Patriot Park is a theme park in Kubinka, Russia, that is themed around equipment of the Russian military and the Soviet Union's victory in World War II. The park, which officially opened in 2016, is designed around a military theme, and includes interactive exhibits with military equipment (including a mini-Reichstag to storm).

The concept and management of Patriot Park changed frequently. The exhibits of the tank museum were located in 7 powerful Soviet pavilions by armored vehicles category in progress, so that specialists could see the development. Initially, only 14 light summer hangars were installed in Patriot Park. One hangar housed armored vehicles of the Second World War of all countries, corresponding to a given period: 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944-45. This roughly corresponded to the "Battle of Moscow", "Battle of Stalingrad", "Battle of Kursk" and "Battle of Berlin". One hangar was dedicated to military space, another to airborne armored vehicles. Another hangar was dedicated to the war with Japan. Later, a hangar with trophies from the war in Syria was added. The large outdoor exhibition received new exhibits from other museums and military units. Over time, new hangars were built and the exposition changed.

The next area of Patriot Park was the "Partisan Village" (WW2 Guerrilla Village). A base for partisans of a large unit, it includes more than twenty dugouts, an observation post, a kitchen, a stable and a training center for saboteurs. All objects were made in accordance with the Military Regulations and instructions, authentically, by soldiers of the local garrison. The exhibit items were taken from local military units, as was the food. Several objects differ from the real ones, as they were made for commercial purposes. The fee for visiting is taken separately or included in the complex ticket.

At first, it was planned to move all exhibits from the Central Air Force Museum in Monino to Patriot Park. Some exhibits were transported without problems. But moving giant strategic bombers definitely caused their breakdown. The Ministry of Culture threatened the Ministry of Defense with criminal liability for damaging especially valuable exhibits. As a result, this decision was cancelled. Only aircraft from military units began to arrive at Patriot Park. The park incorporates the Aviation Museum of the Kubinka air base and the Kubinka Tank Museum. In 2020, the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces was completed and plans for an Armed Force Museum are in progress.

...

"Shit, daar is die waterkraan toch....."

".....daar gaan we echt niet doorheen.....".

".....als we die Vader Abraham noch eens tegen komen, dan...."

(for the sixword story group)

Netherlands, Rotterdam, ZomerCarnaval, staging area (Boompjes), Smurfs, Schtroumpfs.

Captured during a shoot with Rinie

Best viewed: LARGE.

The red headed banjo player who is pictured with Lloyd Presley at Presley's Mountain Music Jubilee later was in the house band at Hee Haw Theater in Branson, and later was in the band at the Ozark Mt. Hayride at Eureka Springs. I think he was nicknamed "Red." and he was with Hee Haw in 1981 before going to Eureka Springs about 1982. I cannot remember his name. Anyone know his name and where he is today? This photo at Presley's was probably taken in the late 1970s or maybe 1980.

The Black Ferns is New Zealand's national women's rugby union team.

The team's nickname combines the colour black and the silver fern, which are iconic New Zealand sporting symbols. For example, the All Blacks is New Zealand's famous men's rugby team, the Black Caps is the men's cricket team, the White Ferns is the women's cricket team, while the Silver Ferns is the national women's netball team.

The Black Ferns are the current Women's Rugby World Cup champions. They have won four consecutive World Cups, winning the first International Rugby Board (IRB)-sponsored Cup in 1998, the 2002 World Cup in Barcelona, the 2006 World Cup in Edmonton, Canada, and the 2010 World Cup in London, England. The Black Ferns have participated in most WRWC events since its inauguration in 1991, only missing the 1994 championship in Scotland. They also won the Canada Cup in 1996, 2000, and 2005, and the Churchill Cup in 2004.

Farah Palmer, who had been captain since 1997, lost her captaincy in 2005 due to a shoulder injury. However, she was honoured as International Women's (Rugby) Personality of the Year at the IRB Awards. During that year, Rochelle Martin and Anna Richards led the team in the 2005 test series against England, which the Black Ferns won 2-0. For the 5th Women's Rugby World Cup in Canada, Farah Palmer fought her way back into the Black Ferns team. After again leading the team to World Cup victory, Palmer announced her retirement from the Black Ferns in September 2006.[1]

While rugby is the most popular spectator game in New Zealand, the Black Ferns have suffered in the past from similar problems to any women's sport—under-funding, lack of support and lack of publicity. The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and IRB have been criticised for not doing more to promote women's rugby, although support is beginning to build in those organisations. The NZRU started funding the Black Ferns in 1995, thus giving a great boost to their game. Accordingly the Black Ferns have benefitted from being included in NZRU High Performance initiatives. Along with professional coaches the team has had access to professional development resources such as analysis. The Black Ferns have used Verusco Technologies TryMaker video analysis system, as used by the All Blacks. In more recent times, the team's profile has risen greatly at a grassroots level, due in great part to their string of successes, and it is increasingly seen to be a national team on the same basis as any other.

In January 2010 NZRU announced that the National Provincial Competition (NPC) will have to go due to budget cuts. This has been a shock for many women players especially since it is a World Cup year. Former captain Farah Palmer was one of the women who commented on that.[2] NZRU said women's domestic rugby is one of many victims of the tight financial times. They have faced a barrage of criticism for their decision. General manager of provincial rugby Neil Sorenson said NZRU is going to replace the competition with camps and trials for the Black Ferns.

After the Black Ferns won the World Cup in 2010 and due to efforts of many rugby players in New Zealand the NPC was re-installed. The Auckland Storm with Emma Jensen captaining the side, won the final against Canterbury 38-12 in Christchurch. It was the Auckland Storm 5th consecutive title.

Les Néo-Zélandaises se présentent comme les favorites naturelles du Mondial dames de rugby qui s'ouvre vendredi près de Paris, après avoir remporté les quatre dernières éditions, mais les hôtes françaises et les grandes rivales anglaises se tiennent en embuscade.

Les "Black Ferns" (Fougères noires) règnent sans partage sur le monde depuis 1998 et ont pris l'habitude, lors des trois dernières éditions, de contrarier les rêves anglais en finale. Victorieuses de leurs quatre matches de préparation contre l'Australie, les Samoa et le Canada (deux fois), les Néo-Zélandaises, dont les meilleures sont sous contrat fédéral et sont également championnes du monde à VII, semblent posséder un temps d'avance sur le plan technique et physique. Versées dans une poule B plutôt facile (avec l'Irlande, les États-Unis et le Kazakhstan), les Black Ferns devraient se roder lors de leurs trois premières rencontres disputées à Marcoussis, siège de la Fédération française de rugby à une trentaine de kilomètres au sud de Paris.

Parmi les douze équipes en lice pour cette septième édition, les Françaises font figure de sérieuses prétendantes après avoir remporté le Grand Chelem dans le Tournoi des six nations. Invaincues en 2014, les Bleues ont l'avantage du terrain, à condition de gérer la pression de l'événement. Elles devraient en théorie franchir l'obstacle d'une poule C comprenant le pays de Galles, l'Afrique du Sud et l'Australie. Les "Wallaroos" et les "Bleues" n'ont guère de repères les unes contre les autres, leur dernière opposition remontant au Mondial-2010 et au match pour la 3e place perdu par la France.

Les Anglaises (poule A) voudront, elles, chasser l'amertume du dernier Mondial: elles s'étaient inclinées au Twickenham Stoop d'un cheveu contre les Néo-Zélandaises (13-10) au terme d'une finale à fort suspense. Mais leurs Tournois des six nations 2013 (3e place) (...)

A short drive from Aylesford is Birling, a small but attractive village, stretched out along a winding street, and dominated by the church on a rise. The road winds round it then out of the village.

I was past the church and out of the village again before I knew it.

I found a place to park and walked to the church, hopeful it might be open.

It was not.

But details of the keyholder said they lived opposite, so I knocked and was presented with the large key from a rusty nail on the wall. I thought you were selling something she said.

I walk back through the lych gate, up the steps and turn the key in the lock. Turning the handle, I push and the door swung open, revealing the church to be dark. But there were light, I flicked them on.

-------------------------------------------------

Dominating the centre of this tiny village, Birling tower is a thinned down version of the familiar `beacon turret` so commonly found in Kent. Thinned down because there wasn't room for a properly proportioned structure, so close is it built to the end of the escarpment on which the church stands. The church is famed for two features, both connected with the Nevill family. The first is the cast-iron trapdoor the their burial vault in the chancel, resplendent with highly coloured bulls (the family emblem) and the family motto. The second is the font cover, carved by daughters of the family in the nineteenth century. Each section is initialled on the inside so that you can see who carved it. West tower, south aisle, nave, north aisle, chancel.

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of a nave, south isle, and chancel. It has a good tower at the west end of it.

The church of Birling, with certain land in this parish, was given by Walkelin de Maminot, lord of this place, in the 15th year of king Henry II. anno 1168, to the priory of Bermondsey, in perpetual alms; which gift was confirmed by that king. Soon after which it seems to have been confirmed and appropri ated to it by Walter, bishop of Rochester, at the king's request; and again more amply by the bishops Gualeran and Gilbert, his successor; and again by the Says, as heirs to the Maminots; and by Geoffry de Say, who married Alice, sister and coheir of Wakelin Maminot. The prior and convent of Rochester, in 1270, John, prior of, and the convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, acknowledged an annual pension of 20s. due from this church to the bishop of Rochester, which pension continues to be paid to the bishops of that see.

Upon a writ in the 20th year of king Edward III. the bishop certified, that the prior and convent possessed the appropriation of this church, which was taxed at ten pounds, and that the religious were not resident upon it. (fn. 14)

Richard Mann, perpetual vicar of this church, about the year 1447, anno 26 Henry VI. made complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury, of the insufficiency of the revenue of the vicarage for his maintenance, and that the prior and convent of Bermondsey, proprietaries of this church, refused to augment the portion of it; and he set forth that the produce and income belonging to the vicar and vicarage, did not exceed the annual value or sum of 4l. 15s. 8d. in the tithes of calves, milk, and foals 8s. 9d. yearly; in the tithes of lambs, wool, pigs, geese, apples, hemp, and in the tithes of the oblations of the four days yearly; and for sheep and cows forty one shillings and twelve-pence, in the pension paid to the vicar by the abbot and convent forty-four shillings and tenpence. And further, that the portion of the vicar and vicarage had been for some time, and was then insufficient, incompetent, and too slender; and that he could not, out of it, be supported in a proper manner, nor undergo the rights and burthens incumbent on him, or his vicarage, nor use that hospitality which he ought and was bound to do. That the parish church had a large and extended parish, containing six miles in circuit, having some of the parishioners of both sexes two miles or thereabout distant from the church, which, when there was occasion, he was bound to visit, and to administer to them the church offices and sacraments. That the mansion of the vicar there, and the buildings belonging to it, were, through the negligence of the abbot and convent, in a ruinous state, and would very soon, fall to the ground; which if they should they could not be rebuilt again for twenty pounds. That he the vicar had exercised the no small cure of fouls of the parish church, of one hundred parishioners, or thereabouts, although with great inconvenience, and in great misery and want during the whole time of his having been vicar, and had employed himself in every religious duty to the best of his abilities, and still continued so to do. That the portion of the fruits and profits of the parish church, belonging to the abbot and convent, proprietaries of it, had been from the time of the appropriation of it, and was then so rich and abundant, that, according to common estimation, the portion of the vicar might well be augmented out of it to the value of twenty marcs sterling, or thereabout; and that the abbot and convent, although they had been often requested, to augment the portion of the vicarage, out of the revenues of the church, in a competent manner, had, without alledging any reason, always refused it, or at least deferred it beyond reason, to the great damage, &c. Upon which it was decreed, that the prior and convent should augment the portion of the vicarage out of the fruits and profits of this church, or in money, to the amount of eight marcs sterling, beyond the antient portion of it, within the space of one month; and they were condemned in all costs, &c. but on their neglecting to obey this decree, a further one was made, that in satisfaction of the payment of the said eight marcs, there should be set apart and assigned to the vicar, and his successors, (at his request) the tithes, as well great as small, yearly accruing and arising from the lands, fields, and places below the lane, vulgarly called Benetis-lane, westward, and from the north side of the said lane, according to the bounds and limits of this parish, to those of the parish of Snodland on the north side, and from thence to the bounds and limits of the parish of East Malling on the east side, to the common pasture of Hordo, and from thence to the south end of Benetis-lane aforesaid, &c.

¶When the church of Birling, and the advowson of the vicarage passed from the above mentioned monastery, I have not found, but it appears by an inrolment made in chancery, and now in the Augmentation-office, that in the 13th year of king Henry VIII. George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, was possessed of a barn, and one hundred and fifty acres of land late belonging to that monastery, and then inclosed in the park of Birling, and also of the rectory of Birling, and all tithes, tenths, &c. belonging to it, and the advowson of the vicarage late belonging to the abbot and convent. Since which, they have descended down to the Right Hon. Henry, earl of Abergavenny, the present owner and patron of them.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp474-488

LOCATION: At c. 110 feet above O.D. on a Folkestone beds knoll at the north end of the village. Birling Place lies ¾ mile to the north-west.

DESCRIPTION: A church is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086), and it is probable that the nave of the present church, without its aisles, is Norman. The only evidence for this, however, is one tufa block on the south-west corner of the nave, and some detached (?reused) tufa blocks in the west face of the south-west buttress to the south aisle.

In the early 14th century first one aisle, then the other, was rebuilt with finely-tooled octagonal arcade piers of Kentish Ragstone. Above them are moulded capitals (slightly different south and north) with pointed arches over with double hollow chamfers. There are four bays of arcading, but the arches are not exactly regularly spaced, and the centre pier on the north is more elongated east-west, with an indication that there might have been a narrow partition on its north and south sides. There is also a slight scar opposite in the north wall. The south side has a separate gabled roof (of plain rafters, collars, braces and unmoulded tie-beams), and this is also perhaps 14th century. The aisle wall has three buttresses on the south, and at its east end (possibly the chapel of St. James) is a double trefoiled window. There is another in the south wall at the east end, with piscina just east of it. All the other windows in the south aisle are single trefoiled lights. The south doorway is also contemporary and has a hoodmould over its 2-centred arch. The door and hinges may also be original. Outside the door was a porch, but this was removed in the mid-19th century.

