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Jaipur, India - Nov 3, 2017. People at Amber Fort in Jaipur, India. Nostalgic Amber Fort is one of the most well-known and most-visited forts in India.
These blurred images are two bats. They moved so fast it was impossible to get a clear photo of them. There are about four bats which seem to be living in that very large conifer tree. At 9.45 every evening they come out for a mad 20 minutes and fly around, swooping in, out and around the tree
Deployed in MINUSCA since April 2015, 930 peacekeepers of the Zambian battalion are deployed in Birao, Bria and Ouanda Djallé, in the North-East of the Central African Republic. Their daily missions include the protection of civilians, support for the peace process and the protection of United Nations personnel and assets.
Photos: UN/MINUSCA - Hervé Serefio
A spy plane prototype on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid (CV-11), an Essex class aircraft carrier that saw action during World War II and the Korean War and which is now a floating museum in New York City.
Victorian Society in America Newport Summer School 2012; photograph by James Russiello #VicSocAmerica #VSASummerSchool #VSASummerSchools #VSANewport
Renowned architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson to experience and study four centuries of architecture, art, culture, and landscape at the acclaimed Newport Summer School. This ten-day program is based in Newport, Rhode Island, the “Queen” of American resorts. You will enjoy lectures by Richard Guy Wilson and other leading scholars, tours of private homes, and opportunities to get behind the scenes at some of America’s grandest mansions.
Participants examined Newport’s most iconic sites: Richard Morris Hunt’s Marble House, The Breakers, and Ochre Court; Richard Upjohn’s Kingscote, and H.H. Richardson’s Sherman House. Additional highlights include McKim, Mead & White’s Isaac Bell House and downtown casino, as well as Victorian gardens, historic churches, and Tiffany windows.
Field trips included visits to Providence, RI and North Easton, MA. Participants are housed in Ochre Lodge at Salve Regina University, designed by local architect Dudley Newton in 1890.
Course Director: Richard Guy Wilson; Lecturers included: Pauline C. Metcalf, Paul Miller, Paul Onorato, Laurie Ossman, Pieter Roos, John Tschirch, and James Yarnell.
Apply today: www.vsasummerschools.org
On December 24, 2014, a Job Fair was held in Sabirabad to support the employment of rural women in the framework of “Promoting Rural Women’s Participation in the Social and Economic Life” project. The Job Fair was co-organized by the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs for Family, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Azerbaijan, Executive Power of Sabirabad and the Employment office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population. The Fair provided an opportunity for rural women to access the potential employers and introduce themselves, as well as to get a suitable job offer.
The Deputy Chairperson of State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs. Sadagat Gahramanova and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, Mrs. Nato Alhazashvili met the Women Resource Center’s members and active rural women.
The overall objective of the project is to create an enabling environment for rural women and support their business and social activities. One of the goals of the project is to establish a mechanism to facilitate exchange and transfer of knowledge, teaching skills and information aimed at increasing the business opportunities of rural women. This mechanism, launched and operational since 2013, was designed as the regional Women's Resource Center (WRC) tasked to improve business and social opportunities.
This joint project has been designed in compliance with the State Programme on “promotion of opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives among women” and on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development (2008-2015), as well as in line with the strategy on improving economic situation of the most vulnerable groups (young women, single mothers, disable women) stipulated in the National Employment Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2006-2015. The project will support the Government of Azerbaijan and namely the Committee in fulfilling the obligations Azerbaijan undertook by the Millennium Development Goals (Goals 1 and 3), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as to implement the national measures in response to recommendation of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
“Pink is the color of romance and a friend tells me that the girl with the pink dress at the party is the one who is selected for each dance”
- Alfred Carl Hottes
This is the tiny frog species, Geocrinia victoriana, found in 100 Acres Reserve at Park Orchards on the outer eastern edge of Melbourne, Victoria.
See other photos in this photostream of the related species Geocrinia otwaysensis from south-west Victoria.
The differences between the two species are detailed below in a recent media release about a discovery of a large population of Geocrinia otwaysensis.
The tiny but spectacular frog known as Geocrinia otwaysensis Hoser, 2020 has got to be one of the most amazing scientific discoveries in recent times.
It is unusual among morphologically similar species in that it lays eggs that hatch on land, versus the usual situation of eggs being laid in water.
