led painting

In memory of

FLORENCE ETHEL

Beloved wife of

FRANCIS A B JONES

Died 27th May 1946

 

And their son

MICHAEL FRANCIS RICHARD

JONES

Captain Royal Fusiliers

Born 8th September 1933

Died on Khinyang Chish

18th July 1962

 

Also in memory of

FRANCIS A B JONES

Died 29th Dec 1979

Aged 87

 

From The Himalayan Journal Volume 24 published 1963

 

Article Khinyang Chhish , 1962 by Dr J.P Horniblow

 

(selected extracts)

 

A strong reconnaissance, and an attempt on one of the two summits, of the Khinyang Chhish-Pumarikish massif was the object of this year's joint Pakistan-British Forces Karakoram Ex¬pedition. These two mountains are on the north side of the Hispar Glacier, at a point where the States of Nagar and Hunza and the Ladakh Agency meet. Little was known of the area, and such in¬formation as we had was derived from the map made by Mr. Eric Shipton on his 1939 survey of the Hispar-Biafo glacial regions ; correspondence with the late Mr. Wilfrid Noyce, whose ascent of Trivor in 1960 afforded a view of the north-west face of Khinyang (‘Chhish' means mountain); and the secretary of the 1959 Italian expedition to Kanjut Sar. Photographs, taken half a century ago by the Bullock Workmans, also assisted us in our reconnaissance of the southern slopes of both mountains. An aerial survey by the Pakistan Air Force on behalf of the expedition was unfortunately carried out too late to be of value to this year's party.

 

Difficulties beset us from the start. The expedition was planned under the joint leadership of Major E. J. E. Mills, a member of the successful Forces expedition to Rakaposhi in 1958, and Cap¬tain Jawed Akhter, of the Pakistan Army, who had scaled the East Peak of Malubiting in 1959 when he was a member of the British- Pakistan Forces expedition under Major H. R. A. Streather, and had followed this success by climbing Masherbrum with the 1960 American expedition. Unfortunately, Captain Akhter broke his leg playing football earlier in the year, and was not fit enough to join the party. Squadron Leader Shah Khan, of the Pakistan Air Force, another member of the Rakaposhi team, was nominated as his replacement, but he also had to call off through ill health at the last minute. A second P.A.F. officer also was prevented from coming.

 

So the party that finally collected at Rawalpindi on June 6 comprised Major Mills (Leader), Captain M. R. F. Jones, of the Royal Fusiliers, Captain A. Hasell, of the Royal Signals, and my¬self as medical officer. We formed the British contingent. Captain Saeed Durrani, Captain Khurshied Ahmed, and Lt. Nisar Ahmed, of the Pakistan Army, were its representatives. These three officers had been introduced to mountaineering by Major Mills when he attended the Quetta Staff College in I960, and were very enthusias¬tic. Durrani in particular showed a great natural ability for the sport. A late choice by the Pakistan Army was Captain Naqvi who, however, was very inexperienced. The last member of the party was Dr. Karl Stauffer, an American member of the Geological Sur¬vey of Pakistan, who originally intended to confine himself to a mineralogical survey of the Hispar region, but who became a climb¬ing member to strengthen the team in the absence of Jawed Akhter and Shah Khan. He had had considerable rock-climbing experience in America and Alaska. Apart from Mills, I was the only member with previous Himalayan experience, but Jones had led a success-ful expedition from his regiment to the Canadian Rockies in 1960, and Captain Hasell had led the Army Mountaineering Association summer meet in the Alps in 1961.

 

Jones, as expedition secretary, had performed his duties admir¬ably, and the party were ready to move off from Gilgit on June 12, having been flown there from Rawalpindi in a Pakistan Air Force Freighter. It was a great sorrow to us when we later learned that the crew of this aircraft had been killed in a flying accident near Rawalpindi in July.