The north aisle outer wall has a more complicated history. At its east end, which may have been the Lady Chapel, two 2-light 15th century windows (on the north and east) seem to have been inserted into the 14th century fabric. There is also a high lancet over the east window, and a small blocked doorway (visible outside) in the north-east corner. A long thin pilaster buttress on the outside of the north wall, which slopes back into the wall, may have related to a later 15th century Rood stair. The west end of the aisle, which has an external plinth seems certainly to have been rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century, though the 2-light north window here appears to be a reset 14th century one. The north doorway has pyramid stops, and an early 14th century single-light trefoil-headed window above. It now leads into a 19th century vestry. There is also perhaps an original door here. The roof over the aisle has moulded beams and wall-plates, and a partitioned off vestry at its west end. Also the ground level in this aisle appears to have been lowered.

The west tower is a fine early 15th century ‘Kentish’ tower with a crenellated parapet and pyramid roof. It contains 8 bells (three of 1631) set in a new (1987) iron frame. It has also had many of its find Kentish ragstone dressings restored (also in 1986-7) with many new stones. This has been an over-zealous restoration. On the south-east side of the tower is a semi-octagonal stair-turret, which rises above the tower-top, and has its own tiled octagonal roof. The tower has diagonal western buttresses, and a square-headed western doorway with pyramid stops (all the dressings of this doorway, and the tracery of the Perpendicular windows above have recently - 1987 - been restored). Under the tower arch was a gallery until 1866.

As has already been seen, the west end of the north aisle was probably rebuilt in the later 15th century (there are a few red-bricks in the walls), and at the east end of this aisle a north and a south window seems to have been inserted, as well as possibly a Rood-stair. There is also a 15th century Ragstone font (with 1853 cover).

There is no chancel arch, and a large wide early 16th century chancel. This chancel must have been completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family after they had acquired the patronage of the church from Bermondsey Abbey. On the south side are four square-headed early Tudor 2-light windows, and only the western one has Perpendicular tracery. The wall is in quasi-checker work, and has a hollow-chamfered plinth, which also goes round a diagonal (south-east) buttress and along the east wall. Here there is a large six-light window (also without tracery and perhaps with original ferromenta) that Hasted says contained glass with the arms of Sir George Nevill, Lord Bergavenney, ‘within the garter’ (He was a knight of the garter from 1514, and was buried here in 1535). There is also a small round-headed window in the east gable, with red bricks around it, but the wall and window had to be repaired after 1942 bomb damage. The very plain north wall of the chancel contains large Rag and ironstone blocks in quasi-checker pattern. It has no plinth and only one window (at the extreme western end), but also a north doorway from it into a 19th century vestry. Was there an earlier larger vestry?

The chancel has a moulded flat ceiling (painted in 1963), and the earlier steep-pitched roof was replaced in c.1828 with a low-pitched slate covered roof. At about the same time the Nevill family burial vault was rebuilt under the eastern third of the chancel. It has a cast-iron cover to the entry steps, and there are two early 19th century niches on either side of the sanctuary, with air-vents to the vault beneath. The family pews in the chancel, and the other fittings and memorials were put there in the mid-19th century. (Two fire helms from the chancel are now in ‘safekeeping’).

BUILDING MATERIALS: c.):

The principle rubble materials are local Ragstone and ironstone, with Ragstone dressings. A few perhaps reused tufa blocks from the early church are in the west wall, and some red brick is used in the early 16th century work.

Some Caenstone (?for restoration) and cement repairs.

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: -

Various 19th century Nevill monuments in the church, especially in the chancel (with early 19th century burial vault below it). Royal Arms of 1700 above south doorway.

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:

Size & Shape: Large irregular area around the church with a steep drop to the north, west and south. It has been much extended to the north- east. There is a very good plan of the whole churchyard (with all known graves surveyed on it) hanging in the Church. Enlarged in the 19th century from small graveyard around the church. Very steep slope on the east side, down to the road (Horn Street)

Condition: Good.

Boundary walls: Ragstone walls retaining sunken lanes on north and west

Building in churchyard or on boundary: 1987 Lychgate to the south-west.

Exceptional monuments: Some good headstones.

Ecological potential: Yes.

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):

Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book.

Late med. status: Vicarage.

Patron: Given by the Lord of Birling manor to Bermondsey Abbey in 1168. It was appropriated soon afterwards. After the Dissolution (by c.1530) to Lord Abergavenny (Nevill formerly) till 1959.

Other documentary sources: Hasted IV (1798), 485 - 8.

Testamenta Cantiana (W.Kent, 1906), 5, mentions: Repair to one window on the south side of the church (1501). Also altars of ‘Our Lady in the chapel’ (1516) and ‘To be buried by side of Chaunsell of Birlyng at the hede of Saynt James aulter’ 1523).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:

Reused materials: A few reused Roman bricks, and tufa blocks in S.W. corner of south aisle.

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:

Inside present church: ? Good, though there is a large vault under the chancel, and the floor level of the north aisle appears to have been lowered.

Outside present church: ? Good.

RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:

To structure: The tower was very heavily restored with many new dressings, and a new iron bellframe on a reinforced concrete ringbeam in 1986-7.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:

The church and churchyard: A few tufa blocks perhaps from the Norman nave west quoins, but otherwise the earliest visible fabric are the 14th century nave aisles and arcades. Early 15th century west tower. West end of north aisle rebuilt in c. 1500, and possibly a Rood stair made on the north side. Chancel completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family.

The wider context: One of a small group with a rebuilt (by an important patron) early 16th century chancel.

REFERENCES: -

Guide Book: Leaflet (Revised) 1989 Anon.

Photographs: Photo of font and font cover in Kent Churches 1954, 127 (cover made 1853).

Plans & early drawings: Petrie 1807 view of church from S.E., showing steep-pitched roof over chancel. Also a porch on the south side of the church.

www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/BIG.htm

Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Boston.

With classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain,[2] it marked a distinct break with Colonial-era burying grounds and church-affiliated graveyards. The appearance of this type of landscape coincides with the rising popularity of the term "cemetery", derived from the Greek for "a sleeping place." This language and outlook eclipsed the previous harsh view of death and the afterlife embodied by old graveyards and church burial plots.[3]

The 174-acre (70 ha) cemetery is important both for its historical aspects and for its role as an arboretum. It is Watertown’s largest contiguous open space and extends into Cambridge to the east, adjacent to the Cambridge City Cemetery and Sand Banks Cemetery. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2003 for its pioneering role in 19th-century cemetery development.

Wikipedia

St. Paul's Cathedral is located at 472 Richmond Street, on the east side of Richmond Street between Queens Avenue to the south and Dufferin Avenue to the north, in the downtown area of the City of London. The two storey red brick building and tower were constructed in 1846. A painted red brick addition was constructed between 1894 and 1895. There are twelve grave markers and a cast iron fence also visible.

The property was designated, by the City of London, in 2005, for its historical and contextual value or interest, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law L.S.P. – 3373-297).

The open space surrounding St. Paul's Cathedral accentuates the Cathedral from the surrounding buildings. The grounds of the Cathedral once served as a graveyard for the village of London. Most of the interred and their grave markers were transferred to Woodland Cemetery, which is owned and operated by the Cathedral. Twelve marked graves remain on the Cathedral grounds as reminders of London's early pioneer days.

The Cathedral is enclosed with a unique cast-iron beaver-motif fence, reflecting the Diocese of Huron's coat of arms. The original portion was purchased by the Cathedral in 1887 to demarcate the property along Richmond Street. In 1974, additional fencing was added, to surround the entire property.

St. Paul's Cathedral, the oldest church in London and the seat of the Diocese of Huron, opened for worship on Ash Wednesday in 1846. The first frame church was destroyed by fire on Ash Wednesday in 1844. Between 1894 and 1895, the Cathedral was enlarged with a small tower and included Cronyn Hall which was dedicated to the first Bishop of the Diocese of Huron, Reverend Benjamin Cronyn. Cronyn Hall was built to house the church and synod offices, and to provide a hall for meetings. The Cathedral has been used continuously as a place of worship for over 150 years and is also notable for having housed the first election of an Anglican Bishop in Canada, in 1857.

The Cathedral is one of the most magnificent churches in the City of London and its many notable architects, builders and contributors enhance this status. The nave and tower, built of yellow brick, later painted red, to match the Cronyn Hall addition, are fine examples of the English Gothic Revival style and they were designed by William Thomas. Thomas was a distinguished architect from Toronto who designed many exemplary buildings, including St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto and Brock's Monument at Queenston. Mr. Spier and Mr. Rohns of Detroit, Michigan, designed the later chancel and transepts under the supervision of local architect, John. M. Moore. The pinnacles on many parts of the building and the main doorways feature gargoyles carved from stone which was quarried at Portland Bill. This was the same stone that Sir Christopher Wren used to build St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England. Also of note are the wide transepts and spacious chancel.

The dominating main tower features the original six peal of bells cast by Mears Company of London, England in 1851. The bells were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean and then conveyed from Port Stanley to London by oxcart. In 1901, the clock and chime of 10 bells, made by Gillett and Johnston of England, were donated by the Meredith family.

The stained glass windows of St. Paul's Cathedral are of finest quality and design and are one of the most outstanding aspects of the Cathedral. The windows of most significance were created by the Louis Tiffany Company in the late 19th century, including the two windows next to and opposite the Nativity window. During the 150th anniversary of the Cathedral, four new stained glass windows, designed and made by Christopher Wallis, were placed in the remaining locations in the nave. Three of the windows depict the life of St. Paul and the fourth is a Nativity window.

www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=15473...

This is my jumprope. There are many like it, but this jumprope is mine. Must be jelly 'cuz jam don't shake. #twerk It's officially official that I've got a new apartment and my time at this temporary apartment where I've been living for the past year is almost over. This back porch / rooftop deck area was my favorite part and I knew I'd be sad not to get another summer with it but now that I'll gone from the premisis in less than a week I'm feeling the nostalgia.

This is a hands down winner of the butterfly flamboyance trophy in late summer up here. Even the lower wing is relatively splashy.... the upper wing is spectacular as shown in this view! There were several Buckeyes feeding on this patch of Rabbit Brush shrub... it was one of few blooming plants at this time.

IMG_5459; Common Buckeye; Common Buckeye

Fatehpur Sikri (Hindi: फ़तेहपुर सीकरी, Urdu: فتحپور سیکری‎) is a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. After his military victories over Chittor and Ranthambore, Akbar decided to shift his capital from Agra to a new location 37 km WSW on the Sikri ridge, to honor the Sufi saint Salim Chishti. Here he commenced the construction of a planned walled city which took the next fifteen years in planning and construction of a series of royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings. He named the city, Fatehabad, with Fateh, a word of Arabic origin in Persian, meaning "victorious." it was later called Fatehpur Sikri. It is at Fatehpur Sikri that the legends of Akbar and his famed courtiers, the nine jewels or Navaratnas, were born. Fatehpur Sikri is one of the best preserved collections of Indian Mughal architecture in India.

According to contemporary historians, Akbar took a great interest in the building of Fatehpur Sikri and probably also dictated its architectural style. Seeking to revive the splendours of Persian court ceremonial made famous by his ancestor Timur, Akbar planned the complex on Persian principles. But the influences of his adopted land came through in the typically Indian embellishments. The easy availability of sandstone in the neighbouring areas of Fatehpur Sikri, also meant that all the buildings here were made of the red stone. The imperial Palace complex consists of a number of independent pavilions arranged in formal geometry on a piece of level ground, a pattern derived from Arab and central Asian tent encampments. In its entirety, the monuments at Fatehpur Sikri thus reflect the genius of Akbar in assimilating diverse regional architectural influences within a holistic style that was uniquely his own.

The Imperial complex was abandoned in 1585, shortly after its completion, due to paucity of water and its proximity with the Rajputana areas in the North-West, which were increasingly in turmoil. Thus the capital was shifted to Lahore so that Akbar could have a base in the less stable part of the empire, before moving back to Agra in 1598, where he had begun his reign as he shifted his focus to Deccan. In fact, he never returned to the city except for a brief period in 1601. In later Mughal history it was occupied for a short while by Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah (r. 1719 -1748), and his regent, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha, one of the Syed Brothers, was murdered here in 1720. Today much of the imperial complex which spread over nearly two mile long and one mile wide area is largely intact and resembles a ghost town. It is still surrounded by a five mile long wall built during its original construction, on three sides. However apart from the imperial buildings complex few other buildings stand in the area, which is mostly barren, except of ruins of the bazaars of the old city near the Naubat Khana, the 'drum-house' entrance at Agra Road. The modern town lies at the western end of the complex, which was a municipality from 1865 to 1904, and later made a "notified area", and in 1901 had a population of 7,147. For a long time it was still known for its masons and stone carvers, though in Akbar time it was known and 'fabrics of hair' and 'silk-spinning'. The village of Sikri still exists nearby.

ARCHITECTURE OF FATEHPUR SIKRI

Fatehpur Sikri sits on rocky ridge, 3 kilometres in length and 1 km wide, and palace city is surrounded by a 6 km wall on three side with the fourth being a lake at the time. Its architect was Tuhir Das and Dhruv Chawla and was constructed using Indian principles. The buildings of Fatehpur Sikri show a synthesis of various regional schools of architectural craftsmanship such as Gujarat and Bengal. This was because indigenous craftsmen were used for the construction of the buildings. Influences from Hindu and Jain architecture are seen hand in hand with Islamic elements. The building material used in all the buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, palace-city complex, is the locally quarried red sandstone, known as 'Sikri sandstone'. It is accessed through gates along the five-mile long fort wall, namely, Delhi Gate, the Lal Gate, the Agra Gate, Birbal's Gate, Chandanpal Gate, The Gwalior Gate, the Tehra Gate, the Chor Gate and the Ajmere Gate.

Some of the important buildings in this city, both religious and secular are:

IMPORTANT BUILDINGS

Buland Darwaza: Set into the south wall of congregational mosque, the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, this stupendous piece of architecture is 55 metre high, from the outside, gradually making a transition to a human scale in the inside. The gate was added some five years later after the completion of the mosque ca. 1576-1577 as an 'victory arch', to commemorate the Akbar's successful Gujarat campaign. It carries two inscriptions in the archway, one of which reads: "Isa, Son of Mariam said: The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no houses on it. He who hopes for an hour may hope for eternity. The world endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen".

