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 Time bends from matter, history is up-set and the clock is obsolete.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

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.

 

My desk area that includes:

1. Apple 22" Cinema Display

2. Sharp Aquos 46" LCD HDTV/Monitor

3. NEC AccuSync LCD9V

4. Comcast HD Cable Box

5. D-Link Gigabit Switch

6. Rolls 20 channel mixer

7. APC Multiple Outlet Unit

8. Belkin OmniView Matrix 2.8 KVM

9. 2xAPC rackmount Battery Backup Systems

10. MacPro 8-way with 6 gig of RAM and 6 Hard drives

11. 1 TB Lacie Bigger Disk

12. Drobo with 2x1TB and 2x500GB

The Great Patriotic War (Russian: Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́, romanized: Velikaja Otečestvennaja vojna) is a term used in Russia and some other former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II, primarily between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. For some legal purposes, this period may be extended to 11 May 1945 to include the end of the Prague offensive.

 

History

The term Patriotic War refers to the Russian resistance to the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon I, which became known as the Patriotic War of 1812. In Russian, the term отечественная война originally referred to a war on one's own territory (otechestvo means "the fatherland"), as opposed to a campaign abroad (заграничная война), and later was reinterpreted as a war for the fatherland, i.e. a defensive war for one's homeland. Sometimes the Patriotic War of 1812 was also referred to as the Great Patriotic War (Великая отечественная война); the phrase first appeared in 1844 and became popular on the eve of the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812.

 

After 1914, the phrase was applied to World War I. It was the name of a special war-time appendix to the magazine Theater and Life (Театр и жизнь) in Saint Petersburg, and referred to the Eastern Front of World War I, where Russia fought against the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The phrases Second Patriotic War (Вторая отечественная война) and Great World Patriotic War (Великая всемирная отечественная война) were also used during World War I in Russia.

 

The term Great Patriotic War re-appeared in the official newspaper of the CPSU, Pravda, on 23 June 1941, just a day after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. It was found in the title of "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People" (Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna Sovetskogo Naroda), a long article by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, a member of Pravda editors' collegium. The phrase was intended to motivate the population to defend the Soviet fatherland and to expel the invader, and a reference to the Patriotic War of 1812 was seen as a great morale booster. During the Soviet period, historians engaged in huge distortions to make history fit with Communist ideology, with Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov and Prince Pyotr Bagration transformed into peasant generals, Alexander I alternatively ignored or vilified, and the war becoming a massive "People's War" fought by the ordinary people of Russia with almost no involvement on the part of the government. The invasion by Germany was called the Great Patriotic War by the Soviet government to evoke comparisons with the victory by Tsar Alexander I over Napoleon's invading army.

 

The term Отечественная война (Patriotic War or Fatherland War) was officially recognized by establishment of the Order of the Patriotic War on 20 May 1942, awarded for heroic deeds.

 

The term is not generally used outside the former Soviet Union, and the closest term is the Eastern Front of World War II (1941–1945). Neither term covers the initial phase of World War II in Eastern Europe, during which the USSR, then still in a non-aggression pact with Germany, invaded eastern Poland (1939), the Baltic states (1940), Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (1940) and Finland (1939–1940). The term also does not cover the Soviet–Japanese War (1945) nor the Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939).

 

In Russia and some other post-Soviet countries, the term is given great significance; it is accepted as a representation of the most important part of World War II. Until 2014, Uzbekistan was the only nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States that had not recognized the term, referring to it as World War II on the state holiday - the Day of Remembrance and Honour.

 

On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament replaced the term Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) (Velyka vitchyzniana viina) in the country's law with the "Second World War (1939–1945)" (Druha svitova viina), as part of a set of decommunization laws. Also in 2015, Ukraine's "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II" was established as a national holiday in accordance with the law of "On Perpetuation of Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939–1945". The new holiday was celebrated on May 9 and replaced the Soviet-Russian Victory Day, which is celebrated on May 9. These laws were adopted by the Ukrainian parliament within the package of laws on decommunization. In 2023 Ukraine abolished the 2015 9 May "Victory Day over Nazism" holiday and replaced it with the new public holiday "Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 – 1945" which is celebrated on 8 May annually.

 

Voronezh is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects western Russia with the Urals and Siberia, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the M4 highway (Moscow–Voronezh–Rostov-on-Don–Novorossiysk). In recent years the city has experienced rapid population growth, rising in 2021 to 1,057,681, up from 889,680 recorded in the 2010 Census, making it the 14th-most populous city in the country.

 

History

The first chronicle references to the word "Voronezh" are dated 1177, when the Ryazan prince Yaropolk, having lost the battle, fled "to Voronozh" and there was moving "from town to town". Modern data of archeology and history interpret Voronezh as a geographical region, which included the Voronezh river (tributary of the Don) and a number of settlements. In the lower reaches of the river, a unique Slavic town-planning complex of the 8th – early 11th century was discovered, which covered the territory of the present city of Voronezh and its environs (about 42 km long, about 13 forts and many unfortified villages). By the 12th – 13th centuries, most of the old towns were desolate, but new settlements appeared upstream, closer to Ryazan.

 

For many years, the hypothesis of the Soviet historian Vladimir Zagorovsky dominated: he produced the toponym "Voronezh" from the hypothetical Slavic personal name Voroneg. This man allegedly gave the name of a small town in the Chernigov Principality (now the village of Voronezh in Ukraine). Later, in the 11th or 12th century, the settlers were able to "transfer" this name to the Don region, where they named the second city Voronezh, and the river got its name from the city. However, now many researchers criticize the hypothesis, since in reality neither the name of Voroneg nor the second city was revealed, and usually the names of Russian cities repeated the names of the rivers, but not vice versa.

 

The linguistic comparative analysis of the name "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. There is an indication of the place names of many countries in Eurasia, which may partly be not only similar in sound, but also united by common Indo-European languages: Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Brno, etc.

 

A comprehensive scientific analysis was conducted in 2015–2016 by the historian Pavel Popov. His conclusion: "Voronezh" is a probable Slavic macrotoponym associated with outstanding signs of nature, has a root voron- (from the proto-Slavic vorn) in the meaning of "black, dark" and the suffix -ezh (-azh, -ozh). It was not “transferred” and in the 8th - 9th centuries it marked a vast territory covered with black forests (oak forests) - from the mouth of the Voronezh river to the Voronozhsky annalistic forests in the middle and upper reaches of the river, and in the west to the Don (many forests were cut down). The historian believes that the main "city" of the early town-planning complex could repeat the name of the region – Voronezh. Now the hillfort is located in the administrative part of the modern city, in the Voronezh upland oak forest. This is one of Europe's largest ancient Slavic hillforts, the area of which – more than 9 hectares – 13 times the area of the main settlement in Kyiv before the baptism of Rus.

 

In it is assumed that the word "Voronezh" means bluing - a technique to increase the corrosion resistance of iron products. This explanation fits well with the proximity to the ancient city of Voronezh of a large iron deposit and the city of Stary Oskol.

 

Folk etymology claims the name comes from combining the Russian words for raven (ворон) and hedgehog (еж) into Воронеж. According to this explanation two Slavic tribes named after the animals used this combination to name the river which later in turn provided the name for a settlement. There is not believed to be any scientific support for this explanation.

 

In the 16th century, the Middle Don basin, including the Voronezh river, was gradually conquered by Muscovy from the Nogai Horde (a successor state of the Golden Horde), and the current city of Voronezh was established in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Muravsky Trail trade route against the slave raids of the Nogai and Crimean Tatars. The city was named after the river.

 

17th to 19th centuries

In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizable town. Weronecz is shown on the Worona river in Resania in Joan Blaeu's map of 1645. Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, Goto Predestinatsia. The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.

 

Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of the Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into the Voronezh Governorate.

 

In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth Region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather, and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. A railway connected Voronezh with Moscow in 1868 and Rostov-on-Don in 1871.

 

20th century

World War II

During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Soviet and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made it a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, two BM-13 (Fighting machine #13 Katyusha) artillery installations were built at the Voronezh excavator factory. In July, the construction of Katyushas was rationalized so that their manufacture became easier and the time of volley repetition was shortened from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in a counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted the establishment of a defense committee in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was a troop parade, devoted to the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. By July 24 the frontline had stabilised along the Voronezh River as the German forces continued southeast into the Great Bend of the Don. The attack on Voronezh represented the first phase of the German Army's 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.

 

Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied the western part of Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive, the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.

 

Post-war

By 1950, Voronezh had been rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. It was also the location of a prestigious Suvorov Military School, a boarding school for young boys who were considered to be prospective military officers, many of whom had been orphaned by war.

 

In 1950–1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical pressing, and others. In 1968, Serial production of the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic plane was established at the Voronezh Aviation factory. In October 1977, the first Soviet domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built there.

 

In 1989, TASS published details of an alleged UFO landing in the city's park and purported encounters with extraterrestrial beings reported by a number of children. A Russian scientist that was cited in initial TASS reports later told the Associated Press that he was misquoted, cautioning, "Don't believe all you hear from TASS," and "We never gave them part of what they published", and a TASS correspondent admitted the possibility that some "make-believe" had been added to the TASS story, saying, "I think there is a certain portion of truth, but it is not excluded that there is also fantasizing".

 

21st century

From 10 to 17 September 2011, Voronezh celebrated its 425th anniversary. The anniversary of the city was given the status of a federal scale celebration that helped attract large investments from the federal and regional budgets for development.

 

On December 17, 2012, Voronezh became the fifteenth city in Russia with a population of over one million people.

 

Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the Central Black Earth Region. As part of the annual tradition in the Russian city of Voronezh, every winter the main city square is thematically drawn around a classic literature. In 2020, the city was decorated using the motifs from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. In the year of 2021, the architects drew inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen as well as the animation classic The Snow Queen from the Soviet Union. The fairy tale replica city will feature the houses of Kai and Gerda, the palace of the snow queen, an ice rink, and illumination.

 

In June 2023, during the Wagner Group rebellion, forces of the Wagner Group claimed to have taken control of military facilities in the city. Later they were confirmed to have taken the city itself.

 

Administrative and municipal status

Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast.[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.

 

City divisions

The city is divided into six administrative districts:

 

Zheleznodorozhny (183,17 km²)

Tsentralny (63,96 km²)

Kominternovsky (47,41 km²)

Leninsky (18,53 km²)

Sovetsky (156,6 km²)

Levoberezhny (123,89 km²)

 

Economy

The leading sectors of the urban economy in the 20th century were mechanical engineering, metalworking, the electronics industry and the food industry.

 

In the city are such companies as:

Tupolev Tu-144

Voronezhselmash (agricultural engineering)

Sozvezdie[36] (headquarter, JSC Concern “Sozvezdie”, in 1958 the world's first created mobile telephony and wireless telephone Altai

Verofarm (pharmaceutics, owner Abbott Laboratories),

Voronezh Mechanical Plant[37] (production of missile and aircraft engines, oil and gas equipment)

Mining Machinery Holding - RUDGORMASH[38] (production of drilling, mineral processing and mining equipment)

VNiiPM Research Institute of Semiconductor Engineering (equipment for plasma-chemical processes, technical-chemical equipment for liquid operations, water treatment equipment)

KBKhA Chemical Automatics Design Bureau with notable products:.

Pirelli Voronezh.

On the territory of the city district government Maslovka Voronezh region with the support of the Investment Fund of Russia, is implementing a project to create an industrial park, "Maslowski", to accommodate more than 100 new businesses, including the transformer factory of Siemens. On September 7, 2011 in Voronezh there opened a Global network operation center of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was the fifth in the world and the first in Russia.

 

Construction

In 2014, 926,000 square meters of housing was delivered.

 

Clusters of Voronezh

In clusters of tax incentives and different preferences, the full support of the authorities. A cluster of Oil and Gas Equipment, Radio-electronic cluster, Furniture cluster, IT cluster, Cluster aircraft, Cluster Electromechanics, Transport and logistics cluster, Cluster building materials and technologies.

 

Geography

Urban layout

Information about the original urban layout of Voronezh is contained in the "Patrol Book" of 1615. At that time, the city fortress was logged and located on the banks of the Voronezh River. In plan, it was an irregular quadrangle with a perimeter of about 238 meter. inside it, due to lack of space, there was no housing or siege yards, and even the cathedral church was supposed to be taken out. However, at this small fortress there was a large garrison - 666 households of service people. These courtyards were reliably protected by the second line of fortifications by a standing prison on taras with 25 towers covered with earth; behind the prison was a moat, and beyond the moat there were stakes. Voronezh was a typical military settlement (ostrog). In the city prison there were only settlements of military men: Streletskaya, Kazachya, Belomestnaya atamanskaya, Zatinnaya and Pushkarskaya. The posad population received the territory between the ostrog and the river, where the Monastyrskaya settlements (at the Assumption Monastery) was formed. Subsequently, the Yamnaya Sloboda was added to them, and on the other side of the fort, on the Chizhovka Mountain, the Chizhovskaya Sloboda of archers and Cossacks appeared. As a result, the Voronezh settlements surrounded the fortress in a ring. The location of the parish churches emphasized this ring-like and even distribution of settlements: the Ilyinsky Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda, the Pyatnitskaya Cossack and Pokrovskaya Belomestnaya were brought out to the passage towers of the prison. The Nikolskaya Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda was located near the marketplace (and, accordingly, the front facade of the fortress), and the paired ensemble of the Rozhdestvenskaya and Georgievskaya churches of the Cossack Sloboda marked the main street of the city, going from the Cossack Gate to the fortress tower.