In fact the whole life cycle of the species is unusual by frog standards!
It has got to be the sexiest frog ever discovered in the State of Victoria and is well and truly endemic, being confined to the Otways in south-west Victoria.
They were found to be out and about and breeding this week (mid March 2023), by the Snakeman Raymond Hoser, while sleeping overnight at Mount Sabine, before going to do a hands on reptile display at the Apollo Bay Show on 18 March 2023.
Because of the distance from Melbourne and his busy schedule, the Snakeman drove most of the way to Apollo Bay, before deciding to drive a few kms off the main road to find a quiet place to sleep without traffic noise.
So he took the left turn just past Forrest to sleep at the Mount Sabine camp ground for a few hours before driving the last 20 km to the Apollo Bay showgrounds.
As he went to sleep, he heard in the distance a frog call that was different to anything he'd heard previously, but because it was similar to that of Geocrinia victoriana, Hoser assumed it was probably from Geocrinia otwaysensis.
The following morning, he rolled up his swag and walked down to a nearby swamp and investigated. He soon found dozens of Geocrinia otwaysensis, including 6 under one piece of wood.
The males were calling, the females were coming to them and there were fertilized egg masses all over the place.
Hoser went off to the Apollo Bay Show and worked there with the world's deadliest snakes and his hands on reptiles display for 7 hours, before returning to Mount Sabine to check out things more thoroughly.
Significanly Hoser even recorded Geocrinia otwaysensis calling from the drainage ditch immediately behind his display at the Apollo Bay Show!
However Hoser chose not to look for frogs there as the number calling was far less than had been heard at Mount Sabine.
But upon returning to Mount Sabine, Hoser found that the area was literally overrun with Geocrinia otwaysensis and numerous world-first observations were recorded for the first time ever.
Frogs were found around every swamp and ditch full of water in the area.
Most seen were males, but so many were in the area, that Hoser soon gave up looking for them, or counting them.
Suffice to say that the population was healthy and breeding well.
A number of frog species have recently suffered precipitous declines arsing from a fungus that has attacked them.
Fortunately Geocrinia otwaysensis does not appear to be one of them.
Geocrinia otwaysensis was only discovered and formally named by Snakeman Raymond Hoser in 2020 in one of the big frog monographs of the Lockdown period.
This taxon was previously treated as a population of the better known species Geocrinia victoriana from Eastern Victoria or similarly well-known Geocrinia laevis from Tasmania.
In fact it is neither!
Geocrinia otwaysensis is most readily separated from its nearest related species by colouration in the groin (or lack of it in terms of distinctive black bordering and marbling seen in the other species, G. victoriana and G. laevis) and even different looking tadpoles.
Geocrinia otwaysensis is also separated from both other nearest related species by call.
In the pulse mode, Geocrinia otwaysensis usually calls at 5-6 pulses per 2 seconds, versus 8-9 in Geocrinia victoriana.
Get the full text of the definitive paper:
Hoser, R. T. 2020. 3 new tribes, 3 new subtribes, 5 new genera, 3 new subgenera, 39 new species and 11 new subspecies of mainly small ground-dwelling frogs from Australia. Australasian Journal of Herpetology ® Issues 50-51, published 10 October 2020, pages 1-128.
Full text at:
www.smuggled.com/AJH-I50-Split.htm
For more photos, hi res images or information, please contact Raymond Hoser directly on:
Australia, 0412-777-211
Raymond Hoser is Australia's foremost frog expert, having discovered and named more Australian species and genera of frog than anyone else ever.
As there are very few frog species left to be discovered in Australia, no one will ever name more frog species in Australia than Raymond Hoser.
Christmas in Southside on Hurst Street.
At Hippodrome Square.
I did check out The Arcadian but was nothing there from this event.
Santa's Grotto just beyond the Christmas tree archway.
A handy visual reference guide for my Big in Japan compilation: soundcloud.com/michael-doyle-6/big-bang-in-japan
CEA Racing had been showing great speed in the Friday practice sessions setting several new personal fastest laps several times during the day, so expectations were high before the qualifying sessions
Thomas Raldorf who is the driver of the CEA Racing Car in the Pro Car class did not disappoint, as he on his first lap out set the pace for everybody else to try and match.
After the Qualifying was over Thomas had only qualified his car on the front row in second place and would have a great starting point for the 1st race Sunday morning.