The central portico comprises three arched entrances, with the largest one, in the centre, is known locally as the Horseshoe Gate, after the custom of nailing horseshoes to its large wooden doors for luck. Outside the giant steps of the Buland Darwaza to left is deep well.

Jama Masjid: It is a Jama Mosque meaning the congregational mosque, and was perhaps one of the first buildings to come up in the complex, as its epigraph gives AH 979 (AD 1571-72) as the date of its completion, with a massive entrance to the courtyard, the Buland-Darwaza added some five years later. It was built in the manner of Indian mosques, with iwans around a central courtyard. A distinguishing feature is the row of chhatri over the sanctuary. There are three mihrabs in each of the seven bays, while the large central mihrab is covered by a dome, it is decorated with white marble inlay, in geometric patterns.

Tomb of Salim Chishti: A white marble encased tomb of the Sufi saint, Salim Chisti (1478–1572), within the Jama Masjid's sahn, courtyard. The single-storey structure is built around a central square chamber, within which is the grave of the saint, under an ornate wooden canopy encrusted with mother-of-pearl mosaic. Surrounding it is a covered passageway for circumambulation, with carved Jalis, stone pierced screens all around with intricate geometric design, and an entrance to the south. The tomb is influenced by earlier mausolea of the early 15th century Gujarat Sultanate period. Other striking features of the tomb are white marble serpentine brackets, which support sloping eaves around the parapet.

On the left of the tomb, to the east, stands a red sandstone tomb of Islam Khan I, son of Shaikh Badruddin Chisti and grandson of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who became a general in the Mughal army in the reign of Jahangir. The tomb is topped by a dome and thirty-six small domed chattris, and contains a number of graves, some unnamed, all male descendants of Shaikh Salim Chisti.

Diwan-i-Aam : Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience, is a building typology found in many cities where the ruler meets the general public. In this case, it is a pavilion-like multi-bayed rectangular structure fronting a large open space. South west of the Diwan-i-Am and next to the Turkic Sultana's House stand Turkic Baths.

Diwan-i-Khas: the Diwan-i-Khas, or Hall of Private Audience, is a plain square building with four chhatris on the roof. However it is famous for its central pillar, which has a square base and an octagonal shaft, both carved with bands of geometric and floral designs, further its thirty-six serpentine brackets support a circular platform for Akbar, which is connected to each corner of the building on the first floor, by four stone walkways. It is here that Akbar had representatives of different religions discuss their faiths and gave private audience.

Ibadat Khana: (House of Worship) was a meeting house built in 1575 CE by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, where the foundations of a new Syncretistic faith, Din-e-Ilahi were laid by Akbar.

Anup Talao: A ornamental pool with a central platform and four bridges leading up to it. Some of the important buildings of the royal enclave are surround by it including, Khwabgah (House of Dreams) Akbar's residence, Panch Mahal, a five-storey palace, Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience), Ankh Michauli and the Astrologer's Seat, in the south-west corner of the Pachisi Court.

Hujra-i-Anup Talao: Said to be the residence of Akbar's Muslim wife, although this is disputed due to its small size.

Mariam-uz-Zamani's Palace: The building of Akbar's Rajput wives, including Mariam-uz-Zamani, shows Gujarati influence and is built around a courtyard, with special care being taken to ensure privacy.

Naubat Khana: Also known as Naqqar Khana meaning a drum house, where musician used drums to announce the arrival of the Emperor. It is situated ahead of the Hathi Pol Gate or the Elephant Gate, the south entrance to the complex, suggesting that it was the imperial entrance.

Pachisi Court: A square marked out as a large board game, the precursor to modern day Ludo game where people served as the playing pieces.

Panch Mahal: A five-storied palatial structure, with the tiers gradually diminishing in size, till the final one, which is a single large-domed chhatri. Originally pierced stone screens faced the façade, and probably sub-divided the interior as well, suggesting it was built for the ladies of the court. The floors are supported by intricately carved columns on each level, totalling to 176 columns in all.

Birbal's House: The house of Akbar's favorite minister, who was a Hindu. Notable features of the building are the horizontal sloping sunshades or chajjas and the brackets which support them.

Recent excavation done by ASI in 2000 led to unearthing of an ancient jain city very near to the fort complex.

Other buildings included Taksal (mint), 'Daftar Khana (Records Office), Karkhanas (royal workshop), Khazana (treasury), Turkic styled Baths, Darogha's Quarters, stables, Caravan sarai, Hakim's quarters etc.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Fatehpur Sikri has a population of 28,757. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Fatehpur Sikri has an average literacy rate of 46%, lower than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 57%, and female literacy is 34%. In Fatehpur Sikri, 59% of the population is under 6 years of age.

ADMINISTRATIVE ESTABLISHMENT

Fatehpur Sikri is one of the fifteen Block headquarters in the Agra district it has 52 Gram panchayats (Village Panchayat) under it.

The Fatehpur Sikri, is a constituency of the Lok Sabha, Lower house of the Indian Parliament, and further comprises five Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments:

Agra Rural

Fatehpur Sikri

Kheragarh

Fatehabad

Bah

In all there are 12 villages of Sisodia Rajputs near Fatehpur Sikri fort in Agra district. These are Daultabad, Nayavas, Satha, korai, Behrawati, Byara, Undera, Kachora, Singarpur, Vidyapur, Onera, Arrua.

TRANSPORT

Fatehpur Sikri is about 39 km. from Agra. The nearest Airport is the Agra Airport (also known as Kheria Airport), 40 km from Fatehpur Sikri. The nearest railway station is the Fatehpur Sikri Railway Station, about one km. from the city centre . It is suitably connected to Agra and neighbouring centres by road, where regular bus services of UPSRTC ply, apart from Tourist buses and taxies.

WIKIPEDIA

Official list entry

Heritage Category: Listed Building

Grade: I

List Entry Number: 1228336

Date first listed: 28-Nov-1950

List Entry Name: PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY

Statutory Address 1: St Mary's Church,84 South St, Bridport DT6 3NW

Location

Statutory Address: St Mary's Church,84 South St, Bridport DT6 3NW

District: Dorset (Unitary Authority)

Parish: Bridport

National Grid Reference: SY 46577 92595

Details

I Dates of main phases, name of architect (where applicable): 13th century E.E. transepts, the rest mainly late C14 and C15. Two west bays of nave and the entire eastern arm rebuilt by John Hicks of Dorchester, 1859-60. Nave roof repaired after fire damage in 1996.

Materials: Ham hill stone, with clay tiled roofs.

Plan: Cruciform plan with crossing tower, 6-bay aisled nave. North and south chapels to chancel, porch and chapel of two storeys between the south aisle and transept.

Exterior: From the road the dominant view is of the impressive triple-gabled and buttressed east end, of 1860, with Perp traceried windows of five lights (chancel) and four lights to the chapels. The north and south windows to the chapels have three-light windows with reticulation units; these are matched in the aisles, where the medieval tracery was replaced in 1860. The aisles have solid parapets above a string course of fleurons. The transepts have big gabled ends with Perp windows (six lights south, five lights north), seemingly not renewed 1859-60. The square angle buttresses with chamfered corners topped by octagonal pinnacles are an Early English feature. West of the south transept is a two-bay addition probably of the late 14th century, containing a chapel (of St Katherine) with a two-storey porch to its west. The porch has a standard Perp two-centred moulded arch, and a small oriel window above. It also has a small octagonal chimney stack at the corner of the parapet, with a crenellated rim; the oriel perhaps lit a priest¿s room. The nave has three-light Perp windows between buttresses; four bays clear on the south side, six on the north side. The two west bays are of 1859-60, virtually indistinguishable from the medieval work. The west front is gabled in the centre, with a door under square label, and four-light window. The ends of the aisles are treated as rectangular blank walls. The imposing tower is late 14th or 15th century, and rises above the roof in two stages, with offset buttresses at the lower stage, and a two-light bell opening in each face of the upper stage. It has an embattled parapet with a continuous moulding around the merlons. The square angle-pinnacles are small and insignificant. Access to the tower is by a big stair turret in the angle of the north aisle and transept, then horizontally through a passage over the aisle roofs into the tower.

Interior: Floors mainly stone flagged. The nave arcades have Perp piers that are a variant on the standard four shafts and four hollows pattern ¿ here, the north and south sides of each pier have a flat face flanked by hollow chamfers, the east and west faces each have three shafts continuing up to the arch mouldings. The former room over the south porch was opened up to the south aisle with an arched opening above the internal porch door, and by removing its eastern wall towards St Katherine¿s chapel. The rear arch of the oriel window which lit this room has shafts and ring-moulded capitals in the E.E. style; if in situ, this implies that the porch may be 13th century with Perp remodelling. The transepts have in their east walls arches, now blocked, to former east chapels. E.E. fluted trumpet capitals. In the west wall of the south transept is a former lancet window which now opens into St Katherine¿s chapel. The crossing piers are Perp, with slim shafts and a little foliage decoration in bands at the capitals. Over the crossing is a ribbed vault with a large bell-hole in a concave-sided lozenge. This must all correspond with the rebuilding date of the tower. The chancel and its chapels are all Victorian, continuing the style of the crossing and nave. Nave and transepts have ceiled wagon roofs with moulded ribs and carved bosses, the aisles have lean-to panelled roofs with plain rafters on carved corbels. The roofs in the west arm were conservatively repaired after fire damage in 1996. The chancel roof is more elaborate, of dark stained timber with hammerbeam trusses. The north chapel serves as an organ loft and sacristy.

Principal Fixtures: On the outside west wall of the south porch is a badly weathered medieval carving from St Andrew¿s chapel (see History), placed there in 1883. Light oak bench seating in the nave and aisles, of the late 20th century. The chancel retains few fittings; a late 20th century reordering installed a nave altar and simple three-sided communion rail just west of the crossing. Late 20th century nave benches. Heavy pulpit of Caen stone, 1860, with much Perp carving and three sides opened up beneath ogee arches to form a frame for a high relief scene of the Sermon on the Mount. The font is Perp, octagonal with quatrefoil panels on the bowl, and a heavy panelled foot. At the west end of the south aisle, the Royal Arms painted on board in an arched frame; said to have been given in 1820, now with arms of Queen Victoria. Good pale oak organ case, 1984-8. In the north transept is a trefoil-headed piscina of the 13th century. In the south chapel is a Gothic oak reredos, 1907, and an entrance screen of wrought-iron, from a reordering and restoration of the chapel in 1900, when encaustic tiles were laid in the sanctuary. Monuments: The outstanding monument is in the north transept, a knight in chain mail of c. 1250, possibly John Gervase d. 1262; the face was restored c. 1860. Small brass in decorative frame, to Edward Coker, gentleman, shot in 1685 by one of the Duke of Monmouth¿s officers. Slate tablet to Katherine Frampton d. 1705, with naive incised decoration. Stained glass: a varied collection of 1850-1914. East window with typically bright colouring of c. 1860. South chapel east, by A.L. Moore, 1902, depicting Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. South chapel south, second from east, by E. Baillie, 1851. The south transept east dated 1865 may be by Clayton & Bell. St Katherine¿s chapel south window is c. 1894. Four in the nave of c. 1890-1914; the first from east (north wall) signed A.L. Moore, 1908, and the fourth signed Cox, Son, Buckley & Co., London, c. 1890. North transept east also by Moore, 1908.

Subsidiary Features: Large churchyard with a yew walk to the south porch, and many good monuments, including prominent obelisks near the road. South-east of the chancel, gatepiers with heavy V-jointed rustication, dated 1831.

History: One of four Saxon boroughs in Dorset, Bridport was a substantial settlement by the 11th century. The earliest parts of the present church are early 13th century, probably indicating rebuilding on the site of a Saxon predecessor. As Bridport grew from the 13th century, the centre of settlement moved northwards, accounting for the church¿s position on the southern edge of the old town centre. This resulted in the building of a chapel of St Andrew dedicated in 1362, on the site of the town hall c. ¼ mile north of the church. It was demolished by 1798. Several chantries in the church were endowed in the late 14th century (1368, two in 1387, two in 1400) and these may coincide approximately with the Perp rebuilding around the crossing, and of the south chapel and adjacent porch. Galleries were added over the aisles in 1717 and 1790, removed in 1859. The north transept was `repaired and beautified¿ in 1776 for the use of the poor, at the expense of Mr Jullantigh. Thomas Hardy seemingly did not approve of the restoration of 1859-60. In Wessex Tales (1888) he wrote, "The church had had such a practical joke played upon it by some facetious restorer or other as to be scarce recognisable...", which is odd since the `facetious restorer¿ was John Hicks of Dorchester, to whom Hardy was articled 1856-62, and became an assistant, 1867-9. Pevsner offers `congratulations¿ for Hicks¿s restoration. John Hicks (1815-69) was born at Totnes, Devon, and worked as an architect in Bristol c. 1838-48 before settling in Dorchester. He restored or built at least 27 churches, mostly Gothic. He was popular, amiable and scholarly, and was seemingly at work on at least three churches when he died; yet his death went almost unremarked, and he is little known now except for his association with Hardy.

© Historic England 2023

Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department, and the second largest city (in population) only after Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

(Wikipedia)

-----

Streets of La Paz close to its old centre form a lively marketplace...

Surfing is Poetry in Motion! Beautiful Professional Surf Girl Goddess! Athletic Bikini Swimsuit Models Surfing Surf City Huntington Beach, California! Surf Girls! Nikon D810 + Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 for Nikon FX Catching Waves Surf's Up!

Epic Art & 45EPIC Gear exalting golden ratio designs for your Hero's Odyssey:

geni.us/9fnvAMw

Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz

Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!

geni.us/m90Ms

Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!

Follow me my good friends!

Facebook: geni.us/A0Na3

Instagram: geni.us/QD2J

Golden Ratio: geni.us/9EbGK

45SURF: geni.us/Mby4P

Fine Art Ballet: geni.us/C1Adc

Some of my epic books, prints, & more!

geni.us/aEG4

Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey

Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!

geni.us/eeA1

Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!

