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Blades Break - Airbourne (1114) by Malcolm Bull

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A smattering of images from sunny Saturday's flying action at Airbourne, the Eastbourne Airshow

Faversham’s Magna Carta. by Steb (Thx for 4.3 Million Views)

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Faversham’s Magna Carta

Copies of this confirmation of Magna Carta granted in 1300, which includes the whole text of Magna Carta, were sent to many towns throughout the country. At the foot of this copy it is stated in Latin that it is for the barons of the Port of Faversham. Originally granted by King John 1215, Faversham’s version is a confirmation of the re-issue of 1225.

1300 Magna Carta.

Parchment, c. 59 × 44 (+32) cms. Decorated initial ‘E’. Great seal of Edward I on a replaced parchment tag.

Tann, Royal Charters of Faversham, pp. 102-111.

Translation

Edward by the grace of God king of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine sends greeting to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all bailiffs and faithful people. We have inspected the charter of the lord Henry, our father, king of England (Henry III 1216-1272) about the liberties of England in these words:

Henry by the grace of God king of England, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Count of Anjou sends greeting to his archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all faithful people who will inspect the present charter. You may know that we by the instigation of God and for the salvation of our souls and the souls of our ancestors and descendants by our spontaneous and good will have, for the elevation of the Holy church and the bettering of our kingdom, given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, priors, earls, barons and ministers of our kingdom these liberties as are written below to be observed in our kingdom of England in perpetuity. Firstly we have conceded to God and we, by this our present charter, confirm for ourselves and for our heirs in perpetuity that the English church may be free and may hold all rights freely, fully and its liberties unquestioned; we have also granted and have given to all free men of our kingdom on behalf of ourself and of our heirs in perpetuity that they may have and hold the liberties as written below, by them and their heirs of us and our heirs in perpetuity. If any person of our earls or barons or of any other tenants who hold of us in chief through knight service may die and after his death and his heir shall be of full age and he owes relief, he may receive his inheritance through the old relief, that is to say an heir or the heirs of an earl by a hundred pounds for the entire Earldom, an heir or the heirs of a baron by a hundred marks for the full Barony, the heir or heirs by a hundred shillings for a full knights fee at the most and who has held less may give in accordance with the ancient custom of the fees. If however the heir of anyone of any such status should have been under age, the lord may not have custody of him nor of his land before he has taken his homage and afterwards such an heir who shall have been in custody, shall, when he has come of age, that is at twenty one years, receive his inheritance without relief and without a fine. Moreover that if he should have become a knight while he has been in custody, even so the land may remain in the keeping of his lords to the end of the aforesaid term. The guardian of the land of an heir of this nature, who has been under age, may not take anything from the heir’s land unless reasonable profits of that land. He ought to make report to us and if he, during his time of guardianship shall cause damage or commit waste then we will take it from him to be emended and the land may be committed to two trusted and honest men. And if we have given or sold the guardianship of the land to anyone of such nature and he then has caused damage or waste he shall loose that guardianship and it be handed over to two trusted and honest men of that fee who similarly may answer to us just as is aforesaid. However the guardian of the land has to accept a certain responsibility for the land in this manner: he will maintain the buildings, parks, fish ponds, stanks, mills and all things pertaining to that land out of the profits of the same land and when the heir shall come of full age he shall return his land completely stocked with ploughs and all other things in full just as he received it. All these things are to be observed concerning the custody of the lands of archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, churches and vacant dignitaries which pertain to us, except when the guardianship in this manner ought to come to us. The heirs shall marry without disparagement, a widow at once after her husband’s death and she may have her marriage allowance and her inheritance without obstacle and may not give anything for her dowry nor for her marriage portion for the inheritance; that is any inheritance which she, the same widow and her husband held on the day of her husband’s death and she may remain in her husband’s capital messuage for forty days after her husband’s death, within which days her dowry may be assigned to her, unless it shall have been already assigned to her or unless that residence should be a castle and if she should depart from such castle, a suitable house may be provided at once for her in which she may honourably remain until her dowry be assigned to her, as it aforesaid and meanwhile she may have a reasonable maintenance grant from the community. However a third part of all her husband’s land may be assigned to her for her dowry which was hers during his life, unless she had been provided with less dowry at the church entrance. No widow may be pressurised to get married while she has wished to live without a husband. Then so that she may give assurance that she will not marry without our assent if she has held from us or without her lord’s assent if she has held from another. Indeed neither we, nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt when certain present chattels of the debtor are sufficient to pay the debt and the debtor himself made be prepared to make satisfaction, nor shall the sureties of the same debtor be distrained when the chief debtor himself has sufficient for the payment of his own debt and if the chief debtor should default in payment of the debt, not having the funds to make repayment or being reluctant to make payment when he is able, the sureties for the debt may be responsible and if they should wish they may have the debtor’s lands and rents until he makes satisfaction to them about the debt which they have paid for him previously, unless the chief debtor has shown that he is quit towards his sureties. The city of London may have all is ancient liberties and customs; in addition we wish and concede that all other cities and boroughs and towns and the barons of the Cinque Ports and all ports may have all the liberties as their free customs. No one may be distrained to make more service for a knight’s fee nor for any other free tenement than that which is owing. The common pleas may not follow our court but shall be held in another particular place. Recognizances of Nova Disseisina and of Morte Antecessorum shall not be taken unless in their own counties. We, or if we should be out of the kingdom our chief justiciary, shall send our justiciaries into every county whatsoever once in a year, where, with the knights of the shires they may take the aforesaid assizes and those things which at his coming in the county cannot be terminated through our aforesaid justiciaries at the two assizes which were taken, shall be terminated by the same men elsewhere in their itinerary and those matters which by the same men could not be terminated on account of difficulty of other articles may be referred to the justiciaries of the Bench. The assizes of Ultima Presentacione are always taken before the justiciaries of the Bench and to be terminated there. A free man may not be amerced for a minor offence except according to the manner of the same man’s offence and for a more serious offence according to the extent of his delinquency, saving to the consideration of his status and a merchant in the same way according to his merchandise and a villein of another, rather than of ours, shall be amerced in the same way according to his weregeld should he happen to be placed into our mercy and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed unless through the oath of trusted and law-abiding men of the neighbourhood and knights and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers and not unless according to the manner of the offence. No ecclesiastical person shall be amerced according to the quantity of his benefice but according to the quantity of his lay fee and according to the nature of his offence nor shall any villein or free man be distrained to build bridges at the waterways unless they had been obliged to do so from ancient times and by right. No defences shall be made for any river banks apart from those which had been made as defences in the time of king Henry our grandfather throughout the same places and under the same terms, just as they were accustomed to do in his time. No sheriff, constable, coroner or any other of our bailiffs may hold pleas of our crown. If any person holding a lay free of us shall have died and our sheriff or bailiff shall show our letters patent concerning our summons about the debt which shows what he owes to us, it may then be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to impound and evaluate all the deceased person’s goods and chattels found in that lay fee to the extent of that debt assessed by the valuation of trusted men. Thence nothing may be removed from there until the debt to us which was clearly shown shall be paid and the residue may be left to the executors in accordance with the deceased person’s will and if nothing may be owed to us by him and all his chattels shall yield to the deceased, saving to the wife and children of the same in reasonable share. No constable or a bailiff of his may take the corn or other chattels of anyone who is not of the town where the castle is situated unless he immediately pays money for them, or then he can have respite by the wish of the vendor. If however he is of that same town he may pay the price within forty days. No constable may distrain any knight to give him money for castle guard if he shall have been willing to do this in his own person or if for some good reason he is not able to perform this service through another trusted man; in addition, if we have led or sent him into the army, he may be exempt from service in accordance with the time during which through us he was in the army because of the fee for which he has done service in the host. No sheriff or our bailiff or any other person shall take the horses or carts of anyone to make a carriage unless he shall make the payment laid down in ancient statutes, that is to say ten pence per day for one cart with two horses and fourteen pence per day for one cart with three horses. No cart of the demesne of any ecclesiastical person or knight or of any other lord shall be taken by our bailiffs neither shall we, our bailiffs or anyone else take wood belonging to anyone else for our castles or for any other of our works unless by permission of the person to whom the wood belongs. We will not hold the lands of those persons convicted of felony longer than one year and one day and then those lands shall be returned to the lord of the fees. All fish kidells shall forthwith be removed from the Thames and Medway and throughout the whole of England unless upon the sea coast. The writ called Precipe in future shall not be granted to anyone of any free tenement, thence a free man may loose his court. There shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole kingdom and one measure of beer and one measure of corn, that is to say the quarter of London and one width of dyed cloth, of russets and halberjects, that is two ells within the selvedges. Concerning weights, these shall be the same as the measures. In future nothing may be given or taken from him who seeks the writ of the inquisition Concerning life and limbs but it shall be freely conceded and not denied. If anyone may hold of us in fee farm or socage or burgage and shall hold land from another by military service we will not have the custody of either his heir nor lands which he holds of another because of that fee -farm, socage or burgage, unless the fee farm owes that same man military service. We will not have custody of the heir or lands of anyone who holds from any other person lands by military service by reason of petty serjeantry which he holds of us by service of giving daggers or arrows or other similar things to us. Forthwith no bailiff shall place any man to his open law, not to an open oath upon his own simple affirmation without faithful witnesses brought for the purpose. No free man be taken or imprisoned nor dispossessed of his free tenement nor of his liberties or free customs nor outlawed nor exiled nor in any way brought to destruction nor shall we go upon him nor condemn him except through the lawful judgement of his peers or through the law of the land. We will not sell to anyone, nor will we not deny nor delay to anyone either right or justice. All merchants, unless they have received public prohibition, shall have safe and secure conduct to go from and come into England and to remain and to travel throughout England both by land and by water to buy and sell with no unjust exactions, in accordance with the ancient and right customs, except in time of war and if they should be from the country with which we are at war and such merchants are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be apprehended with no loss to their persons or to their goods until it is made known to us or to our chief justiciary how the merchants of our land who may be found in that land which is at war with us are used and if our men were safe there, then those others shall be safe in our land. If anyone has held of another escheat, as of the honour of Wallingford, Boulogne, Nottingham, Lancaster or other escheats which are in our hands and which might be baronies and has died, his heir shall not give any relief nor perform any other service to us other than he may make to a baron, if that might be in a baron’s hands and we will hold it in the same manner by which the baron held it, nor by reason of such a barony or escheat will we have any escheat or custody of any of our men unless he who held the barony or escheat held otherwise of us in chief. In future no free man shall give or sell any more of his land but except that from the residue of his land he may be able to make the service owing to the lord of the fee which pertains to that fee. All the patrons of abbeys which have charters of the kings of England concerning the advowson or the ancient tenure or possessions may hold custody of them while they shall have been vacant just is they ought to have and just as is decreed above. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned by the appeal of a woman for the death of any man other than her husband. Henceforth no county court may be held except from month to month, and where the greater term was accustomed to be it may be greater, neither shall any sheriff or his bailiff make his turn throughout the hundred except on two occasions in a year and not unless in the due and accustomed place, that is to say once after Easter and again after the feast of Michaelmas and the view of frank pledge shall be then made at the same Michaelmas term with no obstacle, thus moreover that everyone may have his liberties which he had or was accustomed to have in the time of king Henry our grandfather or which things he has since acquired. However the view of frank pledge may be so done that our peace may be held and that the tything may be fully kept just as it was accustomed to be and that the sheriff may seek no perquisites and that he may be content with such as the sheriff was accustomed to have when he made his view at the time of king Henry our grandfather, nor in the future may it be lawful for any man to give his land to a religious house and to take that land to hold from the same house nor may it be lawful for a religious house to accept land of any man and to lease that land to him from whom it was received. Forthwith if anyone has so granted land to a religious house and upon this is convicted, his gift shall immediately be curtailed and that land returned to the lord of that fee. Forthwith scutage may be taken [as was customary] in the time of our grandfather king Henry and saving to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, Templars, Hospitallers, earls, barons and all other persons both ecclesiastical and secular all the liberties and free customs which they first had. However all men of our kingdom, both clergy and laity shall observe all the customs and the aforesaid liberties [hole in MS which we have granted] in as much as pertains to us towards them in the way that these pertain towards them. However for this grant and concession of those liberties and other things contained in our charter concerning the liberties of the Forest the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all people of our kingdom have given us a fifteenth part of all their moveable goods. We have granted also to the same people on our behalf and that of our heirs that neither we nor our heirs may request anything through which the liberties as contained in this charter may be violated or questioned and if any persons [may presume to commit such action] such may be worthless and set at nought. These are the witnesses: The lord S archbishop of Canterbury, E bishop of London, the bishops, J. Bath. P Winchester. H, Lincoln. R. Salisbury. W. Rochester, W.Worcester, J. Ely. H. Hereford. R. Chichester. W. Exeter, the abbot of Bury St Edmunds. The abbot of [hole], the abbot of Battle, the abbot of St Augustine’s Canterbury, the abbot of Evesham, the abbot of Westminster, the abbot of Peterborough, the abbot of Reading, the abbot of Abingdon, the abbot of Malmesbury, the abbot of Winchcombe, the abbot of Hythe, the abbot of Chertsey, the abbot of Shirbourne. The abbot of [hole] the abbot of Aylesbury. the abbot of Middleton., the abbot of Selby, the abbot of Cirencester, Hubert de Burgh our justiciar, H. earl of Chester and Lincoln, W. earl of Salisbury. W. earl Warenne. Gilbert de Clare earl of Gloucester and Hereford, W. de Ferrars earl of Derby, W de Mandeville earl of Essex, Hugh de Bigod earl of Norfolk, W. earl of Albermarle, H earl of Hereford. J Constable of Chester, R. de Ros, R son of Walter, R de Veteri Ponte, W. de Bruer. R. de Montfichet. P. fitz Herbert, W. de Aubeny son of Gresly, J de Munmue. J. Fitzalan, H de Mortimer, W de Beauchamp, W. de St John, P. de Malo lacu, Brian de Isham, Thomas de Multon, R. de Argentenn, G de Nevill, W. Manduit, J de Ballivi and others. Given at Westminster on the eleventh day of February in the ninth year of our reign, 1224/5. We however, having ratified the aforesaid grants and concessions freely concede and confirm them on behalf of ourself and of our heirs and renew them by the tenor of the present writings, desiring and granting for ourselves and our heirs that the aforesaid charter may be observed in all and each of its articles firmly and also unquestioned in perpetuity, if any articles contained in the same charter shall not previously have been observed. These are the witnesses: the venerable fathers * Robert archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and bishops Anthony of Durham, Robert of London. Robert of Ely, Thomas of Exeter, Walter of Coventry and Lichfield, Simon of Salisbury, J (sic) Thomas of Rochester, John of Norwich and John of Llandaff, John elect of Lincoln, John de Warenne Earl of Surrey, Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Roger le Bygod Earl of Norfolk and Marshall of England, Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln, Ralph de Monte Hermern Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex, Guy de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard fitz Alan Earl of Arundel, Reginald de Grey, John de Hastings, Henry de Percy, Hugh le Despenser, Hugh de Veer, Robert de Tateshale, Hugh Bardolp, Hugh de Courteneye, John de Seagrave, Henry de Grey, William de Ros de Helmesleye, Alan la Zusche, Robert de Tony, Robert de Monte Alto, William de Breous, Thomas [hole]nall, John de Engaygne, Peter Corbet, William de Leyburn, William de Latymer, Walter de Beauchamp, steward of our lodgings, Walter de Huntercumbe and others. Given by our hand at Westminster on the twenty eighth day of March in the twenty eighth year of our reign. * Robert Winchelsey archbishop of Canterbury 1293-1313 Anthony Bek bishop of Durham 1283-1311 Robert Gravesend bishop of London 1280-1303 Robert de Walpole bishop of Ely1299-1302 Thomas de Bitton bishop of Exeter 1291-1307 Walter de Langeton bishop of Coventry and Lichfield 1296-1321 Simon of Ghent bishop of Salisbury 1297-1315 Thomas de Wouldham bishop of Rochester 1291-1317 John Salmon bishop of Norwich 1299-1325 John de Dalderby bishop elect of Lincoln 1300-1320. Elected 15th January 1300, consecrated 12 June 1300.

Written on fold of charter: For the Barons of the port of Faversham. Examined through Master Edmund of London

Red Arrows - Fos (0174) by Malcolm Bull

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Thursday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. A flat display from the Red Arrows on Thursday. Friday's display was cancelled due to the rain/low cloud.

Fun at the RV Resort by Millennium Luxury Coaches

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Cat - Domestic Cat - House Cat (Felis Catus) by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Because of its retractable claws it is adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Animal population control of cats may be achieved by spaying and neutering, but their proliferation and the abandonment of pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of bird, mammal and reptile species.

As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

Etymology and naming

The origin of the English word cat, Old English catt, is thought to be the Late Latin word cattus, which was first used at the beginning of the 6th century. The Late Latin word may be derived from an unidentified African language. The Nubian word kaddîska 'wildcat' and Nobiin kadīs are possible sources or cognates. The Nubian word may be a loan from Arabic قَطّ‎ qaṭṭ ~ قِطّ qiṭṭ.

The forms might also have derived from an ancient Germanic word that was imported into Latin and then into Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The word may be derived from Germanic and Northern European languages, and ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, cf. Northern Sámi gáđfi, 'female stoat', and Hungarian hölgy, 'lady, female stoat'; from Proto-Uralic *käďwä, 'female (of a furred animal)'.

The English puss, extended as pussy and pussycat, is attested from the 16th century and may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus, pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puisín or puiscín. The etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.

A male cat is called a tom or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered). A female is called a queen or a molly, if spayed, especially in a cat-breeding context. A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten. In Early Modern English, the word kitten was interchangeable with the now-obsolete word catling.

A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder or a glaring.

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic cat. Felis catus domesticus was proposed by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. Felis daemon proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1904 was a black cat from the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.

In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the domestic cat is a distinct species, namely Felis catus. In 2007, it was considered a subspecies, F. silvestris catus, of the European wildcat (F. silvestris) following results of phylogenetic research. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic cat as a distinct species, Felis catus.

Evolution

Main article: Cat evolution

The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10 to 15 million years ago. The evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia during the Miocene around 8.38 to 14.45 million years ago. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at 6.46 to 16.76 million years ago. The genus Felis genetically diverged from other Felidae around 6 to 7 million years ago. Results of phylogenetic research shows that the wild members of this genus evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation, whereas the domestic cat evolved through artificial selection. The domestic cat and its closest wild ancestor are diploid and both possess 38 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes.

Domestication

See also: Domestication of the cat and Cats in ancient Egypt

It was long thought that the domestication of the cat began in ancient Egypt, where cats were venerated from around 3100 BC, However, the earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BC. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland. Scientists therefore assume that African wildcats were attracted to early human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were tamed by Neolithic farmers. This mutual relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of years. As agricultural practices spread, so did tame and domesticated cats. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.

The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BC. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe. During the Roman Empire they were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium. By the 5th century BC, they were familiar animals around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria. By the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany.

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC. This line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domestic cat populations of today.

During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have pre-adapted them for domestication as pets. These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play, and high intelligence. Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans but were not domesticated. House cats often mate with feral cats. Hybridisation between domestic and other Felinae species is also possible, producing hybrids such as the Kellas cat in Scotland.

Development of cat breeds started in the mid 19th century. An analysis of the domestic cat genome revealed that the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered in the process of domestication, as specific mutations were selected to develop cat breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred domestic cats. Genetic diversity of these breeds varies between regions, and is lowest in purebred populations, which show more than 20 deleterious genetic disorders.

Characteristics

Main article: Cat anatomy

Size

The domestic cat has a smaller skull and shorter bones than the European wildcat. It averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males are larger than females. Adult domestic cats typically weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb).

Skeleton

Cats have seven cervical vertebrae (as do most mammals); 13 thoracic vertebrae (humans have 12); seven lumbar vertebrae (humans have five); three sacral vertebrae (as do most mammals, but humans have five); and a variable number of caudal vertebrae in the tail (humans have only three to five vestigial caudal vertebrae, fused into an internal coccyx). The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility. Attached to the spine are 13 ribs, the shoulder, and the pelvis. Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their head.

Skull

The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful specialized jaw. Within the jaw, cats have teeth adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. When it overpowers its prey, a cat delivers a lethal neck bite with its two long canine teeth, inserting them between two of the prey's vertebrae and severing its spinal cord, causing irreversible paralysis and death. Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced canine teeth relative to the size of their jaw, which is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents, which have small vertebrae.

