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I met my grandson today, in the hospital where he was born yesterday. What an experience. I'm going to enjoy editing these photos!
It was a great thrill today to be introduced to two famous ladies: Calpernia Addams and Bianca Leigh.
Trans Scripts is a show taking place at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (among thousands of others). It tells of the true-life struggles and triumphs of six transgender women, so it seemed essential for me to see it. This picture is a selfie taken as we settled into the auditorium and just before I switched off my phone.
After the show I went down to the bar, where a man started a conversation with me about the play. He turned out to be the writer/producer Paul Lucas and gave me his card. At this moment one of the cast arrived - none other than Calpernia Addams! Paul introduced us and we continued talking about our reactions to the piece. Then Calpernia, seeing his card in my hand, asked if I was an actress. Hesitantly I admitted that I was trans too, at which Calpernia seemed surprised.
Paul had to move on, but he took me to another cast member, Bianca Leigh, whom you might remember as Mary Ellen in the film TransAmerica. We talked about the show, its relevance to my own experience, its development and the trans scene in Scotland. Calpernia remarked that on her first visit to Scotland she heard that everyone went South to London, but now girls seem to be staying here. Bianca asked how long ago I transitioned and my reply that I had not led to a long discussion about how far one could or should go.
After half an hour I had to leave, thinking I had taken enough of their time, but I walked back across town with a new bounce in my step because I had chatted with two such famous names.
Trans Scripts is honest, intelligent, witty and relevant, with various echoes of my own past and perhaps future. If you can come to Edinburgh this month, see it! If it tours to your city, get a ticket! www.transscripts.org
Video available: youtu.be/AyKQHItm8Z4
The Lambda Class Shuttle is one of my favorite spaceship designs with its birdlike look. I like the elegant curves and the transformative wing mechanism, furthermore the landing gear setup with just two legs is exciting!
With the introduction of all the recent new parts I was able to create the round forms and fluent lines of the original studio model.
It is difficult to find exact reference material for this ship, most of the blueprints and imagery, which are available online, are not correct to the original studio models. I've ended up using my own photographs I've managed to take at the amazing Star Wars Identities exhibition.
The model is a scratch build MOC, there are some familiar elements to the LEGO UCS model as well as Dmac's www.flickr.com/photos/dmaclego original design. My main focus was an accurate cockpit design (it’s still not perfect but I like my solution), the inclusion of play features, a full interior completed with PF functions, lights and more.
The model features:
- motorized foldable wings
- boarding ramp
- retractable landing gear
- detailed cockpit and interior
- turning canons
- landing lights
- working sublight engine
It is bigger than the official set with 94 cm in width and 102 cm in hight (on the stand). I've used up to 6000 parts for the model including an PF medium motor and 7 PF lights.
For the scenes I've used secondary builds, the Death Star ll and a midscaled Star Destroyer based on Brickdoctors www.flickr.com/photos/legoarts/ design both of which are adding several hundred parts. For the Endor scene I've used around 10000 parts. Even the planets used for the space scenes are based on LEGO parts (Planet series: Endor and Tatooin for the red Planet).
I'm happy how my build came together, I hope you like it as well! Thanks.
Betcha weren't expecting something this dark to start off 2011, were you?
Hello. I'm Three less neurons per minute. Less than 20 people know my real name here in Flickr through flickrmail and not from reading comments in my pictures. I am not a teenager, but creepers are still unwelcomed. I have a sinking feeling that none of my photos are particularly excellent, I just have really awesome and supportive contacts. I don't want to be labelled as the girl who does photomanipulations. Any label, good or bad, limits and confines our abilities. Besides, I want to go out on a limb for photography, and photoshop dependency hinders that. I would like you to believe that my screen name is something deep and existential. A reference to the decay of human soul and capacity in the dawn of machines, technology and the internet. A reminder of how every minute we live is a minute we die, a grand exchange. But that would be pretentious, because my screen name is nothing of the sort. Flickr makes me happy and sad at the same time. It connects me to people and alienates me horribly, that's why I'm not going through with a 365 project and why i'm not here too often anymore. I don't show my face in any photos, except for one taken from a strange angle where I'm barely recognizabe. It's not a self esteem issue, worry not, it's for privacy reasons. I might show my face soon, as there are photos I want to experiment with that are difficult sans face. What about privacy? Live dangerously, I say.
I sound somewhat depressed after reading this.haha. Believe me, I'm not. :)
+ colored and 2 outtakes
Wasn't how it started, but ended up looking like this.
Here's to another year of adventures.
With the introduction of Touax (red livery) and VTG (blue livery) box wagons to the various limestone Mendip flows, scenes such as this are becoming more familiar with rakes of wagons also punctuated with the more traditional grey liveries bogie box wagons.
This particular working is of considerable interest as it clearly defines the embittered relationship between DB Cargo (DBC) and Freightliner. Since DBC lost the Mendip rail traffic to Freightliner, charges levied on Freightliner for using DBC operated sidings and yards have increased significantly, this being the main reason Freightliner have ceased using Action TC yard as a staging point for SE aggregate workings, with Wembley yard now being used. In response, Freightliner have banned all DBC locos from both Whatley and Merehead quarry workings, even if the flow is DBS operated throughout. This includes any rescue of Freightliner services by DBC.