Epic Landscape Photography:

geni.us/TV4oEAz

A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)

All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q

Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.

Maria Marques is feeling fear. Check out the profile on www.visualfeelings.net/person/mariajoao-rmarques-gmail-com

Z471 led by NS C40-8 #8743 is coming off the Shelly Lead with a loaded autorack train for CSX. Its waiting at Central Avenue for permission to come on down into Osborn Yard. Louisville,KY 2-9-06

Nainital is a wonderful hill station surrounded by mountains.The name nainital is derived from the lake Naini which could comfortably be called the nucleus of the city..Naini lake seems to change its hue simultaneously with a change in the sky and Yes I did see that happen .

Found in 1840 ,it was popularized by British folks who were enamored by the beauty of the lake . More about Nainital can be read at my personal travel blog

whereisvijay.blogspot.com/2006/07/nainital-nostalgia.html

Yay ! this image is selected for Flickr interestingness and debuted at #378 for March 11,2007

Because this is a bridge worthy of some poetry:

Leaving Here

Fly these bones up into the night;

Lay them along those beams, stark white

Of flickered, filtered, bright starlight.

Fill these lungs with the shining dust

Of what has been, of what will be,

In the realm of distant galaxies.

I'll kneel behind the shadowed moon

And catch your dreams as they climb skyward,

Coat your wounds with the balm of two small words:

Missing you.

For soon I'll shoot beyond this place,

From the cold twilight of youth's embrace,

Into the fires of a new world's race,

Into that booming, sparking, guideless space.

There are no strings to hold me here,

Just faded memories of our years,

And those, in the manner of love's way stations,

Dim as we follow our own constellations.

I'll dance those hungry sun-dog fires,

Romance the flames, dwell in desire.

All things, they say - even love? - expire.

But in some of that light, no matter how far,

Will arc the streak of a sole shooting star,

And I'll know, forever, just where you are.

(Poem written before my move from Iowa to the East Coast a few years back. Image curteousy of a borrowed Zero Image pinhole camera. Taken from the vantage point of a picnic table at Cathedral Park in St. Johns.)

Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is derived from the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it because of its round swelling form. The island's population is between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea, giving rise to the island's nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean". The most recent major eruption was on 13 April 2009. Stromboli stands 926 m (3,034 ft) above sea level, and over 2,700 m (8,860 ft) on average above the sea floor.There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco ("Stream of fire"), a big horseshoe-shaped depression generated in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the northwestern side of the cone. Two kilometers to the northeast lies Strombolicchio, the volcanic plug remnant of the original volcano.Mt. Stromboli has been in almost continuous eruption for the past 2,000 years. A pattern of eruption is maintained in which explosions occur at the summit craters, with mild to moderate eruptions of incandescent volcanic bombs, at intervals ranging from minutes to hours. This Strombolian eruption, as it is known, is also observed at other volcanoes worldwide. Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in a few short, mild, but energetic bursts, ranging up to a few hundred meters in height, containing ash, incandescent lava fragments and stone blocks. Mt. Stromboli's activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occur at times when volcanic activity is high: an effusive eruption occurred in 2002, the first in 17 years, and again in 2003, 2007, and 2013-14.The two villages San Bartolo and San Vincenzo lie in the northeast while the smaller village Ginostra lies in the southwest. Administratively, they are one of the frazione of Lipari.In the early 1900s a few thousand people inhabited the island, but after several emigrations the population numbered a few hundred by the mid-1950s.

Stromboli è un'isola dell'Italia appartenente all'arcipelago delle isole Eolie, in Sicilia. Si tratta di un vulcano attivo facente parte dell'Arco Eoliano. Posta nel bacino Tirreno del mare Mediterraneo occidentale, l'isola è la più settentrionale delle Eolie e si estende su una superficie di 12,2 km².L'edificio vulcanico è alto 926 m s.l.m. e raggiunge una profondità compresa tra 1300 m e 2400 m al di sotto del livello del mare. Stromboli ha una persistente attività esplosiva ed è uno dei vulcani più attivi del mondo. A poche centinaia di metri a nord-est dell'isola di Stromboli si trova il neck di Strombolicchio, residuo di un antico camino vulcanico. L'isolotto ospita un faro della Marina, disabitato e automatizzato.Lo Stromboli è un vulcano esplosivo e le sue eruzioni avvengono con una frequenza media di circa una ogni ora. La sua attività "ordinaria" ha luogo ad una quota di 750 m s.l.m. dalle diverse bocche eruttive presenti nell'area craterica e allineate in direzione NE-SW. Tale attività consiste in esplosioni intermittenti di media energia, della durata di pochi secondi ad intervalli di 10–20 minuti, durante le quali vengono emesse piccole quantità di bombe scoriacee incandescenti, lapilli, cenere e blocchi, con velocità di uscita compresa tra 20 a 120 metri al secondo ed altezze comprese tra poche decine fino ad alcune centinaia di metri. L'attività eruttiva è associata ad un degassamento pressoché continuo dall'area craterica, il cui volume stimato è di 6000-12000 t/gi, e che consiste principalmente di H2O (3200-6300 t/g), CO2 (2900-5800 t/g), SO2 (400-800 t/g) e quantità minori di HCl e HF.Periodi di totale inattività, senza lanci di materiale, sono piuttosto rari. Il più lungo tra quelli registrati si è protratto per circa due anni, dal 1908 al 1910. Periodi di prolungata quiescenza, della durata di qualche mese, sono stati registrati più volte.

L'attività normale può essere periodicamente interrotta da esplosioni di maggiore energia, dette "esplosioni maggiori". Questi eventi consistono di brevi ma violente esplosioni, durante le quali vengono prodotti lanci balistici di blocchi e bombe di dimensioni anche metriche a distanze di alcune centinaia di metri, associati a piogge di lapilli e cenere; la distribuzione dei prodotti è solitamente confinata all'interno dell'area craterica. Sono distribuite non omogeneamente nel tempo, ma si tratta mediamente di 2,1 eventi ogni anno.

Le eruzioni stromboliane più violente mai accadute in tempi storici risalgono al 1919 e al 1930, ed entrambe (pare) furono causate da grandi infiltrazioni d'acqua marina nel camino vulcanico: il magma, a contatto con l'acqua, avrebbe causato violente esplosioni con grande emissione di vapori e scorie, accompagnate da violenti terremoti. Per la prima e finora unica volta nella storia del vulcano, delle colate laviche si riversarono anche al di fuori della Sciara del Fuoco, arrivando a lambire i centri abitati (Piscità fu sfiorata ad appena 20 metri), causando ingenti danni e numerose vittime, e causando un piccolo tsunami che generò un'onda di 2–3 m che arrivò a far danni fino a Capo Vaticano, in Calabria.I parossismi rappresentano le manifestazioni più energetiche del vulcano di Stromboli; consistono in violente ed improvvise esplosioni "tipo cannonata", durante le quali avviene l'emissione sostenuta di scorie incandescenti, ceneri, bombe e blocchi litici a distanze considerevoli, fino ad interessare le zone abitate dell'isola. Tali esplosioni possono produrre nubi convettive che raggiungono quote di 10 km. Durante i parossismi sono emessi volumi sensibilmente maggiori di materiali rispetto alle eruzioni normali e a quelle maggiori e frequentemente possono avvenire profonde modificazioni dell'area craterica. L'ultimo evento parossistico è avvenuto il 15 marzo 2007 all'interno dell'eruzione di febbraio-aprile 2007.Il 27 febbraio 2007, con un'iniziale effusione di lava dal cratere di NE, durata alcune ore e seguita dall'apertura di una bocca effusiva nella Sciara del Fuoco, a quota 400 m s.l.m. circa. Il 9 marzo 2007 si è aperta una seconda bocca sempre sulla Sciara del Fuoco, ma posizionata a circa 500 m s.l.m.; l'attività di questa bocca è stata comunque breve (circa 24 ore). Il 2 aprile 2007 è infine terminata anche l'effusione di lava dalla bocca di quota 400 m s.l.m. Il 4 maggio 2009 il vulcano ha ripreso l'attività eruttiva.

Nell'ultimo secolo sono riportati circa 26 episodi durante i quali si sono avute emissioni laviche. I prodotti emessi sono rappresentati principalmente da colate di spessore variabile; la morfologia del vulcano obbliga le colate di lava a riversarsi sul versante nord-occidentale, dove sono confinate all'interno della Sciara di Fuoco e quindi non rappresentano un pericolo per la popolazione dell'isola. Le colate fuoriescono generalmente attraverso fratture eruttive nella zona craterica o all'interno della Sciara del Fuoco, ma possono generarsi anche per tracimazione dal bordo craterico.La storia geologica dell'isola di Stromboli comincia circa 200.000 anni fa, quando un primo vulcano attivo di grandi dimensioni emerge dal mare, in posizione NE rispetto all'isola; di questo vulcano antico rimane soltanto il condotto solidificato (neck) rappresentato da Strombolicchio (vedi sotto).Il vero e proprio vulcano di Stromboli emerge dal mare circa 160.000 anni fa. Inizialmente i centri di emissione sono nella parte meridionale dell'isola, dove affiorano le unità più antiche appartenenti ai complessi del Paleostromboli I e II.Circa 35.000 anni fa il centro di emissione migra leggermente verso nord e le emissioni di lava e i depositi piroclastici legati a eruzioni esplosive danno origine ad un cono che raggiunge quota 700 m s.l.m. (Paleostromboli III).Le fasi successive della storia di Stromboli vedono la formazione ed il collasso calderico di vari edifici vulcanici. In particolare, a circa 34.600 anni fa risale il complesso eruttivo di Scari, osservabile presso Scari e a sud del paese sotto forma di spesse sequenze di bombe vulcaniche, lapilli e lahar. Mentre successivo (circa 26.000 anni fa) è il complesso del Vancori, caratterizzato da depositi piroclastici e basalti shoshonitici. In questa fase, la cima del vulcano era occupata probabilmente da una grande caldera. Il ciclo Scari-Vancori si conclude con il collasso laterale (una grande frana) del settore occidentale e nordoccidentale dell'edificio vulcanico.La fase successiva, a partire da circa 13.800 anni fa, vede la ricostruzione dell'edificio nel settore nordoccidentale. Il nuovo centro eruttivo, detto Neostromboli, è ubicato a nord del costone dei Vancori. Contemporaneamente, alcuni centri eruttivi secondari danno origine al "Timpone del Fuoco" presso Ginostra, alle lave di San Bartolo e di San Vincenzo.All'incirca tra 10000 e 5000 anni fa il settore nordoccidentale subisce nuovi collassi laterali (frane), lasciando una profonda depressione a forma di ferro di cavallo che si estende dalla cima fino ad una profondità di circa 2.000 m sotto il livello del mare: la Sciara del Fuoco. Lentamente la depressione viene riempita da materiale piroclastico e colate di lava. Il centro eruttivo attuale è rappresentato da un grande cono piroclastico che si trova nella parte sommitale della Sciara del Fuoco, a quota inferiore rispetto al Pizzo Sopra la Fossa, ed è caratterizzato, come detto sopra, dalla presenza di tre crateri allineati parallelamente alla Sciara, in direzione NE-SW.

Stromboli è nota, frequentata ed abitata fin dall'antichità remota, e la sua economia si è sempre fondata sulle produzioni agricole tipicamente mediterranee: olivo, vite (malvasia coltivato basso in giardini terrazzati), fichi - e poi sulla pesca e sulla marineria. Fino al XIX secolo questa economia fu fiorente e Stromboli arrivò a contare circa 2700 abitanti, precisamente nel 1891, secondo i dati ufficiali a disposizione (fonte Mastriani e ISTAT ).Il peggioramento delle condizioni economiche seguito all'unità d'Italia, il ripetersi di eruzioni e terremoti (in particolare l'eruzione del 1930) e infine l'attacco della peronospora che negli anni trenta sterminò la più redditizia coltura locale, quella della vite, fecero sì che una grandissima maggioranza degli strombolani prendesse la via dell'emigrazione, soprattutto verso l'Australia e l'America e l'isola rischiò seriamente di restare abbandonata.Venne riscoperta dopo la guerra da Roberto Rossellini che, con il film del 1949 Stromboli terra di Dio (con protagonista femminile la giovane Ingrid Bergman), portò l'isola e la sua straordinarietà all'attenzione del pubblico.Il vulcano è chiamato dai suoi abitanti (gli stombolani) Struògnoli, o anche Iddu (Lui in siciliano), in riferimento alla natura divina che un tempo era attribuita ai fenomeni naturali incontrollabili.Il nome proviene dal greco antico Στρογγύλη (rotondo) per via della sua forma. In siciliano strummulu significa trottola.Stromboli dà il nome a un tipo di vulcani caratterizzati da un'attività vulcanica effusiva detta Stromboliana.I principali borghi abitati sono San Vincenzo (o semplicemente il paese di Stromboli, anticamente era borgo degli agricoltori) con l'approdo storico di Scari, Piscità e Ficogrande, che anticamente era il borgo degli armatori.A sudovest, raggiungibile solo via mare, c'è Ginostra dove d'inverno restano circa 30 o 40 abitanti e dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto è il mulo.A Stromboli c'è una scuola elementare e media per i pochi ragazzi abitanti dell'isola. Dopo le scuole solitamente i ragazzi vanno a Lipari dove sono presenti alcune scuole secondarie di secondo grado.Da Napoli, Lipari, Milazzo e Messina Stromboli è raggiungibile col traghetto e, d'estate, anche in aliscafo da Messina, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia e Tropea.Il flusso turistico verso l'isola, che costituisce la principale risorsa economica di Stromboli, fino agli anni settanta fu rappresentato soprattutto da persone alla ricerca di un ambiente particolare, naturale ed integro e non privo di scomodità come mancanza di elettricità, scarsità d'acqua. Nei decenni successivi le scomodità sono molto diminuite e il turismo è molto cresciuto, anche se resta limitato prevalentemente ai mesi centrali estivi.L'isola è meta di turisti in cerca di tranquillità: anche per questo nei locali dell'isola è vietato diffondere musica oltre le due di notte.Giornalmente, inoltre, si organizzano escursioni al vulcano con guide esperte, che portano ad oltre 900 metri sul livello del mare. Tramite imbarcazioni è inoltre possibile raggiungere nelle ore notturne la vicina e movimentata Panarea, lo scoglio di Strombolicchio e Ginostra, caratteristica località sull'isola di Stromboli dove l'unico mezzo di trasporto sono i muli (ne sono presenti una decina in tutto) e che è irraggiungibile per via terrestre dall'altra parte abitata dell'isola.Stromboli è anche meta, seppur in misura minore, di molti giovani, che si recano nei locali e nelle feste sulla spiaggia periodicamente organizzate nella stagione estiva.Caratteristica dell'isola, oltre alle stradine strette percorribili solo dal motocarro e dai motorini elettrici, che i turisti affittano sull'isola stessa, è la mancata illuminazione notturna nelle strade, che il Comune a cui l'isola fa riferimento, ovvero quello di Lipari, vuol mantenere come importante attrattiva turistica. Dall'Osservatorio, infine, si può vedere la lava del vulcano, l'unico delle Isole Eolie perennemente in attività e il cielo stellato evidenziato dalla mancanza di illuminazione.Durante la stagione turistica partono imbarcazioni per permettere ai turisti di fare il bagno presso lo scoglio di Strombolicchio.