The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which efficiently shears meat into small pieces, like a pair of scissors. These are vital in feeding, since cats' small molars cannot chew food effectively, and cats are largely incapable of mastication.: Cats tend to have better teeth than most humans, with decay generally less likely because of a thicker protective layer of enamel, a less damaging saliva, less retention of food particles between teeth, and a diet mostly devoid of sugar. Nonetheless, they are subject to occasional tooth loss and infection.

Claws

Cats have protractible and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows for the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the forefeet are typically sharper than those on the hindfeet. Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Cats shed the outside layer of their claw sheaths when scratching rough surfaces.

Most cats have five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws. The dewclaw is proximal to the other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front paws on the inside of the wrists has no function in normal walking but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some cat breeds are prone to having extra digits ("polydactyly"). Polydactylous cats occur along North America's northeast coast and in Great Britain.

Ambulation

The cat is digitigrade. It walks on the toes, with the bones of the feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. Unlike most mammals, it uses a "pacing" gait and moves both legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. It registers directly by placing each hind paw close to the track of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. This also provides sure footing for hind paws when navigating rough terrain. As it speeds up from walking to trotting, its gait changes to a "diagonal" gait: The diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.

Balance

Cats are generally fond of sitting in high places or perching. A higher place may serve as a concealed site from which to hunt; domestic cats strike prey by pouncing from a perch such as a tree branch. Another possible explanation is that height gives the cat a better observation point, allowing it to survey its territory. A cat falling from heights of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can right itself and land on its paws.

During a fall from a high place, a cat reflexively twists its body and rights itself to land on its feet using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This reflex is known as the cat righting reflex. A cat always rights itself in the same way during a fall, if it has enough time to do so, which is the case in falls of 90 cm (3.0 ft) or more. How cats are able to right themselves when falling has been investigated as the "falling cat problem".

Coats

Main article: Cat coat genetics

The cat family (Felidae) can pass down many colors and patterns to their offspring. The domestic cat genes MC1R and ASIP allow for the variety of color in coats. The feline ASIP gene consists of three coding exons. Three novel microsatellite markers linked to ASIP were isolated from a domestic cat BAC clone containing this gene and were used to perform linkage analysis in a pedigree of 89 domestic cats that segregated for melanism.[citation needed]

Senses

Main article: Cat senses

Vision

A cat's nictitating membrane shown as it blinks

Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision. This is partly the result of cat eyes having a tapetum lucidum, which reflects any light that passes through the retina back into the eye, thereby increasing the eye's sensitivity to dim light. Large pupils are an adaptation to dim light. The domestic cat has slit pupils, which allow it to focus bright light without chromatic aberration. At low light, a cat's pupils expand to cover most of the exposed surface of its eyes. The domestic cat has rather poor color vision and only two types of cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green; its ability to distinguish between red and green is limited. A response to middle wavelengths from a system other than the rod cells might be due to a third type of cone. This appears to be an adaptation to low light levels rather than representing true trichromatic vision. Cats also have a nictitating membrane, allowing them to blink without hindering their vision.

Hearing

The domestic cat's hearing is most acute in the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz. It can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies ranging from 55 Hz to 79 kHz, whereas humans can only detect frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. It can hear a range of 10.5 octaves, while humans and dogs can hear ranges of about 9 octaves. Its hearing sensitivity is enhanced by its large movable outer ears, the pinnae, which amplify sounds and help detect the location of a noise. It can detect ultrasound, which enables it to detect ultrasonic calls made by rodent prey. Recent research has shown that cats have socio-spatial cognitive abilities to create mental maps of owners' locations based on hearing owners' voices.

Smell

Cats have an acute sense of smell, due in part to their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory mucosa, about 5.8 cm2 (0.90 in2) in area, which is about twice that of humans. Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, which they use to communicate through urine spraying and marking with scent glands. Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip, as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion. About 70–80% of cats are affected by nepetalactone. This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and the herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or sexual behaviors.

Taste

Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Domestic and wild cats share a taste receptor gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. They, however, possess taste bud receptors specialized for acids, amino acids like protein, and bitter tastes. Their taste buds possess the receptors needed to detect umami. However, these receptors contain molecular changes that make the cat taste of umami different from that of humans. In humans, they detect the amino acids of glutamic acid and aspartic acid, but in cats they instead detect nucleotides, in this case inosine monophosphate and l-Histidine. These nucleotides are particularly enriched in tuna. This has been argued is why cats find tuna so palatable: as put by researchers into cat taste, "the specific combination of the high IMP and free l-Histidine contents of tuna" .. "produces a strong umami taste synergy that is highly preferred by cats". One of the researchers involved in this research has further claimed, "I think umami is as important for cats as sweet is for humans".[87]

Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature around 38 °C (100 °F) which is similar to that of a fresh kill; some cats reject cold food (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).

Whiskers

To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage.: 47

Behavior

See also: Kitten

The cat secretes and perceives pheromones. Female cats, called queens, are polyestrous with several estrus cycles during a year, lasting usually 21 days. They are usually ready to mate between early February and August in northern temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions.

Several males, called tomcats, are attracted to a female in heat. They fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually, the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backward-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines may provide the female with increased sexual stimulation, which acts to induce ovulation.

After mating, the female cleans her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to mate with her at this point, the female attacks him. After about 20 to 30 minutes, once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat. Because ovulation is not always triggered by a single mating, females may not be impregnated by the first male with which they mate. Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, with the result that different kittens in a litter may have different fathers.

The morula forms 124 hours after conception. At 148 hours, early blastocysts form. At 10–12 days, implantation occurs. The gestation of queens lasts between 64 and 67 days, with an average of 65 days.

Data on the reproductive capacity of more than 2,300 free-ranging queens were collected during a study between May 1998 and October 2000. They had one to six kittens per litter, with an average of three kittens. They produced a mean of 1.4 litters per year, but a maximum of three litters in a year. Of 169 kittens, 127 died before they were six months old due to a trauma caused in most cases by dog attacks and road accidents. The first litter is usually smaller than subsequent litters. Kittens are weaned between six and seven weeks of age. Queens normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months, and males at 5–7 months. This varies depending on breed. Kittens reach puberty at the age of 9–10 months.

Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks of age, when they are ready to leave their mother. They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as seven weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females. Traditionally, this surgery was performed at around six to nine months of age, but it is increasingly being performed before puberty, at about three to six months. In the United States, about 80% of household cats are neutered.

Lifespan and health

Main articles: Cat health and Aging in cats

The average lifespan of pet cats has risen in recent decades. In the early 1980s, it was about seven years,: 33 rising to 9.4 years in 1995: 33 and an average of about 13 years as of 2014 and 2023. Some cats have been reported as surviving into their 30s, with the oldest known cat dying at a verified age of 38.

Neutering increases life expectancy: one study found castrated male cats live twice as long as intact males, while spayed female cats live 62% longer than intact females.: 35 Having a cat neutered confers health benefits, because castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop uterine or ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer.

Disease

Main article: List of feline diseases

About 250 heritable genetic disorders have been identified in cats, many similar to human inborn errors of metabolism. The high level of similarity among the metabolism of mammals allows many of these feline diseases to be diagnosed using genetic tests that were originally developed for use in humans, as well as the use of cats as animal models in the study of the human diseases. Diseases affecting domestic cats include acute infections, parasitic infestations, injuries, and chronic diseases such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, and arthritis. Vaccinations are available for many infectious diseases, as are treatments to eliminate parasites such as worms, ticks, and fleas.

Ecology

Habitats

The domestic cat is a cosmopolitan species and occurs across much of the world. It is adaptable and now present on all continents except Antarctica, and on 118 of the 131 main groups of islands, even on the isolated Kerguelen Islands. Due to its ability to thrive in almost any terrestrial habitat, it is among the world's most invasive species. It lives on small islands with no human inhabitants. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.

The unwantedness that leads to the domestic cat being treated as an invasive species is twofold. On one hand, as it is little altered from the wildcat, it can readily interbreed with the wildcat. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of some wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary, possibly also the Iberian Peninsula, and where protected natural areas are close to human-dominated landscapes, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa. However, its introduction to places where no native felines are present also contributes to the decline of native species.

Ferality

Main article: Feral cat

Feral cats are domestic cats that were born in or have reverted to a wild state. They are unfamiliar with and wary of humans and roam freely in urban and rural areas. The numbers of feral cats is not known, but estimates of the United States feral population range from 25 to 60 million. Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large colonies, which occupy a specific territory and are usually associated with a source of food. Famous feral cat colonies are found in Rome around the Colosseum and Forum Romanum, with cats at some of these sites being fed and given medical attention by volunteers.

Public attitudes toward feral cats vary widely, from seeing them as free-ranging pets to regarding them as vermin.

Some feral cats can be successfully socialized and 're-tamed' for adoption; young cats, especially kittens and cats that have had prior experience and contact with humans are the most receptive to these efforts.

Impact on wildlife

Main article: Cat predation on wildlife

On islands, birds can contribute as much as 60% of a cat's diet. In nearly all cases, the cat cannot be identified as the sole cause for reducing the numbers of island birds, and in some instances, eradication of cats has caused a "mesopredator release" effect; where the suppression of top carnivores creates an abundance of smaller predators that cause a severe decline in their shared prey. Domestic cats are a contributing factor to the decline of many species, a factor that has ultimately led, in some cases, to extinction. The South Island piopio, Chatham rail, and the New Zealand merganser are a few from a long list, with the most extreme case being the flightless Lyall's wren, which was driven to extinction only a few years after its discovery. One feral cat in New Zealand killed 102 New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats in seven days. In the US, feral and free-ranging domestic cats kill an estimated 6.3 – 22.3 billion mammals annually.

In Australia, the impact of cats on mammal populations is even greater than the impact of habitat loss. More than one million reptiles are killed by feral cats each day, representing 258 species. Cats have contributed to the extinction of the Navassa curly-tailed lizard and Chioninia coctei.

Interaction with humans

Main article: Human interaction with cats

Cats are common pets throughout the world, and their worldwide population as of 2007 exceeded 500 million. As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

Cats have been used for millennia to control rodents, notably around grain stores and aboard ships, and both uses extend to the present day.

As well as being kept as pets, cats are also used in the international fur trade and leather industries for making coats, hats, blankets, stuffed toys, shoes, gloves, and musical instruments. About 24 cats are needed to make a cat-fur coat. This use has been outlawed in the United States since 2000 and in the European Union (as well as the United Kingdom) since 2007.

Cat pelts have been used for superstitious purposes as part of the practice of witchcraft, and are still made into blankets in Switzerland as traditional medicine thought to cure rheumatism.

A few attempts to build a cat census have been made over the years, both through associations or national and international organizations (such as that of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) and over the Internet, but such a task does not seem simple to achieve. General estimates for the global population of domestic cats range widely from anywhere between 200 million to 600 million. Walter Chandoha made his career photographing cats after his 1949 images of Loco, an especially charming stray taken in, were published around the world. He is reported to have photographed 90,000 cats during his career and maintained an archive of 225,000 images that he drew from for publications during his lifetime.

Shows

Main article: Cat show

A cat show is a judged event in which the owners of cats compete to win titles in various cat-registering organizations by entering their cats to be judged after a breed standard. It is often required that a cat must be healthy and vaccinated in order to participate in a cat show. Both pedigreed and non-purebred companion ("moggy") cats are admissible, although the rules differ depending on the organization. Competing cats are compared to the applicable breed standard, and assessed for temperament.

Infection

Main article: Feline zoonosis

Cats can be infected or infested with viruses, bacteria, fungus, protozoans, arthropods or worms that can transmit diseases to humans. In some cases, the cat exhibits no symptoms of the disease. The same disease can then become evident in a human. The likelihood that a person will become diseased depends on the age and immune status of the person. Humans who have cats living in their home or in close association are more likely to become infected. Others might also acquire infections from cat feces and parasites exiting the cat's body. Some of the infections of most concern include salmonella, cat-scratch disease and toxoplasmosis.

History and mythology

Main articles: Cultural depictions of cats and Cats in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped, and the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that killing a cat was forbidden, and when a household cat died, the entire family mourned and shaved their eyebrows. Families took their dead cats to the sacred city of Bubastis, where they were embalmed and buried in sacred repositories. Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.

Ancient Greeks and Romans kept weasels as pets, which were seen as the ideal rodent-killers. The earliest unmistakable evidence of the Greeks having domestic cats comes from two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the mid-fifth century BC showing Iokastos and Phalanthos, the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras respectively, playing with their pet cats. The usual ancient Greek word for 'cat' was ailouros, meaning 'thing with the waving tail'. Cats are rarely mentioned in ancient Greek literature. Aristotle remarked in his History of Animals that "female cats are naturally lecherous." The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, when the deities flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana turns into a cat.

Cats eventually displaced weasels as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice. During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin Mary. Cats are often shown in icons of Annunciation and of the Holy Family and, according to Italian folklore, on the same night that Mary gave birth to Jesus, a cat in Bethlehem gave birth to a kitten. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as ships' cats were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.

Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune. In Norse mythology, Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats. In Jewish legend, the first cat was living in the house of the first man Adam as a pet that got rid of mice. The cat was once partnering with the first dog before the latter broke an oath they had made which resulted in enmity between the descendants of these two animals. It is also written that neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while every other animal has an incarnation species in the water. Although no species are sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims. Some Western writers have stated Muhammad had a favorite cat, Muezza. He is reported to have loved cats so much, "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it". The story has no origin in early Muslim writers, and seems to confuse a story of a later Sufi saint, Ahmed ar-Rifa'i, centuries after Muhammad. One of the companions of Muhammad was known as Abu Hurayrah ("father of the kitten"), in reference to his documented affection to cats.

Superstitions and rituals

Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that encountering a black cat ("crossing one's path") leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). In mid-16th century France, cats would be burnt alive as a form of entertainment, particularly during midsummer festivals. According to Norman Davies, the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized". The remaining ashes were sometimes taken back home by the people for good luck.

According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. An early mention of the myth can be found in John Heywood's The Proverbs of John Heywood (1546)

Husband, (quoth she), ye studie, be merrie now,

And even as ye thinke now, so come to yow.

Nay not so, (quoth he), for my thought to tell right,

I thinke how you lay groning, wife, all last night.

Husband, a groning horse and a groning wife

Never faile their master, (quoth she), for my life.

No wife, a woman hath nine lives like a cat.

The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Nonetheless, cats can still be injured or killed by a high fall.

Laser Light - Brighton (012) by Malcolm Bull

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More from Thursday night's Laser Light display in Brighton

Don't forget to include everyone by Benny Traeger Hünersen

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www.flickr.com/groups/huenersen/

Baby Gift Set - Gender Neutral 2 by BGelhausen

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Custom ordered gender neutral gift set - includes bib, 2 burp cloths and a pacifier clip.

Bib & Pacifier Clip Fabrics include Happy Drawing Elephants by Ed Emberly for Cloud 9 - Diddly Dot in Sky by Michael Miller & Beans in Navy from the Gabbie line by Maude Asbury for Blend, Stitch Square by Michael Miller - Navy, Orange, Mint, Olive & Mustard. Purchased from CityCraft - www.citycraft.com/

Burp Cloths are made from the Riley Blake Flannel Basics line. They include Medium Chevron & Pop Dots in Lime, Honeycomb Dot in Yellow & Hexi Print in Girl. They were purchased from Hawthorne Threads www.hawthornethreads.com/

Bib pattern is from One Yard Wonders.

Burp Cloths have 4 layers of flannel for extra absorbency (2 plain layers between the pretty exterior layers). They were made using Cloud 9's Contoured Burp cloth tutorial cloud9fabrics.blogspot.com/2010/12/tutorial-contoured-bur...

Pacifier Clip made using this tutorial fro Make It & Love It - www.makeit-loveit.com/2014/08/diy-pacifier-clips-no-more-...

Linked to:

Sew Cute Tuesdat - www.blossomheartquilts.com/ - 3/16/15

Fabric Tuesday - quiltstory.blogspot.com/ - 3/16/15

WIP Wednesday - www.freshlypieced.com/ - 3/18/15

India - Kerala - Backwater Cruising - 6 by Manfred Sommer

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The Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast (known as the Malabar Coast) of Kerala state in southern India. The network includes five large lakes linked by canals, both manmade and natural, fed by 38 rivers, and extending virtually half the length of Kerala state. The backwaters were formed by the action of waves and shore currents creating low barrier islands across the mouths of the many rivers flowing down from the Western Ghats range.

The Kerala Backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets, a labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 km of waterways, and sometimes compared to the American Bayou. In the midst of this landscape there are a number of towns and cities, which serve as the starting and end points of backwater cruises. National Waterway No. 3 from Kollam to Kottapuram, covers a distance of 205 km and runs almost parallel to the coast line of southern Kerala facilitating both cargo movement and backwater tourism.

The backwaters have a unique ecosystem - freshwater from the rivers meets the seawater from the Arabian Sea. In certain areas, such as the Vembanad Kayal, where a barrage has been built near Kumarakom, salt water from the sea is prevented from entering the deep inside, keeping the fresh water intact. Such fresh water is extensively used for irrigation purposes.

Many unique species of aquatic life including crabs, frogs and mudskippers, water birds such as terns, kingfishers, darters and cormorants, and animals such as otters and turtles live in and alongside the backwaters. Palm trees, pandanus shrubs, various leafy plants and bushes grow alongside the backwaters, providing a green hue to the surrounding landscape.

Vembanad Kayal is the largest of the lakes, covering an area of 200 km², and bordered by Alappuzha (Alleppey), Kottayam, and Ernakulam districts. The port of Kochi (Cochin) is located at the lake's outlet to the Arabian Sea. Alleppey, "Venice of the East", has a large network of canals that meander through the town. Vembanad is India’s longest lake.

HOUSE BOATS

The kettuvallams (Kerala houseboats) in the backwaters are one of the prominent tourist attractions in Kerala. More than 2000 kettuvallams ply the backwaters, 120 of them in Alappuzha. Kerala government has classified the tourist houseboats as Platinum, Gold and silver.

The kettuvallams were traditionally used as grain barges, to transport the rice harvested in the fertile fields alongside the backwaters. Thatched roof covers over wooden hulls, 30 m in length, provided protection from the elements. At some point in time the boats were used as living quarters by the royalty. Converted to accommodate tourists, the houseboats have become floating cottages having a sleeping area, with western-style toilets, a dining area and a sit out on the deck. Most tourists spend the night on a house boat. Food is cooked on board by the accompanying staff – mostly having a flavour of Kerala. The houseboats are of various patterns and can be hired as per the size of the family or visiting group. The living-dining room is usually open on at least three sides providing a grand view of the surroundings, including other boats, throughout the day when it is on the move. It is brought to a standstill at times of taking food and at night. After sunset, the boat crew provide burning coils to drive away mosquitoes. Ketuvallams are motorised but generally proceed at a slow speed for smooth travel. All ketuvallams have a generator and most bedrooms are air-conditioned. At times, as per demand of customers, electricity is switched off and lanterns are provided to create a rural setting.

While many ketuvalloms take tourists from a particular point and bring them back to around the same point next morning there are some specific cruises mostly in the Alappuzha area, such as the one night cruise from Alappuzha to Thotapally via Punnamada Lake two nights cruise from Alappuzha to Alumkavadi,[8] one night cruise from Alappuzha to Kidangara, and one night cruise from Alappuzha to Mankotta. There are numerous such cruises.

Beypore, located 10 km south of Kozhikode at the mouth of the Chaliyar River, is a famous fishing harbour, port and boat building centre. Beypore has a 1,500 year-tradition of boatbuilding. The skill of the local shipwrights and boat builders are widely sought after. There is a houseboat-building yard at Alumkadavu, in Ashtamudi Kayal near Kollam.

FERRY SERVICES

Regular ferry services connect most locations on both banks of the backwaters. The Kerala State Water Transport Department operates ferries for passengers as well as tourists. It is the cheapest mode of transport through the backwaters.

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

Connected by artificial canals, the backwaters form an economical means of transport, and a large local trade is carried on by inland navigation. Fishing, along with fish curing is an important industry.

Kerala backwaters have been used for centuries by the local people for transportation, fishing and agriculture. It has supported the efforts of the local people to earn a livelihood. In more recent times, agricultural efforts have been strengthened with reclamation of some backwater lands for rice growing, particularly in the Kuttanad area. Boat making has been a traditional craft, so has been the coir industry.