59206 is pictured approaching Westbury station, having just passed Fairwood junction, with the 6Z20 Whatley to Westbury up TC service. This is effectively a trip working, that is then conveyed by a DBC locomotive (in this case 66067), as the 6Z25 Westbury up TC to Cricklewood aggregates terminal. 59206 returned light engine to Whatley quarry later in the morning as the 0F59 service. This illustrates the needless double locomotive and crewing employed due to the fractious relationship between the 2 freight operating companies (FoC’s).
Date of image: Thursday 14 July 2022
The conditions never really came together for this evening, but I thought I would post this one up just for fun anyways...
This is not the vantage to photograph from, but just where the road ends. The good spot is just over on that ridge in the distance beyond all this ugly clear cutting...
You don't mind the weeds when you're not a gardener. I can appreciate anything growing in nature, no problem, don't need to know what's a pest or invasive. Sometimes, it's an unwanted awareness, an invading thought that blunts appreciation. There's got to be a place for knowing nothing, being the open-minded opposite of an expert, so long as you're not arrogant about it. I can't claim to know what was introduced unwanted, what will choke out your crops or strangle your flowers. But I'm on a roundabout way taking notice, nameless introductions like strangers on the street, nod and smile now and then. It's a little like how I taught myself guitar – don't have a clue which chords I'm playing. My fingers find their way to what feels right, can't separate the weeds from the flowers. I'll never know for sure what shouldn't be beautiful.
June 13, 2022
Lansdowne, Nova Scotia
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Start of a new set today: The Inn.
Located in South Bend, Indiana.
I don't really know what to say.
Hope your Saturday is wonderful. I do know that. :)
A giant tortoise at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz
Galapagos Giant Tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Geochelone nigra) is the largest living tortoise, native to seven islands of the Galápagos archipelago. The Galápagos tortoise is unique to the Galápagos Islands. Fully grown adults can weigh over 300 kilograms (661 lb) and measure 1.2 meters (4 ft) long. They are long-lived with a life expectancy in the wild estimated to be 100-150 years. Populations fell dramatically because of hunting and the introduction of predators and grazers by humans since the seventeenth century. Now only ten subspecies of the original twelve exist in the wild. However, conservation efforts since the establishment of the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation have met with success, and hundreds of captive-bred juveniles have been released back onto their home islands. They have become one of the most symbolic animals of the fauna of the Galápagos Islands. The tortoises have very large shells (carapace) made of bone. The bony plates of the shell are integral to the skeleton, fused with the ribs in a rigid protective structure. Naturalist Charles Darwin remarked "These animals grow to an immense size ... several so large that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground.". This is due to the phenomenon of island gigantism whereby in the absence of natural predation, the largest tortoises had a survival advantage and no disadvantage in fleeing or fending off predators. When threatened, it can withdraw its head, neck and all forelimbs into its shell for protection, presenting a protected shield to a would-be predator. The legs have hard scales that also provide armour when withdrawn. Tortoises keep a characteristic scute pattern on their shell throughout life. These have annual growth bands but are not useful for aging as the outer layers are worn off. There is little variation in the dull-brown colour of the shell or scales. Physical features (including shape of the shell) relate to the habitat of each of the subspecies. These differences were noted by Captain Porter even before Charles Darwin. Larger islands with more wet highlands such as Santa Cruz and the Alcedo Volcano on Isabela have lush vegetation near the ground. Tortoises here tend to have 'dome-back' shells. These animals have restricted upward head movement due to shorter necks, and also have shorter limbs. These are the heaviest and largest of the subspecies.Smaller, drier islands such as Española and Pinta are inhabited by tortoises with 'saddleback' shells comprising a flatter carapace which is elevated above the neck and flared above the hind feet. Along with longer neck and limbs, this allows them to browse taller vegetation. On these drier islands the Galápagos Opuntia cactus (a major source of their fluids) has evolved a taller, tree-like form. This is evidence of an evolutionary arms race between progressively taller tortoises and correspondingly taller cacti. Saddlebacks are smaller in size than domebacks. They tend to have a yellowish color on lower mandible and throat. At one extreme, the Sierra Negra volcano population that inhabits southern Isabela Island has a very flattened "tabletop" shell. However, there is no saddleback/domeback dualism; tortoises can also be of 'intermediate' type with characteristics of both. The tortoises are slow-moving reptiles with an average long-distance walking speed of 0.3 km/h (0.18 mph). Although feeding giant tortoises browse with no apparent direction, when moving to water-holes or nesting grounds, they can move at surprising speeds for their size. Marked individuals have been reported to have traveled 13 km in two days. Being cold-blooded, the tortoises bask for two hours after dawn, absorbing the energy through their shells, then becoming active for 8–9 hours a day. They may sleep for about sixteen hours in a mud wallow partially or submerged in rain-formed pools (sometimes dew ponds formed by garua-moisture dripping off trees). This may be both a thermoregulatory response and a protection from parasites such as mosquitoes and ticks. Some rest in a 'pallet'- a snug depression in soft ground or dense brush- which probably helps to conserve heat and may aid digestion. On the Alcedo Volcano, repeated use of the same sites by the large resident population has resulted in the formation of small sandy pits. Darwin observed that: "The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overhear a person walking near behind them. I was always amused, when overtaking one of these great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead." The tortoises can vocalise in aggressive encounters, whilst righting themselves if turned upside down and, in males, during mating. The latter is described as "rhythmic groans". The tortoises are herbivorous animals with a diet comprising cactus, grasses, leaves, vines, and fruit. Fresh young grass is a favorite food of the tortoises, and others are the 'poison apple' (Hippomane mancinella) (toxic to humans), the endemic guava (Psidium galapageium), the water fern (Azolla microphylla), and the bromeliad (Tillandsia insularis). Tortoises eat a large quantity of food when it is available at the expense of incomplete digestion. Its favorite food is grasses. The tortoise normally eat an average of 70 to 80 pounds a day. Tortoises have a classic example of a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with some species of Galápagos finch. The finch hops in front of the tortoise to show that it is ready and the tortoise then raises itself up high on its legs and stretches out its neck so that the