Font : Wikipedia

Begum, 45, is a sex worker at Baniashanta brothel at Dacoope upazila in Khulna. Cyclone Amphan devastated her home and adjacent surroundings. The Covid-19 pandemic forced her out of work. Members of the village police announced the incoming Cycline Amphan the day before, requesting everyone to take refuge in the nearby cyclone shelter. She was worried about her house — built outside the dam support —which was newly built, with new furniture and all. But her colleagues urged her to go. She did not move until the last moment, after which she took refuge at a nearby shop, with no belonging. As the cyclone intensified, she pondered shifting elsewhere, but no one would offer her shelter with her furniture. Amphan rendered her homeless. With no food in sight, workers like her were at the mercy of a few people who offered relief in the form of rice, which sufficed for a meal throughout the day. She had to find a house elsewhere. She eventually found a small room to live in, but her source of income did not return, causing her to lead a miserable life. Her lack of income has caused her debts to rise, especially for rent and groceries. She received cash support from UN Women as a victim of Cyclone Amphan, which she used to purchase household essentials and kitchen utensils. She has no family, who would offer her some help or support at her time of need, let alone some food. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she could earn something, but since the outbreak, she still has not regained her livelihood. For the last six months, she has to rely on whatever relief aid she can get her hands on, and nothing else.

The Church of the Nativity is a basilica located in Bethlehem. The church was originally commissioned in 327 AD by Constantine and his mother Helena over the site that is still traditionally considered to be located over the cave that marks the birthplace of Jesus. The Church of the Nativity’s original basilica was completed in 339 AD and destroyed by fire during the Samaritan Revolts in the sixth century AD. A new basilica was built 565 AD by Justinian, the Byzantine Emperor, restoring the architectural tone of the original. The site of the Church of the Nativity has had numerous additions since this second construction, including its prominent bell towers. Due to its cultural and geographical history, the site holds a prominent religious significance to those of both the Christian and Muslim faiths.

The site of the Church of the Nativity is a World Heritage Site, and was the first to be listed under Palestine by UNESCO and is also on UNESCO's List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

•The main Basilica of the Nativity is maintained by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It is designed like a typical Roman basilica, with five aisles (formed by Corinthian columns) and an apse in the eastern end, where the sanctuary is. The church features golden mosaics covering the side walls, which are now largely decayed. The basilica is entered through a very low door, called the "Door of Humility." The original Roman style floor has since been covered over, but there is a trap door in the modern floor which opens up to reveal a portion of the original mosaic floor. The church also features a large gilded iconostasis, and a complex array of lamps throughout the entire building. The wooden rafters were donated by King Edward IV of England. The same king also donated lead to cover the roof; however, this lead was later taken by the Ottoman Turks, who melted it down for ammunition to use in war against Venice. Stairways on either side of the Sanctuary lead down by winding stairs to the Grotto.

•The adjoining Church of St. Catherine, the Roman Catholic Church, was built in a more modern Gothic revival style, and has since been further modernized according to the liturgical trends which followed Vatican II. This is the church where the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem celebrates Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Certain customs still observed in this Midnight Mass predate Vatican II, but must be maintained because the "status quo" (the customs, rights and duties of the various church authorities that have custody of the Holy Places) was legally fixed by a firman in 1852, under the Ottoman Empire, that is still in force to this day.

•The Bas-relief of the Tree of Jesse is a large work by well-known religious sculptor Czesław Dźwigaj which was recently incorporated into the Church of St. Catherine as a gift of Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to the Holy Land in 2009. Measuring in at 3.75 by 4 metres (12.3 by 13.1 ft), its corpus represents an olive tree figuring as the Tree of Jesse displaying Christ's lineage from Abraham through St. Joseph along with other biblical motifs. Situated along the passage used by pilgrims making their way to the Grotto of the Nativity, the bas relief also incorporates symbolism from the Old Testament. The upper portion is dominated by a crowned figure of Christ the King in an open armed pose blessing the Earth.[28]

•The Grotto of the Nativity, an underground cave located beneath the basilica, enshrines the site where Jesus is said to have been born. The exact spot is marked beneath an altar by a 14-pointed silver star set into the marble floor and surrounded by silver lamps. This altar is denominationally neutral, although it features primarily Armenian Apostolic influences. Another altar in the Grotto, which is maintained by the Roman Catholics, marks the site where traditionally Mary laid the newborn Baby in the manger.

•Numerous Chapels are found in the compound as well, including the Chapel of Saint Joseph, commemorating the angel's appearance to Joseph, commanding him to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13); the Chapel of the Innocents, commemorating the children killed by Herod (Matthew 2:16–18); and the Chapel of Saint Jerome, where traditionally he translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate).

•Manger Square, a large paved courtyard in front of the Church, is the site where crowds gather on Christmas Eve to sing Christmas carols in anticipation of the midnight services.

Kathmandu Durbar Square (Nepali: वसन्तपुर दरवार क्षेत्र, Basantapur Darbar Kshetra) in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. Durbar Square was surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Royal Palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later moved to the Durbar square.

The Kathmandu Durbar Square held the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles, revealing courtyards and temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance of the palace.

CONTENTS

HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION

The preference for the construction of royal palaces at this site dates back to as early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even though the present palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive renovations and nothing physical remains from that period. Names like Gunapo and Gupo, which are the names referred to the palaces in the square in early scriptures, imply that the palaces were built by Gunakamadev, a King ruling late in the tenth-century. When Kathmandu City became independent under the rule of King Ratna Malla (1484–1520), the palaces in the square became the Royal Palaces for its Malla Kings. When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, he favored the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace. Other subsequent Shah kings continued to rule from the square until 1896 when they moved to the Narayan Hiti Palace.

The square is still the center of important royal events like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.

Though there are no written archives stating the history of Kathmandu Durbar Square, construction of the palace in the square is credited to Sankharadev (1069–1083). As the first king of the independent Kathmandu City, Ratna Malla is said to have built the Taleju temple in the Northern side of the palace in 1501. For this to be true then the temple would have had to have been built in the vihara style as part of the palace premise surrounding the Mul Chok courtyard for no evidence of a separate structure that would match this temple can be found within the square.

Construction of the Karnel Chok is not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions; although, it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. The Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely transforming the name of the temple.

The oldest temples in the square are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the temples of Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju Temple. This three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical Newari architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a pyramid-like structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in Bhaktapur, was highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being pleased with his devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for her in the Kathmandu Durbar Square. With a help of a hermit, he designed the temple to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in the form of a bee.

His successors Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laksmi Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar Simha.

UNDER PRATAP MALLA

In the time of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, the square was extensively developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and especially interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas around his kingdom.During the construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home. The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half-lion and half-human form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others' devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok, he donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju, he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of Kali.

At the southern end of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru, which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in the Valley.

In the process of beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok, he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He built a small pond, the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent, which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. He restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana, the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the eastern wing of the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten-feet-high image of terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially during Durga Puja.

With the death of Pratap Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square came to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death, steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power, with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.

Around 1692, Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the Newari architecture.

Jayaprakash Malla, the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari and Durga in her virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, a girl who is revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.

UNDER THE SHAH DYNASTY

During the Shah dynasty that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the Nautale, a nine-storied building known as Basantapur Durbar. It has four roofs and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows, sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall. The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these two buildings in 1770.

Rana Bahadur Shah was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju. Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha, the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess. Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.

In 1908, a palace, Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles. The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the square below.

Some of the parts of the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the southern section of the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in 1934. While building the New Road, the southeastern part of the palace was cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past. Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier seventeenth-century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces, temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties. It was destroyed in the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.

VISITING

Kathmandu's Durbar Square is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, took place. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. It is possible to visit the state rooms inside the palace.

Time and again the temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju temples are only open for people of Hindu and Buddhist faiths.

At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chok. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.

WIKIPEDIA

Nine million in Lima, rush hour is not the time to figure out a way back to the airport. Fortunately, We found a young college student who spoke English. She quickly called us an Uber which pulled up on the crowded sidewalk. No account was necessary as a predetermined cash payment was quoted in advance. Next time we will pay the limo driver to wait for our return trip to the airport hotel. We did not have any other problems in the city, but it was real apparent that we were no longer in Kansas, if you know what I mean.

This is the view from Inspiration Point looking west. Bonita Creek and the entrance are visibil midframe left. The Dragoon Mountains and Cochise Stronghold are visible in the distance. Sugarloaf Mountain is at midframe righ

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiricahua_National_Monumentt.

IMG_0812

This is the view looking into the building seen in the previous three photos. I shot this from the doorway--I definitely did not feel like stepping inside, as in real life this looked a lot darker. Unquestionably the creepiest location I've ever photographed. View large on black.

Yashica-Mat LM with Yashinon lens, f/16, 1 sec. Kodak Portra 400NC, developed with Arista C-41 kit.

[Title taken from here.]

Lake Mckenzie is a freshwater lake.

Fraser Island stretches over 123 kilometres in length and 22 kilometres at its widest point. With an area of 184 000 hectares it is the largest sand island in the world.

Fraser Island's World Heritage listing ranks it with Australia's Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Fraser Island is a precious part of Australia's natural and cultural heritage, it is protected for all to appreciate and enjoy.

Fraser island is a place of exceptional beauty, with its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, and over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and others clear and blue all ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks.

Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres. The low "wallum" heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, and provide magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.

fraser island australia The immense sand blows and cliffs of coloured sands are part of the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world and they are still evolving.

They are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the last 700 000 years. The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level.

The Great Sandy Strait, separating Fraser Island from the mainland, is listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).

The wetlands include: rare patterned ferns; mangrove colonies; sea-grass beds; and up to 40,000 migratory shorebirds. Rare, vulnerable or endangered species include dugongs, turtles, Illidge's ant-blue butterflies and eastern curlews.

Celia Beron is a Dean’s Honored Graduate in Biology. She is graduating with an Honors Degree in Biology under the Dean’s Scholars program. She is being recognized for her extensive research conducted under the supervision of Dr. Jon Pierce-Shimomura in the area of neuroscience.

She began her research in the Pierce-Shimormura lab in the Spring of 2013, and has worked on two distinct projects utilizing the C. elegans nematode as a model system. Most recently she has been working on a project to discern the neural and molecular mechanism for how animals sense the Earth’s magnetic field. To this end, Celia has become familiar with behavioral testing, the physics of electromagnetism, animal husbandry, as well as genetics and molecular techniques. In this, she has discovered that nematodes use the Earth’s magnetic field to migrate vertically in the soil. This amazing finding has secured her place as a contributing author in a manuscript recently accepted to the journal eLife along with a second publication in peparation. She is also the lead researcher on a project examining muscle function. She conducted a forward genetic screen to identify new genetic targets that could restore function to the muscles of people afflicted by muscular dystrophy. To date, Celia has isolated several genes that, then mutated, restore some of the motor ability to animals modeling muscular dystrophy. She is co-first author on this work, which was accepted by the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior. Finally, she has been working on further projects to understand the genetic components underlying the variation in this behavior in C. elegans isolated from around the world as part of her Honors Thesis.

Her work has been recognized with numerous awards including a Trainee Professional development Award from the Society for Neuroscience, Barry Goldwater Fellowship Honorable Mention, and the Luminex Award for Excellence in Biology Research. She also received the best poster award at the UT Neuroscience Symposium, beating out competition composed almost exclusively of graduate students and postdocs.

Celia has been a part of the Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency for the past three years to help enhance the culture for entrepreneurship on campus. She is a member of Kappa Delta sorority. This summer she will work at Janelia Research Campus, and in the fall she will start work on her Ph.D. with a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship in the neuroscience program at Harvard.

#Muay_Thai is also known as the "art of #eight_limbs" because it uses #hands, #elbows, #shins, and #knees to strike opponents. Originally, Muay Thai incorporated the use of the head, but as the martial art has developed, the use of the head has declined. #Learn this Art from #professionals by joining free trial of Muay Thai In Sydney. #Visit the #website online today.

Embsay is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire; situated amid beautiful and dramatic terrain. The rock formation to the north of the village is called Embsay Crag, at the foot of which is Embsay Reservoir. This shot was taken at the peak of the crag, looking to the west. The panorama visible from up there is really quite spectacular, especially on a clear blue day like this one - the perfect spot to do some horizon gazing. The reservoir lying far below was glistening in the bright sunshine and a swift moorland breeze completed the scene.

Click here to see where this picture was taken.

Kestrel is most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour and is notable for usually having a lot of brown in their plumage. The name kestrel is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco.

Gajaldoba is a small village on the western side of Teesta River in the Oodlabari area of Jalpaiguri district (West Bengal, India). Gajaldoba is famous for the dam on River Teesta, constructed for irrigation of agricultural lands, which resulted in a large waterbody upstream and has become home to many migratory birds during the winter. The natural beauty of the place with its view of the forest, river and majestic Kangchenjunga is awe inspiring!