 

Climate

Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

 

Transportation

Air

The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO (Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo, Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Tupolev Tu-144 (known in the West as the "Concordski"), was built and the only operational unit is still stored. Voronezh also hosts the Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.[citation needed]

 

Rail

Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow. Rail services form a part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kyiv, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov. The main train station is called Voronezh-1 railway station and is located in the center of the city.

 

Bus

There are three bus stations in Voronezh that connect the city with destinations including Moscow, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Astrakhan.

 

Education and culture

Aviastroiteley Park

The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:

 

Voronezh State University

Voronezh State Technical University

Voronezh State University of Architecture and Construction

Voronezh State Pedagogical University

Voronezh State Agricultural University

Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies

Voronezh State Medical University named after N. N. Burdenko

Voronezh State Academy of Arts

Voronezh State University of Forestry and Technologies named after G.F. Morozov

Voronezh State Institute of Physical Training

Voronezh Institute of Russia's Home Affairs Ministry

Voronezh Institute of High Technologies

Military Educational and Scientific Center of the Air Force «N.E. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy» (Voronezh)

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Voronezh branch)

Russian State University of Justice

Admiral Makarov State University of Sea and River Fleet (Voronezh branch)

International Institute of Computer Technologies

Voronezh Institute of Economics and Law

and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.

 

Theaters

Voronezh Chamber Theatre

Koltsov Academic Drama Theater

Voronezh State Opera and Ballet Theatre

Shut Puppet Theater

 

Festivals

Platonov International Arts Festival

 

Sports

ClubSportFoundedCurrent LeagueLeague

RankStadium

Fakel VoronezhFootball1947Russian Premier League1stTsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion

Energy VoronezhFootball1989Women's Premier League1stRudgormash Stadium

Buran VoronezhIce Hockey1977Higher Hockey League2ndYubileyny Sports Palace

VC VoronezhVolleyball2006Women's Higher Volleyball League A2ndKristall Sports Complex

 

Religion

Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Voronezh

Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religion in Voronezh.[citation needed] There is an Orthodox Jewish community in Voronezh, with a synagogue located on Stankevicha Street.

 

In 1682, the Voronezh diocese was formed to fight the schismatics. Its first head was Bishop Mitrofan (1623-1703) at the age of 58. Under him, the construction began on the new Annunciation Cathedral to replace the old one. In 1832, Mitrofan was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

In the 1990s, many Orthodox churches were returned to the diocese. Their restoration was continued. In 2009, instead of the lost one, a new Annunciation Cathedral was built with a monument to St. Mitrofan erected next to it.

 

Cemeteries

There are ten cemeteries in Voronezh:

Levoberezhnoye Cemetery

Lesnoye Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

Nikolskoye Cemetery

Pravoberezhnoye Cemetery

Budyonnovskoe Cemetery

Yugo-Zapadnoye Cemetery

Podgorenskоye Cemetery

Kominternovskoe Cemetery

Ternovoye Cemetery is а historical site closed to the public.

 

Born in Voronezh

18th century

Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov (1767–1837), Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia

Mikhail Pavlov (1792–1840), Russian academic and professor at Moscow University

19th century

1801–1850

Aleksey Koltsov (1809–1842), Russian poet

Ivan Nikitin (1824–1861), Russian poet

Nikolai Ge (1831–1894), Russian realist painter famous for his works on historical and religious motifs

Vasily Sleptsov (1836–1878), Russian writer and social reformer

Nikolay Kashkin (1839–1920), Russian music critic

1851–1900

Valentin Zhukovski (1858–1918), Russian orientalist

Vasily Goncharov (1861–1915), Russian film director and screenwriter, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire

Anastasiya Verbitskaya (1861–1928), Russian novelist, playwright, screenplay writer, publisher and feminist

Mikhail Olminsky (1863–1933), Russian Communist

Serge Voronoff (1866–1951), French surgeon of Russian extraction

Andrei Shingarev (1869–1918), Russian doctor, publicist and politician

Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Alexander Ostuzhev (1874–1953), Russian and Soviet drama actor

Valerian Albanov (1881–1919), Russian navigator and polar explorer

Jan Hambourg (1882–1947), Russian violinist, a member of a famous musical family

Volin (1882–1945), anarchist

Boris Hambourg (1885–1954), Russian cellist who made his career in the USA, Canada, England and Europe

Boris Eikhenbaum (1886–1959), Russian and Soviet literary scholar, and historian of Russian literature

Anatoly Durov (1887–1928), Russian animal trainer

Samuil Marshak (1887–1964), Russian and Soviet writer, translator and children's poet

Eduard Shpolsky (1892–1975), Russian and Soviet physicist and educator

George of Syracuse (1893–1981), Eastern Orthodox archbishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Yevgeny Gabrilovich (1899–1993), Soviet screenwriter

Semyon Krivoshein (1899–1978), Soviet tank commander; Lieutenant General

Andrei Platonov (1899–1951), Soviet Russian writer, playwright and poet

Ivan Pravov (1899–1971), Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter

William Dameshek (1900–1969), American hematologist

20th century

1901–1930

Ivan Nikolaev (1901–1979), Soviet architect and educator

Galina Shubina (1902–1980), Russian poster and graphics artist

Pavel Cherenkov (1904–1990), Soviet physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1958 with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934

Yakov Kreizer (1905–1969), Soviet field commander, General of the army and Hero of the Soviet Union

Iosif Rudakovsky (1914–1947), Soviet chess master

Pawel Kassatkin (1915–1987), Russian writer

Alexander Shelepin (1918–1994), Soviet state security officer and party statesman

Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian writer

Gleb Strizhenov (1923–1985), Soviet actor

Vladimir Zagorovsky (1925–1994), Russian chess grandmaster of correspondence chess and the fourth ICCF World Champion between 1962 and 1965

Konstantin Feoktistov (1926–2009), cosmonaut and engineer

Vitaly Vorotnikov (1926–2012), Soviet statesman

Arkady Davidowitz (1930), writer and aphorist

1931–1950

Grigory Sanakoev (1935), Russian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, most famous for being the twelfth ICCF World Champion (1984–1991)

Yuri Zhuravlyov (1935), Russian mathematician

Mykola Koltsov (1936–2011), Soviet footballer and Ukrainian football children and youth trainer

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov (1936), Russian composer

Iya Savvina (1936–2011), Soviet film actress

Tamara Zamotaylova (1939), Soviet gymnast, who won four Olympic medals at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics

Yury Smolyakov (1941), Soviet Olympic fencer

Yevgeny Lapinsky (1942–1999), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Galina Bukharina (1945), Soviet athlete

Vladimir Patkin (1945), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Vladimir Proskurin (1945), Soviet Russian football player and coach

Aleksandr Maleyev (1947), Soviet artistic gymnast

Valeri Nenenko (1950), Russian professional football coach and player

1951–1970

Vladimir Rokhlin, Jr. (1952), Russian-American mathematician and professor of computer science and mathematics at the Yale University

Lyubov Burda (1953), Russian artistic gymnast

Mikhail Khryukin (1955), Russian swimmer

Aleksandr Tkachyov (1957), Russian gymnast and two times Olympic Champion

Nikolai Vasilyev (1957), Russian professional football coach and player

Aleksandr Babanov (1958), Russian professional football coach and player

Sergey Koliukh (1960), Russian political figure; 4th Mayor of Voronezh

Yelena Davydova (1961), Soviet gymnast

Aleksandr Borodyuk (1962), Russian football manager and former international player for USSR and Russia

Aleksandr Chayev (1962), Russian swimmer

Elena Fanailova (1962), Russian poet

Alexander Litvinenko (1962–2006), officer of the Russian FSB and political dissident

Yuri Shishkin (1963), Russian professional football coach and player

Yuri Klinskikh (1964–2000), Russian musician, singer, songwriter, arranger, founder rock band Sektor Gaza

Yelena Ruzina (1964), athlete

Igor Bragin (1965), footballer

Gennadi Remezov (1965), Russian professional footballer

Valeri Shmarov (1965), Russian football player and coach

Konstantin Chernyshov (1967), Russian chess grandmaster

Igor Pyvin (1967), Russian professional football coach and player

Vladimir Bobrezhov (1968), Soviet sprint canoer

1971–1980

Oleg Gorobiy (1971), Russian sprint canoer

Anatoli Kanishchev (1971), Russian professional association footballer

Ruslan Mashchenko (1971), Russian hurdler

Aleksandr Ovsyannikov (1974), Russian professional footballer

Dmitri Sautin (1974), Russian diver who has won more medals than any other Olympic diver

Sergey Verlin (1974), Russian sprint canoer

Maxim Narozhnyy (1975–2011), Paralympian athlete

Aleksandr Cherkes (1976), Russian football coach and player

Andrei Durov (1977), Russian professional footballer

Nikolai Kryukov (1978), Russian artistic gymnast

Kirill Gerstein (1979), Jewish American and Russian pianist

Evgeny Ignatov (1979), Russian sprint canoeist

Aleksey Nikolaev (1979), Russian-Uzbekistan footballer

Aleksandr Palchikov (1979), former Russian professional football player

Konstantin Skrylnikov (1979), Russian professional footballer

Aleksandr Varlamov (1979), Russian diver

Angelina Yushkova (1979), Russian gymnast

Maksim Potapov (1980), professional ice hockey player

1981–1990

Alexander Krysanov (1981), Russian professional ice hockey forward

Yulia Nachalova (1981–2019), Soviet and Russian singer, actress and television presenter

Andrei Ryabykh (1982), Russian football player

Maxim Shchyogolev (1982), Russian theatre and film actor

Eduard Vorganov (1982), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Anton Buslov (1983–2014), Russian astrophysicist, blogger, columnist at The New Times magazine and expert on transportation systems

Dmitri Grachyov (1983), Russian footballer

Aleksandr Kokorev (1984), Russian professional football player

Dmitry Kozonchuk (1984), Russian professional road bicycle racer for Team Katusha

Alexander Khatuntsev (1985), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Egor Vyaltsev (1985), Russian professional basketball player

Samvel Aslanyan (1986), Russian handball player

Maksim Chistyakov (1986), Russian football player

Yevgeniy Dorokhin (1986), Russian sprint canoer

Daniil Gridnev (1986), Russian professional footballer

Vladimir Moskalyov (1986), Russian football referee

Elena Danilova (1987), Russian football forward

Sektor Gaza (1987–2000), punk band

Regina Moroz (1987), Russian female volleyball player

Roman Shishkin (1987), Russian footballer

Viktor Stroyev (1987), Russian footballer

Elena Terekhova (1987), Russian international footballer

Natalia Goncharova (1988), Russian diver

Yelena Yudina (1988), Russian skeleton racer

Dmitry Abakumov (1989), Russian professional association football player

Igor Boev (1989), Russian professional racing cyclist

Ivan Dobronravov (1989), Russian actor

Anna Bogomazova (1990), Russian kickboxer, martial artist, professional wrestler and valet

Yuriy Kunakov (1990), Russian diver

Vitaly Melnikov (1990), Russian backstroke swimmer

Kristina Pravdina (1990), Russian female artistic gymnast

Vladislav Ryzhkov (1990), Russian footballer

1991–2000

Danila Poperechny (1994), Russian stand-up comedian, actor, youtuber, podcaster

Darya Stukalova (1994), Russian Paralympic swimmer

Viktoria Komova (1995), Russian Olympic gymnast

Vitali Lystsov (1995), Russian professional footballer

Marina Nekrasova (1995), Russian-born Azerbaijani artistic gymnast

Vladislav Parshikov (1996), Russian football player

Dmitri Skopintsev (1997), Russian footballer

Alexander Eickholtz (1998) American sportsman

Angelina Melnikova (2000), Russian Olympic gymnast

Lived in Voronezh

Aleksey Khovansky (1814–1899), editor

Ivan Kramskoi (1837–1887), Russian painter and art critic

Mitrofan Pyatnitsky (1864–1927), Russian musician

Mikhail Tsvet (1872–1919), Russian botanist

Alexander Kuprin (1880–1960), Russian painter, a member of the Jack of Diamonds group

Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), Russian writer, went to school in Voronezh

Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), Russian poet

Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899-1980), Russian writer

Gavriil Troyepolsky (1905–1995), Soviet writer

Nikolay Basov (1922–2001), Soviet physicist and educator

Vasily Peskov (1930–2013), Russian writer, journalist, photographer, traveller and ecologist

Valentina Popova (1972), Russian weightlifter

Igor Samsonov, painter

Tatyana Zrazhevskaya, Russian boxer

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.

 

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Dear Flickr Friends,

In April 2015, I will be celebrating my 10th Anniversary on Flickr. And, my memories include this gallery of photos which made it to Explore.