 

Mills had planned to reconnoitre the mountain in advance of the main party, and accordingly he, Hasell, Khurshied, Durrani and myself left Gilgit for Nagar by jeep on the 12th. This track along the course of the Hunza river is terrifying at the best of times, and recent heavy rains had played havoc with some stretches, so that our journey took twice as long as usual, and it was an exhausted party that reached Nagar at 11 p.m. that evening, having forded several streams, rebuilt a bridge, and cleared a landslide en route, as well as having had to push our over-loaded jeeps up the steeper hills. The inhabitants of Nagar compare unfavourably with their Hunza and Balti neighbours, and regard a mountaineering expedi¬tion as a heaven-sent source of revenue. Mills had managed to re¬cruit six experienced Hunza porters while we were in Gilgit, but these were personae non gratae with the Wazir of Nagar, who proved extremely unco-operative until we were forced to dismiss them. Other porters were not forthcoming, and the loads they were to carry were reduced to 40 lb. The fact that we had chosen to arrive in the midst of the ten-day Muslim feast of Muharram was another handicap. Finally, we managed to collect thirty-five men to carry 60 lb. apiece, after the Mir himself intervened, but not before he had extracted a promise of ' baksheesh ' to be paid if they worked well.

 

The walk from Nagar to the village of Hispar, at the foot of the glacier, is remarkably unpleasant, up the forbidding gorge of the Hispar river, mostly trackless, and along sections of scree-slope that are as dangerous as any mountain. On our second night out, we were treated to the spectacle of an earth slide half a mile from our camp that covered the valley floor.

 

Two afternoons later we reached the foot of the south-west ridge of the mountain, and made a tem¬porary Base Camp for the reconnaissance. This was a pleasant meadow called Bitanmal above the lateral moraine. From it we could see what we named ‘Tent Peak' above us, which subsequently proved to be the penultimate peak on the south-west ridge.

 

Next morning, Mills and Durrani set off up the steep grass slope of the south-west ridge, whilst Hasell, Khurshied and myself con¬tinued up the side of the Hispar Glacier to study possible routes up the mountain from the Pumarikish and Jutmau Glaciers.

 

Mills was satisfied with what he saw, and he and Durrani des¬cended. They chose a Base Camp about two miles further up the glacier, at the foot of the south-south-west ridge, at an altitude of some 12,600 feet, another pleasant meadow, though lacking water in the immediate vicinity. From here, with the limited number of port¬ers at their disposal, they began to establish Camp I at nearly 16,000 feet on a southerly subsidiary ridge. This involved a three-hour climb up steep grass and rock to the mouth of a rocky nullah that de¬bouched into a snow basin on the east flank of the south-south- west ridge. The snow level by this time (last week in June) was at about 16,000 feet.

 

We returned to Base Camp, and on the evening of the 25th the main party arrived. They, too, had had their vicissitudes with port¬ers, and on one occasion, with the help of their few potential high- altitude porters, had formed a 6 thin red line ' to prevent their mutin¬ous coolies making off back to Nagar. However, little of value had been stolen, though a sack of ropes had been lost from a jeep, a fact that was to affect our plans later. Next day, whilst Jones struggled with the thankless task of paying off the porters, we erected a mess tent, and stacked it with the luxurious rations that Mills had obtained for us in England.

 

During the next few days, all hands were engaged in ferrying supplies up to Camp I. The weather remained persistently bad, and on July 1, the Camp I party, consisting of Hasell, Durrani, Stauffer and Khurshied, returned to Base Camp, as they could make no progress beyond the snow basin. Mills sent them back up again next day though, as the weather showed some signs of clearing, and on July 4 they managed to climb out of the snow basin on to the end of the south-east ridge where it turned westwards to join the south-south-west ridge near the Bull's Head. This involved a steep snow ascent on a slope prone to avalanches, and the four of them worked hard to fix ropes totalling a thousand feet.

 

On July 6, Mills, Jones, Nisar Ahmed and I passed through and established Camp II at about 18,000 feet on the lip of the snow basin. This was a knife-edge ridge, and tent platforms had to be dug. Over the other side, the ridge dropped vertically for about 3,000 feet on to the Pumarikish Glacier. Sleep in this camp was disturbed until one got used to the airiness of the site.