The wetland with sprawling vegetation and reedbeds is a safe haven of at least 100 species of birds, primarily the waterfowls, which attracts a number of winter migrants. Birds from Europe, Central and southeast Asia, Ladakh and Himalayas winter here. Gajaldoba now host at least 20,000 waterfowls in the peak season (November to March) and becoming a significant global waterfowl habitat.

Gajaldoba took increased prominence due to the state government's initiative to promote a mega tourism hub in the area. An area of more than 200 acres has been demarcated for the purpose and infrastructure is being developed. In the near future, the area is expected to become one of the high end tourist destinations of Bengal.

Experience Bengal, Experience India

Nandi (Sanskrit: नन्दी, Tamil: நந்தி, Telugu: న౦ది) is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 siddhas) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.

The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.

ETYMOLOGY

The word “Nandi” is believed to be derived from the ancient word “Pandi” meaning bull or its has origins in the Sanskrit language where it means 'of Shiva', 'attendant of Shiva', or happy.

BIRTH OF NANDI

There was a Sage named Shilada who underwent severe penance to have a boon - A child with immortality. Lord Indra pleased of the austerities of Shilada appeared in front of him to offer a boon. After hearing the request of Shilada and his desire to have an immortal child, Lord Indra suggested him to pray to Lord Shiva who could provide the boon; nobody else could provide such a boon. Sage Shilada continued his penance for thousand years. He was totally immovable for many years, so the termites settled on his body and slowly started to build up their nest. Finally, his whole body was covered up by them. The insects started to eat his flesh and imbibed his blood. At last, only bones remained. Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and provided the boon for an immortal child. Moreover, Lord Shiva provided Sage Shilada his old form with a single touch. Sage Shilada performed Yagna and a child appeared from the sacrificial fire. His body was clad in armour made out of diamonds. The celestial dancers and singers performed on this auspicious occasion and the deities showered flowers on the child. The boy was named ’Nandi’ - who brings joy. Shilada brought the child home, immediately the boy lost his divine appearance to an ordinary child. The child completely forgot all about his birth. Sage Shilada was worried about the sudden change. He devoted his time for the bringing up the child, his education etc. By the age of seven the boy was well versed in Veda and all sacred texts. One day the two deities - Mitra and Varuna visited Sage Shilada. At the first sight of the boy, they commented: Though the boy had all auspicious signs, he would have a very short life. The boy would not live after the age of eight. Sage Shilada was mortified at this remark. Nandi could not bear his father's sorrow, he began to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Lord Shiva adorned the boy with a necklace around his neck which he was wearing, and made him immortal. Lord Shiva blessed the child and declared that he would be worshiped along with Him and become his vahana(vehicle). Immediately the boy got all the divine powers and transformed into half bull-half human. Then he and Shilada went to Lord Shiva 's abode to live.

IN HINDUISM

Bulls appear on the Indus Valley seals, including the 'Pasupati Seal', which depicts a seated figure, and according to some scholars is similar to Shiva. However, most scholars agree that the horned bull on the Indus Valley seals is not identical to Nandi.

The various descriptions on Nandi in the Hindu Religion texts include:

Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull faced with a human body that resembles that of Shiva- in proportion and aspect, although with four hands, two hands holding the Parasu (the axe) and Mruga (the antelope) and the other two hands joined together in the Anjali(obeisance). Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentions Krishna himself to have taken the form of a bull as no one else in the Universe can bear Shiva.

Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.

Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Kannada, Telugu and Tamil languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way. In Sanskrit, a bull is called "vrisha", which has another connotation - that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.

Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.

A Guru of Saivism: In addition to being his mount, Nandi is Shiva's foremost disciple. In the Natha/Siddhar tradition, Nandi is one of the primal gurus. He was the guru to Siddhar Thirumulanathar, Patanjalinathar and others.

From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/ Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.

Spiritually, Nandi represents an individual jiva (soul) and the message that the jiva should always be focussed on the Atman (Paramatman).

LEGENDS

According to some puranas, Nandi was born to sage Shilada who got him by the grace of Shiva.

It was Nandi who cursed Ravana (the demon King of Lanka) that his kingdom would be burnt by a monkey (Vanara). And later Hanuman burnt Lanka when he went in search of Sita, who was kept prisoner by Ravana in Ashok Vatika. In one puranic story, it is stated that once Siva and Parvathi were playing a game of dice. For any game there has to be an umpire, who has to declare who is the winner. Siva and Parvathi agreed to have Nandi (the divine bull) as the umpire. Nandi is a favorite of Siva, as he is Siva's vehicle. Although Siva lost the game, Nandi declared him the winner. It is stated that Parvathi was indignant over Nandi's partiality for Siva and cursed him that he should die from an incurable disease. Thereupon Nandi fell at the feet of Parvathi and pleaded for forgiveness. "Mother forgive me. Should I not show at least this amount of gratitude to one who is my master? Is it not humiliating for me to declare that my master has lost the game? To uphold his honor I no doubt uttered a lie. But am I to be punished with such severity for so small an offence?" Nandi prayed for forgiveness in this manner. Parvathi forgave Nandi and taught him the means to atone for his lapse. She told him. "The Chaturdasi day in the month of Bhadrapada is the day when my son's birthday is celebrated. On that day you have to offer to my son what pleases you most (green grass)". This means that one atones for one's sins when one offers to the Lord what is most pleasing and enjoyable to him. For Nandi the most enjoyable and relishing food is green grass. As directed by Parvathi Nandi worshipped Ganapathi by offering green grass. Nandi was then relieved of his dreaded disease. His health improved and by the grace of Parvathi he was redeemed.

When the positive forces, the devas, and the negative forces, the asuras, joined together on a rare occasion to churn the ocean with a mountain to obtain the nectar of immortality they utilized Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. The devas pulled from one end and the asuras from the other. Lots of precious herbs and gems were produced during the Churning and one of them was a poison (halāhala) which became human karma. This "poison" was so dangerous that none of the devas or asuras wanted to go near it. It was extremely sticky and coming into contact with this poison, i.e., human karma, would drag the divinity down to the realms of human suffering and ego. As everyone else ran away, Lord Siva, followed by Nandi, came forward to help as he was the only one who could counteract this deadly poison. Siva took the poison into his hand and drank it, the descent of the poison was in turn stopped at His throat, by His divine consort. Siva is therefore also known as Nīlakaṇṭha (the blue-throated one) and Viṣakaṇṭha (the poison-throated one). Nandi saw some of the poison spill out of Siva's mouth and immediately drank if off the ground. The devas and asuras watching were shocked and wondered aloud what would happen to Nandi. Lord Siva calmed their fears saying, "Nandi has surrendered into me so completely that he has all my powers and my protection".

LARGEST NANDIS IN INDIA

1. Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh

2. Brahadishwara Temple, Tamil Nadu

3. Chamundi Hills, Mysore, Karnataka

4. Bull Temple, Bangalore, Karnataka

5. Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu

6. Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka

7. Shanthaleswara Temple, Halebidu, Karnataka

8. Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, Kerala

9. Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka

10. Nandi Temple, Western Group of Temples, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

11. Kedareshvara Temple at Balligavi (Karnataka)

12. Doddabasaveshvara temple, Kurugodu Bellary dist

A house business enterprise is one thing that is included with a couple of advantages, but it may be difficult to know just how you can make one successful. You are able to avoid making mistakes by doing research prior to getting started. This short article contains some useful information that may help you to get a thriving business.

Always deduct client meetings from the taxes once they involve expenditures like lunch or any other types of entertaining. These events are thought business expenses. Any expenses involving clients or potential customers are typically tax-deductible only if they may be deemed being a paying or very likely to pay later on client, so exercise caution.

In the event you rely on a house business for the primary source of income, it is best to possess a backup plan just in case things fail. Create a backup plan that addresses problems like shipment failures or issues with your site. Whenever you plan in advance for these kinds of things, it will help to make sure that your company stays open permanently and income will continue to are available in.

Be sure that your business mail would go to a PO Box address. You don't wish to be posting your physical home address on the web. This ensures your identity is protected and your loved ones can also be.

Also have an unexpected emergency fund for the business to prevent cash flow emergencies. This will provide you with a cushion that enables you to cover unexpected expenses without one negatively effecting your company. However, the emergency funds ought to be utilized for emergency only.

One option of making money from your home would be to offer lessons inside a skill which you have. Lots of people would prefer to learn privately instead of in groups. You are able to teach piano or guitar, or hobbies like knitting. Maybe you are a sharp photographer. Teaching can make you money.

If you take heed of the advice, you are able to concentrate on regions of your company which are successful, instead of choosing the pitfalls that others before you decide to have previously investigated. This will help you to place all your available resources right into a profitable, thriving business. elliottkosmicki.com/mca/motor-club-of-america/

Gwalior Fort (Hindi: ग्वालियर क़िला Gwalior Qila) is an 8th-century hill fort near Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, central India. The fort consists of a defensive structure and two main palaces, Gurjari Mahal and Man Mandir, built by Man Singh Tomar. The fort has been controlled by a number of different rulers over time. The Gurjari Mahal palace was built for Queen Mrignayani. It is now an archaeological museum.

ETYMOLOGY

The word Gwalior is derived from one of the Hindu words for saint, Gwalipa.

TOPOGRAPHY

The fort is built on an outcrop of Vindhyan sandstone on a solitary, rocky, long, thin, steep hill called Gopachal. The geology of the Gwalior range rock formations is ochre coloured sandstone covered with basalt. There is a horizontal strata, 104 m at its highest point (length 2.4 km and average width 910 m.The stratum forms a near perpendicular precipice. A small river, the Swarnrekha, flows close to the palace.

RULERS

Legend tells that Suraj Sen Kachwaha, chieftain of the nearby Silhonia village was on a hunting trip. He came upon the hermit, Gwalipa (Galava) who gave the chieftain healing water from the Surajkund reservoir. In gratitude for the healing of leprosy, the chieftain founded Gwalior, naming it after Gwalipa. The earliest record of the fort is 525 AD where it is mentioned in an inscription in the temple of the Hun) emperor, Mihirakula (510 AD). Near the fort is an 875 AD Chaturbhuj temple associated with Telika Mandir.

PAL DYNASTY OF KACHAWAHA

The Pal dynasty of 86 kings ruled for 989 years. It began with Budha Pal and concluded with Suraj Pal. Budha Pal's son was Tej Karan (1127 - 1128). Gwalipa prophesied that the Pal dynasty would continue while the patronym, Pal was kept. Tej Keran married the daughter of Ran Mul, ruler of Amber (Jaipur) and received a valuable dowry. Tej Keran was offered the reign of Amber as long as he made it his residence. He did so, leaving Gwalior under Ram Deva Pratihar.

GUJARA-PRATIHARA DYNASTY

The Gurjara-Pratihar dynasty at Gwalior included Pramal Dev, Salam Dev, Bikram Dev, Ratan Dev, Shobhang Dev, Narsinh Dev and Pramal Dev.

TURKIC CONQUEST

In 1023 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni unsuccessfully attacked the fort. In 1196 AD, after a long siege, Qutubuddin Aibak, first Turkic sultan of Delhi took the fort, ruling till 1211 AD. In 1231 AD, the fort taken by Iltumish, Turkic sultan of Delhi. Under attack from Timurlane, Narasingh Rao, a Jaina chieftain captured the fort.

TOMAR RULERS

The Rajput Tomara clan ruled Gwalior from 1398 (when Pramal Dev captured the fort from a Muslim ruler) to 1518 (when Vikramaditya was defeated by Ibrahim lodhi).

Pramal Dev (Ver Singh, Bir Sing Deo) 1375.

Uddhharan Dev (brother of Pramal Dev).

Lakshman Dev Tomar

Viramdev 1400 (son of Virsingh Dev).

Ganapati Dev Tomar 1419.

Dugarendra (Dungar) Singh 1424.

Kirti Singh Tomar 1454.

Mangal Dev (younger son of Kirti Singh).

Kalyanmalla Tomar 1479.

Man Singh Tomar 1486 - 1516 (builder of the Man mandir).

Vikramaditya Tomar 1516.

Ramshah Tomar 1526.

Salivahan Tomar 1576.

SURI DYNASTY

In 1519, Ibrahim Lodi took the fort. After his death, control passed to the Mughal emperor Babur. Barber's son, Humayun, was defeated by Sher Shah Suri. After Suri's death in 1540, his son, Islam Shah, moved power from Delhi to Gwalior for strategic reasons. After the death of Islam Shah in 1553, his incumbent, Adil Shah Suri, appointed the Hindu warrior, Hemu (Hem Chandra Vikramaditya) as manager of Gwalior. From 1553 - 1556, Hemu attacked Adil Shah Suri and others from the fort.

MUGHAL DYNASTY

When the Mughal leader, Akbar captured the fort, he made it a prison for political prisoners. For example, Kamran, Akbar's cousin was held and executed at the fort. Aurangzeb's brother, Murad and nephews Suleman and Sepher Shikoh were also executed at the fort. The killings took place in the Man Madir palace.

RANA JAT DYNASTY

The Jats of Gohad occupied the fort on three occasions between 1740 and 1783. (Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana 1740 - 1756; Maharaja Chhatra Singh Rana 1761 - 1767; and Maharaja Chhatra Singh Rana 1780 - 1783).

MARATHA RULE

In 1779, the Scindia clan of the Maratha Empire stationed a garrison at the fort however, it was taken by the East India Company. In 1784, the Marathas under Mahadji Sinde, recovered the fort. There were frequent changes in the control of the fort between the Scindias and the British between 1808 and 1844. In January 1844, after the battle of Maharajpur, the fort was occupied by the Marathas as protectorate of the British government.

REBELLION OF 1857

On 1 June 1858, Rani Lakshmi Bai led a rebellion. The Central India Field Force, under General Hugh Rose, besieged the fort. Bai died on 17 June 1858.

STRUCTURES

The fort and its premises are well maintained and house many historic monuments including palaces, temples and water tanks. There are eleven temples to Gautama Buddha and the tirthankaras of Jainism. There are also a number of palaces (mahal) including the Man mandir, the Gujari, the Jahangir, the Karan, and the Shah Jahan. The fort covers an area of 3 square kilometres and rises 11 m. Its rampart is built around the edge of the hill, connected by six bastions or towers. The profile of the fort has an irregular appearance due to the undulating ground beneath. On the southern side are 21 temples cut into the rock with intricately carved tirthankaras. One, Pārśva, the 23rd local saint, is 12 m high.