bird can pick off ticks that are hidden in the folds of the skin (especially on the rear legs, cloacal opening, neck, and skin between plastron and carapace), thus freeing the tortoise from harmful parasites and providing the finch with an easy meal. Other birds, including Galápagos Hawk and flycatchers, use tortoises as observation posts from which to sight their prey. Mating occurs at any time of the year, although it does have seasonal peaks between January and August. When two mature males meet in the mating season they will face each other, rise up on their legs and stretch up their necks with their mouths open to assess dominance. Occasionally, head-biting occurs, but usually the shorter loser tortoise will back off, leaving the other to mate with the female. In groups of tortoises from mixed island populations, saddleback males have an advantage over domebacks. Frustrated non-dominant males have been observed attempting to mate with other males and boulders. The male sniffs the air when seeking a female, bellows loudly, and bobs his head. The male then rams the female with the front of his shell and bites her exposed legs until she withdraws them, immobilizing her. Copulation can last several hours with roaring vocalisations from the males. Their concave shell base allows males to mount the females from behind. It brings its tail which houses the penis into the female's cloaca. After mating (June-December), the females journey up to several kilometres to reach nesting areas of dry, sandy ground (often near the coast). Nest digging can last from hours to days and is elaborate and exhausting. It is carried out blindly using only the hind legs to dig a 30 cm deep hole, into which she lays up to sixteen hard-shelled eggs the size of tennis balls. The female makes a muddy plug for the nest hole out of soil mixed with urine and leaves the eggs to incubate. In rocky areas, the eggs are deposited randomly into cracks. The young emerge from the nest after 120 to 140 days gestation later (December-April) and may weigh only 80 grams (2.8 oz) and measure 6 centimetres (2.4 in). Temperature plays a role in the sex of the hatchling: if the nest temperature is lower, more males will hatch; if it is high, more females will hatch. When the young tortoises emerge from their shells, they must dig their way to the surface, which can take up to a month. All have domed carapaces, and subspecies are indistinguishable. Galápagos Hawk used to be the only native predator of the tortoise hatchlings, as Darwin remarked: "The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall prey in great numbers to buzzards". Sex can be determined only when the tortoise is 15 years old, and sexual maturity is reached at 20 to 25 years old. The tortoises grow slowly for about 40 years until they reach their full size. Reproductive prime is considered to be from the ages of 60–90. The shape of the carapace of some subspecies of the tortoises is said to have reminded the early Spanish explorers of a kind of saddle they called a "galápago," and for these saddle-shaped tortoises they named the archipelago. Up to 250,000 tortoises inhabited the islands when they were discovered. Today only about 15,000 are left.
The inhabitants...state that they can distinguish the tortoise from different islands; and that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described those from Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked.---Charles Darwin 1845
There were probably twelve subspecies of Geochelone nigra in the Galápagos Islands, although some recognise up to 15 subspecies. Now only 11 subspecies remain, five on Isabela Island, and the other six on Santiago, Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, Pinzón, Española and Pinta. Of these, the Pinta Island subspecies is extinct in the wild and is represented by a single individual (Lonesome George). In the past, zoos took animals without knowing their island of origin. Production of fertile offspring from various pairings of tortoises largely confirmed that they are subspecies and not different species. All the subspecies of giant tortoise evolved in Galápagos from a common ancestor that arrived from the mainland, floating on the ocean currents (the tortoises can drift for long periods of time as they are buoyant and can stretch head upwards to breathe). Only a single pregnant female or breeding pair needed to arrive in this way, and then survive, for Galápagos to be colonised. In the seventeenth century, pirates started to use the Galápagos islands as a base for resupply, restocking on food, water and repairing vessels before attacking Spanish colonies on the South American mainland. The tortoises were collected and stored live on board ships where they could survive for at least a year without food or water, providing valuable fresh meat, whilst their diluted urine and water stored in their neck bags could also be used as drinking water. Of the meat, Darwin wrote: "the breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do 'carne con cuero'), with the flesh on it, is very good; and the young tortoises make excellent soup; but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent." In the nineteenth century, whaling ships and fur-sealers collected tortoises for food and many more were killed for high grade 'turtle oil' from the late 1800s onward. Darwin described this process thus: "beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated and it is said to recover soon from this strange operation." A total of over 15,000 tortoises is recorded in the logs of 105 whaling ships between 1811 and 1844. As hunters found it easiest to collect the tortoises living round the coastal zones, the least decimated populations tended to be those in the highlands. Population decline accelerated with the early settlement of the islands, when they were hunted for meat, their habitat was cleared for agriculture and alien mammal species were introduced. Feral pigs, dogs, cats and black rats are effective predators of eggs and young tortoises, whilst goats, donkeys and cattle compete for grazing. In the twentieth century, increasing human settlement and urbanisation and collection of tortoises for zoo and museum specimens depleted numbers even more. The Galápagos giant tortoise is now strictly protected. Young tortoises are raised in a programme by the Charles Darwin Research Station in order to bolster the numbers of the extant subspecies. Eggs are collected from places on the islands where they are threatened and when the tortoises hatch they are kept in captivity until they have reached a size that ensures a good chance of survival and are returned to their original ranges. The Galápagos National Park Service systematically culls feral predators and competitors where necessary such as the complete eradication of goats from Pinta. The conservation project begun in the 1970s successfully brought 10 of the 11 endangered subspecies up to guarded population levels. The most significant recovery was that of the Española Tortoise, whose breeding stock comprised 2 males and 11 females brought to the Darwin Station. Fortuitously, a third male was discovered at the San Diego Zoo and joined the others in a captive breeding program. These 13 tortoises gave rise to over 1000 tortoises now released into their home island. In all, 2500 individuals of all breeds have been reintroduced to the islands. However, persecution still continues on a much smaller scale; more than 120 tortoises have been killed by poachers since 1990 and they have been taken hostage as political leverage by local fishermen.