Thanks for stopping by

and God Bless,

hugs, Chris

 

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1. Thank God for Little Things, 2. Megumi... as a baby girl, 3. Every time..., 4. The Japanese green tea is ready!, 5. Youth..., 6. Recipe for a Happy Day, 7. New Year's Wish (1), 8. New Year's Wishes [1],

 

9. New Year's Wishes [2], 10. The joy of life, 11. The BEST gifts are tied with "Heartstrings!" {1}, 12. Taking time for love, 13. When the sun, 14. A choice..., 15. Celebration of Thanksgiving, 16. Laughing out loud.,

 

17. It takes a lifetime..., 18. When you wish upon a star..., 19. Hugs for luvmykatz, 20. Happy people..., 21. Now, Meg is a very happy 4 year old!, 22. Happy Birthday Megumi, 23. Find the finest joy, 24. Fountain of Gladness,

 

25. Sharing..., 26. Friends..., 27. Smiles help me..., 28. Kindnesses..., 29. Mizunomori (2), 30. Heartfelt moments..., 31. The real joy..., 32. Strength and resilience,

 

33. Believe in yourself, 34. If your gift..., 35. Cuddled up and relaxed..., 36. Goodness..., 37. Celebrating..., 38. Today..., 39. Enjoy the little things..., 40. Making it happen!,

 

41. Admiration..., 42. Making a new friend..., 43. Meiji Shrine's Inner Garden (Tokyo) [9], 44. an amaryllis, 45. Standing alone with thoughts of my own, 46. ~ Wishing you a Great Day! ~, 47. Springtime..., 48. This seems only like yesterday...,

 

49. Blueberry as a classy lookin' cowgirl kitty..., 50. Two lids made Meg's valley..., 51. the cherry promenade, 52. Meg... my professional inspector..., 53. Meg... her special smile, 54. Tableware Exhibition (2), 55. Meg - every new box is a new adventure!, 56. pink plum... another favorite,

 

57. Megumi - a happy young girl, 58. Meg on bird patrol!, 59. Megumi - catnip content..., 60. Megumi & Bird Watching, 61. Megumi - her choice of a pose, 62. Christmas Megumi..., 63. Christmas tree 2006, 64. Megumi cannot resist playing,

 

65. Megumi - a young profile, 66. Megumi's eyes, 67. Megumi - mailing box house, 68. Somewhere on the great world..., 69. Meg's new blanket, 70. Meg relaxing, 71. baby Megumi, 72. Meg...

 

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

SN/NC: Mussaenda Erythrophylla Var. Hybrid C, M. Philippica, Rubiaceae Family

 

Mussaendas belong to the Rubiacea family which also includes the Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas and coffee plants (Coffea arabica). This red one is not the most common, usually they are coral or pale rose. This shrub is sometimes referred to as "Bangkok Rose". It produces a showy display in shades of white, pink, salmon to red, depending on the variety. While the the bushes are not so attractive in winter (when they can lose their leaves if cold enough) they are a valuable addition to a tropical or subtropical garden for their showy display over an extended period in the warm months.

 

Mussaendas behoren tot de Rubiacea-familie, die ook de Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas en koffieplanten (Coffea arabica) omvat. Deze rode is niet de meest voorkomende, meestal zijn ze koraal of lichtroze. Deze struik wordt ook wel "Bangkok Rose" genoemd. Het produceert een opzichtige weergave in de kleuren wit, roze, zalm tot rood, afhankelijk van de variëteit. Hoewel de struiken in de winter niet zo aantrekkelijk zijn (wanneer ze hun bladeren kunnen verliezen als ze koud genoeg zijn), zijn ze een waardevolle toevoeging aan een tropische of subtropische tuin voor hun opzichtige weergave gedurende een langere periode in de warme maanden.

 

Las mussaendas pertenecen a la familia Rubiacea, que también incluye las plantas de Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas y café (Coffea arabica). Estos rojos no son los más comunes, generalmente son coral o rosa pálido. Este arbusto también se llama "Bangkok Rose". Produce una exhibición llamativa en tonos de blanco, rosa, salmón a rojo dependiendo de la variedad. Si bien los arbustos no son tan atractivos en invierno (cuando pueden perder sus hojas cuando hace suficiente frío), son una valiosa adición a un jardín tropical o subtropical para su exhibición llamativa durante un período prolongado en los meses cálidos. La Mussaenda también es conocida como Flor-de-Trapo y el color rojo no es tan común. Es muy elegante y delicada y la flor central pequeñita varia de acuerdo al color de la planta.

 

As mussaendas mais comuns são as corais, cor de rosa forte ou pálido. Mas a vermelha, para mim, é totalmente diferente. Tem alguns lugares que a chamam Hybrid e outros simplesmente o mesmo nome. Muito delicada, bonita e chama a atenção. Ela pertence à mesma família do café, a rubiácea. Também recebe o nome de mussaenda-arbustiva no Brasil. Também é chamada de flor-de-trapo, devido ao seu formato "amarrotado". Dura bastante aberta e é uma "folha-flor" duradoura. Dentro dela existe uma flor pequena de 5 pétalas cuja cor varia de acordo a cor da planta: Nas corais, amarela, Nas vermelhas, creme e nas brancas cor laranja. Muito interessante.

 

Les Mussaendas appartiennent à la famille des Rubiacea qui comprend également les Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas et les caféiers (Coffea arabica). Ce rouge n'est pas le plus commun, généralement ils sont corail ou rose pâle. Cet arbuste est parfois appelé "Bangkok Rose". Il produit un affichage voyant dans les tons de blanc, rose, saumon à rouge, selon la variété. Bien que les buissons ne soient pas si attrayants en hiver (lorsqu'ils peuvent perdre leurs feuilles s'ils sont suffisamment froids), ils constituent un ajout précieux à un jardin tropical ou subtropical pour leur exposition voyante sur une longue période pendant les mois chauds.

 

Le Mussaendas appartengono alla famiglia delle Rubiacee che comprende anche le Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas e le piante del caffè (Coffea arabica). Questo rosso non è il più comune, di solito sono corallo o rosa pallido. Questo arbusto è talvolta indicato come "Bangkok Rose". Produce un vistoso display nei toni del bianco, rosa, salmone al rosso, a seconda della varietà. Mentre i cespugli non sono così attraenti in inverno (quando possono perdere le foglie se abbastanza freddi) sono una preziosa aggiunta a un giardino tropicale o subtropicale per la loro vistosa esposizione per un lungo periodo nei mesi caldi.

 

Mussaendas gehören zur Familie der Rubiacea, zu der auch Gardenien, Ixora, Pentas und Kaffeepflanzen (Coffea arabica) gehören. Dieses Rot kommt nicht am häufigsten vor, normalerweise sind es Koralle oder Hellrosa. Dieser Strauch wird manchmal als „Bangkok Rose" bezeichnet. Je nach Sorte ist sie in den Farbtönen Weiß, Rosa, Lachs bis Rot auffällig. Während die Büsche im Winter nicht so attraktiv sind (wenn sie bei ausreichender Kälte ihre Blätter verlieren können), sind sie eine wertvolle Ergänzung für einen tropischen oder subtropischen Garten, da sie in den warmen Monaten über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg auffällig zur Schau stehen.

 

ムッセンダはアカネ科に属し、クチナシ、イクソラ、ペンタス、コーヒーの木 (Coffea arabica) も含まれます。この赤いものは最も一般的ではなく、通常はサンゴまたは淡いバラです。この低木は「バンコク ローズ」と呼ばれることもあります。品種に応じて、白、ピンク、サーモンから赤の色合いで派手なディスプレイを演出します。この低木は冬（十分に寒いと葉を失う可能性があるため）にはそれほど魅力的ではありませんが、暖かい季節には長期間派手に表示できるため、熱帯または亜熱帯の庭園に貴重な追加物です。

 

تنتمي Mussaendas إلى عائلة Rubiacea التي تضم أيضًا نباتات Gardenia و Ixora و Pentas والقهوة (Coffea arabica). هذا اللون الأحمر ليس الأكثر شيوعًا ، وعادة ما يكون من المرجان أو الوردة الشاحبة. يشار إلى هذه الشجيرة أحيانًا باسم "زهرة بانكوك". ينتج عرضًا مبهرجًا بظلال من الأبيض والوردي وسمك السلمون إلى الأحمر ، اعتمادًا على التنوع. في حين أن الشجيرات ليست جذابة للغاية في فصل الشتاء (عندما تفقد أوراقها إذا كانت باردة بدرجة كافية) فهي إضافة قيمة إلى حديقة استوائية أو شبه استوائية لعرضها المبهرج على مدى فترة طويلة في الأشهر الدافئة.

 

image/jpeg:08C3549F-0808-463C-92CE-996278476929/40EBBB93-58E1-4FC7-AAF4-89D90B3F3DEB:2048.000000:1536.000000

Mehrangarh Fort (Hindi: मेहरानगढ़ का किला) (Sindhi: مهراڻ ڳڙهه‎), located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, is one of the largest forts in India. Built around 1460 by Rao Jodha, the fort is situated 125 m above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its boundaries there are several palaces known for their intricate carvings and expansive courtyards. A winding road leads to and from the city below. The imprints of cannonball hits by attacking armies of Jaipur can still be seen on the second gate. To the left of the fort is the chhatri of Kirat Singh Soda, a soldier who fell on the spot defending the Mehrangarh fort.

 

There are seven gates, which include Jayapol (meaning 'victory'), built by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victories over Jaipur and Bikaner armies. Fattehpol (also meaning 'victory') gate was built by Maharaja Ajit Singh to mark the defeat of the Mughals. The palm imprints upon these still attract much attention it is very proudes for rao rajputs.

 

Rao is brahmbhatt jagirdar clan of rao jodha. Rao is rajputs and in gujarat they calls "barot" and rao saheb.

 

The museum in the Mehrangarh fort is one of the most well-stocked museums in Rajasthan. In one section of the fort museum there is a selection of old royal palanquins, including the elaborate domed gilt Mahadol palanquin which was won in a battle from the Governor of Gujarat in 1730. The museum exhibits the heritage of the Rathores in arms, costumes, paintings and decorated period rooms.

 

HISTORY OF MEHRANGARH

Rao Jodha, the chief of the Rathore clan, is credited with the origin of Jodhpur in India. He founded Jodhpur in 1459 (Jodhpur was previously known as Marwar). He was one of Ranmal's 24 sons became the fifteenth Rathore ruler. One year after his accession to the throne, Jodha decided to move his capital to the safer location of Jodhpur, as the one thousand years old Mandore fort was no longer considered to provide sufficient security.

 

With the trusted aid of Rao Nara (son of Rao Samra), the Mewar forces were subdued at Mandore. With that, Rao Jodha gave Rao Nara the title of Diwan. With the help of Rao Nara, the foundation of the fort was laid on 1/ May 1459 by Jodha on a rocky hill 9 kilometres to the south of Mandore. This hill was known as Bhaurcheeria, the mountain of birds. According to legend to build the fort he had to displace the hill's sole human occupant, a hermit called Cheeria Nathji, the lord of birds. Upset at being forced to move Cheeria Nathji cursed Rao Jodha with "Jodha! May your citadel ever suffer a scarcity of water!". Rao Jodha managed to appease the hermit by building a house and a temple in the fort very near the cave the hermit had used for meditation, though only to the extent that even today the area is plagued by a drought every 3 to 4 years. Jodha then took an extreme measure to ensure that the new site proved propitious; he buried a man called "Raja Ram Meghwal" alive in the foundations. "Raja Ram Meghwal" was promised that in return his family would be looked after by the Rathores. To this day his descendants still live in Raj Bagh, "Raja Ram Meghwal's" Garden, an estate bequeathed them by Jodha.

 

Mehrangarh (etymology: 'Mihir' (Sanskrit) -sun or Sun-deity; 'garh' (Sanskrit)-fort; i.e.'Sun-fort'); according to Rajasthani language pronunciation conventions,'Mihirgarh' has changed to 'Mehrangarh'; the Sun-deity has been the chief deity of the Rathore dynasty. Though the fortress was originally started in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, most of the fort which stands today dates from the period of Jaswant Singh of Marwar (1638–78). The fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres on top of a high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan.

 

Entry to the fort is gained though a series of seven gates. The most famous of the gates are:

 

- Jai Pol ("Gate of Victory"), built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate his victory in a war with Jaipur and Bikaner.

- Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707;

- Dedh Kamgra Pol, which still bears the scars of bombardment by cannonballs;

- Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex. Immediately to the left are the handprints (sati marks) of the ranis who in 1843 immolated themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband, Maharaja Man Singh.

 

Within the fort are several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces. These include, Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace), Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), Sheesha Mahal (Mirror Palace), Sileh Khana and Daulat Khana. The museum houses a collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture. The ramparts of the fort house preserved old cannon (including the famous Kilkila), and provided a breath-taking view of the city.

 

GALLERIES IN MEHRANGARH MUSEUM

ELEPHANT´S HOWDAHS

The howdahs were a kind of two-compartment wooden seat (mostly covered with gold and silver embossed sheets), which were fastened onto the elephant's back. The front compartment, with more leg space and a raised protective metal sheet, was meant for kings or royalty, and the rear smaller one for a reliable bodyguard disguised as a fly-whisk attendant.

 

PALANQUINS

Palanquins were a popular means of travel and circumambulation for the ladies of the nobility up to the second quarter of the 20th century. They were also used by male nobility and royals on special occasions.

 

DAULAT KHANA - TREASURES OF MEHRANGARH MUSEUM

This gallery displays one of the most important and best preserved collections of fine and applied arts of the Mughal period of Indian history, during which the Rathore rulers of Jodhpur maintained close links with the Mughal emperors. It also has the remains of Emperor Akbar.

 

ARMOURY

This gallery displays a rare collection of armour from every period in Jodhpur. On display are sword hilts in jade, silver, rhino horn, ivory, shields studded with rubies, emeralds and pearls and guns with gold and silver work on the barrels. The gallery also has on display the personal swords of many emperors, among them outstanding historical piece like the Khaanda of Rao Jodha, weighing over 3 kg, the sword of Akbar the Great and the sword of Timur.

 

PAINTINGS

This Gallery displays colours of Marwar-Jodhpur, the finest example of Marwar paintings.

 

THE TURBAN GALLERY

The Turban Gallery in the Mehrangarh Museum seeks to preserve, document and display the many different types of turbans once prevalent in Rajasthan; every community, region and festival having had its own head-gear.

