village bears testament to the almost unimaginable difficulties faced by the tea porters in the past; small holes dot the stone slabs of the path at regular intervals of a pace or so, indicating where, over centuries and perhaps even millennia, the porters struck the rock with their iron-tipped sticks as they made their laborious way to and from Kangding.
It is possible to identify the T-shaped walking-and-support sticks used by the tea porters in black and white photographs from a century or more ago, including one taken by the American explorer and botanist E.H. Wilson, who helpfully appends the information: ‘Western Szechuan; men laden with “brick tea” for Thibet. One man's load weighs 317 lbs [144 kilos], the other's 298 lbs [135 kilos]. Men carry this tea as far as Tachien-lu [Kangding] accomplishing about six miles per day over vile roads. Altitude 5,000 ft [1,500m] July 30, 1908’.
For the tea porters of Ganxipo Village, the hardest part of their journey was the climb over Erlang Shan. The precipitous mountain trail was so narrow that it was only wide enough for one person to pass at a time. According to Li Zhongquan: ‘one misstep, and you were gone – we had our sandals soled with iron to get over the mountain’. Li also remembers when: ‘one of us was sick and fell dead on the mountain top in winter. We had to leave him there until the snow thawed in spring, when we carried the body down home’. The porters carried tea from Tianquan to Kangding, and returned with loads of medicinal herbs (especially Cordyceps sinensis of Chinese caterpillar fungus), musk, wool, horn and other Tibetan products. The four porters interviewed in China Daily did not know for sure when the tea portage trade had started in Ganxipo, but Li was certain that ‘my grandpa’s grandpa was a porter as well,’ and that the whole village had offered porter services for generations."
Source: www.cpamedia.com/trade-routes...l-perspective/
Just walking for a few kilometers on a flat surface with 40 Kg worth of material on your back, I can attest is already exhausting. To imagine tripling that weight, walk for over 180 kilometers over mountain trails, and breathe rarefied air? I wouldn't say it's downright impossible, but highly improbable. I too, would agree that it was likely only exceptions rather than the rule.
JetBlue Airbus A320 N630JB.
Spotting session at the TWA Hotel in JFK. Feb 14 2020. Cold winter day but with beautiful light. I couldn't feel my feet after a couple of hours of being outside taking pictures during freezing temperatures.
I went out to sea shore on my lunch hour and took these with my mobile phone. Freezing temperatures and fog made the landscape a bit surreal.
Serendipity! Not sure how this happened, it wasn't intentional; but pretty cool nevertheless. I know I tripped the shutter accidentally before moving the camera and a guess the lens zoomed during the exposure (1/4 sec.). This was after a significant snowfall and sub-freezing temperature at McCormick's Creek State Park, Owen County, Indiana.
On a mild day (temp 52 degrees F.) I was luxuriating in walking barefoot on the grass/ground cover in the backyard of our new house. (This was the first time in 11 years that I could walk barefoot on the grass. In Arizona, where we moved from, there is no grass, but there are sharp rocks, cacti, thorns, and countless species of ants, including fire ants, not to mention the fiery temperature of the ground itself in summertime.) I was surprised to come upon this dandelion, the only one. It's a survivor of several nights of sub-freezing temperatures and snow. Tenacious, and seems to be thriving. Inspiring to me.
In our part of Oregon we've certainly been getting our fair share of freezing temperatures and snow this year. This morning's first light on our deck pulled me outside from my warm coffee. Thanks for looking.
[45:52]
Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone
Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?
Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?
It's only half past the point of oblivion
The hourglass on the table, the walk before the run
The breath before the kiss, and the fear before the flames
Have you ever felt this way?
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It's been a week filled with emotions for me. It really has not been the best week of the 45 we've had so far; actually I'd say of 2013 this week has been the roughest.
Luckily Tuesday the weather warmed up and I was able to go out and shoot this week's portrait, I'd had this shot in mind and needed the dress to make it work but was dreading standing outside in freezing temperatures with bare legs so I was content that we were above zero when I went out to shoot.