There are two gates; one on the northeast side with a long access ramp and the other on the southwest. The main entrance is the ornate Elephant gate (Hathi Pul). The other is the Badalgarh Gate. The Man Mandir palace or citadel is located at the northeast end of the fort. It was built in the 1400s and refurbished in 1648. The water tanks or reservoirs of the fort could provide water to a 15,000 strong garrison, the number required to secure the fort.

MAN MANDIR PALACE

The Man mandir palace was built by the King of Tomar Dynasty - Maharaja Man Singh.It is a big palace with wonderful architecture,and beautiful art work done on its front as well as some interior walls.

HATHI POL

The Hathi Pol gate (or Hathiya Paur), located on the southeast, leads to the Man mandir palace. It is the last of a series of seven gates. It is named for a life-sized statue of an elephant (hathi) that once adorned the gate. The gate was built in stone with cylindrical towers crowned with cupola domes. Carved parapets link the domes.

GUJARI MAHAL MUSEUM

Gujari Mahal was built by Raja Man Singh for his wife Mrignayani, a Gujar princess. She demanded a separate palace for herself with a regular water supply through an aqueduct from the nearby Rai River. The palace has been converted into an archaeological museum. Rare artefacts at the museum include Hindu and Jain sculptures dated to the 1st and 2nd centuries BC; miniature statue of Salabhanjika; Terracotta items and replicas of frescoes seen in the Bagh Caves.

TELI KA MANDIR

The Teli-ka mandir (the oilman’s temple or oil pressers' temple) is a Brahmanical sanctuary built in the 8th (or perhaps the 11th century) and was refurbished between 1881 and 1883. It is the oldest part of the fort and has a blend of south and north Indian architectural styles. Within the rectangular structure is a shrine with no pillared pavilions (mandapa) and a Buddhist barrel-vaulted roof on a Hindu mandir. Buddhist architectural elements are found in the Chitya type hall and torana decorations at the entrance. There is a masonry tower in the nagari architectural style with a barrel vaulted roof 25 metres in height. The niches in the outer walls once housed statues but now have gavakshas (horse shoe arch) ventilator openings in the north Indian style. The gavaksha has been compared to the trefoil, a honeycomb design with a series of receding pointed arches within an arch. The entrance door has a torana or archway with sculpted images of river goddesses, romantic couples, foliation decoration and a Garuda. Diamond and lotus designs are seen on the horizontal band at the top of the arch indicating an influence from the Buddhist period. The vertical bands on either side of the door are decorated in a simple fashion with figures that are now badly damaged. Above the door are a small grouping of discs representing the finial (damalaka) of an Indo-Aryan Shikhara. The temple was originally dedicated to Vishnu, but later converted to the worship of Siva.

GARUDA MONUMENT

Close to the Teli ka Mandir temple is the Garuda monument, dedicated to Vishnu, is the highest in the fort. It has a mixture of Muslim and Indian architecture. The word Teli comes from the Hindu word Taali a bell used in worship.

SAAS-BAHU TEMPLE

In 1093, the Pal Kachawaha rulers built two temples to Vishnu. The temples are pyramidal in shape, built of red sandstone with several stories of beams and pillars but no arches.

KAM MAHAL

The Karn mahal is another significant monument at Gwalior Fort. The Karn mahal was built by the second king of the Tomar dynasty, Kirti Singh. He was also known as Karn Singh, hence the name of the palace.

VIKRAM MAHAL

The Vikram mahal (also known as the Vikram mandir, as it once hosted a temple of Shiva) was built by Vikramaditya Singh, the elder son of Maharaja Mansingh.He was a devotee of Shiva. The temple was destroyed during Mughal period but now has been re-established in the front open space of the Vikram mahal.

CHHATRI OF BHIM SINGH RANA

This chhatri (cupola or domed shaped pavilion) was built as a memorial to Bhim Singh Rana (1707-1756), a ruler of Gohad state. It was built by his successor, Chhatra Singh. Bhim Singh occupied Gwalior fort in 1740 when the Mughal Satrap, Ali Khan, surrendered. In 1754, Bhim Singh built a bhimtal (a lake) as a monument at the fort. Chhatra Singh built the memorial chhatri near the bhimtal. Every year, the Jat Samaj Kalyan council (parishad) of Gwalior organises a fair on Rama Navami, in honor of Bhim Singh Rana.

OTHER MONUMENTS

There are several other monuments built inside the fort area. These include: the Scindia School (an exclusive school for the sons of Indian princes and nobles)that was founded by Madho Rao Scindia in 1897; and the Gurdwara Data Bandi, a memorial to the sixth Sikh, Guru Hargobind.

WIKIPEDIA

Saturday 3rd November 2018

It is a truth that you don't know how ill you were until you begin to get better.

I had been suffering with a cough for maybe three months now, usually at night when I went to bed. I had been forced to sup from bottles of cough syrup to enable me to drop off, and in later weeks, sleep was being broken by me coughing in my sleep as I turned over. At times my chest ached with the coughing. And worse of all, it seemed never to end.

I was planning on going to the doctor, but my inner voice told me, what could I say, I cough a lot? So, I bore it. And I did through the day too, sucking on cough sweets as I worked though the day and a dry coughing fit would render me incapable of talking.

And then, late last week, it just stopped. One night I went to bed, laid on my other side and dropped off. And slept deeply for nine hours, except when Scully brought me in a mouse for me and would not be quiet until I looked at it under the bed. The lay in the dark as she ate it, crunching through the bones.

So, I can sleep long and deep at night, and no longer cough my way through the day either. All rather marvelous, and so worries I might have caught the plague or ebola go unfounded.

Once my back is better, I can think about exercise again and tackling my weight. Again. I mean, we all have good intentions, but this time I really must do better. I heard from my friend Tony that he has given up sugary soda and cakes, maybe I should give up, or partly give up booze, as it is pure calories. Or, give up the meals for half the week that seem to demand the accompaniment of a glass or three of red, of a bottle of Belgian#s finest.

We shall see.

Jools asked me what the plan was for the weekend.

Sheffield Park, I replied.

Train then, she said.

No, the other Sheffield Park, but that is also nearby!

Sheffield Park is in Sussex, a good two hour drive from Chez Jelltex, and in preparation for the trip, Jools had done the shopping on Friday, meaning we had nothing else to do on the day.

Jools did not ask why we were going to Sheffield Park, just accepted it.

After breakfast we set off, driving up the M20, soon to be Europe's largest lorry park, where only two lanes are now open and for 25 or so miles there is a 50mph speed limit whilst workers strengthen the hard shoulder to allow for mile upon mile of nose to tail lorry parking, which is the sum of the UK's only Brexit preparation.

Even worse is that the motorway that links the M20 with the M25 west, the M26, is to be closed both ways indefinitely to allow for more lorry parking, this will make the simple business of getting about more tricky. If we have fuel for our cars, of course.

We cross into Sussex, and the sat nav takes us south off it to East Grinstead, then by back lanes through woods and rolling fields towards Haywards Heath to Sheffield Park. All the time I was looking at the sky, looking for signs of the clouds clearing, the forecast clearly spoke of sunny intervals, but this was just solid cloud, and dull.

We arrive at Sheffield Park just as the gates were opening, paid our entrance fee to get in, and then the age old problem, which path to take? I look at the map and point vaguely in the other direction and say "that way".

We are confronted with the first of a series of lakes, each surrounded by a mix of trees, some still green or evergreen, but others yellow or red leaves showing well. Just not dramatic in the dull light. Above us, the clouds had began to clear from the north, but would it ever unveil the sun way to the south? As the time neared to half ten then eleven, the clearing reached the sun, and it was like that scene from Wizard of Oz when it went from black and white to technicolor. Amazing.

Not sure how long the sun would last, we and the other photographers rush round getting shots of the park, showing off its autumn colours.

By now the gardens were getting busy, so we beat our retreat back to the car ten drive the half mile down the road to the Bluebell Railway station of the same name. I already knew there were no train running, but the station buffet would be open, and would be very much cheaper than the team rooms the National Trust usually charges for.

We have a sandwich each, some crisps and I have a pint of Harvey's Old ale, which was rather wonderful.

After a quick look round the station shop, we go back to the car for the drive back home, following the same route as took when we came, the clouds had rolled back over, so we had had the best of the weather and I felt lucky we got the shots we did.

Back home I put the radio on the listen to the footy; City were away at Sheffield Wednesday, and start well, but miss an early penalty, and seems it was going to be one of those day. We had not won there since 2001, nor won in the league in November since 2008, so the omens were not good.

But in the second half, City went up the gears and rattled in four goals in quarter of an hour, and looked like Barcelona at times, but that might have been the poor opposition. But the upshot of this result, and the fact that Sheffield Utd lose is that, for 24 hours at least, Norwich are top of the league, and our rivals, despite employing our old manager, Paul Lambert, were rock bottom after drawing 1-1.

We go to Whitfield in the evening for some card action, but Jen and John both have colds, and we are still pretty tired, meaning that we only play one game of meld, which Jen wins, and Syn scoops the jackpot in Queenie, meaning we were all done by nine, and able to be home and in bed by ten.

The final call on a short four church crawl.

Brenchley is where Jools' Nan grew up, and a place I had not been to, but is a chocolate box pretty place, damning it with feint praise, but the village pub, The Bull, look inviting, though we had already had lunch and a pint, so best not.

The church lay opposite the village square with its water fountain, and access to the church was down a fine tree-lined path to the porch.

I have reviewed my shots, and All Saints is a fine church, just not outstanding. It has some fine monuments, some good Victorian glass and nice painted ceiling and roof beams, but it is the setting that makes the church.

Nice turret staircase in the south chapel, unusual to an interior one rather than exterior.

--------------------------------------------

All Saints is an interesting church standing in a beautifully kept churchyard. The crownpost roof incorporates a canopy of honour over the eastern bay, where it would have emphasised the position of the rood figures. The lower part of the rood screen survives and is dated 1536 - making it (with Lullingstone) one of the last to be built in Kent before the Reformation. The sedilia and piscina survive in the chancel and date from the fourteenth century, even though this part of the church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century. The east window is by Morris and Co., and dates from 1910, whilst the windows to north and south of the sanctuary are also of twentieth century date and are by the well known artist Robert Anning Bell who is not usually associated with stained glass. There is a fine memorial in the north transept to Barbara and Walter Roberts, showing the two figures holding hands. It dates from 1652. One of the bells in the tower carries the inscription, 'Untouched I am a silent thing, But strike me and I sweetly sing.'

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brenchley

-------------------------------------------

BRENCHLEY

WRITTEN in old deeds BRANCHESLE, and in the Textus Roffensis, BTÆNCESLE, lies the next parish eastward from Pembury. The village of it is, almost all of it, within this hundred, though the hundred of Twyford extends itself over a narrow district of the northeast part of this parish into the town of Brenchley, some of the houses of which on the eastern side are within the jurisdiction of it.

The boroughs of Stoberfield and Roeden, in this parish, are within the manors of East Farleigh and East Peckham, of which the lands in them are held in free socage tenure. (fn. 1)

THIS PARISH is of large extent, being upwards of four miles from north to south, and about three in width. It consists of hill and dale, the soil is various, on the hill on which the village stands, it is a sand, intermixed with much of the rock or sand stone, which soil continues mostly over the northern part of it, and towards Horsemonden green, the rest of it is a stiff miry clay in winter, excepting the high road, hardly passable, and in summer has a cakey surface, as hard as iron.

This parish is very woody, especially on the skirts of it, the whole of it has a dreary gloomy aspect, as well from that as from the quantities of large spreading oaks throughout it. The houses, which are mostly old-fashioned timbered buildings, are situated in general round the different small greens or sostals; the bye roads here are broad, and covered on each side with green swerd, and in wet weather, as well as the country round them very deep and miry; the farms are but small, and of moderate rents, and there are several plantations of hop-ground belonging to them.

¶The village, or town of Brenchley, as it is frequently stiled in antient writings, is situated pleasant enough on a hill, the turnpike road leading through it towards Horsemonden, Goudhurst, and the southern parts of the Weald. The houses in it are mostly large well-timbered buildings, and of antient date; at the south end of it is the church and parsonage; at a small distance eastward is a seat called BROADOAK, which was in queen Elizabeth's reign purchased of several persons, by George Paine, citizen of London, whose heirs in 1698 alienated it to Mr. John Hooker, of West-Peckham, younger brother of Thomas, the grandfather of Thomas Hooker, esq. late of Tunbridge, his son of the same name, died in 1717, whose third son Stephen at length became possessed of it, and left one son, John Hooker, esq. now of Broadoak, which he rebuilt. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Cooke, of the county of Salop, by whom he has one son Stephen, and now resides in it.

About a mile westward of the village, among others round Matfield-green, is a modern house belonging to Mr. Bowls Merchant, whose father Thomas Merchant, built it about sixty years ago, and he resides here as his ancestors have done for some generations. At no great distance eastward from Broadoak, at Castle-hill, just at the point of the eminence, stands the remarkable toll of trees, called Brenchley toll, which from their high situation, are a remarkable object for many miles round.

In the adjoining wood there are the remains of a square mote, containing between three and four acres of ground, probably the scite of some manor. This wood, and the farm belonging to it, are the property of Mr. John Monckton, they have now no particular name, but have the reputation of having had a very extensive manor once belonging to them.

There are the remains of another mote or intrenchment in this parish, of great width and depth, undoubtedly inclosing a building of considerable strength; the area of which is, I think, not quite so large as that above-mentioned. There is no name used either to the wood or farm adjoining to it. The family of Daffy, of Rumford, in Essex, were formerly owners of it, and continued so till one of them alienated it to Mr. Thomas Outeridge, the present possessor of it.

The poor who receive constant relief yearly are in number about eighty, those casually 180.

BRENCHLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.

The church is dedicated to All Saints. In it there are monuments and inscriptions for the families of Roberts and Courthope, and an inscription for Elizabeth, wife of George Fane, esq. of Tudeley, in 1566.

This church seems antiently to have been esteemed but as a chapel to the adjoining parish church of Yalding; Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, gave that church, with this chapel, and all its appurtenances, in pure and perpetual alms, to the priory of Tunbridge, lately founded by him there.