Come Sunday morning the track was wet for the first few races but then dried up and stayed dry the rest of the day, so Thomas and CEA Racing knew that they would have to try and fight it out on a dry track.
At the start of Race 1 Thomas was up alongside the leading car down towards the first corner but had to concede as he was on the outside into the corner and slotted into 2nd were he was able to stay for the rest of the race, although he was under considerable pressure from the driver in 3rd for the last 4 laps of the race.
Between the 1st and the 2nd race of the day a few adjustment was made to the car for better handling and the car was back on the grid with Thomas starting from 2nd row in 3rd place for the 2nd race .
Regulations state that the driver with the fastest single lap in Race 1 will start on Pole Position for the 2nd Race of the day, and since CEA Racing had 3rd fastest lap in Race 1, they had to start 3rd although they had finished Race 1 in 2nd place.
Thomas shot out of his starting grid like a rocket and went straight up between the driver in 1st and 2nd and took over the lead of the race before the first corner. Over the next few laps Thomas managed to pull out a gap of more than 100 Mtrs down to the 2nd and 3rd placed drivers as they were fighting with each other for positions.
Unfortunately an accident further down the grid caused the Safety Car to come out on Lap 3 and all the space he had gained was suddenly lost, as everybody was bunched up behind the safety car.
At the Restart Thomas again had a very good start and was able to stay in the lead but was not able to break away from the driver in 2nd place, as he was having to drive very defensively .
On lap 7 of the race The driver in 2nd managed to squeeze himself up beside Thomas in turn 2 and then an intense fight for the lead saw the 2 cars side by side with only a few centimeters between then trough the next few corners until Thomas eventually had to give up his position to avoid running of the track. This unfortunately allowed the train of cars behind to also pass and Thomas had to slot into 4th and take of the challenge again.
The next 5 laps was very thrilling with the 4 cars fighting for position almost every single corner and eventually finishing with 0.011 seconds between the 1st and 2nd placed cars.
CEA Racing and Thomas never really recovered and finished in 4th less than a second behind the winning car.
Next race for CEA will be an invitational event in Buriram at the new FIA Grade 1 Race circuit which has been built for bringing International Motorsport to Thailand.
CEA will be involved in a support race for the Japanese GT Series 4/5 October.
St. Mary's Menston take part in the 76th Diocese of Leeds Pilgrimage to Lourdes
It was the 21st year St. Mary's Menston has taken part.
The pastoral theme for 2014 is Lourdes, the joy of conversion
www.stmarysmenston.org/News/Pages/Lourdes-Pilgrimage-2014...
In Honda Center showcase, November 29, 2013, pictured left to right: Saku Koivu (team Finland), Ryan Getzlaf (team Canada), Ryan Whitney (team USA), Scott Niedermayer (team Canada), Bobby Ryan (team USA), Corey Perry (team Canada), and Teemu Selanne (team Finland). Team Canada won the gold medal, team USA won the silver medal, and team Finland won the bronze medal.
The Postcard
A Gibson Lines postcard that was published by the Gibson Art Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The card was posted in Cincinnati using a 1 cent stamp on Tuesday the 20th. December 1921.
It was sent to:
Mr. & Mrs. N. H. (surname deleted),
Felicity,
Ohio.
Felicity is a village in Franklin Township, Clermont County, Ohio. The population was 651 individuals at the 2020 census.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Uncle and Aunt,
Hope this card finds you
both well, and that your
Xmas stocking will be
full to overflowing.
Ada and Charlie."
The Significance of Holly
The European holly, Ilex aquifolium is commonly referenced at Christmas time, and is sometimes referred to by the name Christ's thorn.
In many Western Christian cultures, holly is a traditional Christmas decoration, used especially in wreaths and illustrations, for instance on Christmas cards.
Since medieval times the plant has carried Christian symbolism, as expressed in the Christmas carol "The Holly and the Ivy", in which the holly is said to represent Jesus and the ivy to represent the Virgin Mary.
Christians have identified a wealth of symbolism in its form:
The sharpness of the leaves help to recall the crown of thorns worn by Jesus; the red berries serve as a reminder of the drops of blood that were shed for salvation; and the shape of the leaves, which resemble flames, can serve to reveal God's burning love for His people.