Kuttanad is crisscrossed with waterways that run alongside extensive paddy fields, as well as fields of cassava, banana and yam. A unique feature of Kuttanad is that many of these fields are below sea level and are surrounded by earthen embankments. The crops are grown on the low-lying ground and irrigated with fresh water from canal and waterways connected to Vembanad lake. The area is similar to the dikes of the Netherlands where land has been reclaimed from the sea and crops are grown.

WIKIPEDIA

Cobbled Lane, Corbridge, Northumberland, England. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, 16 miles (26 km) west of Newcastle and 4 miles (6 km) east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.

Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like Corstopitum or Coriosopitum, and wooden writing tablets found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda nearby suggest it was probably locally called Coria (meaning a tribal centre). According to Bethany Fox, the early attestations of the English name Corbridge "show variation between Cor- and Col-, as in the earliest two forms, Corebricg and Colebruge, and there has been extensive debate about what its etymology may be. Some relationship with the Roman name Corstopitum seems clear, however".

Coria was the most northerly town in the Roman Empire, lying at the junction of the Stanegate and Dere Street, the two most important local Roman roads.

The first fort was established c. AD 85, although there was a slightly earlier base nearby at Beaufront Red House. By the middle of the 2nd century AD, the fort was replaced by a town with two walled military compounds, which were garrisoned until the end of the Roman occupation of the site. The best-known finds from the site include the stone Corbridge Lion and the Corbridge Hoard of Roman armour and sundry other items. In Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, the town of Hunno on the Wall is probably based on Corstopitum.

The Roman Town is now managed by English Heritage on behalf of HM Government. The site has been largely excavated and features a large museum and shop. The fort is the top-rated attraction in Corbridge and is open daily between 10 and 6 in the summer and at weekends between 10 and 4 in the winter.

The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew is thought to have been consecrated in 676. Saint Wilfrid is supposed to have had the church built at the same time as Hexham Abbey. It has been altered several times since, with a Norman doorway, and a lychgate built as a First World War memorial. The Church is built largely from stone taken from Hadrian's Wall to the north, and the entrance to the Church is through glass doors given by Rowan Atkinson (known for Blackadder and Mr. Bean) and etched in memory of his mother, a parishioner.

There are only three fortified vicarages in the county, and one of these is in Corbridge. Built in the 14th century, the Vicar's Pele is to be found in the south-east corner of the churchyard, and has walls 1.3 metres (4 ft) in thickness. The register for St Andrew's dates from 1657. Later on in the town's history, Wesleyan, Primitive and Free Methodist chapels were all built too.

Even older than the Vicar's Pele is Corbridge Low Hall, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, with one end converted to a pele tower in the 15th century. The main block was remodelled in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the building restored c. 1890. Corbridge Town Hall was designed by Frank Emley and completed in 1887.

A number of fine Victorian mansions were developed on Prospect Hill to house successful industrialists and local businessmen in the late 19th century, after the arrival of the railway facilitated commuting to Newcastle.

Corbridge suffered, as did many other settlements in the county, from the border warfare which was particularly prevalent between 1300 and 1700. Raids were commonplace, and it was not unusual for the livestock to be brought into the town at night and a watch placed to guard either end of the street for marauders. A bridge over the Tyne was built in the 13th century, but this original has not survived. The present bridge, an impressive stone structure with seven arches, was erected in 1674.

Corbridge is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham, Guy Opperman of the Conservative Party is the Member of Parliament.

Prior to Brexit, for the European Parliament its residents voted to elect MEP's for the North East England constituency.

For Local Government purposes it belongs to Northumberland County Council a unitary authority. An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward includes Corbridge and Sandhoe. It had a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,191. The Parish itself is run by Corbridge Parish Council which elects 10 Councillors on 4 year terms; one of them is selected by members of the council to be Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively on 1 year terms. They meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month. The Meetings take place at Corbridge Parish Hall.

Corbridge is bypassed to the north by the A69 road, linking it to Newcastle and Carlisle. It is also linked to Newcastle and the A1 by the A695 which passes about 1 mile (1.6 km) away on the south side of the River Tyne.

The 685 and 602 bus routes link the town to Tyneside and Carlisle. Service 685 also provides a link to the town of Hexham.

The town is served by Corbridge railway station on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, also known as the Tyne Valley line. The line was opened in 1838, and links the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear with Carlisle in Cumbria. The line follows the course of the River Tyne through Northumberland.

Passenger services on the Tyne Valley Line are operated by Northern and ScotRail. The line is also heavily used for freight.

The railway station is about 1 mile (1.6 km) away on the south side of the River Tyne.

Stagshaw Bank Fair, traditionally held on 4 July, was one of the most famous of the country fairs. It included a huge sale of stock, and was proclaimed each year by the bailiff to the Duke of Northumberland. The Northumberland County Show, an agricultural event, was held in the fields outside Corbridge each year before moving to Bywell in 2013.

The Corbridge Steam Fair and Vintage Rally is held every year in June to celebrate steam engines. There are also classic cars, trucks and tractors.

Corbridge Festival has taken place since 2011 and is usually held on the last weekend of June or the first in July. Headliners have included The Coral and Fun Lovin' Criminals. The festival now includes three stages and up to 50 bands.

A Midsummer’s Evening in Corbridge marks the summer solstice each year with performers, stalls and late night shopping in the village from 4pm to 9pm.

Each year on the first Monday in December, the village hosts Christmas in Corbridge with carol singing, food stalls and late night shopping.

Notable people

Born at Corbridge

Alan Brown (footballer) (1914–1996), professional footballer and manager

Mary Flora Bell (born 1957), woman who at age 11 was convicted of the manslaughter of two younger boys

Steve Bruce (born 1960), professional footballer and manager

John Blackburn (1923–1993), thriller writer

Maggie Telfer (1959–2023), health activist

Lived at Corbridge

Dame Catherine Cookson (1906–1998), author

Carol Malia, BBC Look North presenter

Alan Pardew (born 1961), professional footballer and manager

Rachel Unthank, Folk Musician

Ruth Ainsworth (1908–1984), children's writer of the "Rufty Tufty Golliwog" series

Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement.

The county has an area of 5,013 km2 (1,936 sq mi) and a population of 320,274, making it the least-densely populated county in England. The south-east contains the largest towns: Blyth (37,339), Cramlington (27,683), Ashington (27,670), and Morpeth (14,304), which is the administrative centre. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Berwick-upon-Tweed (12,043) in the far north and Hexham (13,097) in the west. For local government purposes the county is a unitary authority area. The county historically included the parts of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne.

The west of Northumberland contains part of the Cheviot Hills and North Pennines, while to the east the land becomes flatter before reaching the coast. The Cheviot (815 m (2,674 ft)), after which the range of hills is named, is the county's highest point. The county contains the source of the River North Tyne and much of the South Tyne; near Hexham they combine to form the Tyne, which exits into Tyne and Wear shortly downstream. The other major rivers in Northumberland are, from south to north, the Blyth, Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Tweed, the last of which forms part of the Scottish border. The county contains Northumberland National Park and two national landscapes: the Northumberland Coast and part of the North Pennines.

Much of the county's history has been defined by its position on a border. In the Roman era most of the county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, and the region was contested between England and Scotland into the Early Modern era, leading to the construction of many castles, peel towers and bastle houses, and the early modern fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Northumberland is also associated with Celtic Christianity, particularly the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the Industrial Revolution the area had significant coal mining, shipbuilding, and armaments industries.

Northumberland, England's northernmost county, is a land where Roman occupiers once guarded a walled frontier, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland. The present-day county is a vestige of an independent kingdom that once stretched from Edinburgh to the Humber, hence its name, meaning literally 'north of the Humber'.[1] Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, and the greatest number of recognised battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered the industrial revolution, Northumberland is now a primarily rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.

Prehistory

As attested by many instances of rock art, the Northumberland region has a rich prehistory. Archeologists have studied a Mesolithic structure at Howick, which dates to 7500 BC and was identified as Britain's oldest house until it lost this title in 2010 when the discovery of the even older Star Carr house in North Yorkshire was announced, which dates to 8770 BC. They have also found tools, ornaments, building structures and cairns dating to the bronze and iron ages, when the area was occupied by Brythonic Celtic peoples who had migrated from continental Europe, most likely the Votadini whose territory stretched from Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth to Northumberland. It is not clear where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, the Brigantes, was, although it probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. Unlike neighbouring tribes, Votadini farms were surrounded by large walls, banks and ditches and the people made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory (Yeavering Bell, Eildon Hill and Traprain Law, the latter two now in Scotland), each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. The hillforts may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies. Duddo Five Stones in North Northumberland and the Goatstones near Hadrian's Wall are stone circles dating from the Bronze Age.

Roman occupation

When Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed Roman governor of Britain in 78 AD, most of northern Britain was still controlled by native British tribes. During his governorship Agricola extended Roman control north of Eboracum (York) and into what is now Scotland. Roman settlements, garrisons and roads were established throughout the Northumberland region.

The northern frontier of the Roman occupation fluctuated between Pons Aelius (now Newcastle) and the Forth. Hadrian's Wall was completed by about 130 AD, to define and defend the northern boundary of Roman Britain. By 142, the Romans had completed the Antonine Wall, a more northerly defensive border lying between the Forth and Clyde. However, by 164 they abandoned the Antonine Wall to consolidate defences at Hadrian's Wall.

Two important Roman roads in the region were the Stanegate and Dere Street, the latter extending through the Cheviot Hills to locations well north of the Tweed. Located at the intersection of these two roads, Coria (Corbridge), a Roman supply-base, was the most northerly large town in the Roman Empire. The Roman forts of Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall, and Vindolanda (Chesterholm) built to guard the Stanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.

The Celtic peoples living in the region between the Tyne and the Forth were known to the Romans as the Votadini. When not under direct Roman rule, they functioned as a friendly client kingdom, a somewhat porous buffer against the more warlike Picts to the north.

The gradual Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century led to a poorly documented age of conflict and chaos as different peoples contested territories in northern Britain.

Archaeology

Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vidolanda Trust experts led by Dr Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that based on their difference from gladiator gloves warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.

Anglian Kingdoms of Deira, Bernicia and Northumbria

Conquests by Anglian invaders led to the establishment of the kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. The first Anglian settlement was effected in 547 by Ida, who, accompanied by his six sons, pushed through the narrow strip of territory between the Cheviots and the sea, and set up a fortress at Bamburgh, which became the royal seat of the Bernician kings. About the end of the 6th century Bernicia was first united with the rival kingdom of Deira under the rule of Æthelfrith of Northumbria, and the district between the Humber and the Forth became known as the kingdom of Northumbria.

After Æthelfrith was killed in battle around 616, Edwin of Deira became king of Northumbria. Æthelfrith's son Oswald fled northwest to the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata where he was converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona. Meanwhile, Paulinus, the first bishop of York, converted King Edwin to Roman Christianity and began an extensive program of conversion and baptism. By his time the kingdom must have reached the west coast, as Edwin is said to have conquered the islands of Anglesey and Man. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the chief power in Britain. However, when Cadwallon ap Cadfan defeated Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria was divided into the former kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira and Christianity suffered a temporary decline.

In 634, Oswald defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan at the Battle of Heavenfield, resulting in the re-unification of Northumbria. Oswald re-established Christianity in the kingdom and assigned a bishopric at Hexham, where Wilfrid erected a famous early English church. Reunification was followed by a period of Northumbrian expansion into Pictish territory and growing dominance over the Celtic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Strathclyde to the west. Northumbrian encroachments were abruptly curtailed in 685, when Ecgfrith suffered complete defeat by a Pictish force at the Battle of Nechtansmere.

Monastic culture

When Saint Aidan came at the request of Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he chose the island of Lindisfarne as the site of his church and monastery, and made it the head of the diocese which he founded in 635. For some years the see continued in peace, numbering among its bishops Saint Cuthbert, but in 793 Vikings landed on the island and burnt the settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the body of Cuthbert and other holy relics.

Against this background, the monasteries of Northumbria developed some remarkably influential cultural products. Cædmon, a monk at Whitby Abbey, authored one of the earliest surviving examples of Old English poetry some time before 680. The Lindisfarne Gospels, an early example of insular art, is attributed to Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. Stenton (1971, p. 191) describes the book as follows.

In mere script it is no more than an admirable example of a noble style, and the figure drawing of its illustrations, though probably based on classical models, has more than a touch of naïveté. Its unique importance is due to the beauty and astonishing intricacy of its decoration. The nature of its ornament connects it very closely with a group of Irish manuscripts of which the Book of Kells is the most famous.

Bede's writing, at the Northumbrian monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, gained him a reputation as the most learned scholar of his age. His work is notable for both its breadth (encompassing history, theology, science and literature) and quality, exemplified by the rigorous use of citation. Bede's most famous work is Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which is regarded as a highly influential early model of historical scholarship.

Earldom of Northumbria

Main article: Earl of Northumbria

The kingdom of Northumbria ceased to exist in 927, when it was incorporated into England as an earldom by Athelstan, the first king of a united England[citation needed].. In 937, Athelstan's victory over a combined Norse-Celtic force in the battle of Brunanburh secured England's control of its northern territory.

The Scottish king Indulf captured Edinburgh in 954, which thenceforth remained in possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards. Malcolm II was finally successful, when, in 1018, he annihilated the Northumbrian army at Carham on the Tweed, and Eadulf the earl of Northumbria ceded all his territory to the north of that river as the price of peace. Henceforth Lothian, consisting of the former region of Northumbria between the Forth and the Tweed, remained in possession of the Scottish kings.

The term Northumberland was first recorded in its contracted modern sense in 1065 in an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to a rebellion against Tostig Godwinson.

Norman Conquest

The vigorous resistance of Northumbria to William the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying, mostly south of the River Tees. As recounted by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

A.D. 1068. This year King William gave Earl Robert the earldom over Northumberland; but the landsmen attacked him in the town of Durham, and slew him, and nine hundred men with him. Soon afterwards Edgar Etheling came with all the Northumbrians to York; and the townsmen made a treaty with him: but King William came from the South unawares on them with a large army, and put them to flight, and slew on the spot those who could not escape; which were many hundred men; and plundered the town. St. Peter's minster he made a profanation, and all other places also he despoiled and trampled upon; and the ethelling went back again to Scotland.

The Normans rebuilt the Anglian monasteries of Lindisfarne, Hexham and Tynemouth, and founded Norman abbeys at Newminster (1139), Alnwick (1147), Brinkburn (1180), Hulne, and Blanchland. Castles were built at Newcastle (1080), Alnwick (1096), Bamburgh (1131), Harbottle (1157), Prudhoe (1172), Warkworth (1205), Chillingham, Ford (1287), Dunstanburgh (1313), Morpeth, Langley (1350), Wark on Tweed and Norham (1121), the latter an enclave of the palatine bishops of Durham.

Northumberland county is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but the account of the issues of the county, as rendered by Odard the sheriff, is entered in the Great Roll of the Exchequer for 1131.

In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland county in the Treaty of York.

During the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the county of Northumberland was the district between the Tees and the Tweed, and had within it several scattered liberties subject to other powers: Durham, Sadberge, Bedlingtonshire, and Norhamshire belonging to the bishop of Durham; Hexhamshire to the archbishop of York; Tynedale to the king of Scotland; Emildon to the earl of Lancaster; and Redesdale to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. These franchises were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the shire. Over time, some were incorporated within the county: Tynedale in 1495; Hexhamshire in 1572; and Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.

Council of the North

The county court for Northumberland was held at different times at Newcastle, Alnwick and Morpeth, until by statute of 1549 it was ordered that the court should thenceforth be held in the town and castle of Alnwick. Under the same statute the sheriffs of Northumberland, who had been in the habit of appropriating the issues of the county to their private use, were required thereafter to deliver in their accounts to the Exchequer in the same manner as the sheriffs of other counties.

Border wars, reivers and rebels

From the Norman Conquest until the union of England and Scotland under James I and VI, Northumberland was the scene of perpetual inroads and devastations by the Scots. Norham, Alnwick and Wark were captured by David I of Scotland in the wars of Stephen's reign. In 1174, during his invasion of Northumbria, William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, was captured by a party of about four hundred mounted knights, led by Ranulf de Glanvill.[citation needed] This incident became known as the Battle of Alnwick. In 1295, Robert de Ros and the earls of Athol and Menteith ravaged Redesdale, Coquetdale and Tynedale. In 1314 the county was ravaged by king Robert Bruce. And so dire was the Scottish threat in 1382, that by special enactment the earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain on his estates to protect the border. In 1388, Henry Percy was taken prisoner and 1500 of his men slain at the battle of Otterburn, immortalised in the ballad of Chevy Chase.

Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh were garrisoned for the Lancastrian cause in 1462, but after the Yorkist victories of Hexham and Hedgley Moor in 1464, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Bamburgh was taken by storm.

In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland was killed at the Battle of Flodden on Branxton Moor.

Roman Catholic support in Northumberland for Mary, Queen of Scots, led to the Rising of the North in 1569.

Harbottle

Border Reivers

Peel tower

Union and Civil War

After uniting the English and Scottish thrones, James VI and I sharply curbed the lawlessness of the border reivers and brought relative peace to the region. There were Church of Scotland congregations in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the Civil War of the 17th century, Newcastle was garrisoned for the king by the earl of Newcastle, but in 1644 it was captured by the Scots under the earl of Leven, and in 1646 Charles I was led there a captive under the charge of David Leslie.

Many of the chief Northumberland families were ruined in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

Industrialisation

The mineral resources of the area appear to have been exploited to some extent from remote times. It is certain that coal was used by the Romans in Northumberland, and some coal ornaments found at Angerton have been attributed to the 7th century. In a 13th-century grant to Newminster Abbey a road for the conveyance of sea coal from the shore about Blyth is mentioned, and the Blyth coal field was worked throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The coal trade on the Tyne did not exist to any extent before the 13th century, but from that period it developed rapidly, and Newcastle acquired the monopoly of the river shipping and coal trade. Lead was exported from Newcastle in the 12th century, probably from Hexhamshire, the lead mines of which were very prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In a charter from Richard I to Hugh de Puiset creating him earl of Northumberland, mines of silver and iron are mentioned. A salt pan is mentioned at Warkworth in the 12th century; in the 13th century the salt industry flourished at the mouth of the river Blyth, and in the 15th century formed the principal occupation of the inhabitants of North and South Shields. In the reign of Elizabeth I, glass factories were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry spread rapidly along the Tyne. Tanning, both of leather and of nets, was largely practised in the 13th century, and the salmon fisheries in the Tyne were famous in the reign of Henry I.

John Smeaton designed the Coldstream Bridge and a bridge at Hexham.

Stephenson's Rocket

Invention of the steam turbine by Charles Algernon Parsons

First floor layout by jskaare

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Includes front entrance, information desk, historic weaponry section, museum shop and cafe, and a rear exit

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Brunch, Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict by NwongPR

Includes home fries and fresh fruit. Extra side of bacon. Photo credit: Nancy Wong Photo taken: Apr.25,2015

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Glebe Park - Galliard Smith Gate by ArchivesACT

Location

Eastern side of the Civic centre, accessible from Coranderrk, Ballumbir, Akuna and Bunda Streets.

Facilities

Facilities include: Rotunda; barbecues; children's playgrounds; picnic areas; and a public toilet in the centre of the park. Time controlled parking is available outside the park only.

History

Glebe Park is an important green sanctuary in the city. Its mature trees and its distinctive stone and steel picket fences set it apart from all other parks in Canberra. For office workers, shoppers, tourists, including the many who visit the adjacent National Convention Centre, and the residents of nearby Reid, it is Civic's most accessible park.

A part of Canberra's history

The park is but a small part of a 40 hectare glebe which, together with a nearby area of approximately 0.8 hectares, was transferred by merchant and pastoralist Robert Campbell to the Church of England in the early 1840s when the area was known as "Canberry". On the smaller site was built St Johns Church, which has continued to the present day serving its parish community. The glebe, later expanded to 47 hectares, was for a parsonage and for the parson's use as a farm.

The subsequent planting of trees was to lead, a century later, to a community campaign to save those trees and their descendants by creating a public park there. That park was officially defined and named on 14 December 1983. Its future was assured by National Trust (ACT) and Australian Heritage Commission listings. After construction by the National Capital Development Commission between 1983 and 1988 it was officially opened on Canberra Day March 12 1989.

A heritage influenced design

In keeping with the historic background of the existing trees and their informal character the park has been designed to reflect the character of a traditional English park. The park's borders that front roads are marked by a stone fence with steel railings, while access is gained through formal gateways. The park is criss-crossed with paved paths. Each of the ten gates are officially named to reflect the historic background of the area since European settlement. Names include St John's, Galliad Smith, Campbell and Canberry.