Santa Cruz
With the largest human population in the Galapagos archipelago, Isla Santa Cruz is the most important of the Galapagos Islands. Meaning Holy Cross in Spanish, this island is also known as Indefatigable, after the HMS Indefatigable landed here long ago. The second largest island terms of land area at 986 sq km, Isla Santa Cruz is home to the key town of Puerto Ayora, the Charles Darwin Research Station and the headquarters of the Galapagos National Park Service. With its own airport on Isla Baltra a few miles away, Isla Santa Cruz is where most visitors who come to the Galapagos Islands usually stay. With a number of bars, hotels, restaurants and shops in Puerto Ayora, most tours of the Archipelago also usually begin from here.
Galapagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands (official name: Archipiélago de Colón; other Spanish names: Islas de Colón or Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, some 900 km west of Ecuador. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site: wildlife is its most notable feature. Because of the only very recent arrival of man the majority of the wildlife has no fear of humans and will allow visitors to walk right up them, often having to step over Iguanas or Sea Lions.The Galápagos islands and its surrounding waters are part of a province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of around 40,000, which is a 40-fold expansion in 50 years. The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
let me introduce myself.. my name is linda, 25 years old "girl" from germany. i just moved with my son quentin (2 years old) from the major city berlin to a really really really small village in the boonies. and now i decided to start this 52 selfportraits project, because firstly i´m often a little bored (...) and secondly i hope this is going to cheer me to do something exciting. otherwise you will see 52 pics of me horizontal on the grass.
Here is our little girl. She is a bit darker than her brother and has a slightly longer, fluffier coat. In her, I see her mother's personality. She is a bit more adventurous; she is the leader of the two. This is the one who boldly climbed on my shoe and tugged my pant leg in the marsh.
Sailor Kerim introducing the scrap of the famous Kanlica (Istanbul) ferry after the big unfortunate fire on the sovereignty day while being restorated, on 23th of April, 2008.
To watch whole serie, click on the link: oscarsnapshotter.deviantart.com/gallery/#Goodbye-Kanlica
İzleyeceğiniz fotoğraflar restore edilmek üzere kızağa çekildiği tersanede 23 Nisan 2008 sabahı talihsiz bir yangın sonucu hurdaya çıkan ünlü Kanlıca vapurunun son yolculuğunun hikayesidir.
Oct 2008
Kurşunlu village shipyard
Karacabey, Bursa
Turkey
All sizes please.
Thanks for your support about my beach problem!
Yeah, my city has a very close mind!!
I hope I didn’t bore you too much…
This shot is from sunrise, pretty blue, I’m so addicted to reflections and when it rains (like those days)
There are a lot of interesting puddles near the sea!
This morning we had a shower rain during sunrise but it was so short…with the sun rising, we were under a black cloud…
And do you know what it makes? A rainbow!
I had to shot him and now my camera is desperate again and refuses to get well open!!
Have a peaceful day!
Introduction to Algorithms is a book on computer programming by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein.
Here is our little boy. He seems to be asking, "Can grandama come out to play?" You bet I can!
Can you see something of Patty's face in his? To look at them in person, he is a little mirror of our Patty. Only, thankfully, his eyes don't hold the sadness that seems permanently imprinted in Patty's eyes from those early days when death was so close to winning the battle. He is a mama's boy, btw, and sticks much closer to Patty's side than his sister.