 

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN MEHRANGARH

NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL MONUMENT

The Jodhpur Group - Malani Igneous Suite Contact on which the Mehrangarh Fort has been built has been declared a National Geological Monument by the Geological Survey of India to encourage Geotourism in the country. This unique geological feature is part of the Malani Igenus Suite seen in the Thar desert region, spread over an area of 43,500 km2. This unique geological feature represents the last phase of igneous activity of Precambrian age in the Indian Subcontinent.

 

THE CHAMUNDA MATAJI TEMPLE

The Chamunda Mataji was Rao Jodha's favorite goddess, he brought her idol from the old capital of Mandore in 1460 and installed her in Mehrangarh (Maa Chamunda was the kul devi of Parihar rulers of Mandore). She remains the Maharaja's and the Royal Family's Isht Devi or adopted goddess and is worshipped by most of Jodhpur's citizens as well. Crowds throng Mehrangarh during the Dussehra celebrations.

 

2008 STAMPEDE

A human stampede occurred on 30 September 2008, at the Chamunda Devi temple inside of the Mehrangarh Fort, in which 249 people were killed and more than 400 injured.

 

CULTURE

The fort has musicians performing folk music at the entrance and houses museum, restaurants, exhibitions, and craft bazaars. The fort was one of the filming locations for the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises. Principal photography commenced on 6 May 2011.

 

In 2015, the fort was used to record a collaborative album by musicians including Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, English composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The recording was the subject of a documentary, Junun, by the American directory Paul Thomas Anderson.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Includes two spare screws - Key chain friendly

Includes Unrated International Version

Polo action from Cowdray

The Lidl Run Kildare Events 2013 were held at the Curragh Racecourse, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Sunday 12th May 2013. There were three events: a 10KM, a half marathon, and a full marathon. This is a selection of photographs which includes all events. The photographs are taken from the start and finish of the marathon, the finish of the 10KM, and the finish of the half marathon. Due to the large numbers participating we did not manage to photograph everyone - which was not helped by the weather. Congratulations to Jo Cawley and her RunKildare crew for another great event. The weather didn't dampen the spirits of the many happy participants.

 

Electronic timing was provided by Red Tag Timing [www.redtagtiming.com/]

 

Overall Race Summary

Participants: There were approximately 3,000 participants over the 3 race events - there were runners, joggers, and walkers participating.

Weather: A cold breezy morning with heavy rain at the start. The weather dried up for the 10KM and the Half Marathon races

Course: This is an undulating course with some good flat stretches on the Curragh.

  

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone and you want to see the larger version(s) of this photograph then: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

 

Some Useful Links

GPS Garmin Trace of the Kildare Marathon Route: connect.garmin.com/activity/175709313

Homepage of the Lidl Run Kildare Event: www.kildaremarathon.ie/index.html

Facebook Group page of the Lidl Run Kildare Event: www.facebook.com/RunKildare

Boards.ie Athletics Discussion Board pages about the race series: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056815306

Our photographs from Run Kildare 2012: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157629707887620/

Our photographs from Run Kildare 2011: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157626725200956/

A small selection of photographs from Run Kildare 2010: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157623899845567/ (first event)

 

Can I use the photograph with the watermark?

Yes! Absolutely - you can post this photograph to your social networks, blogs, micro-blogging, etc.

 

How can I get a full resolution, no watermark, copy of these photographs?

 

All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available, free, at no cost, at full resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not know of any other photographers who operate such a policy. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember - all we ask is for you to link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. Taking the photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.

 

If you would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Some people offer payment for our photographs. We do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would pay for their purchase from other photographic providers we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

  

Includes all Winter Village sets.

Includes all Winter Village sets.

Includes recliner, sofabed, and two chairs. Very spacious and comfortable for families.

Includes Iphone-ish icons for the dock. Decided to clean up the homescreen and just have the date and music widgets there.

 

The dock is fixed at 5 icons across.

Earth Designs Garden Design and Build were asked to created a landscape and propose garden design in Acton, London*. Here are the details of the project

 

Brief: The plot for this design was a mid-size family garden, which had recently benefited from the addition of a large sunroom on the back of the property. It was a fairly blank canvas, with nothing of note to be retained in the re-design. The garden had side access and worn boundary fences which required replacing. There was no clear brief other than that the design include a seating area and some lawn, and that the transition from sunroom to garden be fairly seamless.

 

Solution: The focus of this design was to create an exterior space that serves as an extension to the interior, featuring several distinct and versatile areas that can be adapted to a variety of uses.

 

The garden's boundaries were replaced with new fencing to provide a uniform and attractive backdrop to the transformation within, while the long sideway down the right of the house was renovated with the addition of attractive 'bamboo' slate tile flooring in a random lay pattern.

 

The first section of the space comprises a large area of Western Red Cedar decking adjoining the house, and offers ample room for entertaining, with a long L-shaped fixed-bench seat stretching width-ways across the space from the left-hand side to the centre. This was backed with a rendered block raised bed, planted with fragrant lavender and capped with 'bamboo' slate tile, to provide a sense of enclosure and separation from the rest of the garden.

 

A decked walkway running down the right hand side of the space provides access to a 'spa' area, featuring a large square hot tub housed upon a reinforced paved hard-standing and nestled between existing and additional trees, shrubs and foliage to provide a secluded and intimate area for bathing throughout the seasons. Hidden behind mature and new planting in the bottom left corner, a large shed provides ample storage for the client's garden accessories. The middle of the space has been given over to a large lawn edges with slate.

 

A purple and yellow planting scheme of soft, cottage-style evergreen shrubs and flowering perennials will help to bring year round lightness and subtle colouring to the space.

 

After-dark hot tub bathing is enhanced by several strings of pea-lights woven through the existing shrubbery. Deck lights demark the main area of decking and guide one's journey along the decked walkway. Finally, spot lights in the beds highlight certain area while providing a gentle wash throughout the space.

 

Testimonial: "After months of planning and a full year of having builders everywhere, we had finally got the house into good shape but the garden was a nightmare. It had been somewhat overgrown before the builders moved in, but after a year of being used as a builders yard, it needed shock treatment.

 

We needed help fast so we searched the web. We were looking for garden designers with creative ideas for smaller London gardens. We didn't want anything too traditional but at the same time, nothing too extreme.

 

Earth Designs fitted the bill and after a design session with Katrina, we engaged them for the project. They had offered us a design service only, but as we only had a 4 week window in which to complete the job, we gave them the whole project.

 

We had built a new extension with wide glass doors that opened out into the garden, so the brief to Earth Designs was to "bring the outside, inside" and create a strong link between the new room and the garden beyond. The actual garden space was not large so we wanted to use the space as an extension of the living space - to be an "outside room".

 

Monday 18th April and three very charming men arrived on our doorstep at 8.0am sharp. Arlo was the project manager, ably aided and abetted by Paul and Phillip. They worked brilliantly as a team and always hit all the deadlines. In particular they did a great job in working with our neighbours to ensure the whole project ran smoothly.

 

The first week involved clearing the site - no mean feat with 30-year-old ivy stems that looked more like tree trunks.

 

The second week involved levelling the garden, putting up new fencing, building the corner seating base and planters, plus marking out the garden shape. It was good to be able to make minor changes to the design on the ground at this stage. The hot tub arrived too and was winched into place for connection later.

 

Week 3 saw the decking and seating built.

 

Then in week four the turf arrived, the lawn went down and on the last day, Katrina arrived with a truckload of wonderful specimens (and Matt) and we had a wonderful time planting. Ground Force Mk II - a complete garden from start to finish in just 4 weeks!

 

There were a few things that needed to be sorted out after the main work was complete. Earth Designs were great about coming back until all was complete and finished.

 

Our thanks to Katrina, Matt, Arlo, Paul and Phillip for a great job, completed on time and on budget with a great looking result."

 

If you dig this and would like to find out more about this or any of other of our designs, please stop by our web-site and have a look at our work.

 

Earth Designs is a bespoke London Garden Design and build company specialising in classic, funky and urban contemporary garden design.

 

Our Landscape and Garden build teams cover London, Essex and parts of South East England, while garden designs are available nationwide.

Please visit www.earthdesigns.co.uk to see our full portfolio. If you would like a garden designer in London or have an idea of what you want and are looking for a landscaper London to come and visit your garden, please get in touch.

 

Follow our Bespoke Garden Design and Build and Blog to see what we get up to week by week, our free design clinic as well as tips and products we recommend for your garden projects www.earthdesigns.co.uk/blog/.

 

Earth Designs is located in East London, but has built gardens in Essex , gardens in Hertfordshire Hertfordshire and all over the South East. Earth Designs was formed by Katrina Wells in Spring 2003 and has since gone from strength to strength to develop a considerable portfolio of garden projects. Katrina, who is our Senior Garden Designer, has travelled all over the UK designing gardens. However we can design worldwide either through our postal garden design service or by consultation with our senior garden designer. Recent worldwide projects have included garden designs in Romania. Katrina’s husband. Matt, heads up the build side of the company, creating a unique service for all our clients.

 

If you a not a UK resident, but would like an Earth Designs garden, Earth Designs has a worldwide design service through our Garden Design Postal Design Vouchers. If you are looking for an unique birthday present or original anniversary present and would like to buy one of our Garden Design Gift Vouchers for yourself or as a present please our sister site www.gardenpresents.co.uk. We do also design outside of the UK, please contact us for details.

 

Life in the Atacama must be very tiring.

Movies include Mickey Blue Eyes, Les Miserables, The Family Man, Election, From Russia with Love, Pushing Tin, Pearl Harbor, The Avengers, Maid in Manhattan, A Knight's Tale, Brown Sugar, The Cutting Edge, Babe, Shiloh, Stuart Little, K Pax, Head over Heels, Tomb Raider, Peter Pan, The ten commandments, America's Sweethearts, Kate and Leopold, Bartok, A Christmas Carol, Prince of Egypt, Spy Kids, Sleeping Beauty, The bible, Gone with the Wind, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

This is a photograph from the East of Ireland Marathon Series Marathon which was held in Longwood Village, Co. Meath, Ireland on Saturday 25th January 2014 at 09:00. There were 75 participants in the marathon which completed 8 loops of a 5KM route (and a additional 2KM) with Longwood GAA club acting as Race Headquarters, Start, Finish, and refreshments area. The weather turned particularly nasty for about an hour and the participants were lashed with gale-force winds, severe hailstones, and then rain. However this didn't stop everyone enjoying the day. Thanks to the folks at Longwood GAA who provided excellent hospitality and facilities for all participants. There was a great atmosphere at the race and everyone enjoyed another trip to the countryside for an EOIM.

 

Despite the weather there were a few PBs and fast inidividual times. The course is a nice fast flat 5KM loop. It is used every year as the Longwood GAA 5KM Road Race (see links below). The marathon loop followed the reverse of the race route for safety reasons as the roads were fully opened for the EOIM event. There is a total elevation gain of 20ft and an elevation loss of 23ft. The sources of elevation gain are only very small rises on the road and aren't really noticeable. Part of the route includes a kilometer on a boreen which is nicely sheltered and with good road surface. The road surface is excellent for the entire route. There were some puddles and mud on the boreen section of the route due to agricultural traffic.

 

Thanks must be extended to the Longwood GAA club and committee for the use of their fine facilities which allowed participants to have some refreshments afterwards and hot showers and changing rooms were also available.

 

This is the second East of Ireland Marathon Series race which has been held outside Dublin. The previous race which was held outside Dublin was held in Stapelstown, Co. Kildare in September 2013. (See links to pictures on Flickr from that race). Whilst Longwood is a rural venue it is easily accessible from all parts of Ireland due to it's close proximity to the N4 and the M4 Motorways.

  

We have an extensive set of photographs from today's event on the following Flickr Photoset Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157640099311556/

 

Tell me more about the East of Ireland Marathon Series

This race event was part of the East of Ireland Marathon Series. The East Of Ireland Marathon Series aims to make marathons affordable and convienient for the runners of Ireland. The series organisers aim to promote marathon running and to make the process as stress free and enjoyable as possible. All courses are measured to full AAI standards and have a minimum of 10 Entrants. The marathons are self sufficent to a degree although there are limited supplies of water available on the day of the race. There will be no extra frills like chip timing and finish gantrys. However all finishing times are accurately and officially recorded and each marathon counts as an official marathon. Overall, this approach to marathon organisation helps to keep the price down and allows these races to be run in as an economically affordable manner as possible. The East of Ireland Marathon series is all inclusive and welcomes runners who are new to marathon running as well as experienced veterans. So if you are thinking of your 1st marathon, your 10th marathon, or your 100th the East of Ireland Marathon Series will provide a very friendly and low-cost environment for to become part of Ireland's marathon running community.

  

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you would like to see a larger version of this photograph and if you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

 

Some useful Internet links

East of Ireland Marathons Facebook Group Page: www.facebook.com/groups/130592073780072/ (you will need a Facebook account to view this)

East of Ireland Marathons Website: www.eastofirelandmarathons.com/

Race Website with Route Description: www.peterm7.com/longwood/

Garmin GPS Trace of the Marathon Route (main loop) connect.garmin.com/activity/401171615

East of Ireland Marathon Series - Stapelstown, Co. Kildare - September 2013: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157635665725976/

 

We use Creative Commons Licensing

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.

 

This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

How can I get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

     

This is a photograph from the East of Ireland Marathon Series Marathon which was held in Longwood Village, Co. Meath, Ireland on Saturday 25th January 2014 at 09:00. There were 75 participants in the marathon which completed 8 loops of a 5KM route (and a additional 2KM) with Longwood GAA club acting as Race Headquarters, Start, Finish, and refreshments area. The weather turned particularly nasty for about an hour and the participants were lashed with gale-force winds, severe hailstones, and then rain. However this didn't stop everyone enjoying the day. Thanks to the folks at Longwood GAA who provided excellent hospitality and facilities for all participants. There was a great atmosphere at the race and everyone enjoyed another trip to the countryside for an EOIM.