The mature trees of the park create a relaxed atmosphere much sought after in the heart of the city. The blaze of autumn colour diffused with sunlight marks the change of the seasons in a way seldom experienced in other Canberra parks. Of the park's 663 trees 508 are English elms (Ulmus procera) and 92 are English oaks (Quercus robur).

A 19th century style rotunda, a children's playground and a large sculpture depicting "Egle, the Queen of Serpants" donated by the Lithuanian community in Australia, add interest to the park. United Nations Day in 1989 and the Diamond Jubilee of the Horticulture Society of Canberra (1929-1989) are commemorated with tree plantings.

A popular inner city park

Glebe Park is well used throughout the week and weekend during daylight hours, particularly in the spring, summer and autumn. Groups congregate around the barbecues and the children's playground.

The park has become a popular venue for organised events such as weddings, public meetings and concerts for which a permit may be required, while it is an excellent venue for large festivals. During March it is used for a wide range of events during the Canberra Festival, including the ever popular Canberra Times Art Show.

During a visit to Glebe Park reflect on the events over the past 150 years which have contributed to the evolution of the park and today's Canberra.

Reference

Gray, J (1997) The Historical and Cultural Background of selected Urban Parks in Canberra.

Source: www.tams.act.gov.au/play/pcl/parks_reserves_and_open_plac...

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Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 by Benjamin Donnelly

Northwest Airlines began life in September 1926 as Northwest Airways, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and flying air mail. A year later, it expanded its service to include passenger routes, flying Hamilton H-47 biplanes. Due to the fallout from the Air Mail Scandal of the early 1930s, Northwest Airways changed its name to Northwest Airlines in 1934 to distance itself from its air mail beginnings. By that time, it had already moved its main base of operations to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and was operating a comparatively large route network through the upper Midwest. Due to this experience, Northwest got the coveted route from New York to Seattle, making the airline one of the few transcontinental American airlines. Because a good deal of this route was flown over the rugged Rocky Mountains in often winter weather, Northwest pioneered long-distance mountain flying in poor conditions.

During World War II, Northwest’s experience in flying these routes served it well: many of its pilots were tapped to map out the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) air ferrying route from Great Falls, Montana to destinations in the Soviet Union. With the risk of crashing into sparsely populated areas a real threat, Northwest’s aircraft were painted with bright red tails to better find them if there was a crash-landing. When the war ended, Northwest kept their red tails, which brought recognition from potential passengers. It also gained the airline’s pilots a great deal of experience in long-distance flight.

Before the war, Northwest was already considering a transpacific route through Alaska and Japan to China; after the war, with new long-range aircraft such as the Douglas DC-4 and Boeing 377 Stratocruiser becoming available, this idea became a reality. Northwest flew its first transpacific route from Minneapolis to Tokyo in 1947—the first to use the “Great Northern Circle” route. Asia became Northwest’s stock in trade after 1947. To reflect this, the airline began calling itself Northwest Orient, though it did not begin applying this title to its aircraft immediately. For awhile, Northwest was not only one of the more well-known American air carriers, it was also Japan’s largest and the American airline with the most destinations in Canada.

By 1960, when Northwest received its first jets (Douglas DC-8s, though these were soon replaced by Boeing 707s), it had the most Asian destinations of any US airline, and was also the largest airline in the Pacific Northwest as well, with a dense network serving small airports between Seattle and Minneapolis, as well a few Midwest locations as well. It had also acquired turboprops as one of the launch customers for the Lockheed L-188 Electra, but after a series of catastrophic accidents, these were quietly replaced by Boeing 727s, making Northwest one of the first all-jet airlines. A new livery was adopted in the early 1970s that kept the red tail but dropped the words “Northwest”; new titling with “Northwest Orient” was carried on the forward fuselage, and more bare metal was used. About the same time, Northwest entered the wide-body field in a big way, ordering both Boeing 747s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. In 1977, it received its first European routes, making it a worldwide airline.

Because of its extensive international network and near-stranglehold on the Pacific Northwest (its only rival was Western Airlines), Northwest weathered the post-deregulation American market and even profited from it: seeking to expand into the American East and South, it bought Republic Airlines in 1986. Not long afterwards, the title “Orient” was dropped from Northwest’s advertising and aircraft, as it was no longer a primarily transpacific airline.

This was not without price, however: the sudden acquisition of Republic left Northwest glutted with aircraft it could not afford to operate and routes it did not want, while continued issues with labor nearly led to strikes. The airline nearly went bankrupt in 1993 before restructuring; a modernization program began, with many regional routes farmed out to Northwest Airlink, its commuter service, and older aircraft leased out. Its European routes, however, were strengthened by a close relationship and codesharing agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Northwest returned to profitability after a brief period of low sales in the late 1990s, but then was deluged with a number of problems. This included its previous uncontested dominance in Asia being challenged by United and Delta; the latter, after buying out Western, was also becoming increasingly present in the Pacific Northwest as well, where low-cost carriers like Alaska and Southwest were beginning to take a toll. Labor issues continued to be an issue as well. After the 9/11 attacks grounded American air traffic—which for Northwest, came on the heels of a strike that grounded the airline for two weeks—Northwest filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

This led to a massive sell-off of older aircraft, the end of a great deal of complimentary items for passengers, slashing its Airlink fleet, and other cost-saving measures. Northwest emerged from bankruptcy in 2007, but never truly recovered. It curtailed some of its European routes in exchange for new routes to China, but though Northwest was posting a profit, it was not the airline giant it had been in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2008, Northwest announced a merger with Delta, which would allieviate the problems with both airlines, though Northwest was clearly the junior partner. Though Delta adopted a shade of red in its famous widget identical to that of Northwest’s tail colors, the Northwest brand disappeared by 2010 as Delta became the largest airline in the world by fleet size.

I found this Boeing 727 miniature/toy in an antique store in Poulsbo, Washington while on vacation. (They had almost everything Northwest flew in the late 1970s in the same scale...I should've bought all of them!) This is a tiny toy, much smaller than even the AeroMinis that are in the Poletto Collection. It is in Northwest's "Northwest Orient" colors the airline carried through the 1970s and most of the 1980s.

Wien, 1. Bezirk, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (società degli amici della musica, sociedad de los amigos de la música, société des amis de la musique, society of the friends of music), Musikvereinsplatz/Bösendorferstraße/Karlsplatz by Alfred Lex

2

History of the Vienna Philharmonic

The orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic was founded on March 28, 1842. It was founded by the German composer Otto Nicolai, whose creations include the opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor". Nearly a century later, the club was dissolved in December 1938 during the Nazi period by the law on the "transfer and incorporation of clubs, organizations and associations" for the time being and the assets fell to the State Theater and the Stage Academy of the City of Vienna. This was, however, a few days later at the urging of the conductor and musicologist Dr. Heinz Drewes largely reversed. Dr. Drewes was the leader of the "entire German musical life" and so he used his influence on the Reich propaganda minister Goebbels. Ultimately, Goebbels decreed in June 1939 that the Vienna Philharmonic as an association should retain their most extensive independence on the condition that the club is subject to his supervision and that the articles of association regarding the National Socialist principles is changed. Thus, the club's assets were released again.

In 1939, the idea of the New Year's Concert, at which time only the music of Johann Strauss was played, was born. This concert series of the New Year's Concert has become one of the cultural highlights of the year and is always broadcast live on television. The magnificent pictures from Vienna are accompanied, among other things, by fantastic flowers and dance performances by the Wiener Ballett. With the end of the Second World War, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra once again became completely independent and the orchestra played two major concert evenings right after the liberation of Vienna in April 1945. A special focus is still the position of the conductor at the Vienna Philharmonic. Because until 1933, the orchestra was directed by a single conductor every season. From 1933 there were only guest conductors. Great merits in the early years had especially the conductors Arturo Toscanini from 1933 to 1937 and intermittently from 1933 to 1954 Wilhelm Furtwängler. Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Paul Hindemith and Daniel Barenboim are among the famous guest conductors. Also as a guest conductor conducted from 1966, the later honorary member Leonard Bernstein repeatedly the orchestra. One of Leonard Bernstein's most outstanding works in collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic is, for example, the adaptation of the works of Gustav Mahler, who himself had directed the orchestra from 1898 to 1901 for three years as a subscription conductor to the Vienna Philharmonic.

Vienna Philharmonic coins

Appropriately to the Vienna Philharmonic, the Austrian Mint, which mints all coins in Austria, has been issuing a bullion every year since 1989, which after the orchestra precisely is called the Vienna Philharmonic. At first, the coins were pure gold. Since 2008 there is also an annual silver version. Their value does not correspond to the nominal value, but the Vienna Philharmonic is a bullion coin whose value depends on the current precious metal value. The motif of the Vienna Philharmonic is always the same. The front of the Vienna Philharmonic Münze designed by Thomas Pesendorfer shows some of the classical orchestral instruments such as bassoon, horn, harp and four violins, as well as a cello in the middle. The reverse shows the organ, which is located in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. Only the respective year is changed. The coin is now available in four sizes. As a special coinage, a 1000-ounce coin, the so-called "Big Phil", was released in 2004 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary, and another coin in 2009 for the 20th anniversary. Both are traded as collectors' items because of the limited edition and are therefore more expensive than the actual precious metal value.

Geschichte der Wiener Philharmoniker

Das Orchester der Wiener Philharmoniker wurde am 28. März 1842 gegründet. Ins Leben gerufen hatte es der deutsche Komponist Otto Nicolai, aus dessen Feder unter anderem die Oper "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" stammt. Knapp ein Jahrhundert später wurde der Verein im Dezember 1938 in der NS-Zeit durch das Gesetz zur "Überleitung und Eingliederung von Vereinen, Organisationen und Verbänden" vorerst aufgelöst und das Vermögen fiel dem Staatstheater und der Bühnenakademie der Stadt Wien zu. Dies wurde jedoch wenige Tage später auf Drängen des Dirigenten und Musikwissenschaftlers Dr. Heinz Drewes größtenteils wieder rückgängig gemacht. Dr. Drewes war der Leiter des "gesamten deutschen Musiklebens" und so nutzte er seinen Einfluss auf den Reichspropagandaminister Goebbels. Letztlich verfügte Goebbels im Juni 1939, dass die Wiener Philharmoniker als Verein ihre weitestgehende Selbständigkeit behalten sollten unter der Bedingung, dass der Verein seiner Aufsicht unterstellt wird dass die Vereinssatzung hinsichtlich der nationalsozialistischen Grundsätze geändert wird. Damit wurde auch das Vereinsvermögen wieder frei gegeben.

Im Jahr 1939 entstand zugleich die Idee des Neujahrskonzerts, bei dem damals ausschließlich die Musik von Johann Strauss gespielt wurde. Diese Konzertreihe des Neujahrskonzerts ist inzwischen einer der kulturellen Höhepunkte des Jahres und wird immer live im Fernsehen übertragen. Die prächtigen Bilder aus Wien werden unter anderem untermalt durch phantastische Blumen und Tanzeinlagen des Wiener Balletts. Mit dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde der Verein der Wiener Philharmoniker wieder komplett unabhängig und das Orchester spielte gleich nach der Befreiung von Wien im April 1945 zwei große Konzertabende. Ein ganz besonderer Augenmerk gilt noch der Stelle des Dirigenten bei den Wiener Philharmonikern. Denn bis zum Jahr 1933 wurde das Orchester jede Saison von einem einzigen Dirigenten geleitet. Ab 1933 gab es nur noch Gastdirigenten. Große Verdienste hatten in den Anfangsjahren vor allem die Dirigenten Arturo Toscanini von 1933 bis 1937 und mit Unterbrechungen von 1933 bis 1954 Wilhelm Furtwängler. Zu den berühmten Gastdirigenten zählen unter anderem Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Paul Hindemith oder Daniel Barenboim. Ebenfalls als Gastdirigent leitete ab 1966 das spätere Ehrenmitglied Leonard Bernstein mehrfach das Orchester. Zu den herausragendsten Werken von Leonard Bernstein in Zusammenarbeit mit den Wiener Philharmonikern zählt beispielsweise die Bearbeitung der Werke von Gustav Mahler, der von 1898 bis 1901 selbst drei Jahre lang als Abonnementdirigent der Wiener Philharmoniker das Orchester geleitet hatte.

Wiener Philharmoniker Münzen

Passend zu den Wiener Philharmonikern gibt die Münze Österreich, die alle Münzen in Österreich prägt, seit dem Jahr 1989 jedes Jahr eine Anlagemünze heraus, die nach dem Orchester eben der Wiener Philharmoniker genannt wird. Zunächst waren die Münzen aus reinem Gold. Seit 2008 gibt es auch eine jährliche Silberversion. Ihr Wert entspricht nicht dem reinen Nennwert, sondern der Wiener Philharmoniker ist eine Bullionmünze, deren Wert sich nach dem aktuellen Edelmetallwert richtet. Das Motiv des Wiener Philharmoniker ist immer gleich. Die Vorderseite der von Thomas Pesendorfer gestalteten Wiener Philharmoniker Münze zeigt einige der klassischen Orchesterinstrumente wie Fagott, Horn, Harfe und dazu vier Geigen sowie in der Mitte ein Cello. Die Rückseite zeigt die Orgel, die sich im Goldenen Saal vom Wiener Musikverein befindet. Geändert wird nur das jeweilige Prägejahr. Die Münze gibt es inzwischen in vier Größen zu kaufen. Als Sonderprägungen erschien 2004 zum 15-jährigen Jubiläum eine 1000-Unzen-Münze, der sogenannte "Big Phil", und 2009 zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum eine weitere Münze. Beide werden wegen der limitierten Auflage als Sammlerobjekte gehandelt und sind daher teurer als der eigentliche Edelmetallwert.

www.geschichte-oesterreich.com/musik/wiener_philharmonike...

Morning Shadows by Malcolm Bull

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A cold, frosty start to the day, but no evidence of snow in Shoreham. A bit sketchy for the ride to work - on the road, path and across the wooden deck of the Old Tollbridge.

Underwater Bank & Money Transfer - 5 by Eric T

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Includes minifigures: 2 Aqua Scavengers, a dead underwater robber

Accessories include crowbar, laser cutter and harpoon

Clarity lingerie pink by cassandra brandao

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Sexy Lingerie.

Includes appliers for:

Lolas tango

Mirage

Omega

Cute/Phat

Sking Brazilia

G. Inc Perfect body (uses omega appliers)

Ghetto Booty

Maitreya

VS Fusion

Lena

Belleza

slink physique clothing applier

wowmeh applier

Eve applier hud pulpy and slim

I have an inworld shop. Use the telepad at the landing point.

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Static%20Beats/84/236/59

Marketplace store.

marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Sexy-Dreams-Clarity-lingerie...

"INKredible 2" Tutorial - Polymer Clay & Alcohol Inks 20 Projects Class by Iris Mishly

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The “INKredible 2″ Pack includes 20 NEW polymer clay patterns sheets designs introducing a variety & mix of materials to use along with alcohol inks.

These sheets can be applied in any bead, jewel, or accessory of your choice – flat or curved, small or large.

I implemented my pattern sheets on earrings & beads.

The materials I used are probably already in your polymer clay toolbox, taken from many of my previous classes –

Alcohol inks, chalk pastels, paints, stazon inks, stencils etc.

This class is a new version of my known previous INKredible class, now offering a celebration of exciting, new techniques, encouraging you to use anything on your worktable, along with alcohol inks.

20 patterns came out of my personal laboratory, but the combinations are infinite!

www.polypediaonlineexpress.com/product/complete-inkredibl...

If you are interested in combining these beads in elaborated, impressive Micro Macrame knotting, you are welcome to check out the new "INKredible Macrame" class -

www.polypediaonlineexpress.com/inkredible2-inkredible-mac...

India - Rajasthan - Jaipur - City Palace - Diwan-I-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) - 10 by Manfred Sommer

City Palace, Jaipur, which includes the Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal palaces and other buildings, is a palace complex in Jaipur, the capital of the Rajasthan state, India. It was the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur, the head of the Kachwaha Rajput clan. The Chandra Mahal palace now houses a museum but the greatest part of it is still a royal residence. The palace complex, which is located northeast of the centre of the grid patterned Jaipur city, incorporates an impressive and vast array of courtyards, gardens and buildings. The palace was built between 1729 and 1732, initially by Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber. He planned and built the outer walls, and later additions were made by successive rulers right up to the 20th century. The credit for the urban layout of the city and its structures is attributed to two architects namely, Vidyadar Bhattacharya, the chief architect in the royal court and Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, apart from the Sawai himself who was a keen architectural enthusiast. The architects achieved a fusion of the Shilpa Shastra of Indian architecture with Rajput, Mughal and European styles of architecture.

The palace complex lies in the heart of Jaipur city, to the northeast of the very centre. The site for the palace was located on the site of a royal hunting lodge on a plain land encircled by a rocky hill range, five miles south of Amber (city). The history of the city palace is closely linked with the history of Jaipur city and its rulers, starting with Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II who ruled from 1699-1744. He is credited with initiating construction of the city complex by building the outer wall of the complex spreading over many acres. Initially, he ruled from his capital at Amber, which lies at a distance of 11 kilometres from Jaipur. He shifted his capital from Amber to Jaipur in 1727 because of an increase in population and increasing water shortage. He planned Jaipur city in six blocks separated by broad avenues, on the classical basis of principals of Vastushastra and other similar classical treatise under the architectural guidance of Vidyadar Bhattacharya, a man who was initially an accounts-clerk in the Amber treasury and later promoted to the office of Chief Architect by the King.

Following Jaisingh's death in 1744, there were internecine wars among the Rajput kings of the region but cordial relations were maintained with the British Raj. Maharaja Ram Singh sided with the British in the Sepoy Mutiny or Uprising of 1857 and established himself with the Imperial rulers. It is to his credit that the city of Jaipur including all of its monuments (including the City Palace) are stucco painted 'Pink' and since then the city has been called the "Pink City". The change in colour scheme was as an honour of hospitality extended to the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VII) on his visit. This colour scheme has since then become a trademark of the Jaipur city.

Man Singh II, the adopted son of Maharaja Madho Singh II, was the last Maharaja of Jaipur to rule from the Chandra Mahal palace, in Jaipur. This palace, however, continued to be a residence of the royal family even after the Jaipur kingdom merged with the Indian Union in 1949 (after Indian independence in August 1947) along with other Rajput states of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner. Jaipur became the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan and Man Singh II had the distinction of becoming the Rajapramukh (present day Governor of the state) for a time and later was the Ambassador of India to Spain.

Lusty Latex Corset @ 50 Shades of Lust by Lady Venus

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Original mesh garter corset includes 5 standard sizes (XXS-L), 1 standard fitmesh size, and Maitreya Experimental FitMesh - maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vanir/122/129/21 Find us in the sponsor/entrance area!

London Shapes (185) by Malcolm Bull

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London architecture - from a recent walk around the river bank near Tower Bridge

NEoN at Night 2017 by NEoN Digital Arts

As always NEoN celebrates its festival with a late night party. Acts include Plastique Fantastique, Verity Brit & Musician U, Fallope & The Tubes and Resident DJ RHL. With a pop up bar and performances amongst our large group exhibition the vast factory space West Ward Works, this night promises to be a visual audible delight.

Plastique Fantastique (UK)

A performance fiction envisaged as a group of human and non-human avatars delivering communiqués from the past and the future. The communiqués are channelled through installations, writing, comics and sound and moving image work and performances, addressing technology, popular and mass media and sacred cultures and also human-machine animals and non-human entities and agents. Over several years, numerous people have produced Plastique Fantastique but there is also a core group producing the performance fiction. Plastique Fantastique was first presented by David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan and developed with long-term collaborators Alex Marzeta and Vanessa Page, and more recently with Mark Jackson. For NE0N 2017, this group will call forth and trap a bit-coin-fairy-spirit to ask it seems questions. The performance – Plastique Fantastique Protocols for the Society for Cutting Up Mun-knee-snakers (S.C.U.M.): I-Valerie-Solaris-AKA-@32ACP-Amazon.co.uk-recommends-‘Pacific-Rim’ may/may-not shoot b1t-c0in-f@iry-sp1r1t) – uses drone-folk-songs, moving image projection, reliquaries and ritual to manifest the block-chain-spirit.

David Burrows, Alex Marzeta, Vanessa Page and Mark Jackson will be performing.