Hope you've all had a good week.
+An alternate in the comments
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Shad in shallow water are susceptible to huge die-offs when the water gets cold, even if the water doesn't freeze. After a fewl days of freezing temperatures at night, dead fish were visible in many places, which attracted a large number of herons and egrets. Even species that do not normally feed on fish ( like coots and Mallards) were taking part in the bonanza marsh at T&P HIll, , White Rock P ark, Dallas, Texas, 13 January 2025
It may look like a long exposure but it is not.
The milky lakes of Northern Ontario. The water froze and then we had 2 or 3 rounds of snow followed by a day of above freezing temperatures and rain which produced this milky white colour to the ice.
Quidi Vidi Lake, NL.
This Eurasian visitor continues to survive the snow storms and freezing temperatures.
.Although the temperature did not ever get terribly low, we recently had a freak occurrence, the longest number of consecutive days in one hundred years where the temperature did not get above freezing. It was only two or three days of freezing temperatures but the numbers hovered around the freezing point for too long. It appears that my in-ground tropical hibiscus plants did not make it.
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A "field of crystal" at Shawangunk Grasslands. Every tree, every blade of grass was encased in a layer of ice. Melting snow followed by overnight freezing temperatures created this incredible sight.
This curious look - tells us that breakfast is definitely expected due to the freezing cold weather.
"This morning, despite the freezing cold of -4 degrees, the sun radiated a surprisingly refreshing warmth. I had the opportunity to capture the rich colors that emerge when the sun graces us with its presence. I chose to experiment with my heavy and old style. FX lens, Nikon 80-200 f2.8, Instead of the Nikon 500mm f5.6 PF, I explored the natural habitat of Charnwood Water, which I visited last week.
My photo targets were gray squirrels, which are accustomed to the presence of humans and my favorite bird species, the Robin. I had to get quite close before pressing the shutter, compensating for the disadvantage of the 200mm focal length. Despite the freezing conditions, I occasionally took off my gloves, aiming to press the shutter in different environments with changing bokeh - background.
Winter, with its freezing temperatures, has special appeal for wildlife photography for three important reasons. First, many species are at their best; resident birds are showing off their vibrant plumage and mammals are donning their thick winter coats.
"I captured some of these moments with my camera this morning, and I hope you enjoy watching these images as much as I did while shooting them."
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More than 200 species of squirrels live worldwide, including tree, ground and flying squirrel species. Eastern gray squirrels forage for nuts, seeds, buds, and flowers of trees. Like other tree squirrels, the eastern gray squirrel plays an important role in what is known as seed dispersal. As winter approaches, squirrels carry their food and bury it in various places, but sometimes they forget exactly where they buried it. This helps the environment because buried seeds and nuts germinate and grow the following spring. Female eastern gray squirrels can begin having babies as early as five and a half months old. Females can give birth to offspring twice a year, each usually consisting of two to four cubs. They collect leaves and twigs and build nests high in trees to house their young or use tree cavities as shelter.
Newborn eastern gray squirrels have no fur when they are born and cannot see. They usually weigh as little as half an ounce (14 grams). They leave the nest at about ten to twelve weeks of age and are fully grown in about nine months.
Eastern gray squirrels have an excellent sense of smell and use it to locate hidden food. They can also get information about squirrels by smelling them.
They communicate with each other by making sounds and body movements such as wagging their tails. When predators such as red foxes and red-tailed hawks are nearby, eastern gray squirrels will make warning calls to alert other squirrels.
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Clear skies meant freezing temperatures, but a waning moon and later moonrise gave the first opportunity for weeks to get outside with the astro gear. Around an hour of data before the moonrise added to the local light pollution
The Haleakalā silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) is a rare plant, part of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is found on the island of Maui at elevations above 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) on the dormant Haleakalā volcano in Haleakalā National Park.
The Haleakalā silversword has numerous sword-like succulent leaves covered with silver hairs. Silversword plants in general grow on volcanic cinder, a dry, rocky substrate that is subject to freezing temperatures and high winds. The skin and hairs are strong enough to resist the wind and freezing temperature of this altitude and protect the plant from dehydration and the sun.