Introduction to Echuca and its history. Population Echuca-Moama 20,500. When captains Cadell of Goolwa and Randell of Gumeracha had a South Australian government sponsored race to reach the Darling River and prove the River Murray was navigable in 1853 they probably did not foresee the huge development of the river boat trade. The River Murray was to be a transportation conduit to the outback and inland areas like the Mississippi River in America. Paddle steamer river boats with shallow drafts were first used in the 1820s along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. They were adapted from rear wheel vessels to side wheel vessels in Australia. A few centres grew into major river ports- Morgan, Milang, Wentworth and Echuca. But Echuca outstripped them all as it was developed shortly after the Victorian gold rushes and it was the closest point on the River Murray to booming Melbourne. Some say Echuca was built upon the entrepreneurship of one man Henry Hopwood who arrived in the area in 1849. He was an ex-convict with big ideas. He began a ferry service across the Murray and later built a pontoon bridge. A government surveyor laid out a town in 1854 which he named Echuca from a local Aboriginal word meaning “meeting of the waters” as Echuca is at the confluence of the Campaspe and Murray rivers and the mighty Goulburn River also enters the Murray just a short distance away. In 1824 the explorer Hamilton Hume named the Murray the Hume River after his father. But in 1830 Charles Sturt after leaving the Murrumbidgee thought he had discovered a new river and he named it the Murray River after his friend in the British Colonial Office, Sir George Murray, Secretary of the Colonies. The Goulburn River was named in 1835/36 by Major Thomas Mitchell on his explorations. He named it after the Frederick Goulburn who was then Colonial Secretary of NSW and he also named the Campaspe River which rises near Mt Macedon. He was obviously thinking of his classical education when he named the Campaspe. Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323BC) of Greece had a famous artist paint one of his concubines and when the artist fell in love with the beautiful Campaspe, Alexander the Great “gave” Campaspe to the artist. Campaspe in the nude or only partially clothed was a popular painting subject in the early 1800s in Britain. Mitchell named Mount Macedon after an ancient Greek King Phillip II of Macedon (359 BC to 336 BC). Because three major rivers meet in the locality of Echuca lakes large flood plains with billabongs abound. One water channel from this area flows north to the Murrumbidgee River and is known as the Edward River. These flood plains along the Murray are now mainly national parks and reserves called the Barmah Lakes and Forests with the first area being declared as such in 1908. Early pastoralists were attracted to this country and many of the River Red gums were felled by woodsmen for railway sleepers across Victoria and NSW. The cycle of flood and drought favoured the River Red gums. The major floods of the River Murray were in 1867, 1870 – the biggest highest flood of the white era – 1916, 1931, 1956 and 1975.
The town grew quickly and in 1858 Henry Hopwood built the Bridge Hotel which he claimed was the best outside of Melbourne. The locals referred to him as King Hopwood although he was transported to Van Diemans Land as a convict charged with theft in 1834. He reached this Victorian part of NSW in 1850. At that time he established the first River Murray ferry service followed by a pontoon bridge in 1857. The ferry fees he charged with his monopoly soon made him a rich man. Because of the commercially strategic location the railway reached Echuca from the gold mining centre of Bendigo in 1864 so that Victoria could capture the Riverina trade through Moama on the NSW side of the Murray. Everything favoured Echuca’s development. Until Federation in 1901 all the independent colonies levied port duties on goods coming into or out of their colonies and Echuca was an important customs town. By the 1870s when more than two hundred paddle steamers regularly traversed the rivers here Echuca expanded with a multi-tiered wooden wharf so that steamers could dock regardless of the river level. The first small wharf was built in 1865 with extensions in the 1870s and this wharf eventually reached over one kilometre long when extended in 1884! As business boomed the town grew with 60 licensed hotels by 1876. The river trade not only transported wool from the pastoralists and supplies but it required extensive supplies of wood for fuel for the steamers, labour, ropes and equipment etc. Echuca was the second port of Victoria after Port Melbourne for tonnage handled in the 1870s. It was the largest inland port in Australia and it vied with Morgan as the main port to handle wool bought down the Darling River by paddle steamer. There were also paddle steamer services from Echuca to Shepparton on the Goulburn River. But the town eventually declined as railways which began Echuca’s boom also ended the importance of the river boat trade in Victoria. The boom was over by 1890 but by then Echuca was an established town with substantial and impressive buildings. The river boat trade persisted into the 1930s but on a much reduced scale. The next boom for Echuca was after World War Two when surrounding land was irrigated for horticulture, viticulture and intensive agriculture.
Henry Hopwood’s Bridge Hotel still stands as does the original Town Hall built in 1868 and designed by architect W.C Vahland from Bendigo. Along the waterfront you can still see the Steam Packet Hotel, the Customs House, the Bond Store (where goods were stored by the government until the duties were paid) and a small part of the great wharf. The fine brick Customs House was built in 1884 with a thin strip of sandstone around the windows and across the brickwork. The Bond Store was also built in red brick with pilasters across the front and a pediment to hide the roof line. The “King of Echuca” Hopwood also built a fine house which he named Apsley House facing Connelly Street. Part of it still remains at the Catholic College. When he died in 1869 the “King of Echuca” was buried in the town cemetery and he was remembered by a memorial pew in the Anglican Church. He became a wealthy man because he negotiated a monopoly of the ferry service across the river with the Victorian government. His contract included his heirs also retaining the monopoly. They eventually sold out to the Victorian government but the days of ferry services ended anyway with the construction of the mighty iron bridge across the Murray. A bridge between two colonies required both to agree and the conflict that the bridge engendered was really a part of the Australian federation story. Both colonies agree in 1864 to pay part of the bridge cost but disagreement emerged over tariffs and import/export duties. The agreement was reactivated after the great Murray floods of 1867 and 1870. Work finally started on the iron bridge in 1875. Heavy iron posts from England were carted by rail from Port Melbourne as there were no NSW railways near the river at that time. In April 1877 a disaster occurred when a crane crashed and collapsed iron and stone pillars. Six men were killed. The bridge opened in December 1878 but it only caused mayhem. NSW had not inspected and signed off on the bridge and travellers were charged a fee for using the “free” bridge. Angry mobs assembled near the bridge and protested several times and the Victorian government considered prosecuting rioters. Finally the bridge opened in April 1879 with no official opening ceremony by either government! Once the bridge was open competition between Moama in NSW and Victorian Echuca intensified. The railway from Deniliquin reached Moama in 1876 adding to the inter-colonial trade rivalry. Echuca reached a population of 5,000 by 1878.