Rites of the Zeitgeber, Verity Brit & Musician ‘U’ (UK)

9 channel video installation, live score performed by musician ‘U’

The Zeitgeber (‘time giver’ or ‘synchroniser’) is honoured by a triadic henge of stacked CRT monitors in which past durations collide with future vacuums. Strange extra-terrestrial topographies are traversed across geological time and the internet. Curious substances are unearthed and lost languages resurrected. Fragments from Mina Loy, J. G. Ballard and Henri Bergson emerge amongst an archaeology of media from Super 8, VHS, to HD. Time bends from matter, history is up-set and the clock is obsolete.

Verity Birt an artist based in London. She studied an MA in Moving Image at the Royal College of Art (2013–2015) and BA in Art Practice at Goldsmiths University of London (2008–2011). She is involved with collaborative research groups; The Future is a Collective Project, Reconfiguring Ruins and a founding member of women artists collective Altai. This summer, Verity was artist in residence at BALTIC and The Newbridge Project in Newcastle. Previous exhibitions include: Our House of Common Weeds; Res. Gallery, London (2017); Relics from the De-crypt | Gossamer Fog Gallery London (2017), Altai in Residence, Experiments in Collective Practice, Dyson Gallery, London (2017); Chemhex Extract, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen (2016); Feeling Safer, IMT Gallery, London and Gallery North, New York (2016); Come to Dust, Generator Projects, Dundee (2016)

Fallopé & The Tubes (UK)

A weirdo-punk performance band. Each live show features live humans! film and visuals! costumes! sculpture! visual props! and music/a sequence of sounds!

Fallopé and The Tubes is a fluctuating live musical and performative event with contributions from Sarah Messenger, Ruby Pester, Nadia Rossi, Rachel Walker, Catherine Weir, Emma McIntyre and Skye Renee Foley. The group are made up of Scottish based artists and musicians that are also filmmakers, festival organisers, librarians, boatbuilders and more who work collaboratively to devise live performances. Drawing influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, exploring sexuality, elements of social satire, self promotion and leftist political ideologies.

The group was established in January 2014 at Insriach Bothy, Aviemore and have developed their practice during numerous residency experiences across Scotland. By living and working together ‘off grid’ the group have developed experimental techniques to create a collective energy. Fallopé & The Tubes draw influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, as well as sexuality, elements of social satire and self promotion and leftist political ideologies. Soakin Records

DJ RHL (UK)

Resident NEoN DJ has been entertaining us since 2010. Djing for about 25 years, he predominately plays Techno but you often find him playing anything dance music related. Spinning old school vinyl sets containing an eclectic mix of old and new stuff. RHL just likes making people dance. Check here for past performances.

Accompanying DJ RHL is ‘The Wanderer‘ aka Naomi Lamb. Naomi works layers of diverse video loops into an ever evolving collage colours textures and shape and intuitively mixies visuals live. She improvises, freestyles and channels the room, customising the ephemeral moving collage in response to the tone of the happening.

For the past 20 years Naomi has been a prolific live video art performer utilising techniques and process that is often associated with the ever growing subculture of VJing and presents under the name of ‘The Wander’. Naomi has an intimate knowledge of not only the process of live video performance but also an wide reaching connections within the VJ community and has performed at many of the leading outdoor music and art festivals in New Zealand with a debut at two English Festivals this summer and she is super please for her first time mixing it up in Scotland to be at NEoN. “

AGK Booth

Yuck ’n Yum hereby invites you to attend the Annual General Karaoke booth at this year’s NEoN at Night. The AGK is a fiercely contested karaoke video competition, getting creative types to make videos that will shock, delight and confound its audience. First staged back in 2010, over the years the AGK has built up a sizeable back catalogue of singalong anthems encompassing everything from pop classics to the most extreme avant garde out there. Now Yuck ’n Yum will bring the AGK archive to NEoN revellers in an audiovisual extravaganza that will overturn everything you ever thought you knew about karaoke convention. This November, Yuck ’n Yum together with NEoN are making a song and dance about it.

About the Artists Yuck ‘n Yum is a curatorial collective formed in Dundee 2008. Until 2013 its main raison d’etre was to make zines and distribute art. The AGK booth is the first of three projects that will kick start a period of activity after a couple of years of hibernation.

Yuck ‘n Yum are Andrew Maclean, Gayle Meikle, Ben Robinson, Alexandra Ross, Alex Tobin, Becca Clark and Morgan Cahn.

WEST WARD WORKS

Guthrie Street

DD1 5BR

Images: Kathryn Rattray Photography

BIG 5. Elephant. Madikwe Game Reserve. South Africa. Nov/2020 by EKatBoechat

BIG 5. Elephant. Madikwe Game Reserve. South Africa. Nov/2020

Elephant

Elephants are large mammals of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), the African forest elephant (L. cyclotis), and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Elephants are scattered throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres, mammoths, and mastodons.

All elephants have several distinctive features, the most notable of which is a long trunk (also called a proboscis), used for many purposes, particularly breathing, lifting water, and grasping objects. Their incisors grow into tusks, which can serve as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. Elephants' large ear flaps help to control their body temperature. Their pillar-like legs can carry their great weight. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs while Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.

Elephants are herbivorous and can be found in different habitats including savannahs, forests, deserts, and marshes. They prefer to stay near water. They are considered to be a keystone species due to their impact on their environments. Other animals tend to keep their distance from elephants while predators, such as lions, tigers, hyenas, and any wild dogs, usually target only young elephants (or "calves"). Elephants have a fission–fusion society in which multiple family groups come together to socialise. Females ("cows") tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. The groups are led by an individual known as the matriarch, often the oldest cow.

Males ("bulls") leave their family groups when they reach puberty and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate and enter a state of increased testosterone and aggression known as musth, which helps them gain dominance and reproductive success. Calves are the centre of attention in their family groups and rely on their mothers for as long as three years. Elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild. They communicate by touch, sight, smell, and sound; elephants use infrasound, and seismic communication over long distances. Elephant intelligence has been compared with that of primates and cetaceans. They appear to have self-awareness and show empathyfor dying or dead individuals of their kind.

Source: Wikipedia

Elefante

Os elefantes são animais herbívoros, alimentando-se de ervas, gramíneas, frutas e folhas de árvores. Dado o seu tamanho, um elefante adulto pode ingerir entre 70 a 150 kg de alimentos por dia. As fêmeas vivem em manadas de 10 a 15 animais, lideradas por uma matriarca, compostas por várias reprodutoras e crias de variadas idades. O período de gestação das fêmeas é longo (20 a 22 meses), assim como o desenvolvimento do animal que leva anos a atingir a idade adulta. Os filhotes podem nascer com 90 kg. Os machos adolescentes tendem a viver em pequenos bandos e os machos adultos isolados, encontrando-se com as fêmeas apenas no período reprodutivo.

Devido ao seu porte, os elefantes têm poucos predadores. Exercem uma forte influência sobre as savanas, pois mantêm árvores e arbustos sob controle, permitindo que pastagens dominem o ambiente. Eles vivem cerca de 60 anos e morrem quando seus molares caem, impedindo que se alimentem de plantas.

Os elefantes-africanos são maiores que as variedades asiáticas e têm orelhas mais desenvolvidas, uma adaptação que permite libertar calor em condições de altas temperaturas. Outra diferença importante é a ausência de presas de marfim nas fêmeas dos elefantes asiáticos.

Durante a época de acasalamento, o aumento da produção de testosterona deixa os elefantes extremamente agressivos, fazendo-os atacar até humanos. Acidentes com elefantes utilizados em rituais geralmente são causados por esse motivo. Cerca de 400 humanos são mortos por elefantes a cada ano.

Elefante é o termo genérico e popular pelo qual são denominados os membros da família Elephantidae, um grupo de mamíferos proboscídeoselefantídeos, de grande porte, do qual há três espécies no mundo atual, duas africanas (Loxodonta sp.) e uma asiática (Elephas sp.). Há ainda os mamutes (Mammuthus sp.), hoje extintos. Até recentemente, acreditava-se que havia apenas duas espécies vivas de elefantes, o elefante-africano e o elefante-asiático, uma espécie menor. Entretanto, estudos recentes de DNA sugerem que havia, na verdade, duas espécies de elefante-africano: Loxodonta africana, da savana, e Loxodonta cyclotis, que vive nas florestas. Os elefantes são os maiores animais terrestres da actualidade, com a massa entre 4 a 6 toneladas e medindo em média quatro metros de altura, podem levantar até 10.000 kg. As suas características mais distintivas são as presas de marfim

Fonte: Wikipedia

Madikwe Game Reserve

The Madikwe Game Reserve is a protected area in South Africa, part of the latest park developments in the country. Named after the Madikwe or Marico River, on whose basin it is located, it was opened in 1991 and comprises 750 km2 of bushland north of the small town Groot-Marico up to the Botswana border.

Madikwe Game Reserve lies 90 km north of Zeerust on what used to be farm land, but owing to the poor soil type, farming was not that successful. After extensive research, the South African Government found that this land would best be utilised as a provincial park, to economically uplift this otherwise rather poor area.

The process reintroducing wildlife to the area began in 1992 under the codename Operation Phoenix which relocated entire breeding herds of elephants, Cape buffaloes, south-central black rhinos and southern white rhinos along with various species of antelopes. Following Operation Phoenix, Madikwe has also successfully reintroduce rarer predatory species such as lions, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and Cape wild dogs bringing the total large mammal population of the reserve to over 10 000. There are currently more than 60 species of mammal in the park.

Source: Wikipedia

Reserva do Madikwe

A Madikwe Game Reserve é uma área protegida na África do Sul, parte dos mais recentes desenvolvimentos de parques no país. Batizado em homenagem ao rio Madikwe ou Marico, em cuja bacia está localizado, foi inaugurado em 1991 e compreende 750 km2 de mata nativa ao norte da pequena cidade de Groot-Marico até a fronteira com o Botswana.

A Madikwe Game Reserve fica 90 km ao norte de Zeerust, no que costumava ser terras agrícolas, mas devido ao tipo de solo pobre, a agricultura não teve tanto sucesso. Após uma extensa pesquisa, o governo sul-africano descobriu que esta terra seria melhor utilizada como um parque provincial, para elevar economicamente esta área bastante pobre.

O processo de reintrodução da vida selvagem na área começou em 1992 sob o codinome Operação Fênix, que realocou rebanhos inteiros de elefantes, búfalos do Cabo, rinocerontes-negros do centro-sul e rinocerontes brancos do sul junto com várias espécies de antílopes. Após a Operação Phoenix, Madikwe também reintroduziu com sucesso espécies predatórias mais raras, como leões, chitas, hienas-pintadas e cahorros do mato, elevando a população total de grandes mamíferos da reserva para mais de 10.000. Atualmente, existem mais de 60 espécies de mamíferos no parque

Fonte: Wikipedia (traduçao livre)

Impodimo Game Lodge

Impodimo Game Lodge is set on a rocky ridge overlooking the vistas within the magnificent malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve of the North West Province of South Africa. The air-conditioned suites at Impodimo Game Lodge are decorated in neutral tones and offer a fireplace and private bathroom with additional outdoor shower.

Our passion has always been to bring the most amazing experiences to our guests and with that in mind the Elephant Hide was born. Merging ultra luxury with incredible game viewing right on your doorstep.

Our guests get to enjoy a fully stocked bar, Italian coffee and air-conditioned comfort whilst they soak up the wildlife just meters away. It is the perfect spot to watch wildlife, big and small, up close with minimum disturbance to their natural behaviour. The hide is a photographers dream, offering an excellent vantage point in complete comfort and safety to get that award-winning shot or just to marvel at the unfolding drama of the waterhole

Source: Impodimo Game Lodge website

Impodimo Game Lodge

O Impodimo Game Lodge está situado em uma crista rochosa com vista para a magnífica Reserva Madikwe, livre de malária, na Província Noroeste da África do Sul. As suítes com ar-condicionado do Impodimo Game Lodge são decoradas em tons neutros e oferecem lareira e banheiro privativo com chuveiro adicional ao ar livre.

Nossa paixão sempre foi levar as experiências mais incríveis aos nossos hóspedes e foi pensando nisso que nasceu o Esconderijo de Elefante. Combinando ultra luxo com incrível visualização de animais bem na sua porta.

Nossos hóspedes podem desfrutar de um bar totalmente abastecido, café italiano e conforto do ar-condicionado, enquanto absorvem a vida selvagem a poucos metros de distância. É o local perfeito para observar animais selvagens, grandes e pequenos, de perto com o mínimo de perturbação ao seu comportamento natural. O hide é o sonho dos fotógrafos, oferecendo um excelente ponto de vista com total conforto e segurança para obter aquela foto premiada ou simplesmente para se maravilhar com o drama que se desenrola no poço

Source: Impodimo Game Lodge website (tradução livre)

img_2709 by Steve Rainwater

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Aperture settings include f6.3, f8, f11, f16, and f22. Shutter speeds are Bulb, 1/25, 1/50, 1/200. Focus range is 3 feet to infinity.

The Ansco Viking 6.3 is a 120 camera built by Agfa. It included a Vario shutter and a 105mm f6.3 Agfa Agnar anastigmatic coated lens. The camera records 8 images 2.25 x 3.25 inches in size on a roll of 120 film.

I purchased this camera at an estate sale for about $10. The bellows had a lot of light leaks that I had to seal before shooting the first roll of film with it.

To learn more about this camera, visit the Ansco Viking 6.3 page at Camera-wiki.org.

Geothemal Area, Yellowstone National Park, USA. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000. A study that was completed in 2011 found that a total of 1,283 geysers have erupted in Yellowstone, 465 of which are active during an average year. These are distributed among nine geyser basins, with a few geysers found in smaller thermal areas throughout the Park. The number of geysers in each geyser basin are as follows: Upper Geyser Basin (410), Midway Geyser Basin (59), Lower Geyser Basin (283), Norris Geyser Basin (193), West Thumb Geyser Basin (84), Gibbon Geyser Basin (24), Lone Star Geyser Basin (21), Shoshone Geyser Basin (107), Heart Lake Geyser Basin (69), other areas (33). Although famous large geysers like Old Faithful are part of the total, most of Yellowstone's geysers are small, erupting to only a foot or two. The hydrothermal system that supplies the geysers with hot water sits within an ancient active caldera. Many of the thermal features in Yellowstone build up sinter, geyserite, or travertine deposits around and within them.

The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera, and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to the Yellowstone Plateau's high elevation the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. Because of the high temperatures of the water in the features it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs.

Prehistoric Native American artifacts have been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that the early people used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits". The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm. The first white man known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone". Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial smokestacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up".

The heat that drives geothermal activity in the Yellowstone area comes from brine (salty water) that is 1.5–3 miles (7,900–15,800 ft; 2,400–4,800 m) below the surface. This is actually below the solid volcanic rock and sediment that extends to a depth of 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900 to 1,800 m) and is inside the hot but mostly solid part of the pluton that contains Yellowstone's magma chamber. At that depth the brine is superheated to temperatures that exceed 400 °F (204 °C) but is able to remain a liquid because it is under great pressure (like a huge pressure cooker).

Convection of the churning brine and conduction from surrounding rock transfers heat to an overlaying layer of fresh groundwater. Movement of the two liquids is facilitated by the highly fractured and porous nature of the rocks under the Yellowstone Plateau. Some silica is dissolved from the fractured rhyolite into the hot water as it travels through the fractured rock. Part of this hard mineral is later redeposited on the walls of the cracks and fissures to make a nearly pressure-tight system. Silica precipitates at the surface to form either geyserite or sinter, creating the massive geyser cones, the scalloped edges of hot springs, and the seemingly barren landscape of geyser basins.

There are at least five types of geothermal features found at Yellowstone:

Fumaroles: Fumaroles, or steam vents, are the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. They have so little water that it all flashes into steam before reaching the surface. At places like Roaring Mountain, the result is loud hissing of steam and gases.

Geysers: Geysers such as Old Faithful are a type of geothermal feature that periodically erupt scalding hot water. Increased pressure exerted by the enormous weight of the overlying rock and water prevents deeper water from boiling. As the hot water rises it is under less pressure and steam bubbles form. They, in turn, expand on their ascent until the bubbles are too big and numerous to pass freely through constrictions. At a critical point the confined bubbles actually lift the water above, causing the geyser to splash or overflow. This decreases the pressure of the system and violent boiling results. Large quantities of water flash into tremendous amounts of steam that force a jet of water out of the vent: an eruption begins. Water (and heat) is expelled faster than the geyser's recharge rate, gradually decreasing the system's pressure and eventually ending the eruption.

Hot springs: Hot springs such as Grand Prismatic Spring are the most common hydrothermal features in the park. Their plumbing has no constrictions. Superheated water cools as it reaches the surface, sinks, and is replaced by hotter water from below. This circulation, called convection, prevents water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption. Many hot springs give rise to streams of heated water.

Mudpots: Mudpots such as Fountain Paint Pots are acidic hot springs with a limited water supply. Some microorganisms use hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell), which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source. They convert the gas into sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay.

Travertine terraces: Travertine terraces, found at Mammoth Hot Springs, are formed from limestone (a rock type made of calcium carbonate). Thermal waters rise through the limestone, carrying high amounts of dissolved carbonate. Carbon dioxide is released at the surface and calcium carbonate deposited as travertine, the chalky white rock of the terraces. These features constantly and quickly change due to the rapid rate of deposition.

Geyser basins

The Norris Geyser Basin 44°43′43″N 110°42′16″W is the hottest geyser basin in the park and is located near the northwest edge of Yellowstone Caldera near Norris Junction and on the intersection of three major faults. The Norris-Mammoth Corridor is a fault that runs from Norris north through Mammoth to the Gardiner, Montana, area. The Hebgen Lake fault runs from northwest of West Yellowstone, Montana, to Norris. This fault experienced an earthquake in 1959 that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale (sources vary on exact magnitude between 7.1 and 7.8; see 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake). Norris Geyser Basin is so hot and dynamic because these two faults intersect with the ring fracture zone that resulted from the creation of the Yellowstone Caldera of 640,000 years ago.

The Basin consists of three main areas: Porcelain Basin, Back Basin, and One Hundred Springs Plain. Unlike most of other geyser basins in the park, the waters from Norris are acidic rather than alkaline (for example, Echinus Geyser has a pH of ~3.5). The difference in pH allows for a different class of bacterial thermophiles to live at Norris, creating different color patterns in and around the Norris Basin waters.

The Ragged Hills that lie between Back Basin and One Hundred Springs Plain are thermally altered glacial kames. As glaciers receded the underlying thermal features began to express themselves once again, melting remnants of the ice and causing masses of debris to be dumped. These debris piles were then altered by steam and hot water flowing through them. Madison lies within the eroded stream channels cut through lava flows formed after the caldera eruption. The Gibbon Falls lies on the caldera boundary as does Virginia Cascades.

Algae on left bacteria on right at the intersection of flows from the Constant & Whirlgig Geysers at Norris Geyser Basin

The tallest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser,[11] is located in Norris Basin. Unlike the slightly smaller but much more famous Old Faithful Geyser located in Upper Geyser Basin, Steamboat has an erratic and lengthy timetable between major eruptions. During major eruptions, which may be separated by intervals of more than a year (the longest recorded span between major eruptions was 50 years), Steamboat erupts over 300 feet (90 m) into the air. Steamboat does not lie dormant between eruptions, instead displaying minor eruptions of approximately 40 feet (12 m).

Norris Geyser Basin periodically undergoes a large-scale, basin-wide thermal disturbance lasting a few weeks. Water levels fluctuate, and temperatures, pH, colors, and eruptive patterns change throughout the basin. During a disturbance in 1985, Porkchop Geyser continually jetted steam and water; in 1989, the same geyser apparently clogged with silica and blew up, throwing rocks more than 200 feet (61 m). In 2003 a park ranger observed it bubbling heavily, the first such activity seen since 1991. Activity increased dramatically in mid-2003. Because of high ground temperatures and new features beside the trail much of Back Basin was closed until October. In 2004 the boardwalk was routed around the dangerous area and now leads behind Porkchop Geyser.

North of Norris, Roaring Mountain is a large, acidic hydrothermal area (solfatara) with many fumaroles. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the number, size, and power of the fumaroles were much greater than today. The fumaroles are most easily seen in the cooler, low-light conditions of morning and evening.

The Gibbon Geyser Basin 44°41′58″N 110°44′34″W includes several thermal areas in the vicinity of the Gibbon River between Gibbon Falls and Norris. The most accessible feature in the basin is Beryl Spring, with a small boardwalk right along the Grand Loop Road. Artists' Paintpots is a small hydrothermal area south of Norris Junction that includes colorful hot springs and two large mudpots.