 

Now we were faced with our first serious problem. During the next seven days, whilst Hasell, Durrani, Khurshied, and Stauffer slogged up and down between Camps I and II with the porters, the other four tackled the Bull's Head. From Camp II we followed the south-east ridge upwards for some 500 feet to the top of the Bull's Head. At first, it seemed as if we were balked, for there was a sheer drop on the other side. It was impossible to by-pass the Bull's Head to the west, and the east face was vertical rock—interesting enough for a summer's afternoon in Wales but no route for a laden climber or porter. Eventually Mills decided to go straight on over the top. Breaking through the cornice, Jones and he descended a steep snow-face, then traversed on to the east rock-face. When they finally reappeared, Nisar Ahmed and myself were delighted to hear that they had found a difficult, but possible, route down to the Col on the south-south-west ridge leading across to the Ogre. It was a fine piece of route finding by Jones, sustained by the unquench¬able enthusiasm and caution of Mills. During the next five days, the party slowly descended this face, fixing corlene ropes as they went, and returning to Camp II each night. About 1,300 feet of fixed rope were used to descend this face whose vertical height must have been about 500 feet, and included two exposed traverses and a chim¬ney. The weather remained bad during this period.

 

On the 15th, Mills' party crossed the Bull's Head and climbed a steep snow-slope to the foot of the Ogre. There they found that, though the ascent of the south face of this rock tower offered no great difficulties, the far side was a narrow over¬hanging ridge that was surely unsafe. So they made a tent platform at the foot of the rock, as it was clear that it must be by-passed on its eastern flank. Despite its steepness and the rotten snow, it offered a chance, and so Hasell, Durrani, Stauffer and Nisar Ahmed moved through to the temporary site of Camp III, until they could find a route across the Ogre to the foot of the Snow Dome.

 

On the morning of July 18, after a night of heavy snow, Mills, Jones, Khurshied and I set out for Camp III with four high-altitude porters, all carrying 40-lb. loads.

 

Reaching Camp III, we lunched, and then went to the start of the Ogre traverse—or Nymph's Traverse, as Hasell named it. We were glad to find that he and his party had roped a route, which emerged, by a stroke of good fortune, at the one place on the Col between the Ogre and the Snow Dome that offered access on to the ridge. The traverse was some 400 yards, and at one stage involved going on all fours under the overhanging rock. We reached the Col shortly after 2 p.m. to find Stauffer and Durrani had levelled a tent platform on the west slope of the foot of the Snow Dome, and Hasell and Nisar Ahmed just descending the ridge of the Dome itself, happy to have found what Hasell described as a ‘football field' for a camp at the top, some 800 feet away.

 

Whilst, the six of us rested, Mills and Jones set off up the ridge in the footsteps of the other two. The steps were well on the west side of the ridge, which was the side of the prevailing wind, where the snow would normally be hard packed. The ridge was a single arete, with no cornice on its eastward aspect; and the angle of ascent could not have exceeded 35 making roping unnecessary. They had ascended some 200 feet by the time Khurshied and myself noticed them, and as they were laden, it was clear that Mills had decided to take supplies to the proposed Camp IV site. So Khurshied and myself shouldered our packs and set off in their footsteps. It was still snowing and visibility was poor, and we lost sight of them.

 

Suddenly, Khurshied shouted that he had seen something fall on the eastern side of the ridge, something yellow and moving at a terrific speed. This could only have been one of our bright yellow sleeping-mattresses which we normally carried tied on to our ruck¬sacks. I crawled to the edge, and saw two ice-axes lying in freshly fallen snow on to the slope below. One was buried up to its head, and the other, sixty feet below, lay on the surface. Khurshied and I turned and slowly made our way down to the tent platform. There were the few moments of utter disbelief that anything could be amiss. Then the mists lifted for a few moments, and above we could see the empty ridge, with a piece of snow, 200 feet long, 30 feet wide, and about 2 feet deep, bitten off about 400 feet above us. It had slipped down the eastern side of the ridge, but it liad taken with it the crest of the ridge and some of the top snow on the western side. Above and below the gap on its extreme west edge were the steps of the previous two climbers. Hasell and I descended to a point on the traverse where he was able to study the slope below the ridge. It fell clear over a cliff about 5,000 feet down on to the Pumarikish Glacier.