 

Despite the weather there were a few PBs and fast inidividual times. The course is a nice fast flat 5KM loop. It is used every year as the Longwood GAA 5KM Road Race (see links below). The marathon loop followed the reverse of the race route for safety reasons as the roads were fully opened for the EOIM event. There is a total elevation gain of 20ft and an elevation loss of 23ft. The sources of elevation gain are only very small rises on the road and aren't really noticeable. Part of the route includes a kilometer on a boreen which is nicely sheltered and with good road surface. The road surface is excellent for the entire route. There were some puddles and mud on the boreen section of the route due to agricultural traffic.

 

Thanks must be extended to the Longwood GAA club and committee for the use of their fine facilities which allowed participants to have some refreshments afterwards and hot showers and changing rooms were also available.

 

This is the second East of Ireland Marathon Series race which has been held outside Dublin. The previous race which was held outside Dublin was held in Stapelstown, Co. Kildare in September 2013. (See links to pictures on Flickr from that race). Whilst Longwood is a rural venue it is easily accessible from all parts of Ireland due to it's close proximity to the N4 and the M4 Motorways.

  

We have an extensive set of photographs from today's event on the following Flickr Photoset Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157640099311556/

 

Tell me more about the East of Ireland Marathon Series

This race event was part of the East of Ireland Marathon Series. The East Of Ireland Marathon Series aims to make marathons affordable and convienient for the runners of Ireland. The series organisers aim to promote marathon running and to make the process as stress free and enjoyable as possible. All courses are measured to full AAI standards and have a minimum of 10 Entrants. The marathons are self sufficent to a degree although there are limited supplies of water available on the day of the race. There will be no extra frills like chip timing and finish gantrys. However all finishing times are accurately and officially recorded and each marathon counts as an official marathon. Overall, this approach to marathon organisation helps to keep the price down and allows these races to be run in as an economically affordable manner as possible. The East of Ireland Marathon series is all inclusive and welcomes runners who are new to marathon running as well as experienced veterans. So if you are thinking of your 1st marathon, your 10th marathon, or your 100th the East of Ireland Marathon Series will provide a very friendly and low-cost environment for to become part of Ireland's marathon running community.

  

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you would like to see a larger version of this photograph and if you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

 

Some useful Internet links

East of Ireland Marathons Facebook Group Page: www.facebook.com/groups/130592073780072/ (you will need a Facebook account to view this)

East of Ireland Marathons Website: www.eastofirelandmarathons.com/

Race Website with Route Description: www.peterm7.com/longwood/

Garmin GPS Trace of the Marathon Route (main loop) connect.garmin.com/activity/401171615

East of Ireland Marathon Series - Stapelstown, Co. Kildare - September 2013: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157635665725976/

 

We use Creative Commons Licensing

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.

 

This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

How can I get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

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...

New York City's longest running weekly psytrance event is back at Sullivan Room for yet another action-packed evening.

 

lineup for the night will include:

 

SKOOCHA (UKSL / Parabola Records)

 

Skoocha is one of the may aliases of French/Spanish Musician & Producer Benoit Munoz. He discovered Trance in 1995 while visiting friends in Amsterdam when somebody gave him the first Dragonfly compilation. From there there was no turning back and he knew music would be his life. Now a busy music producer and musician in NY since 2003. Skoocha still finds time to craft Trance tracks that will blend the emotions of the oldschool goatrance that started all this with the power of the actual production and the Funk of NY ! Over the years he has worked released tracks with Manmademan (UKSL / Flying Rhino) Biotonic (Solstice ) Earworm (3d Vision) Mesmerizer (MindControl). His music has been played extensively over the world by dj's like Domino and the mighty Juno Reactor. His long awaited 1st album that will contain many unreleased tracks as well as remixes of the old ones is due this winter on Parabola Records (Germany). It will be the 2nd release of this new label after the Talamasca Vs XSI Album.

 

Expect a set that combines old and new tracks as well as some new collaborations.

 

Also, we'll be celebrating Skoocha's birthday!

  

CTRL + ALT + DEL (Nexus Media, US/India)

  

LUIS CAMPOS (Dreamcatcher/Reality Engine, US/Brazil)

   

Deco by the Dreamcatchers AND Neuronymphonic

    

**August 20, 10pm - 4am **

   

@ Sullivan Room, New York City www.sullivanroom.com

218 Sullivan St (between Bleecker and West 3rd St, 2 blocks east of 6th Ave)

 

General Admission: $10.00

RSVP to psycheground@yahoo.com for $5.00 reduced list

  

21+ with ID

 

Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, or V trains to "W 4 St - Wash Sq"

 

Map to Sullivan Room:

maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=m&gid1=11059006&q1=2...

 

www.myspace.com/psycheground

Beautiful light in the spiral stairway at Castle de Haar , Kasteel de Haar near the suburb of Vleuten that includes village of Haarzuilen rebuild by architect Pierre Cuyper Project was finished in around 1912 took 20 years to be finished , Martin’s photograph , Utrecht , the Netherlands , June 5. 2019

 

Old steam heater

A outside service walk way inside the castle

Fireplace with beautiful screen and mantel

Beautiful formal gardens with piramide shaped trees

Beautiful staircase

Beautiful staircase in castle , Kasteel de Haar

Staircase

Narrow passage inside the castle

Formal gardens

Stairway critters sculptures in Castle

Stairway sculptures

Spiral stairway

Central Station in Amsterdam , build by architect Pierre Cuyper

de Rijks Museum in Amsterdam build by architect Pierre Cuyper

de Rijks Museum in Amsterdam

Central Station in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Lavet bad tub

Lavet bad tub and washing machine

main door

Beautiful staircase

Kasteel de Haar near the suburb of Vleuten that includes village of Haarzuilen

architect Pierre Cuyper

Martin’s photograph

Utrecht

the Netherlands

Nederland

June 2019

Favourites

IPhone 6

Village of Haarzuilen

Kasteel de Haar

Castle the Haar

Kasteel de Haar was rebuild by architect Pierre Cuyper Project was finished in around 1912 took 20 years to be finished

city of Utrecht in the province Utrecht

Beautiful staircase in Kasteel de Haar

Door knocker

Beautiful window and seating

A small gable

The “Egg” is an all in one cooking and food preparation unit that unfolds like a flower from a cylindrical starting position. The wings form three separate units that provide a place to prepare food, a cooking surface, and a washing facility. The Egg also includes an interactive holographic projector that allows the user to find information online to create recipes or get cooking instructions. When not in use, the Egg can be easily stowed to save space. It can be customized in any color to fit any kitchen decor.

 

The Egg by Vlad Icobet, University of Fine Arts Bucharest, Romania, within the top 25 best Electrolux Design Lab ´09 entries.

Full Bridal Trousseau

Includes Gown, Shoes, Earrings, Bouquet, Tiara, Veil

Fits Maitreya | Freya | Isis | Venus | Physique | Hourglass

 

Marketplace: marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Style-by-Rafaela-Anastacia-B...

 

Inworld Store: maps.secondlife.com/.../VOGUE.../196/204/3537

Includes a detailed 5-day diet on the back cover!

Electronics Hobby

 

Building a new components-cabinet.

 

Hacker (hobbyist)

 

In home computing, a hacker is someone who modifies software or hardware of their own private computer system. It includes building, rebuilding, modifying, and creating software (software cracking, demoscene), electronic hardware (hardware hacking, overclocking, modding), either to make it better, faster, to give it added features or to make it do something it was not originally intended to do. Hacking in this sense originated around hobbyist circles discussing the MITS Altair at the homebrew computer club.

  

Hacker artists[edit]

 

See also: Fractal art, algorithmic art and interactive art

 

Hacker artists create art by hacking on technology as an artistic medium. This has extended the definition of the term and what it means to be a hacker. Such artists may work with graphics, computer hardware, sculpture, music and other audio, animation, video, software, simulations, mathematics, reactive sensory systems, text, poetry, literature, or any combination thereof.

 

Dartmouth College musician Larry Polansky states: "Technology and art are inextricably related. Many musicians, video artists, graphic artists, and even poets who work with technology—whether designing it or using it—consider themselves to be part of the 'hacker community.' Computer artists, like non-art hackers, often find themselves on society’s fringes, developing strange, innovative uses of existing technology. There is an empathetic relationship between those, for example, who design experimental music software and hackers who write communications freeware." [3]

 

Another description is offered by Jenny Marketou: "Hacker artists operate as culture hackers who manipulate existing techno-semiotic structures towards a different end, to get inside cultural systems on the net and make them do things they were never intended to do." [4]

 

A successful software and hardware hacker artist is Mark Lottor (mkl), who has created the 3-D light art projects entitled the Cubatron, and the Big Round Cubatron. This art is made using custom computer technology, with specially designed circuit boards and programming for microprocessor chips to manipulate the LED lights.

 

Don Hopkins is a software hacker artist well known for his artistic cellular automata. This art, created by a cellular automata computer program, generates objects which randomly bump into each other and in turn create more objects and designs, similar to a lava lamp, except that the parts change color and form through interaction. Says Hopkins, "Cellular automata are simple rules that are applied to a grid of cells, or the pixel values of an image. The same rule is applied to every cell, to determine its next state, based on the previous state of that cell and its neighboring cells. There are many interesting cellular automata rules, and they all look very different, with amazing animated dynamic effects. 'Life' is a widely known cellular automata rule, but many other lesser known rules are much more interesting."

 

Some hacker artists create art by writing computer code, and others, by developing hardware. Some create with existing software tools such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP.

 

The creative process of hacker artists can be more abstract than artists using non-technological media. For example, mathematicians have produced visually stunning graphic presentations of fractals, which hackers have further enhanced, often producing detailed and intricate graphics and animations from simple mathematical formulas.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(hobbyist)

From Tuesday night's Stereophonics gig at the Brighton Centre. A non-stop no nonsense wave of music - excellent lighting effects too.I had a sense of deja vu - afterwards I worked out I sat in the exact same seat when I saw them 10 years ago!

Statue of R O'Hara Burke, Department of Lands building, Bridge St, Sydney.

 

Each facade has 12 niches whose sculpted occupants include explorers and legislators who made a major contribution to the opening up and settlement of the nation. Although 48 men were nominated by the architect, Barnet, as being suitable subjects, most were rejected as being 'hunters or excursionists'. Only 23 statues were commissioned, the last being added in 1901 leaving 25 niches unfilled (Devine, 2011). In Nov 2010 - a new statue of colonial surveyor James Meehan (1774-1826) was created and placed in an empty niche on cnr. Loftus/Bent Streets.

 

Burke, Robert O'Hara (1821–1861)

 

by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

 

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, (MUP), 1969

 

Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861), explorer, was born at St Clerans, County Galway, Ireland, second of the three sons of James Hardiman Burke and his wife Anne, née O'Hara. The Burkes were Protestant gentry and landowners, and the father and all his sons were soldiers. Burke was educated at Woolwich Academy, entered the Austrian army and served as lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. Discharged at his own request in June 1848, he took up a command in the Irish Mounted Constabulary until he migrated to Australia in 1853. In April he entered the Victoria police as an acting inspector stationed at Carlsruhe. Next January he was appointed senior inspector at Beechworth; soon afterwards he took leave to go to Europe in the hope of serving in the Crimean war but was too late. He returned to Beechworth and in 1858 became superintendent of police in the Castlemaine district. In 1860 he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from south to north organized by the Royal Society of Victoria and supported by the government.

 

Burke was impulsive, quick-tempered, arbitrary, generous, tender-hearted and charming, and those who did not quarrel with him loved him. He was recklessly brave, a dare-devil with a thirst for distinction as yet unsatisfied. His career seemed likely to peter out in humdrum police duties in Castlemaine. Although 'a well-bred gentleman and quite at home among people of the best class', at 39 he was slipping downhill into slovenly, eccentric habits. There is a strong tradition that he was also infatuated with Julia Matthews, a young siren of the Melbourne light theatre, but she was unresponsive to the ardour of the untidy, middle-aged country policeman with 7s. 8d. in his bank account. Leadership of the expedition was probably Burke's last chance of achieving distinction in his own, the world's and the divine Julia's eyes. He was very anxious for the appointment and admitted that he had used 'every fair, honourable and straightforward means' to get it.

 

The Burke and Wills expedition, as it has since been called, is a puzzling affair because there seems to have been no sufficient reason for it beyond the desire of the colonists of Victoria, which gold had made mighty, to make it mightier yet by 'taking the lead' in exploration, in which it had not even taken the first step. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper's Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, which were sent after him because they were not ready in time, were incoherent. A curious mixture of scientific curiosity, commercial initiative and sporting excitement added to the drama but the real object appears to have been to snatch from the South Australian explorer, McDouall Stuart, already in the field and formidable, the honour of making the first south-north crossing of the continent. Governor (Sir) Henry Barkly later described the expedition as 'the glorious race across the continent between the expeditions fitted out in this and the adjacent colony of South Australia'. The choice of a totally inexperienced leader is inexplicable if exploration were the real object, but excellent if it were exploit. Burke was a death or glory man and he achieved both.