Combined with the fact that holly maintains its bright colors during the Christmas season, it naturally came to be associated with the Christian holiday.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant.
There are hundreds of species of mistletoe which mostly live in tropical regions.
The name mistletoe originally referred to the species Viscum album (European mistletoe); it is the only species native to the British Isles and much of Europe. The genus Viscum is not native to North America, but Viscum album was introduced to Northern California in 1900.
European mistletoe has smooth-edged, oval, evergreen leaves borne in pairs along the woody stem, and waxy, white berries that it bears in clusters of two to six.
-- Mistletoe Life Cycle
Mistletoe species grow on a wide range of host trees, some of which experience side effects including reduced growth, stunting, and loss of infested outer branches.
A heavy infestation may also kill the host plant. Viscum album successfully parasitizes more than 200 tree and shrub species.
All mistletoe species are hemiparasites, because they do perform some photosynthesis for some period of their life cycle. However, in some species its contribution is very nearly zero.
A mistletoe seed germinates on the branch of a host tree or shrub, and in its early stages of development it is independent of its host. The adhesive on the seed tends to darken the bark. On having made contact with the bark, the hypocotyl, with only a rudimentary scrap of root tissue at its tip, penetrates it, a process that may take a year or more. In the meantime the plant is dependent on its own photosynthesis.
Only after it reaches the host's conductive tissue may it begin to rely on the host for its needs. Later, it forms a haustorium that penetrates the host tissue and takes water and nutrients from the host plant.
Most mistletoe seeds are spread by birds who eat the 'seeds' (in actuality drupes). Of the many bird species that feed on them, the mistle thrush is the best-known in Europe.
Depending on the species of mistletoe and the species of bird, the seeds are regurgitated from the crop, excreted in their droppings, or stuck to the bill and causing the bird to have to wipe it off onto a branch.
The seeds are coated with a sticky material called viscin. Some viscin remains on the seed and when it touches a stem, it sticks tenaciously. The viscin soon hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host, where it germinates and its haustorium penetrates the sound bark.
-- Toxicity of Mistletoe
There are 1500 species of mistletoe, varying widely in toxicity to humans; the European mistletoe (Viscum album) is more toxic than the American mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum).
In European mistletoe (Viscum), viscumin is the dangerous active toxin. It acts by irreversibly inhibiting ribsomal protein synthesis in cells, which leads to the death of the affected cell, tissue damage in the area of exposure from mass cell death in the very short term, with the potential for organ failure and death depending on the level of exposure.
Mistletoe has been used historically in medicine for its supposed value in treating arthritis, high blood pressure, epilepsy, and infertility.
-- The Cultural Importance of Mistletoe
Mistletoe is relevant to several cultures. Pagan cultures regarded the white berries as symbols of male fertility, with the seeds resembling semen. The Celts, particularly, saw mistletoe as the semen of Taranis, while the Ancient Greeks referred to mistletoe as "oak sperm".
In Roman mythology, mistletoe was used by the hero Aeneas to reach the underworld.
The Romans associated mistletoe with peace, love, and understanding, and hung it over doorways to protect the household.
In the advent of the Christian era, mistletoe in the Western world became associated with Christmas as a decoration under which lovers are expected to kiss, as well as with protection from witches and demons.
Mistletoe continued to be associated with fertility and vitality through the Middle Ages, and by the eighteenth century it had also become incorporated into Christmas celebrations around the world. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is referred to as popular among servants in late eighteenth-century England.
The serving class of Victorian England is credited with perpetuating the tradition. The tradition dictated that a man was allowed to kiss any woman standing underneath mistletoe, and that bad luck would befall any woman who refused the kiss.
One variation on the tradition stated that with each kiss a berry was to be plucked from the mistletoe, and the kissing must stop after all the berries had been removed.
Mistletoe is the floral emblem of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and the flower of the UK county of Herefordshire.
Every year, the UK town of Tenbury Wells holds a mistletoe festival and crowns a 'Mistletoe Queen'.
Sir George Fuller
So what else happened on the day that Ada and Charlie posted the card?
Well, on the 20th. December 1921, Sir George Fuller took office as the new Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales, seven days after Premier James Dooley had lost a vote of confidence in the state legislature.
However, only seven hours after Fuller had formed a government and had become the head of government as premier, he lost another vote of confidence in the legislature and was not seated.