 

Hasell and Nisar Ahmed spent the night at the new tent platform, whilst the remainder of us returned sadly to Camp II. The snow grew heavier, in fact it was another seveiity-two hours before it stopped. The following morning, Durrani, Stauffer and Khurshied made their way round to the head of the Pumarikish Glacier, which they reached on the afternoon of July 20. There, in a snow basin at the foot of the ridge below the Ogre, filled with stones and debris from avalanches, they saw the strap of a pack sticking up through the snow. It proved to be Dick Jones'. Further search would have been hazardous and fruitless. They collected stones and laid them in a Cross near where they had found the pack. Meanwhile, the rest of the party brought down as much equipment as they could carry from beyond the Ogre to Camp II, and the survivors gathered in Base Camp on the night of July 20. The expedition was over.

 

www.himalayanclub.org/hj/24/14/khinyang-chhish-1962/

 

There is an obituary for Major “Jimmy” Mills in the same edition.

www.himalayanclub.org/hj/24/18/obituary-3/

 

International Sign Association Expo 2015

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

 

Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.

Contents

 

1 Early life and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

3.1 Selection and training

3.2 Vostok 1

4 After the Vostok 1 flight

5 Personal life

6 Death

7 Awards and honours

7.1 Medals and orders of merit

7.2 Tributes

7.3 Statues and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm:[3] Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[17]

 

From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet Government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:

 

Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.

 

Vostok 1

Main article: Vostok 1

 

Poyekhali!

Menu

0:00

Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or Cedar).[31] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:

 

Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.

 

Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.

 

"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised it rules, and acknowledge that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[54] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[5][10]

Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and the Gemini 4 astronauts at the 1965 Paris Air Show

 

Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall

 

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[75]

 

The KGB's report declassified in March 2003 dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[76] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[73] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[74]

 

On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[77] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvered sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "unauthorized" Su-15 flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

Tributes

 

The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London

 

A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[112] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[117] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[124][125] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[126]

50th anniversary

50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine

 

The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[127] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[128]

 

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first manned space mission.

I make these framed, color-shifting LED light art things, which I have yet to come up with a good name for. The colors and patterns slowly shift over time: the two images in this set are taken of the same piece a few moments apart. The frame is spaced away from the wall so the reflection off the back of the canvas projects a "corona" on the wall around the frame.

 

my etsy shop: blinkybug.etsy.com

LED strips i bolig

This image is on Flickr because I put it in my personal journal today. dennissylvesterhurd.blogspot.com/2025/08/something-to-do-...

3. LED strip series

 

Flexible LED Strip/Decorative Lighting with 120-degree Wide Angle Illumination

* ****Features:

oContinuous length and flexible

o5 meters/roll, cuttable every 5cm

oRuns on 12V systems like solar cell charged batteries

oSuper-bright SMD top LED

oSolid-state, high shock- or vibration-resistant

o120-degree wide angle illumination

oNo RF interference

oMaintenance-free, with 3m adhesive tape on back for easy installation

oLong life: 100,000+ hours (10+ years), white LED: 50,000+ hours

oLow power consumption and high intensity

* ****Applications:

oArchitectural decorative lighting

oArchway, canopy and bridge edge lighting

oAmusement park, theater and aircraft cabin mood lighting

oEmergency hallway lighting

oAuditorium walkway lighting

oStairway accent lighting

oConcealed lighting

oBacklighting for signage letters

oChannel letter lighting

oEmergency exit path lighting

oCove lighting

to replace the lamp : more blue, more time

i get this LED saber that day. been thinking how to use it in my LP. this is just bluffing around with it.

LED

LED Downlight Fittings – If you are looking for a great way to improve the overhead lighting in your home then LED recessed downlights may be the perfect solution.

LED downlight fittings should be installed by a qualified electrician since LED downlight fittings are recessed up into ...