Support for Australian federation came especially from the Riverina/Murray districts like Echuca as they were the most effected by trade tariffs between Victoria and NSW. The Riverina was settled as the main NSW grain producing region in the late 19th century but it was much closer to Melbourne than Sydney. Grain was carted across the border at Echuca. NSW was a free trade colony but Victoria was a protectionist colony. Thus towns developed each side of the river at crossing points – Wodonga and Albury; Wahgunyah and Corowa; Echuca and Moama. The railways were pushed up much sooner from Melbourne than from Sydney and grain was transported by rail from Echuca by the mid-1870s. NSW railway lines only reached Riverina towns in the 1890s and even later. So the Echuca district was directly interested in the benefits of federation especially the abolition of tariffs and customs but the other great issue was the control of the Murray River and its waters. In NSW Sir Henry Parkes pushed for federation and the other colonies waited to see if NSW would push ahead with the idea as their approval was always going to be crucial. Parkes began the push for federation in speeches in 1881 and again more seriously in 1889. The first national constitution convention was held in 1891 in Sydney. In the next couple of years the localised Australian Natives Association formed many more branches and became a national movement. Along the River Murray the Border Federation League was formed in Corowa and soon spread to Echuca/Moama and other regional towns. It was at a meeting of the Border Federation League in 1893 that Dr John Quick of Bendigo moved a motion to provide a process to achieve federation. This was something the arguing statesmen and politicians could not achieve. He moved that colonial parliaments should pass enabling legislation to send delegates to a national convention to adopt a constitution. From this point on the federation movement gained great impetus especially with support from the Riverina and river towns like Echuca. The movement culminated in the inauguration of the Commonwealth on January 1st 1901.
Apart from the River Murray providing a smooth navigable surface for transportation the river flats near Echuca led to the development of the major industry of the town- timber milling. River red gum timer was railed from Echuca all over Victoria for its railways. River red gum railway sleepers were transported down the Murray from Echuca to Morgan to build the Kapunda to Morgan railway in 1878. By 1869 one of several the timber mills in Echuca covered six acres. Logs were taken from the Barham forests and the Goulburn River valley and transported downstream to Echuca. But the Murray provided more for the town. The supply of timber made Echuca one of the major paddle steamer building sites along the Murray. Red gums provided wood for the boats and wood for their boilers. A slipway was soon erected in Echuca and the first steamer rolled into the river in 1864 but one earlier boat, without the assistance of a slipway, was constructed in 1858. Echuca had constructed 48 paddle steamers and 54 barges by 1895. Eighteen of the 48 paddle steamers were built between 1874 and 1878. The boat building stopped in the 1920s. Several foundries in the town produced ship bells and other equipment. The river trade led to wool scouring or fellmongering, boiling down works and tanneries. All these hard manual workers required alcohol and Echuca had several major breweries in the 19th century. The growth of the town surrounded by farmers or selectors led to conflict between the big squatter ad sheep shearers and other labourers. This resulted in the famous burning of the paddle steamer PS Rodney in 1894. Australia suffered a major depression in 1890, banks collapsed as did the price for wool. When pastoralist’s tried to reduce shearer wages conflict and strikes emerged. Shearers unison were first formed in 1891. In Queensland this resulted in violent conflict between unionists and pastoralists and Banjo Paterson’s song Waltzing Mathilda covers this issue. The original lyrics were written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson and it was first published as sheet music in 1903. Paterson wrote the poem in 1894 while staying at the Dagworth Homestead (near Winton), where in September of that year some shearers went on strike before violence erupted.
Up came the jumbuck( sheep) to drink at the waterhole,Up came the squatter a-riding his thoroughbred;
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee; And he sang as he put him away in his tucker-bag,
'You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.' CHORUS'You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.' CHORUS
Up came policemen - one, two and three. Up sprang the swagman and jumped in the waterhole,
'Whose is the jumbuck you've got in the tucker bag? Drowning himself by the Coolibah tree;
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.' CHORUSAnd his voice can be heard as it sings in the billabongs,'Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?'
Near Echuca shearers went on strike in 1894 and camped along the river. One camp had 220 men in it by July 1894. They tried to block use of the bridge to Moama and the unloading of trains in Echuca with non-union shearers. In August 1894 trouble flared up. But it was near Pooncarie on the Darling River that a crew of boatmen from Echuca were moored on the banks of the Darling in the PS Rodney with non –union labour for an upstream station. The Rodney was built in Echuca in 1875. The non-unionists on board were thrown overboard and the crew allowed to leave and then the Rodney was set on fire. The news was not appreciated in the workers home town of Echuca. Only half a dozen of the arsonists were arrested, but then acquitted when tried by the Court in Broken Hill. Eventually one was convicted in a second trial in Sydney. By then the trouble had calmed down.