The Monument Geyser Basin 44°41′03″N 110°45′14″W has no active geysers, but its 'monuments' are siliceous sinter deposits similar to the siliceous spires discovered on the floor of Yellowstone Lake. Scientists hypothesize that this basin's structures formed from a hot water system in a glacially dammed lake during the waning stages of the Pinedale Glaciation. The basin is on a ridge reached by a very steep one-mile (1.6 km) trail south of Artists' Paint Pots. Other areas of thermal activity in Gibbon Geyser Basin lie off-trail.

South of Norris along the rim of the caldera is the Upper Geyser Basin 44°27′52″N 110°49′45″W, which has the highest concentration of geothermal features in the park. This complement of features includes the most famous geyser in the park, Old Faithful Geyser, as well as four other predictable large geysers. One of these large geysers in the area is Castle Geyser which is about 1,400 feet (430 m) northwest of Old Faithful. Castle Geyser has an interval of approximately 13 hours between major eruptions, but is unpredictable after minor eruptions. The other three predictable geysers are Grand Geyser, Daisy Geyser, and Riverside Geyser. Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin are also within the boundaries of Upper Geyser Basin.

The hills surrounding Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin are reminders of Quaternary rhyolitic lava flows. These flows, occurring long after the catastrophic eruption of 640,000 years ago, flowed across the landscape like stiff mounds of bread dough due to their high silica content.

Evidence of glacial activity is common, and it is one of the keys that allows geysers to exist. Glacier till deposits underlie the geyser basins providing storage areas for the water used in eruptions. Many landforms, such as Porcupine Hills north of Fountain Flats, are made up of glacial gravel and are reminders that 70,000 to 14,000 years ago, this area was buried under ice.

Signs of the forces of erosion can be seen everywhere, from runoff channels carved across the sinter in the geyser basins to the drainage created by the Firehole River. Mountain building is evident on the drive south of Old Faithful, toward Craig Pass. Here the Rocky Mountains reach a height of 8,262 feet (2,518 m), dividing the country into two distinct watersheds.

Midway Geyser Basin 44°31′04″N 110°49′56″W is much smaller than the other basins found alongside the Firehole River. Despite its small size, it contains two large features, the 200-by-300-foot-wide (60 by 90 m) Excelsior Geyser which pours over 4,000 U.S. gallons (15,000 L; 3,300 imp gal) per minute into the Firehole River. The largest hot spring in Yellowstone, the 370-foot-wide (110 m) and 121-foot-deep (37 m) Grand Prismatic Spring is found here. Also in the basin is Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool.

Lower Geyser Basin

Blue spring with steam rising from it; irregular blotches of red and orange residue are on the banks, along with dead tree trunks.

Silex Spring at Fountain Paint Pot

Farther north is the Lower Geyser Basin 44°32′58″N 110°50′09″W, which is the largest geyser basin in area, covering approximately 11 square miles. Due to its large size, it has a much less concentrated set of geothermal features, including Fountain Paint Pots. Fountain Paint Pots are mud pots, that is, a hot spring that contains boiling mud instead of water. The mud is produced by a higher acidity in the water which enables the spring to dissolve surrounding minerals to create an opaque, usually grey, mud. Also there is Firehole Spring, Celestine Pool, Leather Pool, Red Spouter, Jelly spring, and a number of fumaroles.

Geysers in Lower Geyser Basin include Great Fountain Geyser, whose eruptions reach 100 to 200 feet (30–61 m) in the air, while waves of water cascade down its sinter terraces., the Fountain group of Geysers (Clepsydra Geyser which erupts nearly continuously to heights of 45 feet (14 m), Fountain Geyser, Jelly Geyser, Jet Geyser, Morning Geyser, and Spasm Geyser), the Pink Cone group of geysers (Dilemma Geyser, Labial Geyser, Narcissus Geyser, Pink Geyser, and Pink Cone Geyser), the White Dome group of geysers (Crack Geyser, Gemini Geyser, Pebble Geyser, Rejuvenated Geyser, and White Dome Geyser), as well as Sizzler Geyser.

Clepsydra Geyser erupting. July 2019

Fountain Paint Pots

White Dome Geyser

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Several pools of blue water in ashen rock basin.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Blackened basin with orange streaks; steam is rising from it with fir trees in the background.

Overflow areas of Silex springs

The West Thumb Geyser Basin 44°25′07″N 110°34′23″W, including Potts Basin to the north, is the largest geyser basin on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. The heat source of the thermal features in this location is thought to be relatively close to the surface, only 10,000 feet (3,000 m) down. West Thumb is about the same size as another famous volcanic caldera, Crater Lake in Oregon, but much smaller than the great Yellowstone Caldera which last erupted about 640,000 years ago. West Thumb is a caldera within a caldera.

West Thumb was created approximately 162,000 years ago when a magma chamber bulged up under the surface of the earth and subsequently cracked it along ring fracture zones. This in turn released the enclosed magma as lava and caused the surface above the emptied magma chamber to collapse. Water later filled the collapsed area of the caldera, forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake. This created the source of heat and water that feed the West Thumb Geyser Basin today.

The thermal features at West Thumb are not only found on the lake shore, but extend under the surface of the lake as well. Several underwater hydrothermal features were discovered in the early 1990s and can be seen as slick spots or slight bulges in the summer. During the winter, the underwater thermal features are visible as melt holes in the icy surface of the lake. The surrounding ice can reach three feet (one yard) in thickness.

Perhaps the most famous hydrothermal feature at West Thumb is a geyser on the lake shore known as Fishing Cone. Walter Trumbull of the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition described a unique event while a man was fishing adjacent to the cone: "...in swinging a trout ashore, it accidentally got off the hook and fell into the spring. For a moment it darted about with wonderful rapidity, as if seeking an outlet. Then it came to the top, dead, and literally boiled." Fishing Cone erupted frequently to the height of 40 feet (12 m) in 1919 and to lesser heights in 1939. One fisherman was badly burned in Fishing Cone in 1921. Fishing at the geyser is now prohibited.

Early visitors would arrive at West Thumb via stagecoach from the Old Faithful area. They had a choice of continuing on the stagecoach or boarding the steamship Zillah to continue the journey by water to Lake Hotel. The boat dock was located near the south end of the geyser basin near Lakeside Spring.

Backcountry Geyser Basins

The Heart Lake 44°18′00″N 110°30′56″W, Lone Star 44°24′50″N 110°49′04″W, and Shoshone Geyser Basins 44°21′16″N 110°47′57″W are located away from the road and require at least several miles of hiking to reach. These areas lack the boardwalks and other safety features of the developed areas. As falling into geothermal features can be fatal, it is usually advisable to visit these areas with an experienced guide or at the very least, travelers need to ensure they remain on well-marked trails.

The Heart Lake Geyser Basin contains several groups of geysers and deep blue hot springs near Heart Lake in the south-central portion of Yellowstone, southeast of most of the main geyser basins. Lying in the Snake River watershed east of Lewis Lake and south of Yellowstone Lake, Heart Lake was named sometime before 1871 for Hart Hunney, a hunter. Other explorers in the region incorrectly assumed that the lake's name was spelled 'heart' because of its shape. The Heart Lake Geyser Basin begins a couple miles from the lake and descends along Witch Creek to the lakeshore. Five groups of hydrothermal features comprise the basin, and all of them contain geysers, although some are dormant.

Between Shoshone Lake and Old Faithful is the Lone Star Geyser Basin, of which the primary feature is Lone Star Geyser, named for its isolation from the nearby geysers of the Upper Geyser Basin. The basin is reachable on foot or bicycle via a 3 mile road that is closed to vehicles.

The Shoshone Geyser Basin, reached by hiking or by boat, contains one of the highest concentrations of geysers in the world – more than 80 in an area 1,600 by 800 feet (490 by 240 m). Hot springs and mudpots dot the landscape between the geyser basin and Shoshone Lake.

Hot Spring Basin is located 15 miles (24 km) north-northeast of Fishing Bridge and has one of Yellowstone's largest collections of hot springs and fumaroles. The geothermal features there release large amounts of sulfur. This makes water from the springs so acidic that it has dissolved holes in the pants of people who sit on wet ground and causes mounds of sulfur three feet (1 m) high to develop around fumaroles. The very hot acidic water and steam have also created voids in the ground that are only covered by a thin crust.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Because of the huge amount of geothermal vents, travertine flourishes. Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas.

The thermal features at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron are primarily mud pots and fumaroles because the area is situated on a perched water system with little water available. Fumaroles or "steam vents" occur when the ground water boils away faster than it can be recharged. Also, the vapors are rich in sulfuric acid that leaches the rock, breaking it down into clay. Because no water washes away the acid or leached rock, it remains as sticky clay to form a mud pot. Hydrogen sulfide gas is present deep in the earth at Mud Volcano and is oxidized to sulfuric acid by microbial activity, which dissolves the surface soils to create pools and cones of clay and mud. Along with hydrogen sulfide, steam, carbon dioxide, and other gases explode through the layers of mud.

A series of shallow earthquakes associated with the volcanic activity in Yellowstone struck this area in 1978. Soil temperatures increased to nearly 200 °F (93 °C). The slope between Sizzling Basin and Mud Geyser, once covered with green grass and trees, became a barren landscape of fallen trees known as "the cooking hillside".

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the first Secretary of the Interior to supervise the park being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee the management of Yellowstone for 30 years between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, the administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 sq mi (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Well over half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one-third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles.

Teton County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 23,331. Its county seat is Jackson. Its west boundary line is also the Wyoming state boundary shared with Idaho and the southern tip of Montana. Teton County is part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Teton County contains the Jackson Hole ski area, all of Grand Teton National Park, and 40.4% of Yellowstone National Park's total area, including over 96.6% of its water area (largely in Yellowstone Lake).

Wyoming is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. With a population of 576,851 in 2020, Wyoming is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest by area, with the second-lowest population density after Alaska. The state capital and most populous city is Cheyenne, which had an estimated population of 63,957 in 2018.

Wyoming's western half consists mostly of the ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains; its eastern half consists of high-elevation prairie, and is referred to as the High Plains. Wyoming's climate is semi-arid in some parts and continental in others, making it drier and windier overall than other states, with greater temperature extremes. The federal government owns just under half of Wyoming's land, generally protecting it for public uses. The state ranks sixth in the amount of land—-and fifth in the proportion of its land—-that is owned by the federal government. Its federal lands include two national parks (Grand Teton and Yellowstone), two national recreation areas, two national monuments, and several national forests, as well as historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges.

Indigenous peoples inhabited the region for thousands of years. Historic and currently federally recognized tribes include the Arapaho, Crow, Lakota, and Shoshone. Part of the land that is now Wyoming came under American sovereignty via the Louisiana Purchase, part via the Oregon Treaty, and, lastly, via the Mexican Cession. With the opening of the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail, vast numbers of pioneers travelled through parts of the state that had once been traversed mainly by fur trappers, and this spurred the establishment of forts, such as Fort Laramie, that today serve as population centers. The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails in 1867 with a route through southern Wyoming, bringing new settlers and the establishment of founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne. On March 27, 1890, Wyoming became the union's 44th state.

Farming and ranching, and the attendant range wars, feature prominently in the state's history. Today, Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona. Its agricultural commodities include barley, hay, livestock, sugar beets, wheat, and wool.

Wyoming was the first state to allow women the right to vote (not counting New Jersey, which had allowed it until 1807), and the right to assume elected office, as well as the first state to elect a female governor. In honor of this part of its history, its most common nickname is "The Equality State" and its official state motto is "Equal Rights". It is among the least religious states in the country, and is known for having a political culture that leans towards libertarian conservatism. The Republican presidential nominee has carried the state in every election since 1968.

Balance Biker - Steyning (031) by Malcolm Bull

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Steyning was packed for the Super Cars and Super Food (French Market) event today

Bird Cloud - Shoreham (121) by Malcolm Bull

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I was struck by this bird-shaped cloud on Shoreham Beach this afternoon. I am not in the least bit religious, but decided to include the church spire. But, is it a bird, or is it a plane?

DSC_4973-Pano by visit AlanStudt.com - for Music, Art & Photos

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The Canyon Diablo meteorites include the many fragments of the asteroid that created the Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona, USA. Meteorites have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about three to four miles west of the crater.

The asteroid fell about 50,000 years ago. The meteorites have been known and collected since the mid-19th century and were known and used by pre-historic Native Americans. The Barringer Crater, from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, was the center of a long dispute over the origin of craters that showed little evidence of volcanism. That debate was settled in the 1950s thanks to Eugene Shoemaker's study of the crater.

In 1953, Clair Cameron Patterson measured ratios of the lead isotopes in samples of the meteorite. The result permitted a refinement of the estimate of the age of the Earth to 4.550 billion years (± 70 million years).

ARR 4006 Chase South 24 Nov 12 by Ween (Colorado)

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This compilation video shows a chase of ARR 4006 as it leads a freight train south toward Seward. Filming locations include Rainbow, Bird Point, and Moose Pass, AK. As seen in the video, this train departed Anchorage well before sunrise which, at this time of year, didn't occur until ~1000L, so the first two locations were shot before the sun came up over the Chugach Mountains.

The tide in the Turnagain Arm, home of some of the largest boretides in the world, is on its way out. Photos and video along the Turnagain always turn out better when there's more water than not, so I was lucky to at least have some water present!

The final location in Moose Pass is, to me, a little slice of heaven. I just wish this location saw more than one or two trains per week in the winter time. If there were more trains, I'd probably camp out here for days at a time! As it is though, you have to take what you can get.

Also, Chris Laskowski, *this* is why you need to bring C. Vision Productions up here!

Willunga. Police Station stables and local slate water tank. Willunga mainly porduced slate tiles for roofs. by denisbin

Willunga.

Like McLaren Vale white settlers started arriving here in 1839 and the town of Willunga is one of the oldest towns in SA outside of metropolitan Adelaide (other towns of similar age include Mt Barker, Nairne, and Gawler.) Willunga claims to be the oldest town outside of Adelaide but this is difficult to substantiate. The area was bought in 1839 by Edward Moore. He had a private subdivision for a town carried out in 1840. The first structure in the town was a brush and thatch hotel called the “Lincoln Inn Hotel” in 1840 but it was soon changed to the “Bush Inn “and then finally the Willunga Hotel in 1870. The hotel you can see today was built in 1870 at the time of this name change.

The second structure in the town was probably the first police station (1839/40) which collapsed or was demolished a few years later. (But it is possible that a couple of the rooms of the caretaker’s cottage in the police complex are from this first building). In 1843 the first police station was in such a poor state of repair that the police were transferred to Noarlunga! The first police station was then sold as a residence. In 1854 the government built a second police station and court house complex at Willunga. Stables and cells were added in 1864 and more rooms in 1872 and this is the structure you can see today. Willunga grew and needed a police station as it was the main staging point on the road from Adelaide to Encounter Bay. Apart from travellers the police for Victor Harbor stayed at the Willunga police station overnight on their way each week to man the police station at Victor Harbor. Perhaps indicative of the period when Willunga was settled it favoured saint’s names for street names e.g. St Peters; St Mathews; St Lukes; St James; St George; St Marys; St Judes; and St Andrews. In addition Willunga has a Chapel Street; Church Street and Church Road; and Kirk Street. The churches in this “ecclesiastical town” date as follows: St Stephen’s Church of England 1880; first Roman Catholic 1868; first Uniting Church was a Bible Christian Methodist Church in 1853. The first Anglican Church had an attached cemetery which has graves dating from 1850. The Bible Christian Church also had a Methodist cemetery.

Willunga has a number of buildings dating from the 1850s. These include the old school room built in 1854 in St Lukes Street. This simple Georgian style stone building was constructed for James Bassett as a school for boys. Note the fine rounded door arches, voussoirs and the 16 paned windows. Up to eighty seven boys were schooled at a time in this tiny building. Bassett died in 1874 and the boys of Willunga had a break of two years of schooling until the new state school opened in 1877(following the 1875 Free, Compulsory and Secular Education Act.) Basset’s building then became the local Council Chambers for some years. Like most buildings in the town, and many around Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, the slate roof for Basset’s School was supplied from the local slate quarries. Three quarries were soon operating. Edward Loud discovered slate on his property in 1840. Soon 12 families were mining the slate, for roofing tiles and the Bangor Quarry was in existence by 1842. The next quarry was known as Martin’s Quarry and operated from 1846. Another quarry, the third was established in 1856 and it survived the others. It did close several times when demand for slate declined, but then it became the Australia Slate Quarries Ltd in 1917, and continued for many years after this. One small slate quarry still operates today albeit on a very small basis. The village of Delabole near the quarries and several kilometres from Willunga closed around 1890 with the last building being vacated in 1968. Cornish immigrants were the main slate workers and up to 20,000 roof slates were shipped out of Port Willunga each week during the 1870s and 1880s. Willunga slate was used for hearths, door steps, roofing, and school blackboards. It was shipped from Port Willunga to Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

Other early public buildings include the original post office and telegraph station and residence which was completed in 1857 as a single storey complex. The upper floor was added in 1865-67 and the slate roof was covered with iron. Away from the Main Street we will see the two storey residence built in 1855 for Mr Sara the owner of the Bangor Slate Quarry at number 17 St Lukes Terrace. It is noted for its fine wrought iron balcony and symmetry.

Almond cultivation did not begin in Willunga until 1901. The climatic conditions with higher humidity from afternoon sea breezes suited the almonds and made commercial cropping worthwhile. They became the major crop of the district and the Tourist Bureau of SA used the flowering almonds for tourism promotion from the 1940s. The first Willunga Almond Festival was held in 1969. It continues today despite few almonds being grown for commercial purposes. Vineyards have supplanted the almond tree as the major horticultural crop these days.

Torrent Duck - Patagonia (1082) by Malcolm Bull

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A chance encounter with a Torrent in a fast flowing river close to Grey Lake, Patagonia, Chile Viewed from a very wobbly bridge rendered from wood and string.

Eastbourne Eagles (458) by Malcolm Bull

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More slideways speedway action from a meeting at Eastbourne Eagles, back in July last year

Wheat Pasta & Raw Onions by WILLPOWER STUDIOS

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Includes Organic Cold Pressed Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Organic Pepper

NEoN at Night 2017 by NEoN Digital Arts

As always NEoN celebrates its festival with a late night party. Acts include Plastique Fantastique, Verity Brit & Musician U, Fallope & The Tubes and Resident DJ RHL. With a pop up bar and performances amongst our large group exhibition the vast factory space West Ward Works, this night promises to be a visual audible delight.

Plastique Fantastique (UK)

A performance fiction envisaged as a group of human and non-human avatars delivering communiqués from the past and the future. The communiqués are channelled through installations, writing, comics and sound and moving image work and performances, addressing technology, popular and mass media and sacred cultures and also human-machine animals and non-human entities and agents. Over several years, numerous people have produced Plastique Fantastique but there is also a core group producing the performance fiction. Plastique Fantastique was first presented by David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan and developed with long-term collaborators Alex Marzeta and Vanessa Page, and more recently with Mark Jackson. For NE0N 2017, this group will call forth and trap a bit-coin-fairy-spirit to ask it seems questions. The performance – Plastique Fantastique Protocols for the Society for Cutting Up Mun-knee-snakers (S.C.U.M.): I-Valerie-Solaris-AKA-@32ACP-Amazon.co.uk-recommends-‘Pacific-Rim’ may/may-not shoot b1t-c0in-f@iry-sp1r1t) – uses drone-folk-songs, moving image projection, reliquaries and ritual to manifest the block-chain-spirit.

David Burrows, Alex Marzeta, Vanessa Page and Mark Jackson will be performing.

Rites of the Zeitgeber, Verity Brit & Musician ‘U’ (UK)

9 channel video installation, live score performed by musician ‘U’

The Zeitgeber (‘time giver’ or ‘synchroniser’) is honoured by a triadic henge of stacked CRT monitors in which past durations collide with future vacuums. Strange extra-terrestrial topographies are traversed across geological time and the internet. Curious substances are unearthed and lost languages resurrected. Fragments from Mina Loy, J. G. Ballard and Henri Bergson emerge amongst an archaeology of media from Super 8, VHS, to HD. Time bends from matter, history is up-set and the clock is obsolete.