 

www.ultrabeamlighting.co.uk/lighting-articles/led-downlig...

led display

Evil Mad Scientist's infrared LED board

LED TUBE LIGHT-------LED-SHIFT-LIGHTING

 

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and incandescents could both be left in the dark by LEDs or Light-Emitting-Diodes. SHENZHEN JINGJING TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD. , as a leading lighting company, are racing to release traditional-bulb-shaped or tube-shaped LEDs which is instant replacement of old bulbs and tubes. They last five to ten times as long as CFLs without upkeep. , contain no mercury and use far less energy ( up to 70% less electricity ), not to mention incandescents. Although they cost two or three times as much as unfamous brand CFLs or halogen bulbs, they pay for themselves ! Typical return on investment is 2 years in energy saving alone ! When you factor in maintenance of traditional lighting some customers have seen 1 year return on investment. So it is not wise to still burning money on old lights.

 

Contact: Mr. Lee

 

Email: hileds@gmail.com

 

MSN: hileds@hotmail.com

  

learn.adafruit.com/led-bicycle-handlebars/

United Nations Headquarters

New York, New York

 

10:18 A.M. EDT

 

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen: Seventy years after the founding of the United Nations, it is worth reflecting on what, together, the members of this body have helped to achieve.

 

Out of the ashes of the Second World War, having witnessed the unthinkable power of the atomic age, the United States has worked with many nations in this Assembly to prevent a third world war -- by forging alliances with old adversaries; by supporting the steady emergence of strong democracies accountable to their people instead of any foreign power; and by building an international system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation, an order that recognizes the dignity and equal worth of all people.

 

That is the work of seven decades. That is the ideal that this body, at its best, has pursued. Of course, there have been too many times when, collectively, we have fallen short of these ideals. Over seven decades, terrible conflicts have claimed untold victims. But we have pressed forward, slowly, steadily, to make a system of international rules and norms that are better and stronger and more consistent.

 

It is this international order that has underwritten unparalleled advances in human liberty and prosperity. It is this collective endeavor that’s brought about diplomatic cooperation between the world’s major powers, and buttressed a global economy that has lifted more than a billion people from poverty. It is these international principles that helped constrain bigger countries from imposing our will on smaller ones, and advanced the emergence of democracy and development and individual liberty on every continent.

 

This progress is real. It can be documented in lives saved, and agreements forged, and diseases conquered, and in mouths fed. And yet, we come together today knowing that the march of human progress never travels in a straight line, that our work is far from complete; that dangerous currents risk pulling us back into a darker, more disordered world.

 

Today, we see the collapse of strongmen and fragile states breeding conflict, and driving innocent men, women and children across borders on an epic scale. Brutal networks of terror have stepped into the vacuum. Technologies that empower individuals are now also exploited by those who spread disinformation, or suppress dissent, or radicalize our youth. Global capital flows have powered growth and investment, but also increased risk of contagion, weakened the bargaining power of workers, and accelerated inequality.

 

How should we respond to these trends? There are those who argue that the ideals enshrined in the U.N. charter are unachievable or out of date -- a legacy of a postwar era not suited to our own. Effectively, they argue for a return to the rules that applied for most of human history and that pre-date this institution: the belief that power is a zero-sum game; that might makes right; that strong states must impose their will on weaker ones; that the rights of individuals don’t matter; and that in a time of rapid change, order must be imposed by force.

 

On this basis, we see some major powers assert themselves in ways that contravene international law. We see an erosion of the democratic principles and human rights that are fundamental to this institution’s mission; information is strictly controlled, the space for civil society restricted. We’re told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder; that it’s the only way to stamp out terrorism, or prevent foreign meddling. In accordance with this logic, we should support tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children, because the alternative is surely worse.

 

The increasing skepticism of our international order can also be found in the most advanced democracies. We see greater polarization, more frequent gridlock; movements on the far right, and sometimes the left, that insist on stopping the trade that binds our fates to other nations, calling for the building of walls to keep out immigrants. Most ominously, we see the fears of ordinary people being exploited through appeals to sectarianism, or tribalism, or racism, or anti-Semitism; appeals to a glorious past before the body politic was infected by those who look different, or worship God differently; a politics of us versus them.