 

The Burke and Wills expedition was the most costly in the history of Australian exploration, a symbol of the nouveau riche colony that promoted it. When the last bill came in, for the monument to the dead explorers, it had cost well over £60,000 and seven lives. Burke was the first Australian explorer to be provided with camels, over two dozen of them, both riding and pack animals, imported complete with cameleers. There were horses and wagons, abundant food for two years and lavish equipment, including 6 tons of firewood, 57 buckets and 45 yards of green gossamer for veils. The party consisted of three officers: Burke, Landells the camel-master, and William John Wills surveyor and meteorologist; two German scientific officers, Ludwig Becker naturalist and Herman Beckler medical officer and botanist; a foreman and nine assistants and the camel-drivers. The expedition left Melbourne on 20 August 1860 and made a stately progress through the settled districts to Swan Hill and Balranald and reached Menindee on the Darling at the beginning of October.

 

Burke wrote in a private letter from Menindee that he was determined that the cursed impedimenta, the ruin of so many explorers, would not ruin him; he was in haste and determined to travel light. He had already left much of his equipment and some of his provisions at Balranald, including the lime-juice which might have saved four of his men from death by scurvy, and at Menindee he dumped more provisions and transport. After quarrelling with Burke, Landells resigned at Menindee and Burke promoted Wills to second-in-command, replacing him as third officer by a local man, William Wright, who was barely literate and proved incompetent and unreliable. Burke's instructions were perfectly clear on one point: his base camp was to be at Cooper's Creek. Instead he divided his party, transport and provisions, dashing on to Cooper's Creek with the advance party and ordering Wright to follow him with as little delay as possible. Wright was in no hurry. He hung about Menindee for three months, and when he at last set out lost his way, half his men and still more time. Burke had had time to go to the Gulf of Carpentaria and back before Wright, with the vital reserve transport and provisions, managed to travel the four hundred miles (644 km) to Cooper's Creek.

 

Burke selected Wills, John King and Gray to accompany him to the gulf and left four men, under the command of William Brahe, one of the assistants, at Camp LXV at Cooper's Creek. He took provisions for twelve weeks and six camels and a horse, which he used only as pack animals. Other explorers trudged when they had to, but Burke, with the best transport in the history of Australian exploration at his command, is the only one who chose to explore on foot. The march to the gulf was made in extraordinarily favourable conditions, after a season of heavy rain. Charles Sturt's Stony Desert was like a garden, full of lily ponds, and Burke's expedition, in this also unique, was never short of water and was able to travel in an almost straight line to its objective, without losing time searching for water. Even so it took four months to do the 1500 miles (2414 km). They walked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. with only a single day of rest in the whole period, and were half-starving in the fourth month. Gray could not stand the pace and died before they reached Camp LXV. Burke wrote, 'I am satisfied that the frame of man never was more severely taxed'. It was magnificent, but it was not exploration. Burke kept no journal; there was no time for scientific observation, and nothing useful was discovered as Burke's route was only practicable in unusual weather. Burke won the race to the north but McDouall Stuart found the all-weather route.

 

When the explorers reached Camp LXV on 21 April 1861, spent, starving and in rags, they found it deserted. Brahe's party had left that very day for Menindee, with six camels, twelve horses, all the clothes and most of the food. Wills and King were for following Brahe but Burke decided that since they had only two worn-out camels left and were in bad shape themselves they had no hope of catching up and would not survive the four-hundred-mile (644 km) journey unaided. Their best chance, he thought, was to make for the police station at Mount Hopeless, one hundred and fifty miles (241 km) away, and they set off in that direction, leaving a message of their intentions at Camp LXV on the off-chance.

 

Meanwhile Brahe had met Wright, who had at last arrived from Menindee, and, feeling uneasy about having left his post, decided to return to Camp LXV, which he reached fifteen days after he had left it. But he did not observe the signs of his leader's return that Burke had left and did not find his message, and departed, this time for good, for Menindee. Burke, Wills and King were too weak to get far on their journey to Mount Hopeless; they remained by Cooper's Creek, hoping to be rescued before they starved, but only King lived long enough to be found by Alfred Howitt's search party from Melbourne, which arrived in September 1861. Burke and Wills might also have survived if they had lived with the Aboriginals and shared their food as King did after their deaths. But Burke could not change the habits of a lifetime. He had been born and bred a member of the ruling race in a conquered country and could not bring himself to associate with natives. When they arrived in his camp, bearing gifts of fish, he behaved like an officer of the Irish constabulary plagued by the peasantry, and fired at them.

 

A royal commission appointed to inquire into the deaths of Burke and Wills censured Burke for having divided his party at Menindee and for entrusting Wright with an important command without sufficient knowledge of his character, and added that he had shown more zeal than prudence in leaving Cooper's Creek before the arrival of Wright and undertaking the journey to the gulf with inadequate provisions. Yet Burke had fulfilled the real object of the expedition. Indirectly, discovery was promoted because, although Burke's own journey was worthless as exploration, solid gains in geographical knowledge were made by the explorers Howitt, John McKinlay and William Landsborough, who led parties in search of him. Burke's ultimate contribution to the history of Victoria was oblique but significant. It had been a success story of needy Scotch crofters turned shepherd kings and of the glitter of treasure trove; the disaster of Burke and Wills added a dimension of tragedy.

 

A monument depicting Burke and Wills, by Charles Summers, stands at the corner of Collins and Swanston streets, Melbourne, and a portrait of Burke in oils by William Strutt is in the Melbourne Club.

 

From:

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burke-robert-ohara-3116

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: Cat behavior

Outdoor cats are active both day and night, although they tend to be slightly more active at night.[88] Domestic cats spend the majority of their time in the vicinity of their homes but can range many hundreds of meters from this central point. They establish territories that vary considerably in size, in one study ranging 7–28 ha (17–69 acres). The timing of cats' activity is quite flexible and varied but being low-light predators, they are generally crepuscular, which means they tend to be more active near dawn and dusk. However, house cats' behavior is also influenced by human activity and they may adapt to their owners' sleeping patterns to some extent.

 

Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually between 12 and 16 hours, with 13 and 14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours. The term "cat nap" for a short rest refers to the cat's tendency to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period. While asleep, cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep often accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests they are dreaming.

 

Sociability

The social behavior of the domestic cat ranges from widely dispersed individuals to feral cat colonies that gather around a food source, based on groups of co-operating females. Within such groups, one cat is usually dominant over the others. Each cat in a colony holds a distinct territory, with sexually active males having the largest territories, which are about 10 times larger than those of female cats and may overlap with several females' territories. These territories are marked by urine spraying, by rubbing objects at head height with secretions from facial glands, and by defecation. Between these territories are neutral areas where cats watch and greet one another without territorial conflicts. Outside these neutral areas, territory holders usually chase away stranger cats, at first by staring, hissing, and growling and, if that does not work, by short but noisy and violent attacks. Despite this colonial organization, cats do not have a social survival strategy or a herd behavior, and always hunt alone.

 

Life in proximity to humans and other domestic animals has led to a symbiotic social adaptation in cats, and cats may express great affection toward humans or other animals. Ethologically, a cat's human keeper functions as if a mother surrogate. Adult cats live their lives in a kind of extended kittenhood, a form of behavioral neoteny. Their high-pitched sounds may mimic the cries of a hungry human infant, making them particularly difficult for humans to ignore. Some pet cats are poorly socialized. In particular, older cats show aggressiveness toward newly arrived kittens, which include biting and scratching; this type of behavior is known as feline asocial aggression.

 

Redirected aggression is a common form of aggression which can occur in multiple cat households. In redirected aggression there is usually something that agitates the cat: this could be a sight, sound, or another source of stimuli which causes a heightened level of anxiety or arousal. If the cat cannot attack the stimuli, it may direct anger elsewhere by attacking or directing aggression to the nearest cat, dog, human or other being.

 

Domestic cats' scent rubbing behavior toward humans or other cats is thought to be a feline means for social bonding.

 

Communication

Main article: Cat communication

Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling/snarling, grunting, and several different forms of meowing. Their body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of the whole body, and kneading of the paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats. A raised tail indicates a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicate hostility. Tail-raising also indicates the cat's position in the group's social hierarchy, with dominant individuals raising their tails less often than subordinate ones. Feral cats are generally silent.: 208  Nose-to-nose touching is also a common greeting and may be followed by social grooming, which is solicited by one of the cats raising and tilting its head.

 

Purring may have developed as an evolutionary advantage as a signaling mechanism of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens, who are thought to use it as a care-soliciting signal. Post-nursing cats also often purr as a sign of contentment: when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. Even though purring is popularly interpreted as indicative of pleasure, it has been recorded in a wide variety of circumstances, most of which involve physical contact between the cat and another, presumably trusted individual. Some cats have been observed to purr continuously when chronically ill or in apparent pain.

 

The exact mechanism by which cats purr has long been elusive, but it has been proposed that purring is generated via a series of sudden build-ups and releases of pressure as the glottis is opened and closed, which causes the vocal folds to separate forcefully. The laryngeal muscles in control of the glottis are thought to be driven by a neural oscillator which generates a cycle of contraction and release every 30–40 milliseconds (giving a frequency of 33 to 25 Hz).

 

Domestic cats observed in a rescue facility have total of 276 distinct facial expressions based on 26 different facial movements; each facial expression corresponds to different social functions that are likely influenced by domestication.

 

Grooming

Cats are known for spending considerable amounts of time licking their coats to keep them clean. The cat's tongue has backward-facing spines about 500 μm long, which are called papillae. These contain keratin which makes them rigid so the papillae act like a hairbrush. Some cats, particularly longhaired cats, occasionally regurgitate hairballs of fur that have collected in their stomachs from grooming. These clumps of fur are usually sausage-shaped and about 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long. Hairballs can be prevented with remedies that ease elimination of the hair through the gut, as well as regular grooming of the coat with a comb or stiff brush.

 

Fighting

Among domestic cats, males are more likely to fight than females. Among feral cats, the most common reason for cat fighting is competition between two males to mate with a female. In such cases, most fights are won by the heavier male. Another common reason for fighting in domestic cats is the difficulty of establishing territories within a small home. Female cats also fight over territory or to defend their kittens. Neutering will decrease or eliminate this behavior in many cases, suggesting that the behavior is linked to sex hormones.

 

When cats become aggressive, they try to make themselves appear larger and more threatening by raising their fur, arching their backs, turning sideways and hissing or spitting. Often, the ears are pointed down and back to avoid damage to the inner ear and potentially listen for any changes behind them while focused forward. Cats may also vocalize loudly and bare their teeth in an effort to further intimidate their opponents. Fights usually consist of grappling and delivering powerful slaps to the face and body with the forepaws as well as bites. Cats also throw themselves to the ground in a defensive posture to rake their opponent's belly with their powerful hind legs.

 

Serious damage is rare, as the fights are usually short in duration, with the loser running away with little more than a few scratches to the face and ears. Fights for mating rights are typically more severe and injuries may include deep puncture wounds and lacerations. Normally, serious injuries from fighting are limited to infections of scratches and bites, though these can occasionally kill cats if untreated. In addition, bites are probably the main route of transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus. Sexually active males are usually involved in many fights during their lives, and often have decidedly battered faces with obvious scars and cuts to their ears and nose. Cats are willing to threaten animals larger than them to defend their territory, such as dogs and foxes.

 

Hunting and feeding

See also: Cat food

The shape and structure of cats' cheeks is insufficient to allow them to take in liquids using suction. Therefore, when drinking they lap with the tongue to draw liquid upward into their mouths. Lapping at a rate of four times a second, the cat touches the smooth tip of its tongue to the surface of the water, and quickly retracts it like a corkscrew, drawing water upward.

 

Feral cats and free-fed house cats consume several small meals in a day. The frequency and size of meals varies between individuals. They select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. It is also a common misconception that cats like milk/cream, as they tend to avoid sweet food and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugar in milk is not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. Some also develop odd eating habits and like to eat or chew on things like wool, plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten.

 

Cats hunt small prey, primarily birds and rodents, and are often used as a form of pest control. Other common small creatures such as lizards and snakes may also become prey. Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. The strategy used depends on the prey species in the area, with cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds.: 153  Domestic cats are a major predator of wildlife in the United States, killing an estimated 1.3 to 4.0 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually.

 

Certain species appear more susceptible than others; in one English village, for example, 30% of house sparrow mortality was linked to the domestic cat. In the recovery of ringed robins (Erithacus rubecula) and dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in Britain, 31% of deaths were a result of cat predation. In parts of North America, the presence of larger carnivores such as coyotes which prey on cats and other small predators reduces the effect of predation by cats and other small predators such as opossums and raccoons on bird numbers and variety.

 

Perhaps the best-known element of cats' hunting behavior, which is commonly misunderstood and often appalls cat owners because it looks like torture, is that cats often appear to "play" with prey by releasing and recapturing it. This cat and mouse behavior is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.

 

Another poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human guardians. One explanation is that cats adopt humans into their social group and share excess kill with others in the group according to the dominance hierarchy, in which humans are reacted to as if they are at or near the top. Another explanation is that they attempt to teach their guardians to hunt or to help their human as if feeding "an elderly cat, or an inept kitten". This hypothesis is inconsistent with the fact that male cats also bring home prey, despite males having negligible involvement in raising kittens.:

 

Play

Main article: Cat play and toys

Domestic cats, especially young kittens, are known for their love of play. This behavior mimics hunting and is important in helping kittens learn to stalk, capture, and kill prey. Cats also engage in play fighting, with each other and with humans. This behavior may be a way for cats to practice the skills needed for real combat, and might also reduce any fear they associate with launching attacks on other animals.