Verity Birt an artist based in London. She studied an MA in Moving Image at the Royal College of Art (2013–2015) and BA in Art Practice at Goldsmiths University of London (2008–2011). She is involved with collaborative research groups; The Future is a Collective Project, Reconfiguring Ruins and a founding member of women artists collective Altai. This summer, Verity was artist in residence at BALTIC and The Newbridge Project in Newcastle. Previous exhibitions include: Our House of Common Weeds; Res. Gallery, London (2017); Relics from the De-crypt | Gossamer Fog Gallery London (2017), Altai in Residence, Experiments in Collective Practice, Dyson Gallery, London (2017); Chemhex Extract, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen (2016); Feeling Safer, IMT Gallery, London and Gallery North, New York (2016); Come to Dust, Generator Projects, Dundee (2016)

Fallopé & The Tubes (UK)

A weirdo-punk performance band. Each live show features live humans! film and visuals! costumes! sculpture! visual props! and music/a sequence of sounds!

Fallopé and The Tubes is a fluctuating live musical and performative event with contributions from Sarah Messenger, Ruby Pester, Nadia Rossi, Rachel Walker, Catherine Weir, Emma McIntyre and Skye Renee Foley. The group are made up of Scottish based artists and musicians that are also filmmakers, festival organisers, librarians, boatbuilders and more who work collaboratively to devise live performances. Drawing influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, exploring sexuality, elements of social satire, self promotion and leftist political ideologies.

The group was established in January 2014 at Insriach Bothy, Aviemore and have developed their practice during numerous residency experiences across Scotland. By living and working together ‘off grid’ the group have developed experimental techniques to create a collective energy. Fallopé & The Tubes draw influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, as well as sexuality, elements of social satire and self promotion and leftist political ideologies. Soakin Records

DJ RHL (UK)

Resident NEoN DJ has been entertaining us since 2010. Djing for about 25 years, he predominately plays Techno but you often find him playing anything dance music related. Spinning old school vinyl sets containing an eclectic mix of old and new stuff. RHL just likes making people dance. Check here for past performances.

Accompanying DJ RHL is ‘The Wanderer‘ aka Naomi Lamb. Naomi works layers of diverse video loops into an ever evolving collage colours textures and shape and intuitively mixies visuals live. She improvises, freestyles and channels the room, customising the ephemeral moving collage in response to the tone of the happening.

For the past 20 years Naomi has been a prolific live video art performer utilising techniques and process that is often associated with the ever growing subculture of VJing and presents under the name of ‘The Wander’. Naomi has an intimate knowledge of not only the process of live video performance but also an wide reaching connections within the VJ community and has performed at many of the leading outdoor music and art festivals in New Zealand with a debut at two English Festivals this summer and she is super please for her first time mixing it up in Scotland to be at NEoN. “

AGK Booth

Yuck ’n Yum hereby invites you to attend the Annual General Karaoke booth at this year’s NEoN at Night. The AGK is a fiercely contested karaoke video competition, getting creative types to make videos that will shock, delight and confound its audience. First staged back in 2010, over the years the AGK has built up a sizeable back catalogue of singalong anthems encompassing everything from pop classics to the most extreme avant garde out there. Now Yuck ’n Yum will bring the AGK archive to NEoN revellers in an audiovisual extravaganza that will overturn everything you ever thought you knew about karaoke convention. This November, Yuck ’n Yum together with NEoN are making a song and dance about it.

About the Artists Yuck ‘n Yum is a curatorial collective formed in Dundee 2008. Until 2013 its main raison d’etre was to make zines and distribute art. The AGK booth is the first of three projects that will kick start a period of activity after a couple of years of hibernation.

Yuck ‘n Yum are Andrew Maclean, Gayle Meikle, Ben Robinson, Alexandra Ross, Alex Tobin, Becca Clark and Morgan Cahn.

WEST WARD WORKS

Guthrie Street

DD1 5BR

Images: Kathryn Rattray Photography

Searching for songs by Eva Blake

NEoN at Night 2017 by NEoN Digital Arts

As always NEoN celebrates its festival with a late night party. Acts include Plastique Fantastique, Verity Brit & Musician U, Fallope & The Tubes and Resident DJ RHL. With a pop up bar and performances amongst our large group exhibition the vast factory space West Ward Works, this night promises to be a visual audible delight.

Plastique Fantastique (UK)

A performance fiction envisaged as a group of human and non-human avatars delivering communiqués from the past and the future. The communiqués are channelled through installations, writing, comics and sound and moving image work and performances, addressing technology, popular and mass media and sacred cultures and also human-machine animals and non-human entities and agents. Over several years, numerous people have produced Plastique Fantastique but there is also a core group producing the performance fiction. Plastique Fantastique was first presented by David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan and developed with long-term collaborators Alex Marzeta and Vanessa Page, and more recently with Mark Jackson. For NE0N 2017, this group will call forth and trap a bit-coin-fairy-spirit to ask it seems questions. The performance – Plastique Fantastique Protocols for the Society for Cutting Up Mun-knee-snakers (S.C.U.M.): I-Valerie-Solaris-AKA-@32ACP-Amazon.co.uk-recommends-‘Pacific-Rim’ may/may-not shoot b1t-c0in-f@iry-sp1r1t) – uses drone-folk-songs, moving image projection, reliquaries and ritual to manifest the block-chain-spirit.

David Burrows, Alex Marzeta, Vanessa Page and Mark Jackson will be performing.

Rites of the Zeitgeber, Verity Brit & Musician ‘U’ (UK)

9 channel video installation, live score performed by musician ‘U’

The Zeitgeber (‘time giver’ or ‘synchroniser’) is honoured by a triadic henge of stacked CRT monitors in which past durations collide with future vacuums. Strange extra-terrestrial topographies are traversed across geological time and the internet. Curious substances are unearthed and lost languages resurrected. Fragments from Mina Loy, J. G. Ballard and Henri Bergson emerge amongst an archaeology of media from Super 8, VHS, to HD. Time bends from matter, history is up-set and the clock is obsolete.

Verity Birt an artist based in London. She studied an MA in Moving Image at the Royal College of Art (2013–2015) and BA in Art Practice at Goldsmiths University of London (2008–2011). She is involved with collaborative research groups; The Future is a Collective Project, Reconfiguring Ruins and a founding member of women artists collective Altai. This summer, Verity was artist in residence at BALTIC and The Newbridge Project in Newcastle. Previous exhibitions include: Our House of Common Weeds; Res. Gallery, London (2017); Relics from the De-crypt | Gossamer Fog Gallery London (2017), Altai in Residence, Experiments in Collective Practice, Dyson Gallery, London (2017); Chemhex Extract, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen (2016); Feeling Safer, IMT Gallery, London and Gallery North, New York (2016); Come to Dust, Generator Projects, Dundee (2016)

Fallopé & The Tubes (UK)

A weirdo-punk performance band. Each live show features live humans! film and visuals! costumes! sculpture! visual props! and music/a sequence of sounds!

Fallopé and The Tubes is a fluctuating live musical and performative event with contributions from Sarah Messenger, Ruby Pester, Nadia Rossi, Rachel Walker, Catherine Weir, Emma McIntyre and Skye Renee Foley. The group are made up of Scottish based artists and musicians that are also filmmakers, festival organisers, librarians, boatbuilders and more who work collaboratively to devise live performances. Drawing influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, exploring sexuality, elements of social satire, self promotion and leftist political ideologies.

The group was established in January 2014 at Insriach Bothy, Aviemore and have developed their practice during numerous residency experiences across Scotland. By living and working together ‘off grid’ the group have developed experimental techniques to create a collective energy. Fallopé & The Tubes draw influence from a wide range of fringe and mainstream musical genres, as well as sexuality, elements of social satire and self promotion and leftist political ideologies. Soakin Records

DJ RHL (UK)

Resident NEoN DJ has been entertaining us since 2010. Djing for about 25 years, he predominately plays Techno but you often find him playing anything dance music related. Spinning old school vinyl sets containing an eclectic mix of old and new stuff. RHL just likes making people dance. Check here for past performances.

Accompanying DJ RHL is ‘The Wanderer‘ aka Naomi Lamb. Naomi works layers of diverse video loops into an ever evolving collage colours textures and shape and intuitively mixies visuals live. She improvises, freestyles and channels the room, customising the ephemeral moving collage in response to the tone of the happening.

For the past 20 years Naomi has been a prolific live video art performer utilising techniques and process that is often associated with the ever growing subculture of VJing and presents under the name of ‘The Wander’. Naomi has an intimate knowledge of not only the process of live video performance but also an wide reaching connections within the VJ community and has performed at many of the leading outdoor music and art festivals in New Zealand with a debut at two English Festivals this summer and she is super please for her first time mixing it up in Scotland to be at NEoN. “

AGK Booth

Yuck ’n Yum hereby invites you to attend the Annual General Karaoke booth at this year’s NEoN at Night. The AGK is a fiercely contested karaoke video competition, getting creative types to make videos that will shock, delight and confound its audience. First staged back in 2010, over the years the AGK has built up a sizeable back catalogue of singalong anthems encompassing everything from pop classics to the most extreme avant garde out there. Now Yuck ’n Yum will bring the AGK archive to NEoN revellers in an audiovisual extravaganza that will overturn everything you ever thought you knew about karaoke convention. This November, Yuck ’n Yum together with NEoN are making a song and dance about it.

About the Artists Yuck ‘n Yum is a curatorial collective formed in Dundee 2008. Until 2013 its main raison d’etre was to make zines and distribute art. The AGK booth is the first of three projects that will kick start a period of activity after a couple of years of hibernation.

Yuck ‘n Yum are Andrew Maclean, Gayle Meikle, Ben Robinson, Alexandra Ross, Alex Tobin, Becca Clark and Morgan Cahn.

WEST WARD WORKS

Guthrie Street

DD1 5BR

Images: Kathryn Rattray Photography

Next Generation Leadership Academy - Cohort 2 by KY P20 Innovation Lab

Several Kentucky school districts have started working with the University of Kentucky College of Education in a unique partnership to innovate and improve schools. The districts are participating in the college’s Next Generation Leadership (NxGL) Academy, an output of its Kentucky P20 Innovation Lab.

The academy takes school leaders who know the system needs to change and helps them work through implementation of innovative ideas. It launched last year with a pilot co-hort of school leaders. This year’s co-hort includes representatives from the following counties or districts: Barren, Paris Independent, Carroll, Clark, Graves, Hardin, Henry, Shacklette Elementary (Jefferson Co.), Knox, Mason, Trigg, Warren, Woodford, and Eminence Independent.

David Gilliam, principal of Madison Southern High School and member of the pilot co-hort, said of the academy, “This program gives us the core information about what’s happening in education. It allows us to connect with some of the top experts around the world. But, probably the most beneficial part of it is for the team from our district to just sit down with these issues on the table – the charge of reinventing school – and be able to work through ideas and challenge each other. It is very beneficial.”

While participants will meet several times throughout the coming year, much of the work also takes place during online meetings between the school districts and university faculty. Through the process, several schools have met College of Education faculty members with whom they have partnered to provide training and programs within their local districts.

Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Director Gene Wilhoit and Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday addressed participants during the first day of the academy. Both emphasized the state and federal resources available to help schools as they transition to new models of learning. In fact, a recently passed bill in Kentucky will soon be able to help schools get past regulations that may stand in the way of trying out innovative ideas for improving schools, Holliday said.

From how student learning is assessed to the way teachers are trained, Wilhoit outlined a number of ways education must change so future generations of Kentuckians can find jobs to support their families and live fulfilled lives.

“I think the promise of this is unbelievable,” Wilhoit said. “I’ve seen it happen in many schools in isolated ways, but the problem is we’re not doing it across the board.”

Districts that have completed the Next Generation Leadership Academy have the opportunity to work with the UK College of Education to develop Innovation Zones (iZones) within their schools. The iZones provide places to test innovative ideas and scale up what works.

The NxGL Academy’s focus is around the Council of Chief State School Officer’s six critical attributes of Next Generation Learning:

•Personalized Learning calls for a data-driven framework to set goals, assess progress, and ensure students receive the academic and developmental supports they need to succeed.

•Comprehensive Systems of Learning Supports address the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development along a continuum of services to ensure the success of all students

•World-Class Knowledge and Skills requires achievement goals to sufficiently encompass the content knowledge and skills required for success in a globally-oriented world.

•Performance-based learning puts the student at the center of the learning process by enabling the demonstration of mastery of high, clear, and commonly-shared expectations.

•Anytime, anywhere learning provides innovative practices that promote learning beyond the traditional classroom and may include virtual or out-of-school settings leveraging technology as a tool for learning.

•Student voice/agency is the deep engagement of students in directing and owning their individual learning and shaping the nature of the education experience.

About the Kentucky P20 Innovation Lab:

•P20 relies upon the world-class research and expertise of the UK College of Education’s faculty, students and staff.

•P20 builds a bridge between school districts and the UK College of Education to enable an easy exchange of information between schools and higher education.

•P20 faculty and staff design and offer a Next Generation Leadership Academy for school leaders to build capacity to design new systems for learning.

•P20 helps create iZones within school districts. iZones allow college faculty and school personnel to work together to redesign and rethink current policies, practices and programs to support 21st Century learners.

Why is P20 needed?

•Many increasingly recognize one primary challenge: schooling and instruction are mass-produced, expecting students of various abilities, support systems and interests to progress through the same educational program at the same pace without sufficient regard to their individual learning needs.

• Information, once collected in reference books and distilled by teachers, is now everywhere, which changes the roles of teachers and schools. Even the most specialized topics and guidance are only a few keystrokes away.

• In Kentucky, only 83.91% of students complete high school and only 32% of Kentuckians ages 25-34 have a college degree.

•Routine jobs are increasingly disappearing to low wage countries or automated systems.

•To succeed in the global economy today’s students must be prepared to problem solve, work collaboratively, and to be creative and self-motivated. They will be required to produce evidence of competencies for required work.

How do we do school differently?

•• P20 roots out what doesn’t work and replaces it with ways of learning that will prepare all students for college and careers.

•P20 gives students a voice in designing the future of their education. When high school students were recently interviewed about how to do school differently, they were so stuck inside the model they have been part of for 15 or so years, they couldn’t think differently. We are finding ways to get from students what they really want from school – not just a version of what they think school is supposed to be.

•P20 builds upon existing and emerging infrastructures in Kentucky that will make this work sustainable over time.

Early Success Stories:

One of the first P20 iZone schools, Eminence Independent, is implementing some of the following changes:

•Partnership with Bellarmine College to offer college-level courses to qualified students with no cost to students;

•Redesigned Master Schedule (Core classes three days per week. Benchmark ready students take classes two days a week on Bellarmine’s campus);

•Wi-Fi on school bus transporting students to Bellarmine College in Louisville;

•One-to-one technology devices (Mac-Book Pro) for all high school students;

•Students trained to give feedback on educational experiences using Twitter;

•Student and Teacher Voice Teams for input in district decisions;

•Standards-Based Report Cards; and

•Working with sister school in England on using results from student aspirations surveys to better engage students in learning.

20171003-0I7A6619-HDR by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Daulatabad Fort: Second door after the Maha Kot and open courtyard with the guard rooms.

Daulatabad also known as Devagiri, is a town which includes the Devagiri-Daulatabad fort It is a 14th-century fort city in Maharashtra state of India, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) northwest of Aurangabad. The place was originally named Devagiri when it was an important uplands city along caravan routes (ca. sixth century AD), but the intervening centuries have reduced it to a village. However it is also considered to be one of the seven wonders of Maharashtra and a developing tourist spot.

The historical triangular fort of Daulatabad was built by first Yadava king Bhillama V in 1187.

Starting 1327, it famously remained the capital of Tughlaq dynasty, under Muhammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325-1351), who also changed its name, and forcibly moved the entire population of Delhi for two years before it was abandoned for lack of water and Tughluq was constantly known to shift the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and Daulatabad to Delhi.

There is a belief that Devagiri was built in 1203 AD by a Dhangar or herdsman who acquired vast wealth by his good fortune. He had a brother who was a shepherd named 'Raja Ram' and in correlation with it he assumed the rank of a Raja (King).

Lord Shiva is believed to have been stayed on the hills surrounding this region. Hence the fort was originally known as Devagiri, literally (Hills of Gods)

The area of the city includes the hill-fortress of Devagiri (sometimes Latinised to Deogiri). It stands on a conical hill, about 200 meters high. Much of the lower slopes of the hill has been cut away by Yadava dynasty rulers to leave 50 meter vertical sides to improve defenses. The fort is a place of extraordinary strength. The only means of access to the summit is by a narrow bridge, with passage for not more than two people abreast, and a long gallery, excavated in the rock, which has for the most part a very gradual upward slope.

About midway along this gallery, the access gallery has steep stairs, the top of which is covered by a grating destined in time of war to form the hearth of a huge fire kept burning by the garrison above. At the summit, and at intervals on the slope, are specimens of massive old cannon facing out over the surrounding countryside. Also at the mid way, there is a cave entrance meant to confuse the enemies.

The fort had the following specialities which are listed along with their advantages :

No separate exit from the fort, only one entrance/exit - This is designed to confuse the enemy soldiers to drive deep into the fort in search of an exit, at their own peril.

No parallal gates - This is designed to break the momentum of theconfusing the invading army. Also, the flag mast is on the left hill, which the enemy will try to capitualte, thus will always turn left. But the real gates of the fort are on the right & the false ones on the left, thus confusing the enemy.

Spikes on the gates - In the era before gunpowder, intoxicated elephants were used as a battering ram to break open the gates. The presence of spikes ensured that the elephants died of injury.

Complex arrangement of entryways, curved walls, false doors - Designed to confuse the enemy, false, but well-designed gates on the left side lured the enemy soldiers in & trapped them inside, eventually feeding them to crocodiles.

The hill is shaped like a smooth tortoise back - this prevented the use of mountain lizards as climbers, because they cannot stick on it.

The site had been occupied since at least 100 BCE, and now has remains of Buddhist temples similar to those at Ajanta and Ellora.

The city is said to have been founded c. 1187 by Bhillama V, a Yadava prince who renounced his allegiance to the Chalukyas and established the power of the Yadava dynasty in the west. During the rule of the Yadava king Ramachandra, Alauddin Khalji of Delhi Sultanate raided Devagiri in 1296, forcing the Yadavas to pay a hefty tribute. When the tribute payments stopped, Alauddin sent a second expedition to Devagiri in 1308, forcing Ramachandra to become his vassal.

In 1328, Muhammad bin Tughluq of Delhi Sultanate transferred the capital of his kingdom to Devagiri, and renamed it Daulatabad. Some scholars ague that it the idea behind transfer of the capital was rational, because it lied more or less in the centre of the kingdom, and geographically secured the capital from the north-west frontier attacks.

In the Daulatabad fort, he found the area arid & dry. Hence he built a huge reservoir for water storage & connected it with a far-away river. He used siphon system to fill up the reservoir. However, his capital-shift strategy failed miserably due to lack of application & other factors. Hence he shifted back to Delhi & earned him the moniker "Mad King".

The next important event in the Daulatabad fort time-line was the construction of the Chand Minar by the Bahmani ruler Hasan Gangu Bahmani, also known as Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah (r. 3 August 1347 – 11 February 1358).

Hasan Gangu built the Chand Minar as a replica of the Qutb Minar of Delhi, of which he was a great fan of. He employed Iranian architects to built the Minar who used Lapis Lazuli & Red Ochre for coloring. Currently, the Minar is out of bounds for the tourists, because of a suicide case.

As we move further into the fort, we can see the Chini Mahal, a VIP prison built by Aurangzeb. In this prison, he kept Abul Hasan Tana Shah of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty of Hyderabad. The antecedents of Abul Hasan Tana Shah, the last Qutub Shahi king are shrouded in mystery. Although a kinsman of the Golconda royals, he spent his formative years as a disciple of renowned Sufi saint Shah Raju Qattal, leading a spartan existence away from the pomp and grandeur of royalty. Shah Raziuddin Hussaini, popularly known as Shah Raju, was held in high esteem by both the nobility and commoners of Hyderabad. Abdullah Qutub Shah, the seventh king of Golconda was among his most ardent devotees. He died in prison leaving no male heir to the throne.

In this Chini Mahal, Sambhaji, son of Shivaji was kept.

Most of the present-day fortification was constructed under the Bahmanis and the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar. The Mughal Governor of the Deccan under Shah Jahan, captured the fortress in 1632 and imprisoned the Nizam Shahi prince Husain Shah.

Monuments

The outer wall, 2.75 miles (4.43 km) in circumference, once enclosed the ancient city of Devagiri and between this and the base of the upper fort are three lines of defences.

Along with the fortifications, Devagiri contains several notable monuments, of which the chief are the Chand Minar and the Chini Mahal. The Chand Minar is a tower 210 ft (64 m). high and 70 ft (21 m). in circumference at the base, and was originally covered with beautiful Persian glazed tiles. It was erected in 1445 by Ala-ud-din Bahmani to commemorate his capture of the fort. The Chini Mahal (literally: China Palace), is the ruin of a building once of great beauty. In it Abul Hasan Tana Shah, the last of the Qutb Shahi kings of Golconda, was imprisoned by Aurangzeb in 1687.