 

The United States is not immune from this. Even as our economy is growing and our troops have largely returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, we see in our debates about America’s role in the world a notion of strength that is defined by opposition to old enemies, perceived adversaries, a rising China, or a resurgent Russia; a revolutionary Iran, or an Islam that is incompatible with peace. We see an argument made that the only strength that matters for the United States is bellicose words and shows of military force; that cooperation and diplomacy will not work.

 

As President of the United States, I am mindful of the dangers that we face; they cross my desk every morning. I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known, and I will never hesitate to protect my country or our allies, unilaterally and by force where necessary.

 

But I stand before you today believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion. We cannot look backwards. We live in an integrated world -- one in which we all have a stake in each other’s success. We cannot turn those forces of integration. No nation in this Assembly can insulate itself from the threat of terrorism, or the risk of financial contagion; the flow of migrants, or the danger of a warming planet. The disorder we see is not driven solely by competition between nations or any single ideology. And if we cannot work together more effectively, we will all suffer the consequences. That is true for the United States, as well.

 

No matter how powerful our military, how strong our economy, we understand the United States cannot solve the world’s problems alone. In Iraq, the United States learned the hard lesson that even hundreds of thousands of brave, effective troops, trillions of dollars from our Treasury, cannot by itself impose stability on a foreign land. Unless we work with other nations under the mantle of international norms and principles and law that offer legitimacy to our efforts, we will not succeed. And unless we work together to defeat the ideas that drive different communities in a country like Iraq into conflict, any order that our militaries can impose will be temporary.

 

Just as force alone cannot impose order internationally, I believe in my core that repression cannot forge the social cohesion for nations to succeed. The history of the last two decades proves that in today’s world, dictatorships are unstable. The strongmen of today become the spark of revolution tomorrow. You can jail your opponents, but you can’t imprison ideas. You can try to control access to information, but you cannot turn a lie into truth. It is not a conspiracy of U.S.-backed NGOs that expose corruption and raise the expectations of people around the globe; it’s technology, social media, and the irreducible desire of people everywhere to make their own choices about how they are governed.

 

Indeed, I believe that in today’s world, the measure of strength is no longer defined by the control of territory. Lasting prosperity does not come solely from the ability to access and extract raw materials. The strength of nations depends on the success of their people -- their knowledge, their innovation, their imagination, their creativity, their drive, their opportunity -- and that, in turn, depends upon individual rights and good governance and personal security. Internal repression and foreign aggression are both symptoms of the failure to provide this foundation.

 

A politics and solidarity that depend on demonizing others, that draws on religious sectarianism or narrow tribalism or jingoism may at times look like strength in the moment, but over time its weakness will be exposed. And history tells us that the dark forces unleashed by this type of politics surely makes all of us less secure. Our world has been there before. We gain nothing from going back.

 

Instead, I believe that we must go forward in pursuit of our ideals, not abandon them at this critical time. We must give expression to our best hopes, not our deepest fears. This institution was founded because men and women who came before us had the foresight to know that our nations are more secure when we uphold basic laws and basic norms, and pursue a path of cooperation over conflict. And strong nations, above all, have a responsibility to uphold this international order.

 

Let me give you a concrete example. After I took office, I made clear that one of the principal achievements of this body -- the nuclear non-proliferation regime -- was endangered by Iran’s violation of the NPT. On that basis, the Security Council tightened sanctions on the Iranian government, and many nations joined us to enforce them. Together, we showed that laws and agreements mean something.

 

But we also understood that the goal of sanctions was not simply to punish Iran. Our objective was to test whether Iran could change course, accept constraints, and allow the world to verify that its nuclear program will be peaceful. For two years, the United States and our partners -- including Russia, including China -- stuck together in complex negotiations. The result is a lasting, comprehensive deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while allowing it to access peaceful energy. And if this deal is fully implemented, the prohibition on nuclear weapons is strengthened, a potential war is averted, our world is safer. That is the strength of the international system when it works the way it should.