SLR Class :- M9
Introduction years :- 2000 to 2001
No of Locos :- 10
Loco Nos :- 864 to 873
Builder :- Alstom
State :-French
Prime Mover :- Ruston - 12 RK 215 T
Mode of Power transmission :- Diesel Electric (AC to AC Power Transmission )
Power :- 3220 hp
rpm :- 1000
Weight :- 100 ton
Length :- 64’
Wheel arrangement :- Co-Co
Brake system : - Vacuum, Air and Dynamic
Max speed :- 110 Km/h
Gauge : - 1676 mm
Type :- Locomotive
Purpose :- Main line Passenger and Freight train.
M9 868 Destroyed due to Fire at Talawa in May 2009
M9 866 and 867 Installed new control system by Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd in 2017
Information as at 19.05.2022
I like to introduce you to these two wonderful cars, Chevrolet Corvette C4 Convertible and Chevrolet Corvette C4 Coupé, wich I shooted last week. My first ever photoshoot and I loved it!
Second, I want to introduce you to my brand new Youtube-channel! Subscribe for videos there, I'm also working on a little video from these two cars now.
26-06-2012
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SLR Class :- S12
Introduction years :- 2012 to 2013
No of Sets :- 13
Power car Nos :- 917 to 939
Builder :- CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd
State :- China
Prime Mover :- MTU 12V 4000 R41
Mode of Power transmission :- Diesel Electric (AC to DC Power Transmission)
Power :- 1950 hp
rpm :- 1800
Weight :- 74 ton
Length :- 50’
Wheel arrangement :- Bo-Bo
Brake system :- Air and Dynamic
Max speed :- 120 Km/h
Gauge :- 1676 mm
Type :- Diesel Multiple Unit
Purpose/Used line :-
4 sets for suburban service.
7 sets for up country service.
2 sets for Air-condition intercity service.
Set Formation :
Suburban sets : Power car, four 3rd class compartments and dummy car.
Up country sets : Two power cars, one 1st class Air-condition compartment, three 2nd class compartment, three 3rd class compartment and one 3rd class buffet unit.
Air-condition: Two power cars, Six 1st class Air-condition compartment and class Air-condition buffet unit.
S12 919 used for first testing run on Beliattha line.
S12 934 and 939 used for Inaugural run on Beliattha line in 02.11.2019
S12 927 and 935 used for Inaugural run No 1038 Kandy-Colombo train run in 22.11.2019
Information as at 18.06.2022
My very special friend, Martyn, claims to be on Chippy withdrawal. So I thought that I’d dedicate this personal favourite photo to him. It may not be the best of captures, but it is the starting photo of what I hope will be a very long and rewarding friendship with a very special fellow. =^D
This is a snap capturing his very first visit to our yard and Chippy’s first glimpse of me. This is usually the moment when most chipmunks flee in horror from the yard (ya, I’m pretty scary looking!), but fortunately, I had just finished filling the bird feeder (and had not done a very tidy job)! Chippy promptly ignored me and started sucking up spilt sunflower seeds like a Hoover vacuum!
Since that first day, our friendship has grown. Chippy and I are both aware that we have a ‘give and take’ relationship. I know that he is in it for the seeds & he knows that I’m in it for the pictures… but like most great relationships, it is the middle, boring parts that mean the most. For us, it happens when Chippy feels that he is in need of a bit of a rest and he climbs up onto the cushioned seat beside my own (which is too close to shoot with my telephoto) and we just chill out together enjoying each other’s silence.
So, here’s to hoping that Chippy will continue to ‘play’ with me and provide us all with lots and lots of fun shots to entertain us during those dreary days of winter! =^D
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Nunavut means "our land" in Inuktitut. Formed in 1999, the territory encompasses most of the eastern Canadian arctic.
On our first night in Pond Inlet we attended a performance at the community centre introducing the land and its people to visitors. I'm usually leery of such productions, but this was an informative, powerful show. We learned about the history of the people of Pond Inlet, the settlement process, arctic games, throat-singing, drumming and dancing - a great way to set the context for our journey to the floe edge.
Nunavut Pro Tip - Proudly emblazoned on the Nunavut flag is a red way point, the famous stone Inuksuk that marks travel routes and sacred places. Be sure not to spell or pronounce it as Inukshuk, a common southern mistake.
Manual Transmission
ZFFGT61B000145743
Zoute Sale - Bonhams
Estimated : € 600.000 - 700.000
Sold for € 529.000
Zoute Grand Prix 2021
Knokke - Zoute
België - Belgium
October 2021
With the introduction of the 550 Maranello in 1996, Ferrari returned to its tradition of building front-engined V12 sports cars, resurrecting a line that had remained dormant since the demise of the 365 GTB/4 'Daytona' in 1974. Car magazine was understandably enthusiastic: 'The Maranello needs no excuses: it is right-minded, a return to traditional values, albeit values and standards that tower high above those set by the Daytona when it shuffled off to extinction a quarter of a century ago.'
The heart of any Ferrari is its engine, and the 550 Maranello's 48-valve, 5.5-litre V12 developed 485bhp at 7,000rpm, some 100-or-so horsepower more than the Daytona's. Ferrari had discovered long ago that providing optimum balance in a front-engined sports car necessitated the use of a rear transaxle, and the Maranello's came with six speeds. The power train was housed in a tubular steel chassis, to which was attached aluminium coachwork, while the all-independent suspension incorporated dual-mode (normal/sports) damping, switch-selectable by the driver, which was complemented by speed-sensitive power-assisted steering.