The plant's base of leaves, arranged in a spherical formation at ground level of the plant, dominates for the majority of the plant's life. The leaves are arranged so that they and the hairs of the leaves can raise the temperature of the shoot-tip leaves up to 20 °C (36 °F), thereby having adapted to the extreme high-altitude temperatures by focusing the sunlight to converge at this point and warm the plant. Silverswords live between 3 and 90 years or more. They flower only once in their lifetime, sending up a spectacular flowering stalk (seen in the photo), and then die soon afterward, scattering drying seeds to the wind.
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The summer is slipping away through my fingers and I am very unhappy... I want to go places, see things, experience new views and I know that time is short before the world will be covered in snow and the freezing temperatures will be keeping me tucked away at home... I dream of never-ending summer...
124/365
Are you Serious??? after weeks of below freezing temperatures we have days and days of rain, then a couple of hours of sun followed by a weekend of rain. Come on weather, cooperate with me.
A puddle at UT gardens. Knoxville Tennessee, and the University of Tennessee
The below freezing temperatures caught from my iPhone camera while out on a bike ride along the banks of the Mystic River in Somerville, MA.
This is a photo stitch of 2 photos. Also posted to the "117 pictures in 2017" group for the topic 'Nature's Works of Art'.
A winter of sustained sub freezing temperatures and 102 inches of snow in a month and a half causing Boston Harbor to freeze.
68032 stabled at York on the evening of 27 November 2021. This has been processed using the Cold Tone pre-set on Adobe Lightroom, which seems entirely appropriate bearing in mind the freezing temperature at the time.
The sign says "Booth where the SS man responsible for conducting the roll-call and collecting reports on the number of prisoners took shelter during inclement weather."
Of course, the prisoners weren't allowed to take shelter and were often required to stand outside in rain, snow, or freezing temperatures for hours at a time.
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IMG_6983
We've had a long run of below-freezing temperatures which means ice in the Columbia Gorge Waterfalls. It's like a fairyland.
117 Pictures in 2017 #93 Nature's Works of Art
This rear power car 43299 had failed completely. Due to the freezing temperatures I was unable to maintain main air ( therefore could not create a working train brake ) with 43296 leading so I failed the set.
This was my second longest shift (so far) on the footplate. It was sixteen hours by the time I signed off at Newcastle .
The train was terminated at Aviemore and we were rescued by 67003 that hauled us to Edinburgh some seven hours later.
Please see other images taken that day in this set.
As the sun comes up to add a little heat to the freezing temperatures, 60035 passes New Barnetby with 6T22 08.02 Immingham Bulk Terminal to Santon Foreign Ore Terminal on Tuesday 30th december 2014.
Dry this evening and surprisingly mild temperatures - strong wind, rain and freezing temperatures on the way, so back to normal service soon, so thought I'd have a quick stroll through the festive market before the weather goes too horrible for outdoor pics! Chance to grab a few people watching shots among the market stalls and the food and drinks spots around the festive market. Handheld and no flash, so little rough, but sometimes that suits this kind of pic
Alitalia Boeing 777 EI-ISA.
Spotting session at the TWA Hotel in JFK. Feb 14 2020. Cold winter day but with beautiful light. I couldn't feel my feet after a couple of hours of being outside taking pictures during freezing temperatures.
Who guards the north? The featured picture was taken last March in Finnish Lapland where weather can include sub-freezing temperatures and driving snow. Surreal landscapes sometimes result, where white alien-looking sentinels seem to patrol the landscape. In actuality though, the aliens are snow-covered trees, and the red hut they seem to be guarding is an outhouse. Far in the distance, behind this uncommon Earthly vista, is a beautiful night sky which includes a green aurora, bright stars, and streaks of orbiting satellites. Of course, in the spring, the trees thaw and Lapland looks much different. via NASA ift.tt/2iAz7AY