 

That same fidelity to international order guides our responses to other challenges around the world. Consider Russia’s annexation of Crimea and further aggression in eastern Ukraine. America has few economic interests in Ukraine. We recognize the deep and complex history between Russia and Ukraine. But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today. That’s the basis of the sanctions that the United States and our partners impose on Russia. It's not a desire to return to a Cold War.

 

Now, within Russia, state-controlled media may describe these events as an example of a resurgent Russia -- a view shared, by the way, by a number of U.S. politicians and commentators who have always been deeply skeptical of Russia, and seem to be convinced a new Cold War is, in fact, upon us. And yet, look at the results. The Ukrainian people are more interested than ever in aligning with Europe instead of Russia. Sanctions have led to capital flight, a contracting economy, a fallen ruble, and the emigration of more educated Russians.

 

Imagine if, instead, Russia had engaged in true diplomacy, and worked with Ukraine and the international community to ensure its interests were protected. That would be better for Ukraine, but also better for Russia, and better for the world -- which is why we continue to press for this crisis to be resolved in a way that allows a sovereign and democratic Ukraine to determine its future and control its territory. Not because we want to isolate Russia -- we don't -- but because we want a strong Russia that’s invested in working with us to strengthen the international system as a whole.

 

Similarly, in the South China Sea, the United States makes no claim on territory there. We don't adjudicate claims. But like every nation gathered here, we have an interest in upholding the basic principles of freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce, and in resolving disputes through international law, not the law of force. So we will defend these principles, while encouraging China and other claimants to resolve their differences peacefully.

 

I say this, recognizing that diplomacy is hard; that the outcomes are sometimes unsatisfying; that it's rarely politically popular. But I believe that leaders of large nations, in particular, have an obligation to take these risks -- precisely because we are strong enough to protect our interests if, and when, diplomacy fails.

 

I also believe that to move forward in this new era, we have to be strong enough to acknowledge when what you’re doing is not working. For 50 years, the United States pursued a Cuba policy that failed to improve the lives of the Cuban people. We changed that. We continue to have differences with the Cuban government. We will continue to stand up for human rights. But we address these issues through diplomatic relations, and increased commerce, and people-to-people ties. As these contacts yield progress, I’m confident that our Congress will inevitably lift an embargo that should not be in place anymore. (Applause.) Change won’t come overnight to Cuba, but I’m confident that openness, not coercion, will support the reforms and better the life the Cuban people deserve, just as I believe that Cuba will find its success if it pursues cooperation with other nations.

 

Now, if it’s in the interest of major powers to uphold international standards, it is even more true for the rest of the community of nations. Look around the world. From Singapore to Colombia to Senegal, the facts shows that nations succeed when they pursue an inclusive peace and prosperity within their borders, and work cooperatively with countries beyond their borders.

 

That path is now available to a nation like Iran, which, as of this moment, continues to deploy violent proxies to advance its interests. These efforts may appear to give Iran leverage in disputes with neighbors, but they fuel sectarian conflict that endangers the entire region, and isolates Iran from the promise of trade and commerce. The Iranian people have a proud history, and are filled with extraordinary potential. But chanting “Death to America” does not create jobs, or make Iran more secure. If Iran chose a different path, that would be good for the security of the region, good for the Iranian people, and good for the world.

 

Of course, around the globe, we will continue to be confronted with nations who reject these lessons of history, places where civil strife, border disputes, and sectarian wars bring about terrorist enclaves and humanitarian disasters. Where order has completely broken down, we must act, but we will be stronger when we act together.

 

In such efforts, the United States will always do our part. We will do so mindful of the lessons of the past -- not just the lessons of Iraq, but also the example of Libya, where we joined an international coalition under a U.N. mandate to prevent a slaughter. Even as we helped the Libyan people bring an end to the reign of a tyrant, our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind. We’re grateful to the United Nations for its efforts to forge a unity government. We will help any legitimate Libyan government as it works to bring the country together. But we also have to recognize that we must work more effectively in the future, as an international community, to build capacity for states that are in distress, before they collapse.