Styled by Pininfarina like its illustrious 'Daytona' predecessor, the 550 Maranello was similarly proportioned, adopting the classical combination of long bonnet, small cabin and truncated tail. The body's aerodynamics were developed in the wind tunnel where hours of testing ensured that the minimum of drag was combined with constant downforce regardless of set up, an important consideration in a 320km/h road car. Styling details such as the bonnet air scoop and hot air outlets behind the front wheelarches recalled the great competizione Ferraris of the past, in particular the immortal 250 GTO, while the tail incorporated Ferrari's characteristic twin circular lights. Featuring a luxuriously appointed leather interior, this new generation Gran Turismo recalled and honoured its iconic forebears with aplomb.
In 2002, the 550 Maranello was extensively refreshed and updated to create the 575M ('Modificata'), which featured subtle styling refinements and a further upgraded interior together with numerous mechanical improvements. For the 575M, engine displacement grew to 5,748cc and maximum power to 515bhp, while transmitting it to the ground was a new six-speed 'paddle shift' semi-automatic gearbox, a technology that Ferrari had developed in Formula 1. The brakes were up-rated as well, together with the suspension, which now featured the adaptive damping developed on the Ferrari Enzo supercar.
In 2004, Ferrari released a limited run of 559 examples of a striking and innovative convertible, the Superamerica. Drawing its name from the iconic Pininfarina designed Lampredi V12-powered GT cars of the 1950s and '60s, the 199mph 575M Superamerica retained the coupé's mechanicals together with its general design while featuring a unique pivoting photo-chromic roof.
The work of Pininfarina's chief stylist Leonardo Fioravanti, creator of the legendary 365 GTB/4 'Daytona', it was the first roof of its kind ever fitted to a production car, and was built using a carbon fibre frame integrated with electro-chromatic glass. The transparency of the glass could be adjusted from within the cabin to transmit varying amounts of light, letting in approximately the same amount of light as a conventional glass sunroof at its lightest setting and only 1% of the sun's rays at its darkest. With the press of a button, the Superamerica can be transformed into a convertible, with the roof rotating back to rest flush with the boot lid in just 10 seconds.
Optional on the Superamerica at the point of order was the 'Handling GTC' upgrade package. Developed for the Ferrari 575 GT Competizione Berlinetta, a model produced specifically for the FIA GT and GrandAm championships, this package is considered to be the most desirable option for the 575 model range as it includes carbon-ceramic brake discs with racing pads and special callipers; 19" wheels; stiffer suspension in 'Sport' mode; a titanium racing exhaust; and 'faster' calibration for the steering rack, greatly enhancing the performance of this already capable supercar. It is estimated that around 40% of Superamericas were built with this package.
This supremely well specified left-hand drive Superamerica was built by special order after its owner had visited Maranello. Its special features include a black instrument panel back-plate (instead of yellow/red); full carbon boot interior panel (as per the Geneva Show car, later changed for series production to less expensive felt); interior carbon option, but retaining leather side panels; fuel cap in body colour rather than the stock aluminium; Schedoni bespoke luggage set; and several other interior options.
Finished in Grigio Nürburgring with Burgundy interior, the Superamerica was first registered in Italy on 22nd December 2005 and later on in the UK where it has been fitted with UK-specification lights and instrument cluster (originals available).
It was previously registered in the UK and was fitted with UK-specification lights and instrument cluster (originals available) as these have now been replaced by EU correct units in km/h. The odometer reading when the unit was changed was circa 13,000 kilometres; the replacement odometer in miles comes with the car. Currently the odometer reads just over 15,000 kilometres whereas the actual mileage is believed to be just over 20.000 kilometres from new (including the 3000 miles it has done with UK-instruments).
Accident-free, the car is offered with and old UK V5C registration document, copy of the current Luxembourg registration document (cancelled in April 2018), car cover, original luggage set, toolkit, Ferrari battery charger, certificate of conformity and an extended warranty for the roof. It has been serviced exclusively by official Ferrari agents: Rosso Corsa (Milan), Kessler (Lugano) and Bob Houghton (UK).
The 575M Superamerica has become one of the most highly coveted Ferraris of recent times thanks to its rarity, uniquely innovative design, and the exhilarating driving experience that can only be had behind the wheel of one of these modern Ferrari V12 roadsters. It is generally accepted that the Superamerica's semi-automatic transmission did not offer the most satisfying driving experience, which only makes this ultra rare example with its six-speed manual gearbox all the more desirable. The car comes with Luxembourg registration documents
Perché se devi cominciare da qualche parte, non puoi far altro che partire da qui. Era vero.
John Coltrane (Hamlet, 23 settembre 1926 – New York, 17 luglio 1967)
Since their introduction in 1976, the 18 members of the Irish ‘081’ Class have carried several different liveries. This attractive Iarnród Éireann Freight livery was carried by 14 members of the class from 2009 until they received a major refurbishment and new slate grey livery between 2013 and 2018 (071 and 073 were repainted in retro-liveries). As far as I’m able to determine, the class remains intact if somewhat under-employed (08-May-22).
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