On the 27th. December 1921, James Dooley was appointed premier again after forming a new government.
The Russian Famine Relief Act
Also on that day, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the Russian Famine Relief Act, and approved the appropriation of $20,000,000 ($300 million in 2021) for that purpose.
The vote was pursuant to the request of President Harding, subject to the condition that all purchases of food be made in the U.S. and shipped to the Soviet Union in American vessels.
Julius Richard Petri
The 20th. December 1921 also marked the death at the age of 69 of the German microbiologist Julius Richard Petri.
Julius, who was born on the 31st. May 1852, is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish, which is named after him, while working as assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch.
-- Julius Richard Petri - The Early Years
Petri was born in the town of Barmen (now a district of the city of Wuppertal), Germany. He came from a distinguished family of scholars, and was the eldest son of Philipp Ulrich Martin Petri (1817–1864), a professor in Berlin, and Louise Petri.
Petri's grandfather, Viktor Friedrich Leberecht Petri (1782–1857), was also a scholar, being both a director and professor at the Collegium Carolinum in Brunswick (Braunschweig), Germany.
Petri initially studied medicine at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy for Military Physicians (1871–1875) and received his medical degree in 1876.
He continued his studies at the Charité Hospital in Berlin where his thesis on the chemistry of protein urine tests earned him his doctorate.
-- Julius Richard Petri - The Later Years
Julius was on active duty as a military physician until 1882, continuing then as a reservist. In 1886 he was a curator at the German Hygiene Museum where he subsequently worked under Robert Koch.
From 1877 to 1879 Julius was assigned to the Imperial Health Office in Berlin, where he became an assistant to Robert Koch. On the suggestion of Angelina Hesse, the New York-born wife of another assistant, Walther Hesse, the Koch laboratory began to culture bacteria on agar plates.
Petri then invented the standard culture dish, or Petri plate, and further developed the technique of agar culture in order to purify or clone bacterial colonies derived from single cells. This advance made it possible to rigorously identify the bacteria responsible for diseases.
Petri's first wife, Anna Riesch, died in 1894 during childbirth, and in 1897, he married Elizabeth Turk.
-- The Importance of the Petri Dish
Petri dishes are extensively used as research plates for microbiology studies. The dish is partially filled with warm liquid containing agar, and a mixture of specific ingredients that may include nutrients, blood, salts, carbohydrates, dyes, indicators, amino acids and antibiotics.
After the agar cools and solidifies, the dish is ready to receive a microbe-laden sample in a process known as "inoculation" or "plating". For virus or phage cultures, a two-step inoculation is needed: bacteria that is grown acts like a host for the viral inoculum.
The bacterial sample is diluted on the plate in a process called "streaking". This involves a sterile plastic stick, or a wire loop which is sterilized by heating; the loop is used to collect the first sample, and then to make a streak on the dish with the agar.
Then, using a fresh stick and sterilized loop, the new loop is passed through that initial streak, spreading the plated bacteria onto the dish.
This process is repeated a third time, and if necessary a fourth, resulting in individual bacterial cells that are isolated on the plate, which are then able to divide and grow into single "clonal" bacterial colonies.
Petri plates can be incubated upside down (agar on top), which can help lessen the risk of contamination from airborne particles containing microbes settling, and to decrease the chance of condensation from water accumulating and disturbing the microbes being cultured.
The basic design of the Petri dish has not changed since being created by Petri in 1887. It was a challenge to keep dishes free of dust, and extra bacteria could collect and alter samples; heavy bell jars used for this purpose proved ineffective, and so six years later Petri created a transparent plate slightly larger than the dish, which served as a transparent lid.
The Petri name has come into public prominence following a spate of serious food poisoning incidents on cruise liners; ships operating buffets in their restaurants have been referred to as 'floating Petri dishes.'
-- Julius Petri's Other Work
Not only was Petri responsible for many innovations and inventions, he also published a variety of papers including 150 on the topic of bacteriology and hygiene, which contributed significantly to information and concepts related to them.
Petri's papers detailed a number of steps in understanding microbiology, not limited to the study of microorganisms, but also including biological pathways and mechanisms.
In his paper of 1876 Julius considered questions regarding proteins found within urine, seeking ways that they could be used to identify conditions or functions.