 

Cats also tend to play with toys more when they are hungry. Owing to the close similarity between play and hunting, cats prefer to play with objects that resemble prey, such as small furry toys that move rapidly, but rapidly lose interest. They become habituated to a toy they have played with before. String is often used as a toy, but if it is eaten, it can become caught at the base of the cat's tongue and then move into the intestines, a medical emergency which can cause serious illness, even death. Owing to the risks posed by cats eating string, it is sometimes replaced with a laser pointer's dot, which cats may chase.

 

Reproduction

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.

Includes a spare sword and epaulette.

Friday at the Festival of Speed - wet, very wet at times.

Line diagram, 2011

Antología de Relatos de Espanto y Terror 31.

 

Anthology of Stories of Horror and Terror 31.

 

Includes: El Aprendiz de Mago (Apprentice Magician) by E. Hoffmann Price.

   

A smattering of images from last night's gig at Sticky Mike's Frog Bar in Brighton. On stage were my colleagues Sam, Jonny, Matt and Tom as "Deaf from Behind" and the bands Neko and Ragweed.

 

Ragweed's front man, Tom, was certainly very animated and dynamic on stage - captured here with a long exposure with a burst of slow sync flash and intentional camera movement to create the light trails.

 

www.reverbnation.com/ragweedrock

Includes the kimono exhibit and the black potters of South Carolina

includes tattoo layer and universal layer, tintable, and includes brow shape - $l100 or 70 in Darkerside Group - maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Realm/48/216/801

Chand Minar, Daulatabad Fort

 

Coming out of the Jain Temple, you cross the pathway to the Chand Minar, a circular tower rising to a height of 210 feet erected by Alauddin II Bahmani in 1435 AD. Its midway gallery is supported by brackets with balustrades all around. Very few of the glazed persian tiles of diamond shape and lapis lazuli color which once decorated the minar can now be seen on it. The top is accessed by a spiral staircase. On the rectangular base, there is a mosque to one side and a Drum-Hall (Nakhar Khana) on the other side.

 

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.

 

At Pevensey Castle

 

Pevensey Castle: a Saxon Shore fort, Norman defences, a medieval enclosure castle, and later associated remains

The monument includes Anderita Saxon Shore fort, traces of later, Norman defences, an enclosure castle, a 16th century gun emplacement and World War II defences situated on a low spur of sand and clay which now lies around 2km north west of the present East Sussex coastline at Pevensey. During the Roman and medieval periods the spur formed a peninsula projecting into a tidal lagoon and marshland, but coastal deposition and land reclamation have gradually built up the ground around it so that it is now completely land-locked. The roughly oval, north east-south west aligned Roman fort is the earliest of the structures which make up the monument and has been dated to the first half of the fourth century AD. Covering almost 4ha, the fort survives in the form of substantial ruins and buried remains. It is enclosed by a massive defensive wall with a flint and sandstone rubble core faced by coursed greensand and ironstone blocks, interspersed with red tile bonding courses. The whole is up to 3.7m thick and survives to a height of up to 8.1m. The wall was originally topped by a wall walk and parapet. Part excavation in 1906-8 showed that the wall was constructed on footings of rammed chalk and flints underpinned by oak piles and held together by a framework of wooden beams. Investigation of the internal face indicated that this was stepped upwards from a wide base so as to provide extra strength and support. Despite these precautions, a landslip on the south eastern side of the fort has resulted in the destruction of a c.180m length of the perimeter walls and, although fragments of the fallen masonry do survive, most have been removed over the years. Smaller sections of wall have also collapsed along the north western and eastern stretches. The defensive strength provided by the perimeter wall was enhanced by irregularly-spaced, externally projecting semicircular bastions with diameters of around 5m. There were originally at least 15 of these, of which 10 survive today. The fort was entered from its south western, landward approach by way of the main gateway. In front of this a protective ditch 5.5m wide was dug, and, although this became infilled over the years, a 40m stretch located towards its south eastern end has been recut and exposed. The ditch would have been spanned originally by a wooden bridge, although this no longer survives. The main gateway takes the form of a rectangular gatehouse set back between two solid semicircular bastions 8m apart. The 2.7m wide, originally arched entrance is flanked by two oblong guardrooms and the whole gateway structure projects beyond the inner face of the perimeter wall into the fort and is thought to have been originally two or even three storeys high. On the eastern side of the fort is a more simply designed subsidiary gateway, originally a 3m wide archway entrance, giving access to part of the adjacent Roman harbour, now overlain by Pevensey village. The extant archway is a modern reconstruction of the Norman rebuilding of the original entrance. Traces of a wooden causeway which led from it into the fort have been found during partial excavation. Midway along the north western stretch of perimeter wall is a now ruined postern c.2m wide, approached by a curved passage set within the wall. Part excavation between 1906-1908 indicated that the internal buildings which housed the garrison of up to 1,000 men, along with their livestock and supplies, were constructed of timber infilled with wattle and daub. A c.1m sq timber-lined Roman well was found in the south western sector of the fort, at the bottom of which were the remains of the wooden bucket with rope still attached. The well was found to have been filled with rubbish in Roman times and the presence of the bones of cattle, sheep, red deer, wild boar, wild birds, domestic dogs and cats, along with sea shells, gives some indication of the diet and lifestyle of the fort's original inhabitants. Anderita is thought to have been abandoned by its garrison by the latter half of the 4th century AD, and although little is known of its subsequent history until the 11th century, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a massacre of Britons by the invading Saxons at the fort in AD 491. The Bayeux Tapestry states that William the Conquerer landed at Pevensey in 1066, and the Norman army are believed to have made use of the Roman fort as one of their first armed camps. The defences at Pevensey and the surrounding land were granted to King William's half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain. The medieval defences then went through at least 300 years of development, culminating in the construction of a stone built enclosure castle within the largely intact walls of the earlier Roman fort. It is thought that the first Norman defences took the form of a wooden palisade surrounded by a bank and ditch, and a c.40m length of partially infilled ditch up to 9m wide which survives across the north eastern sector of the earlier fort may indicate their original extent. Limited excavations in 1993-94 showed that the ground surface in the south eastern sector of the fort, in the vicinity of the later stone-built keep, was artificially raised some time before 1200, suggesting that a motte may also have been constructed. The original Roman gateways were rebuilt and a new ditch dug in front of the south western gate. Most of the Norman defences and interior wooden buildings will now survive in buried form beneath the later medieval castle, although herringbone-pattern repairs to the Roman masonry, by then serving as the outer bailey of the medieval defences, also date from this time. Around 1100 the defences were strengthened and the accommodation improved by the addition of a masonry keep in the south eastern sector of the earlier fort. The subject of a complex history of alteration, collapse and repair, the keep utilises part of the earlier, Roman perimeter wall and bastions. It takes the form of a rectangular block measuring c.16.8m by c.9m internally, reinforced by apsidal projections on all sides. Now surviving in ruined form up to first floor level, the keep originally took the form of a tall tower with an entrance on the first floor. A rectangular building measuring 7.6m by 6m was later constructed in the south eastern angle between the keep and the Roman wall. At around 1200 work began on the construction of a smaller, stone-built inner bailey in the south eastern sector of the earlier fort. An L-shaped ditch around 20m wide was dug to define the new enclosure, and this retains water in its northern arm. The material excavated from the ditch and from the destruction of the earlier bank was spread over much of the outer bailey to a depth of up to 1.5m. The ditch was recut during extensive renovations carried out during the early 20th century. The first structure to be built in this phase was the gatehouse to the south west which has an arched entrance between twin, semicircular external towers, now ruined. The basement chambers beneath each tower have ashlar-faced walls and barrel-vaulted ceilings, the southern chamber being entered by way of a newel staircase, the northern by a trapdoor. Both were used to house prisoners. Many subsequent alterations included the replacement, during the 15th century, of the wooden bridge over the outer ditch by a stone causeway. The originally embattled curtain wall enclosing the inner bailey was built within the ditch and inner berm around 1250. This survives almost to its full original height and is faced with coursed Greensand ashlar. Three semicircular external towers provided flanking cover from the narrow embrasures which pierce their walls. Each has a narrow staircase to a basement, a branch staircase off it into the ditch and a room and garderobe, or latrine, at ground floor level. Upper rooms were entered by way of the wall walk and were heated by fireplaces. The basement of the northernmost tower has two rib-vaulted bays, the keeled ribs resting on stiff-leaf corbels. The interior castle buildings continued to be built mainly of wood and these will survive in buried form, although the stone foundations of a chapel were exposed during partial excavation of the northern sector of the inner bailey. Around 20m south east of the chapel is a large stone-lined well at least 15.5m deep, and near this is a pile of medieval stone missile-balls, a selection of those recovered from the ditch. These were thrown from trebuchets during the four sieges of the castle. William, Count of Mortain forfeited Pevensey after an unsuccessful rebellion against Henry I in 1101 and the castle, which remained in the royal gift until the later Middle Ages, passed into the hands of the de Aquila family. The most famous siege took place in 1264-65 when the supporters of Henry III, fleeing from their defeat by the Barons at Lewes, took refuge in the castle. In 1372 the castle was given to John of Gaunt, and during his period of office was used to imprison James I, King of Scotland, who had been seized in 1406, and Joan, Queen of Navarre, accused of witchcraft by her stepson, Henry V. By 1300, the sea had gradually begun to recede from around the castle and its military importance declined as a result. Contemporary records show that the castle walls were constantly in need of expensive repair and by the end of the 14th century were not being properly maintained, although the roof leads were kept intact until the middle of the 15th century. By 1500 the castle had ceased to be inhabited and fell rapidly into decay. The threat of the Spanish Armada led to some renewed interest in the defensive value of the site, and a survey of 1587 records that the castle housed two demi-culverins, or heavy guns. These were sited on the contemporary, south east orientated, M-shaped earthen gun emplacement situated in the outer bailey around 90m north east of the main Roman gateway. This takes the form of a raised level platform c.20m long bounded on the seaward side by a slight bank c.0.4m high and around 3m wide. One of the cast iron guns, manufactured in the East Sussex Weald, is now housed within the inner bailey on a modern replica carriage. From the 17th century the castle passed through the hands of various private owners. Valued as a picturesque ruin during the 18th and 19th centuries, it features in many contemporary engravings and illustrations. In 1925 the Duke of Devonshire presented the monument to the state, and extensive repairs began with a view to opening the monument to the public. These were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, when the castle resumed its original military purpose of protecting the south coast. The castle was refortified in May 1940 as an observation and command post. It was continuously occupied by regular troops, including Canadian forces and the United States Army Air Corps, who used it as a radio direction centre, and by the Home Guard until 1944. The World War II defences include two pillboxes and three machine gun posts of concrete faced with rubble and flints, carefully concealed and camouflaged within the earlier Roman and medieval fabric. An internal tower was built just to the south of the Roman east gateway and a blockhouse housing anti-tank weapons was built in front of the main Roman gateway. The blockhouse no longer survives. Modifications carried out to the medieval mural towers included lining the interiors with brick and inserting wooden floors. In 1945 the monument was returned to peaceful use and is now in the guardianship of the Secretary of State and open to the public.

[Historic England]

Shannan, Tibet :

 

Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shannan includes Gonggar County within its jurisdiction with Gongkar Chö Monastery, Gonggar Dzong, and Gonggar Airport all located near Gonggar town.

 

Located on the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Valley, formed by the Yarlung Tsangpo River, Lhoka region is often regarded as the birthplace of Tibetan civilization. It is bounded by the city of Lhasa to the north, Nyingchi to the east, Shigatse on the west and the international border with India and Bhutan on the south. The city measures 420 kilometres (260 mi) east to west and 329 kilometres (204 mi) from north to south. Its uniqueness stems from the fact that Tibet's earliest agricultural farmland, its first palace and first Buddhist monastery are all located in Lhoka. It also has the distinction of having held the first lhamo performance. Tibetan people constitute 98% of the population, the remaining 2% being Han, Hui, Mönpa, Lhoba and other ethnic groups.

 

Shannan has 1 district and 11 counties and its capital is Tsetang, which is located 183 kilometres from Lhasa. It covers an area of 79,700 square kilometres (30,800 sq mi), which includes South Tibet, a disputed territory under the Administration of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Its topography averages 3,700 metres (12,100 ft) above sea level. The population of Tsetang city was 330,100 as of 2007 with Tibetans accounting for 96% of the total population.

 

Lhoka region has not only an ancient historical background but is also the most prosperous in Tibet.

New York City's longest running weekly psytrance event is back at Sullivan Room for yet another action-packed evening.

 

lineup for the night will include:

 

SKOOCHA (UKSL / Parabola Records)

 

Skoocha is one of the may aliases of French/Spanish Musician & Producer Benoit Munoz. He discovered Trance in 1995 while visiting friends in Amsterdam when somebody gave him the first Dragonfly compilation. From there there was no turning back and he knew music would be his life. Now a busy music producer and musician in NY since 2003. Skoocha still finds time to craft Trance tracks that will blend the emotions of the oldschool goatrance that started all this with the power of the actual production and the Funk of NY ! Over the years he has worked released tracks with Manmademan (UKSL / Flying Rhino) Biotonic (Solstice ) Earworm (3d Vision) Mesmerizer (MindControl). His music has been played extensively over the world by dj's like Domino and the mighty Juno Reactor. His long awaited 1st album that will contain many unreleased tracks as well as remixes of the old ones is due this winter on Parabola Records (Germany). It will be the 2nd release of this new label after the Talamasca Vs XSI Album.

 

Expect a set that combines old and new tracks as well as some new collaborations.

 

Also, we'll be celebrating Skoocha's birthday!