52.5 miles of conductor by Mississippi Power's Kemper County energy facililty

Construction includes an H-Frame design and included erection of 102 sets of concrete poles and over 52.5 miles of conductor. For environmental concerns and purposes, more than 30 miles of silt fencing was installed along with approximately 18 miles of brush barriers and a native warm season grass established along 17.5 miles of right of way.

Wien, 1. Bezirk, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (società degli amici della musica, sociedad de los amigos de la música, société des amis de la musique, society of the friends of music), Musikvereinsplatz/Bösendorferstraße/Karlsplatz by Alfred Lex

History of the Vienna Philharmonic

The orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic was founded on March 28, 1842. It was founded by the German composer Otto Nicolai, whose creations include the opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor". Nearly a century later, the club was dissolved in December 1938 during the Nazi period by the law on the "transfer and incorporation of clubs, organizations and associations" for the time being and the assets fell to the State Theater and the Stage Academy of the City of Vienna. This was, however, a few days later at the urging of the conductor and musicologist Dr. Heinz Drewes largely reversed. Dr. Drewes was the leader of the "entire German musical life" and so he used his influence on the Reich propaganda minister Goebbels. Ultimately, Goebbels decreed in June 1939 that the Vienna Philharmonic as an association should retain their most extensive independence on the condition that the club is subject to his supervision and that the articles of association regarding the National Socialist principles is changed. Thus, the club's assets were released again.

In 1939, the idea of the New Year's Concert, at which time only the music of Johann Strauss was played, was born. This concert series of the New Year's Concert has become one of the cultural highlights of the year and is always broadcast live on television. The magnificent pictures from Vienna are accompanied, among other things, by fantastic flowers and dance performances by the Wiener Ballett. With the end of the Second World War, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra once again became completely independent and the orchestra played two major concert evenings right after the liberation of Vienna in April 1945. A special focus is still the position of the conductor at the Vienna Philharmonic. Because until 1933, the orchestra was directed by a single conductor every season. From 1933 there were only guest conductors. Great merits in the early years had especially the conductors Arturo Toscanini from 1933 to 1937 and intermittently from 1933 to 1954 Wilhelm Furtwängler. Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Paul Hindemith and Daniel Barenboim are among the famous guest conductors. Also as a guest conductor conducted from 1966, the later honorary member Leonard Bernstein repeatedly the orchestra. One of Leonard Bernstein's most outstanding works in collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic is, for example, the adaptation of the works of Gustav Mahler, who himself had directed the orchestra from 1898 to 1901 for three years as a subscription conductor to the Vienna Philharmonic.

Vienna Philharmonic coins

Appropriately to the Vienna Philharmonic, the Austrian Mint, which mints all coins in Austria, has been issuing a bullion every year since 1989, which after the orchestra precisely is called the Vienna Philharmonic. At first, the coins were pure gold. Since 2008 there is also an annual silver version. Their value does not correspond to the nominal value, but the Vienna Philharmonic is a bullion coin whose value depends on the current precious metal value. The motif of the Vienna Philharmonic is always the same. The front of the Vienna Philharmonic Münze designed by Thomas Pesendorfer shows some of the classical orchestral instruments such as bassoon, horn, harp and four violins, as well as a cello in the middle. The reverse shows the organ, which is located in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. Only the respective year is changed. The coin is now available in four sizes. As a special coinage, a 1000-ounce coin, the so-called "Big Phil", was released in 2004 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary, and another coin in 2009 for the 20th anniversary. Both are traded as collectors' items because of the limited edition and are therefore more expensive than the actual precious metal value.

Geschichte der Wiener Philharmoniker

Das Orchester der Wiener Philharmoniker wurde am 28. März 1842 gegründet. Ins Leben gerufen hatte es der deutsche Komponist Otto Nicolai, aus dessen Feder unter anderem die Oper "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" stammt. Knapp ein Jahrhundert später wurde der Verein im Dezember 1938 in der NS-Zeit durch das Gesetz zur "Überleitung und Eingliederung von Vereinen, Organisationen und Verbänden" vorerst aufgelöst und das Vermögen fiel dem Staatstheater und der Bühnenakademie der Stadt Wien zu. Dies wurde jedoch wenige Tage später auf Drängen des Dirigenten und Musikwissenschaftlers Dr. Heinz Drewes größtenteils wieder rückgängig gemacht. Dr. Drewes war der Leiter des "gesamten deutschen Musiklebens" und so nutzte er seinen Einfluss auf den Reichspropagandaminister Goebbels. Letztlich verfügte Goebbels im Juni 1939, dass die Wiener Philharmoniker als Verein ihre weitestgehende Selbständigkeit behalten sollten unter der Bedingung, dass der Verein seiner Aufsicht unterstellt wird dass die Vereinssatzung hinsichtlich der nationalsozialistischen Grundsätze geändert wird. Damit wurde auch das Vereinsvermögen wieder frei gegeben.

Im Jahr 1939 entstand zugleich die Idee des Neujahrskonzerts, bei dem damals ausschließlich die Musik von Johann Strauss gespielt wurde. Diese Konzertreihe des Neujahrskonzerts ist inzwischen einer der kulturellen Höhepunkte des Jahres und wird immer live im Fernsehen übertragen. Die prächtigen Bilder aus Wien werden unter anderem untermalt durch phantastische Blumen und Tanzeinlagen des Wiener Balletts. Mit dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde der Verein der Wiener Philharmoniker wieder komplett unabhängig und das Orchester spielte gleich nach der Befreiung von Wien im April 1945 zwei große Konzertabende. Ein ganz besonderer Augenmerk gilt noch der Stelle des Dirigenten bei den Wiener Philharmonikern. Denn bis zum Jahr 1933 wurde das Orchester jede Saison von einem einzigen Dirigenten geleitet. Ab 1933 gab es nur noch Gastdirigenten. Große Verdienste hatten in den Anfangsjahren vor allem die Dirigenten Arturo Toscanini von 1933 bis 1937 und mit Unterbrechungen von 1933 bis 1954 Wilhelm Furtwängler. Zu den berühmten Gastdirigenten zählen unter anderem Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Paul Hindemith oder Daniel Barenboim. Ebenfalls als Gastdirigent leitete ab 1966 das spätere Ehrenmitglied Leonard Bernstein mehrfach das Orchester. Zu den herausragendsten Werken von Leonard Bernstein in Zusammenarbeit mit den Wiener Philharmonikern zählt beispielsweise die Bearbeitung der Werke von Gustav Mahler, der von 1898 bis 1901 selbst drei Jahre lang als Abonnementdirigent der Wiener Philharmoniker das Orchester geleitet hatte.

Wiener Philharmoniker Münzen

Passend zu den Wiener Philharmonikern gibt die Münze Österreich, die alle Münzen in Österreich prägt, seit dem Jahr 1989 jedes Jahr eine Anlagemünze heraus, die nach dem Orchester eben der Wiener Philharmoniker genannt wird. Zunächst waren die Münzen aus reinem Gold. Seit 2008 gibt es auch eine jährliche Silberversion. Ihr Wert entspricht nicht dem reinen Nennwert, sondern der Wiener Philharmoniker ist eine Bullionmünze, deren Wert sich nach dem aktuellen Edelmetallwert richtet. Das Motiv des Wiener Philharmoniker ist immer gleich. Die Vorderseite der von Thomas Pesendorfer gestalteten Wiener Philharmoniker Münze zeigt einige der klassischen Orchesterinstrumente wie Fagott, Horn, Harfe und dazu vier Geigen sowie in der Mitte ein Cello. Die Rückseite zeigt die Orgel, die sich im Goldenen Saal vom Wiener Musikverein befindet. Geändert wird nur das jeweilige Prägejahr. Die Münze gibt es inzwischen in vier Größen zu kaufen. Als Sonderprägungen erschien 2004 zum 15-jährigen Jubiläum eine 1000-Unzen-Münze, der sogenannte "Big Phil", und 2009 zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum eine weitere Münze. Beide werden wegen der limitierten Auflage als Sammlerobjekte gehandelt und sind daher teurer als der eigentliche Edelmetallwert.

www.geschichte-oesterreich.com/musik/wiener_philharmonike...

Relief with surgical instruments presented to Imhotep (worshipped as the Egyptian God of Medicine), dated to between 138–218 AD, Temple of Kom Ombo, Egypt by Carole Raddato

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The instruments include various hooks, blades, probes, knifes, forceps, but also a balance, boxes, a sponge, flasks and sachets, two amulets in shape of the wadjet eyes, and a case for instruments. The whole set apparently forms part of medical realia, used by ancient Egyptian (and Roman) physicians in their practice.

Some scholars (Porter, Moss 1939: 180 (no. 228), Hölbl 2000: 96–97) have attributed this scene to the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180 CE), but since the name of the pharaoh depicted is nowhere mentioned on the relief, this is far from certain.

Source: COPPENS, FILIP, and HANA VYMAZALOVÁ. "MEDICINE, MATHEMATICS AND MAGIC UNITE IN A SCENE FROM THE TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO (KO 950)." Anthropologie (1962-) 48, no. 2 (2010)

Basil's Karate Kid/Dog Pose by ApplesInMyBra

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Sorry, I must admit, I didn't include the grocery store theme. This is because dogs are usually not allowed in grocery shops. Dixieroadrash did encourage me to take Basil to PetCo but unfortunately, Basil is very ill-behaved at stores with plenty of distractions (he gets ADD as soon as we get in the car, and also becomes completely deaf). Getting him to do a karate pose of this magnitude at PetCo would be almost impossible.

When Beanie saw all the action, she wanted to get in on it. She kept trying to get up on the cushion thing with Basil. I had to go and put her in the bedroom to complete this shot.

For Flickr Group Roulette: Invasion of Karate Kid pose

Theme of the Week: Lighting. Real ghetto this time - used a plain ol' reading lamp from camera left.

For 365 days of my Dog: Day 18

Today's random fact: Basil's getting his annual exam tomorrow!

Tynemouth Castle and Abbey by Kevin Norman

Tynemouth Castle is located on a rocky headland (known as Pen Bal Crag), overlooking Tynemouth Pier.

The moated castle-towers, gatehouse and keep are combined with the ruins of the Benedictine priory where early kings of Northumbria were buried.

The coat of arms of the town of Tynemouth still includes three crowns commemorating the tradition that the Priory had been the burial place for three kings.

Little is known of the early history of the site. Some Roman stones have been found there, but there is no definite evidence that it was occupied by the Romans.

The Priory was founded early in the 7th century, perhaps by Edwin of Northumbria. In 651 Oswin, king of Deira was murdered by the soldiers of King Oswiu of Bernicia, and subsequently his body was brought to Tynemouth for burial.[1] He became St Oswin and his burial place became a shrine visited by pilgrims. He was the first of the three kings buried at Tynemouth.

In 792 Osred II, who had been king of Northumbria from 789 to 790 and then deposed, was murdered. He also was buried at Tynemouth Priory.[1] Osred was the second of the three kings buried at Tynemouth.

The third king to be buried at Tynemouth was Malcolm III, king of Scotland, who was killed at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093.[1] (This is the same Malcolm who appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth.) The king's body was sent north for reburial, in the reign of his son Alexander I, at Dunfermline Abbey, or possibly Iona.

In 800 the Danes plundered Tynemouth Priory,[1] and afterwards the monks strengthened the fortifications sufficiently to prevent the Danes from succeeding when they attacked again in 832. However, in 865 the church and monastery were destroyed by the Danes. At the same time, the nuns of St Hilda, who had come there for safety, were massacred. The priory was again plundered by the Danes in 870. The priory was destroyed by the Danes in 875.

Norman rule

Earl Tostig made Tynemouth his fortress during the reign of Edward the Confessor. By that time, the priory had been abandoned and the burial place of St Oswin had been forgotten. According to legend, St Oswin appeared in a vision to Edmund, a novice, who was living there as a hermit. The saint showed Edmund where his body lay and so the tomb was re-discovered in 1065.

Tostig was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 and so was not able to re-found the monastery as he had intended.

In 1074 Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria, last of the Anglo-Saxon earls, granted the church to the monks of Jarrow together with the body of St Oswin (Oswine of Deira), which was transferred to that site for a while.

In 1090 Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland decided to re-found Tynemouth Priory, but he was in dispute with William de St-Calais, the Bishop of Durham and so placed the priory under the jurisdiction of the priory of St Albans. Monks were sent from St Albans in 1090 to colonise the new monastery.

However, when the abbot of St Albans visited in 1093, Prior Thurgot of Durham met him and prevented the usurpation of the rights of Durham.

In 1091, seamen from William II's ships plundered Tynemouth and one victim appealed to St. Oswin, whose shrine was in the priory, and the next day the ships were all lost on the rocks of Coquet Island in fair weather. Thereafter, William Rufus held St. Oswin in great reverence.

In 1093 Malcolm III of Scotland invaded England and was killed at Alnwick by Robert de Mowbray. Malcolm's body was buried at Tynemouth Priory for a time, but it is believed that he was subsequently reburied in Dunfermline Abbey, in Scotland.

In 1095 Robert de Mowbray took refuge in Tynemouth Castle after rebelling against William II. William besieged the castle and captured it after two months. Mowbray escaped to Bamburgh Castle, but subsequently returned to Tynemouth. The castle was re-taken and Mowbray was dragged from there and imprisoned for life for treason. In 1110 a new church was completed on the site.

Tynemouth Priory viewed from Tynemouth pier shows the strategic and dramatic nature of its headland setting

It is believed that at the time of Robert Mowbray's capture in 1095 there was a castle on the site consisting of earthen ramparts and a wooden stockade.

In 1296 the prior of Tynemouth was granted royal permission to surround the monastery with walls of stone, which he did. In 1390 a gatehouse and barbican were added on the landward side of the castle.

Much remains of the priory structure as well as the castle gatehouse and walls which are 3200 feet (975 m) in length. The promontory was originally completely enclosed by a curtain wall and towers, but the north and east walls fell into the sea, and most of the south wall was demolished; the west wall, the gatehouse and a section of the south wall (with original wall walk) remain in good condition.

Edward II

In 1312 King Edward II took refuge in Tynemouth Castle together with his favourite Piers Gaveston, before fleeing by sea to Scarborough Castle. These events were dramatised by Christopher Marlowe in his play Edward II, published in 1594. Act 2 Scene 2 of the play is set 'Before Tynemouth Castle'; Act 2 Scene 3 is set 'Near Tynemouth Castle'; and Act 2 Scene 4 is set 'In Tynemouth Castle'.

Tynemouth Priory was also the resting place of Edward's illegitimate son Adam FitzRoy. FitzRoy accompanied his father in the Scottish campaigns of 1322, and died shortly afterwards on 18 September 1322, of unknown causes, and was buried at Tynemouth Priory on 30 September 1322; his father paid for a silk cloth with gold thread to be placed over his body.[2]

The Oratory of St Mary, or Percy Chapel

In 1538 the monastery of Tynemouth was suppressed when Robert Blakeney was the last prior of Tynemouth. At that time, apart from the prior, there were fifteen monks and three novices in residence.

The priory and its attached lands were taken over by King Henry VIII who granted them to Sir Thomas Hilton. The monastic buildings were dismantled leaving only the church and the Prior's house. The castle, however, remained in royal hands.

New artillery fortifications were built from 1545 onwards, with the advice of Sir Richard Lee and the Italian military engineers Gian Tommaso Scala and Antonio da Bergamo. The medieval castle walls were updated with new gunports.[3] The castle was the birthplace of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland in 1564, during the period when his father, the 8th Earl, was guardian of the castle.

In May 1594 George Selby and Thomas Power, lieutenant of Tynemouth Castle, captured two fugitives from the court of Anne of Denmark who had stolen some of her jewels. Power kept Jacob Kroger, a German goldsmith, and Guillaume Martyn, a French stableman, as prisoners at Tynemouth for five weeks until they were returned to Edinburgh for summary trial and execution.[4]

Parish church

The church remained in use as a parish church until 1668 when a new church was built nearby. The ruins of the church can still be seen. Beneath them is a small (18 feet by 12 feet) chapel, the Oratory of St Mary or Percy Chapel. Its notable decorative features include a painted ceiling with numerous coats of arms and other symbols, stained-glass side windows, and a small rose window in the east wall, above the altar.

Tynemouth priory, 1867 proof engraving by William Miller after J M W Turner. The lighthouse, since demolished, stands on the far right of the promontory.

For some time a navigation light, in the form of a coal-fired brazier, had been maintained on top of one of the turrets at the east end of the Priory church. It is not known when this practice began, but a source of 1582 refers to: "the kepinge of a continuall light in the night season at the easte ende of the churche of Tinmouthe castle ... for the more safegarde of such shippes as should passe by that coast".[5] As Governor of Tynemouth Castle, Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland is recorded as having responsibility for the light's maintenance; and he and his successors in that office were entitled to receive dues from passing ships in return.

In 1559, however, the stairs leading to the top of the turret collapsed, preventing the fire from being lit.[5] In 1665, therefore, the then Governor (Colonel Villiers) had a purpose-built lighthouse erected on the headland (within the castle walls, using stone taken from the priory); it was rebuilt in 1775.[6] Like its predecessor, the lighthouse was initially coal-fired, but in 1802 an oil-fired argand light was installed and by 1871 it displayed a revolving red light. In 1841 William Fowke (a descendant of Villiers and his successor as Governor) sold the lighthouse to Trinity House, London.[6] It remained in operation until 1895, when it was replaced by St. Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay to the north. Tynemouth Castle Lighthouse was subsequently demolished, in 1898.[7]

At the end of the 19th century the castle was used as a barracks with several new buildings being added. Many of these were removed after a fire in 1936. The castle played a role during World War I and World War II[8] when it was used as a coastal defence installation covering the mouth of the river Tyne. The restored sections of the coastal defence emplacements are open to the public. These include a guardroom and the main armoury, where visitors can see how munitions were safely handled and protected.

More recently the site has hosted the modern buildings of Her Majesty's Coastguard; however the new coastguard station, built in 1980 and opened by Prince Charles, was closed in 2001.[9]

Present-day

Tynemouth Castle and Priory is now managed by English Heritage, which charges an admission fee.

In 2002, it doubled as a castle for a tourist advert for the Isle of Mull.

Cathedral of the Railways by Steven Brandist

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St Pancras is often termed the 'Cathedral of the Railways', and includes two of the most celebrated structures built in Britain in the Victorian era. The train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The frontage of the station is formed by the former Midland Grand Hotel, designed by George Gilbert Scott, an impressive example of Victorian Gothic architecture, now occupied by the five-star Renaissance London Hotel and apartments.

The redeveloped terminus has been described by the travel writer Simon Calder as "the world's most wonderful railway station".

Everytime I visit here - roughly once a year I never cease to be impressed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_railway_station

stpancras.com/

Glass Shattered Candle Cat by John Russell

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This is a Kinetic Photograph which includes Poe, one of my cats; some of my furniture; a candle; a lamp; and my television screen. Viewed at original size it's a hoot!

One shot SOOC.

Want more? See my new set, "Drawing with Light:"

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157630589237982/

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Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.

These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.

I choose a light source and/or subject, set my camera for a long exposure (typically around 4 seconds), focus on my subject and push the shutter button. When the shutter opens I move the camera around with my hands...large, sweeping, dramatic movements. And then I will literally throw the camera several feet up into the air, most times imparting a spinning or whirling motion to it as I hurl it upward. I may throw the camera several times and also utilize hand-held motion several times in one photo. None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.

Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.

To read more about Kinetic Photography click the Wikipedia link below:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_photography

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Albeit supremely risky this is one of my favorite ways to produce abstract photographs.

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My photographs and videos and any derivative works are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and ALL my rights, including my exclusive rights, are reserved. ANY use without my permission in writing is forbidden by law.

Mobile Applications by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - PNNL

Work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) includes the preparation and testing of lithium ion batteries and lithium/air batteries for vehicle and other mobile applications. As America and other nations look for alternatives to costly and environmentally-challenging fossil fuels, electricity continues to be an attractive energy option. Mobile—or transportation—energy storage will be critical to meet America’s aggressive vehicle electrification goals.

In this photo: PNNL Scientist Jie Xiao

For more information, visit www.pnl.gov/news

Terms of Use: Our images are freely and publicly available for use with the credit line, "Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory." Please use provided caption information for use in appropriate context.

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