After which I find it no longer mentioned as a chapel, but as an independent parochial church. Bishop Henry de Sandford, who came to the see of Rochester in 1227, confirmed the church of Brenchley to the prior and canons before mentioned, to be possessed by them as an appropriation for ever; saving, a perpetual vicarage for a priest, to be presented to it by them, who should for the time being personally serve in it; and that he should, in the name of a perpetual vicarage, have the whole altarage, and all small tithes, obventions of the altar, and tithes of curtilages, and all the tithes of corn and pulse, and hay of Westroterindenne, (now called Witherenden) which was of the fee of the abbess of Malling, and lay between the way which leads from Yalding towards Condingebery and the land of Hamon de la Downe, and extended itself in length from Badeshulle to Matefeld; and that he should have, in the name of a glebe, four acres of land, which lay adjoining to the messuage of Simon de Wahull, towards the north, between the road which leads to the house of the parson of Brenchley and the house of Fulk; and that he should have yearly from the barns of the prior and canons of Brenchesle, two seams of oats, and two seams of crowe for his palfry, paying yearly to the prior and canons from the vicarage, two wax tapers of four pounds each; but that the vicar should sustain all episcopal burthens, and all others due and accustomed. As to the two seams of crowe as above-mentioned, in the Latin deed it is, duas Summas de Crowe, the meaning of which, I own, I do not understand, but think it is most probably a mistake of the transcriber. At present the payment is made to the vicar in two seams of oats.

In which state this rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage, and THE MANOR OF BARNES likewise appendant to the rectory of Brenchley, remained till the dissolution of the priory of Tunbridge in the reign of king Henry VIII. who in the 17th year of it, granted that priory, with all its possessions, among which was this church and the manor of Barnes, with the land and appurtenances belonging to them, to cardinal Wolsey, for the better endowment of his college, commonly called Cardinal's college, in Oxford. (fn. 6) But that great prelate being cast in a prœmunire, all the estates of the above-mentioned college, which had not been firmly settled on it, were forfeited, and came into the king's hands, where this rectory, manor, and advowson remained, till the 31st year of that reign, when the king granted them to Paul Sydnor, gent. to hold in capite by knights service. His son, William Sydnor, esq. succeeded to these premises in the 5th year of queen Elizabeth, and not long afterwards alienated them to William Waller, esq. of Groombridge, who married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Sir Walter Hendley, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. She survived him, and appears to have possessed these premises in Brenchley, and afterwards married George Fane, esq. of Badsell.

Her eldest son, by her first husband Sir Walter Waller, succeeded her here, and his son Sir Thomas Waller, of Groombridge, alienated the manor of Barnes, and the rectory of Brenchley, with the advowson of the vicarage, to John Courthope, esq. afterwards of Brenchley, youngest brother of Sir George Courthope, of Whileigh, in Suffex, who died possessed of them in 1649, in whose family they have continued down to George Courthope, esq. now of Uckfield, in Sussex, the present owner of them.

¶This family is supposed by some to have been originally seated at Courthope-street, commonly written Court-at-street, near Limne, in this county. One branch of them settled at Goddards green, in Cranbrook, whence descended those of Danny, in Sussex, and of Horsemonden, in this county, both now extinct. Another branch settled at Stodmarsh, near Canterbury, now likewise extinct; and another at Whileigh, in Sussex, the only one now remaining of it, who now reside at Uckfield, in Sussex; of which branch is George Courthope, esq. the present possessor of this rectory, whose father and grandfather, both of the name of George, intermarried into the family of Campion, of Danny, in Sussex. The present Mr. George Courthope, (whose younger brother Henry was vicar of this parish, and died unmarried), married Francis Barbara, daughter of William Campion, esq. of Danny, and has two sons, George; and William now vicar of this parish, and a daughter Frances. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three estoils azure.

The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 12l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 10½d.

In 1608 there were 664 communicants.

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp280-294

Rohaya Mohammad Yusof, Chief Investment Officer, Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia (EPF)

Yup Kim, Head of Investments, Private Equity, CalPERS

Todd Sisitsky, President of TPG; Co-Managing Partner, TPG Capital

@_s.k.r.i.l.l.e.x_ ift.tt/1UyS7Ml _s.k.r.i.l.l.e.x_

There is another picture in my stream which features a wellington boot (and a girl) and it is one of my "most viewed" pictures.

I just posted this to see if it is the Wellingon Boot that is responsible for the high level of interest - or the pretty girl ??

This is the modern look for high school officials with the black pants and white stripe running down the pants leg. A short sleeve striped shirt like this is now being replaced with a wider version. The head referee wears the all white cap. A yellow penalty flag is tucked into the waist line along with a blue bean bag. A Fox40 whistle is used and a black wrist down indicator is worn. Black socks should be worn inside those Reebok NFL low grass shoes.

CRITICAL RUN IS A DEBATING FORMAT

www.emergencyrooms.org/criticalrun.html

THE 28/03/2012 we debate

IS NAVIGATION A TREAT ?

CAN ART BE CURATED BY A PHONE ?

"IS NAVIGATION BY PHONES AND BANKS A THREAT ?" Critical Run wednesday 28 mars / CPH

The App store has taken over state institutions like staten museum for kunst

Visitors are taking in charge and warmly recommanded to be guided by smartphones or ipods . the team from the museum , curators and directors are employing the word ipad every 3 minutes. their home page sound like they work for FONA .

but Can smart phones or ipad be promoted as inoffensif loving pedagogic tools we should swallow without doubts

is forgetting an active state

is beeing guided a state of apathy .

( i heard once at a DR- news conference that people need to be guided because they are stupid )

should we debate those issues together before to jump

Is the role of the national museum to promotte compagnies that some would also consider as global threat ?

the Critical Run ( run and debate before it is too late ) will take place in Kongenshave 16.15 meet in front t the kids ground ( lejeplads )

we will debate those issues of selectif history and Führung. with a group of artist immigrant in Denmark ( who is guiding whom to where )

every one is welcome with any opinion including hopenhagen believer fona or apple sales man believing in win-win

The Critical Run is in collaboration with BAZART and Critical Run

www.emergencyrooms.org/criticalrun.html

this debate will carry on globally until Documenta Kassel ( " The Next Documenta Should be curated by a phone " .

if you like to be one of the global critical run organisateur please contact : 1@colonel.dk

--------

and because we are talking about a museum exhibiting Jorn a little news from Guy Debord and ( navigation )

library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/2

CAN ART BE CURATED BY A PHONE ? / CRITICAL RUN the first CRITICAL RUN will take place in Copenhagen and the last in Kassel @documenta get informed of date :www.facebook.com/BIENNALIST or www.emergencyrooms.org/criticalrun.html if you want to be part of the debate and organise a Critical Run where you are please contact 1@colonel.dk

A DELEGATION OF FOREIGN ARTISTS / CURATORS AND FESTIVAL DIRECTORS LIVING IN DENMARK ARE EXPLORING AND DEBATING "DANISH ART " .

HOW IT WORKS .

A DIFFICULT QUESTION INDEED ....

the 28/03/2012 the DELEGATION visited Charlottenborg and Statens Museum for Kunst, did a Critical Run in between the two instutitions

.a video will follow and regular exploration in on plan COLLABORATION WITH BAZART ...more to come soon ....( new people can take contact ...)

THE DELEGATION :

Saied Masoudian

Neringa Abrutyte

Rene Victor Valqui Vidal

Marina Testa Pedersen

Diallo Ibrahima Sory

Pero Pivas

Branka Pivas Onofri

Faranak Sohi

Marcelo Lerer

Maher Khatib

Shohreh Shahrzad

Antonieta Medeiros Urioste

Maia Hauser

Åsmund Boye Kverneland

Thomas Fleurquin

Victor Monchamp

Ada Ortega Camara

Tijana Miskovic

Ginka Rinkova

Thierry Geoffroy

Elizabeth Löwe Hunter

Maja Spangsberg Jakobsen

Juan Fernando Lope

thank you Maja Spangsberg Jakobsen from Bazart /Peter Lind for the name and Marcello Lerer with cards / t6hanks to Claus Handberg Christensen / and the 2 institutions that welcome us //format : Thierry Geoffroy

This is a fun Harry Potter-themed MOC I finished in 2023.

It started as a set adaptation of 75980 Attack on The Burrow: first I wanted to create a 360* look, instead of a playset with an open backside. I decided to change much of the interiors as I wanted to add seperate rooms that needed to be accessible by a staircase. This meant a complete make-over of the set as a whole, which was a great puzzle to solve. I added double hinges to the folding mechanism, so that the dinner table and the master bedroom are bigger once opened.

The original house in the movie is only shown in a single shot, but it looks so whimsical and lived in. It was a great joy to put this MOC together.

Work is going on - rough work completed.

Guns are OOB, but the ammunition feed belts are still missing, as well as (planned) flexible hydraulic hoses. Radar is also not installed yet.

This mecha kit is intended to be a design alternative to the ADR-04 Defender. Same chassis (old pieces, from the Tomahawk kit that came with the Factory), but armed with four massive gatling guns! Totally fictious, hence its name "Manticore", inspired by the mythical beast which will shoot volleys of iron spikes from its tail onto its enemies. Quite a good match?

Equipment Type: anti-aircraft robot, series 05

Government: U.N. Spacy

Manufacturer: Viggers/Chrauler

Introduction: August 2012

Unofficial codename: Whistler, Lawn Mower

Accommodation: 1 pilot and 1 radar operator

Dimensions: height 10.7 meters (hull only), 12.4 meters (incl. surveillance antenna); length 5,6 meters; width 6,8 meters

Mass: 29.8 metric tons

Power Plant: Kranss-Maffai MT830 thermonuclear reactor developing 2750 shp; auxillary fuel generator AOS-895-3 rated at 810 kW.

Propulsion: many x low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles.

Design Features: 'Nimrod' Mk. III tracking radar with dish antenna, MPDR 'Argus' range setting and surveillance radar, starlight scope; fully enclosed cockpit.

Armament: 4 x 37 mm air-cooled 6-barrel gatling guns, Type Bofors KDF-11B (firing at 2.000 or 4.000 RPM, standard 1.550 rounds each).

Optional Equipment: 2 x large capacity ammunition drums.

Stay tuned...

This is the Church of the Good Shepherd, which houses an Episcopal congregation founded in 1884, and in 1886, the original church building was constructed on the site in Cashiers, North Carolina. However, in 1892, the original, wood-frame church, built by the rich southern families whom spent their summers in the valley to escape the heat of the southern lowlands, burned down, and work began on the present church building along what is now North Carolina Highway 107. Constructed in 1895, the wood-frame Gothic Revival-style building is almost identical in appearance and layout to the episcopal churches in Highlands and Franklin built around the same time. The church, which was for almost a century used only during the summer season, is sheathed in weatherboard with a steeply pitched roof, and features several lancet windows, including a set of three on the west (front) facade, and a smaller, projecting entrance pavilion with a double door, which has a lancet shape that echoes the windows. During the early 20th Century, the congregation, much like the congregation of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Cullowhee, began to dwindle due to death of the members, and church services were discontinued for some time. Despite this, in the mid-1920s, the building underwent repairs and summer services were begun once more. The church got a boost in the late 1940s with the appointment of Henry Conkle as a church warden by an Episcopal Bishop, and a rectory was constructed to house visiting clergy during the summer season when the church was open. As the community grew increasingly less seasonal and into a year-round community, the church held its first winter services in 1981, and a full-time vicar was appointed to the church in 1982, becoming the rector when the church became a parish in 1984. In 1985, an annex was added to the church to house a larger sacristy and rector’s Office, with a parish hall being constructed in 1990. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the church today is a thriving organization, and is one of the many historic landmarks in this secluded, beautiful mountain valley community.

Classic is a soft touch genuine leather with a lightly corrected grain and pigmented finish. The expansive colour palette has been carefully assembled to give a wide array of colour options designed to work cohesively with other Camira upholstery fabrics and ancillary trims.

Classic can be used for upholstery, side panels, headrests and even colour coordinated piping to complement your vehicle interior. It is produced from European hides, which average 5m2 in size to give improved yields and better utilisation.

This is a typical Flabellina egg mass. It was 14 mm in diameter. The uncleaved eggs averaged 65 microns in diameter, were packed one per capsule, and took 7 days at an average of 16 degrees C to develop into hatching veligers.

In September 2010, this species was named Flabellina goddardi by Terry Gosliner (Gosliner TM (2010) Two new species of nudibranch mollusks from the coast of California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 61:623-631).

This is how I've been feeling lately. I have barely really had time to sit still, other than when I am hanging with a friend. Whenever I'm alone, I have this pile of stuff to do... and like for example, I moved into this apartment in August and I STILL haven't finished unpacking!!! Seriously this is a little bit sad, haha. I keep telling myself, ok THIS WEEKEND I will take a day off for just myself and finish unpacking but then I remember that I have to do this or that. I have quite a lot of responsibilities lately.

But really, I don't mind it. I kind of love it... in fact tonight as my best friend Juliana and I walked down the street in the rain after having drinks together, admiring the christmas lights on the trees. She asked me what I was doing tonight and I said I had to prepare the ASL sheets for class this sunday, and of course my self portrait as well. Sigh never any time to just lay around and zone out anymore... she turned to me and said [something like this]... you know what I think Zoltar? I think you're going to just keep doing the 365 project even after the project is over, you'll just keep going, because it's in you. You're compelled to create something everyday. Just like how I am with yoga. It's who we are, it's what drives us. It's what calms us, centres us, and drives us crazy.

She's absolutely right... I probably will. Ha. I love it. I hate it. It's a blessing. It's a curse. Doesn't it work like that with everything that is really important in our lives?

Anyway this shot was again, accidental. I was trying to take a shot of me with the boxes to show how busy I have been lately, to the point where I still haven't even finished unpacking, but I got up too early and this is what I got. It works.

p.s I'm gonna finish unpacking this weekend, REALLY! Haha.

This is in eastern Ayacucho. It was the home of the Shining Path rebel group that killed tens of thousands in the 80s and 90s and is now resurging. It's also a center for coca growing and cocaine production. It's the kind of place where self protection is a must for survival.