  

CTRL + ALT + DEL (Nexus Media, US/India)

  

LUIS CAMPOS (Dreamcatcher/Reality Engine, US/Brazil)

   

Deco by the Dreamcatchers AND Neuronymphonic

    

**August 20, 10pm - 4am **

   

@ Sullivan Room, New York City www.sullivanroom.com

218 Sullivan St (between Bleecker and West 3rd St, 2 blocks east of 6th Ave)

 

General Admission: $10.00

RSVP to psycheground@yahoo.com for $5.00 reduced list

  

21+ with ID

 

Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, or V trains to "W 4 St - Wash Sq"

 

Map to Sullivan Room:

maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=m&gid1=11059006&q1=2...

 

www.myspace.com/psycheground

From the May 2016 trip to Thailand and Cambodia:

 

As this was my first trip to Thailand, I absolutely insisted that it include some island…any island, really. Since this trip was including Bangkok and also Cambodia, an island along the eastern seaboard made the most sense and Koh Chang was the “winner.” (I’m pretty sure there are others – maybe even more beautiful ones – but, since we just had two nights, this one worked out fine, as it was quite accessible.)

 

Now, Koh Chang isn’t considered the prettiest island in Thailand by a long shot, however, it is quite nice all the same. I’m more than likely going to be returning to Thailand within the next 4 months, and will be visiting one of the more picturesque islands at that time (along with northern Thailand, which went completely untouched this trip).

 

Koh Chang (“koh” or “ko” means “island,” and “chang” means elephant…for anyone who’s curious) is the second-largest island in Thailand. I’m not sure what the largest is (Phuket, probably?). At any rate, getting here from Bangkok is very easy. Go to the eastern bus terminal and buy a bus ticket. (Lonely Planet said it’s 7 hours; the hotel said 5. Oddly, we got there in 6 hour flat.) The ticket cost…about 250 baht, from what I recall. That’s less than $10USD for a six hour bus ride. Not bad at all.

 

As bus rides go, it’s completely nondescript. The road doesn’t hug the sea, so there’s nothing coastal to see, nor is southeastern Thailand terribly mountainous. (The Cardamom Mountains in western Cambodia aren’t too far off, but they’re more like hills, even smaller than the Appalachians, and were far enough off that you wouldn’t even consider this hilly terrain. The only points of note on this trip (which completely bypasses Pattaya – fine by me) are the towns of Chanthaburi and Trat. Trat is the closest main city to Koh Chang. At Trat, it’s a two lane road just under an hour to the Koh Chang dock, where the bus stops and you have to buy a ferry ticket (40 baht/person). Both the Bangkok-Koh Chang buses and ferries run regularly (every thirty minutes or so), so timing isn’t a concern.

 

The ferry across the Gulf of Trat (Gulf of Thailand, really) is about…30-40 minutes. It’s only six kilometers or so offshore. It’s far enough that, when you’re there, you certainly forget about the rest of the world, which is rather nice. Arriving on the north shore of the island at one of 2 or 3 docks, you pay anywhere from 50-100 baht for a group tuktuk/van to take you to whichever point on the island you happen to be staying.

 

The island is large (and hilly) enough that there are waterfalls, ziplines, hiking, all kinds of outdoor recreation other than just being a beach bum. I, unfortunately, got rather sick late the first night there and was completely out of commission for over 24 hours. However, I’m glad to say that I did get to enjoy Hat Sai Khao (White Sand Beach) very much.

 

On arriving in the area – this is the most popular beach, and also nearest the docks, about 4 km away – you find your hotel/hostel/guesthouse and then, will more than likely, head straight to the beach. This is the only part of the trip where we had no hotel reservations ahead of time. There are so many options for staying that, even during peak season, getting a place to stay is pretty easy. (And May is not peak season…)

 

Our hotel – the Arunee Resort – was pretty much no frills and, while not directly on the beach, it was less than a three minute walk away (through the 15 Palms Restaurant, where we ate twice). For 1000 baht/night (around $30USD), it was perfect.

 

We got to the hotel and checked in around 4:00 in the afternoon. After getting settled, we just went over to the aforementioned 15 Palms Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. The view was wonderful. The beach isn’t terribly big – or long – but, it’s large enough that it wasn’t crowded at all. We just relaxed outdoors for a while and, closer to sundown, took a stroll along the beach.

 

As far as sunsets go, this one left a lot to be desired on the “Wow!” scale, but there was a sunset, so I can’t complain too much. Fortunately, Koh Chang is interesting in its own right. Along the beach, which I’d guess is about 500 meters long, give or take, are lots of restaurants, bars, some of the pricier resorts, a few souvenir shops, etc. I guess it’s exactly what you’d expect and hope for from a tropical beach. All of these line the main road around the west side of the island, by the way.

 

From a practical point of view, I’m also glad to say that there are plenty of pharmacies, massage parlors, tattoo parlors (though that’s not “practical,” so to speak), and I think there’s even an emergency clinic on the island. As I was annoyingly sick, I considered looking into that, but in the end, just waited it out. The silver lining to that cloud is that, if there were one day during this trip where I had to be completely waylaid, I’m glad it was one here, since the rest of the time involved much more tourist sites & stock shooting. Though I wish that I could have been healthy enough to possibly see other parts of the island on the one full day we had, I’m just glad I was well enough to travel on Friday morning.

 

Friday was a travel day that I was mildly concerned about, simply because it involved a truck, a ferry, a tuktuk/van, a bus, an international border crossing (with no prearranged visa), and indefinite transportation 300 km on the other side of the border to our final destination. More on that in the next “batch” post…

Mehrangarh Fort (Hindi: मेहरानगढ़ का किला) (Sindhi: مهراڻ ڳڙهه‎), located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, is one of the largest forts in India. Built around 1460 by Rao Jodha, the fort is situated 125 m above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its boundaries there are several palaces known for their intricate carvings and expansive courtyards. A winding road leads to and from the city below. The imprints of cannonball hits by attacking armies of Jaipur can still be seen on the second gate. To the left of the fort is the chhatri of Kirat Singh Soda, a soldier who fell on the spot defending the Mehrangarh fort.

 

There are seven gates, which include Jayapol (meaning 'victory'), built by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victories over Jaipur and Bikaner armies. Fattehpol (also meaning 'victory') gate was built by Maharaja Ajit Singh to mark the defeat of the Mughals. The palm imprints upon these still attract much attention it is very proudes for rao rajputs.

 

Rao is brahmbhatt jagirdar clan of rao jodha. Rao is rajputs and in gujarat they calls "barot" and rao saheb.

 

The museum in the Mehrangarh fort is one of the most well-stocked museums in Rajasthan. In one section of the fort museum there is a selection of old royal palanquins, including the elaborate domed gilt Mahadol palanquin which was won in a battle from the Governor of Gujarat in 1730. The museum exhibits the heritage of the Rathores in arms, costumes, paintings and decorated period rooms.

 

HISTORY OF MEHRANGARH

Rao Jodha, the chief of the Rathore clan, is credited with the origin of Jodhpur in India. He founded Jodhpur in 1459 (Jodhpur was previously known as Marwar). He was one of Ranmal's 24 sons became the fifteenth Rathore ruler. One year after his accession to the throne, Jodha decided to move his capital to the safer location of Jodhpur, as the one thousand years old Mandore fort was no longer considered to provide sufficient security.

 

With the trusted aid of Rao Nara (son of Rao Samra), the Mewar forces were subdued at Mandore. With that, Rao Jodha gave Rao Nara the title of Diwan. With the help of Rao Nara, the foundation of the fort was laid on 1/ May 1459 by Jodha on a rocky hill 9 kilometres to the south of Mandore. This hill was known as Bhaurcheeria, the mountain of birds. According to legend to build the fort he had to displace the hill's sole human occupant, a hermit called Cheeria Nathji, the lord of birds. Upset at being forced to move Cheeria Nathji cursed Rao Jodha with "Jodha! May your citadel ever suffer a scarcity of water!". Rao Jodha managed to appease the hermit by building a house and a temple in the fort very near the cave the hermit had used for meditation, though only to the extent that even today the area is plagued by a drought every 3 to 4 years. Jodha then took an extreme measure to ensure that the new site proved propitious; he buried a man called "Raja Ram Meghwal" alive in the foundations. "Raja Ram Meghwal" was promised that in return his family would be looked after by the Rathores. To this day his descendants still live in Raj Bagh, "Raja Ram Meghwal's" Garden, an estate bequeathed them by Jodha.

 

Mehrangarh (etymology: 'Mihir' (Sanskrit) -sun or Sun-deity; 'garh' (Sanskrit)-fort; i.e.'Sun-fort'); according to Rajasthani language pronunciation conventions,'Mihirgarh' has changed to 'Mehrangarh'; the Sun-deity has been the chief deity of the Rathore dynasty. Though the fortress was originally started in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, most of the fort which stands today dates from the period of Jaswant Singh of Marwar (1638–78). The fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres on top of a high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan.

 

Entry to the fort is gained though a series of seven gates. The most famous of the gates are:

 

- Jai Pol ("Gate of Victory"), built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate his victory in a war with Jaipur and Bikaner.

- Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707;

- Dedh Kamgra Pol, which still bears the scars of bombardment by cannonballs;

- Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex. Immediately to the left are the handprints (sati marks) of the ranis who in 1843 immolated themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband, Maharaja Man Singh.

 

Within the fort are several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces. These include, Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace), Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), Sheesha Mahal (Mirror Palace), Sileh Khana and Daulat Khana. The museum houses a collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture. The ramparts of the fort house preserved old cannon (including the famous Kilkila), and provided a breath-taking view of the city.

 

GALLERIES IN MEHRANGARH MUSEUM

ELEPHANT´S HOWDAHS

The howdahs were a kind of two-compartment wooden seat (mostly covered with gold and silver embossed sheets), which were fastened onto the elephant's back. The front compartment, with more leg space and a raised protective metal sheet, was meant for kings or royalty, and the rear smaller one for a reliable bodyguard disguised as a fly-whisk attendant.

 

PALANQUINS

Palanquins were a popular means of travel and circumambulation for the ladies of the nobility up to the second quarter of the 20th century. They were also used by male nobility and royals on special occasions.

 

DAULAT KHANA - TREASURES OF MEHRANGARH MUSEUM

This gallery displays one of the most important and best preserved collections of fine and applied arts of the Mughal period of Indian history, during which the Rathore rulers of Jodhpur maintained close links with the Mughal emperors. It also has the remains of Emperor Akbar.

 

ARMOURY

This gallery displays a rare collection of armour from every period in Jodhpur. On display are sword hilts in jade, silver, rhino horn, ivory, shields studded with rubies, emeralds and pearls and guns with gold and silver work on the barrels. The gallery also has on display the personal swords of many emperors, among them outstanding historical piece like the Khaanda of Rao Jodha, weighing over 3 kg, the sword of Akbar the Great and the sword of Timur.

 

PAINTINGS

This Gallery displays colours of Marwar-Jodhpur, the finest example of Marwar paintings.

 

THE TURBAN GALLERY

The Turban Gallery in the Mehrangarh Museum seeks to preserve, document and display the many different types of turbans once prevalent in Rajasthan; every community, region and festival having had its own head-gear.

 

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN MEHRANGARH

NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL MONUMENT

The Jodhpur Group - Malani Igneous Suite Contact on which the Mehrangarh Fort has been built has been declared a National Geological Monument by the Geological Survey of India to encourage Geotourism in the country. This unique geological feature is part of the Malani Igenus Suite seen in the Thar desert region, spread over an area of 43,500 km2. This unique geological feature represents the last phase of igneous activity of Precambrian age in the Indian Subcontinent.

 

THE CHAMUNDA MATAJI TEMPLE

The Chamunda Mataji was Rao Jodha's favorite goddess, he brought her idol from the old capital of Mandore in 1460 and installed her in Mehrangarh (Maa Chamunda was the kul devi of Parihar rulers of Mandore). She remains the Maharaja's and the Royal Family's Isht Devi or adopted goddess and is worshipped by most of Jodhpur's citizens as well. Crowds throng Mehrangarh during the Dussehra celebrations.

 

2008 STAMPEDE

A human stampede occurred on 30 September 2008, at the Chamunda Devi temple inside of the Mehrangarh Fort, in which 249 people were killed and more than 400 injured.

 

CULTURE

The fort has musicians performing folk music at the entrance and houses museum, restaurants, exhibitions, and craft bazaars. The fort was one of the filming locations for the 2012 movie The Dark Knight Rises. Principal photography commenced on 6 May 2011.

 

In 2015, the fort was used to record a collaborative album by musicians including Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, English composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The recording was the subject of a documentary, Junun, by the American directory Paul Thomas Anderson.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी), Maharashtra, India are 29 rock-cut cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE. The caves include paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art (which depict the Jataka tales) as well as frescos which are reminiscent of the Sigiriya paintings in Sri Lanka.The caves were built in two phases starting around 200 BCE, with the second group of caves built around 600 CE.

 

Since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

 

Participants include partners, rural communities, and remote Maine island communities will discuss their challenges, successes, and needs with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett (not seen) moderates a broadband roundtable and luncheon: “How Broadband Transforms Rural and Island Communities,” about broadband, both connectivity in general and also how USDA Rural Development’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants have helped people and school children on island communities connect. Officials will also discuss how broadband can help drive their island economies, Isleford (Little Cranberry Island) Maine, on July 10, 2018. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

More from a wander around the town of Tomar, Portugal

ahmedabad ki pehchan!!

A gathering of Cormorants by the River Mondego, Coimbra, Portugal.

Kits containing basic food items are distributed to Syrians at this village in northern Idlib province. They include beans, rice, sugar, oil and flour as well as some canned items like fish and beans.

 

Photo credit: EU/ECHO/People in Need

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