 

And that’s why we should celebrate the fact that later today the United States will join with more than 50 countries to enlist new capabilities -- infantry, intelligence, helicopters, hospitals, and tens of thousands of troops -- to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping. (Applause.) These new capabilities can prevent mass killing, and ensure that peace agreements are more than words on paper. But we have to do it together. Together, we must strengthen our collective capacity to establish security where order has broken down, and to support those who seek a just and lasting peace.

 

Nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria. When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs -- it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all. Likewise, when a terrorist group beheads captives, slaughters the innocent and enslaves women, that’s not a single nation’s national security problem -- that is an assault on all humanity.

 

I’ve said before and I will repeat: There is no room for accommodating an apocalyptic cult like ISIL, and the United States makes no apologies for using our military, as part of a broad coalition, to go after them. We do so with a determination to ensure that there will never be a safe haven for terrorists who carry out these crimes. And we have demonstrated over more than a decade of relentless pursuit of al Qaeda, we will not be outlasted by extremists.

 

But while military power is necessary, it is not sufficient to resolve the situation in Syria. Lasting stability can only take hold when the people of Syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully. The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict. But we must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.

  

Let’s remember how this started. Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that, in turn, created the environment for the current strife. And so Assad and his allies cannot simply pacify the broad majority of a population who have been brutalized by chemical weapons and indiscriminate bombing. Yes, realism dictates that compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out ISIL. But realism also requires a managed transition away from Assad and to a new leader, and an inclusive government that recognizes there must be an end to this chaos so that the Syrian people can begin to rebuild.

 

We know that ISIL -- which emerged out of the chaos of Iraq and Syria -- depends on perpetual war to survive. But we also know that they gain adherents because of a poisonous ideology. So part of our job, together, is to work to reject such extremism that infects too many of our young people. Part of that effort must be a continued rejection by Muslims of those who distort Islam to preach intolerance and promote violence, and it must also a rejection by non-Muslims of the ignorance that equates Islam with terror. (Applause.)

 

This work will take time. There are no easy answers to Syria. And there are no simple answers to the changes that are taking place in much of the Middle East and North Africa. But so many families need help right now; they don’t have time. And that’s why the United States is increasing the number of refugees who we welcome within our borders. That’s why we will continue to be the largest donor of assistance to support those refugees. And today we are launching new efforts to ensure that our people and our businesses, our universities and our NGOs can help as well -- because in the faces of suffering families, our nation of immigrants sees ourselves.

 

Of course, in the old ways of thinking, the plight of the powerless, the plight of refugees, the plight of the marginalized did not matter. They were on the periphery of the world’s concerns. Today, our concern for them is driven not just by conscience, but should also be drive by self-interest. For helping people who have been pushed to the margins of our world is not mere charity, it is a matter of collective security. And the purpose of this institution is not merely to avoid conflict, it is to galvanize the collective action that makes life better on this planet.

 

The commitments we’ve made to the Sustainable Development Goals speak to this truth. I believe that capitalism has been the greatest creator of wealth and opportunity that the world has ever known. But from big cities to rural villages around the world, we also know that prosperity is still cruelly out of reach for too many. As His Holiness Pope Francis reminds us, we are stronger when we value the least among these, and see them as equal in dignity to ourselves and our sons and our daughters.

 

We can roll back preventable disease and end the scourge of HIV/AIDS. We can stamp out pandemics that recognize no borders. That work may not be on television right now, but as we demonstrated in reversing the spread of Ebola, it can save more lives than anything else we can do.

 

Together, we can eradicate extreme poverty and erase barriers to opportunity. But this requires a sustained commitment to our people -- so farmers can feed more people; so entrepreneurs can start a business without paying a bribe; so young people have the skills they need to succeed in this modern, knowledge-based economy.

 

We can promote growth through trade that meets a higher standard. And that’s what we’re doing through the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade agreement that encompasses nearly 40 percent of the global economy; an agreement that will open markets, while protecting the rights of workers and protecting the environment that enables development to be sustained.

 

We can roll back the pollution that we put in our skies, and help economies lift people out of poverty without condemning our children to the ravages of an ever-warming climate. The same ingenuity that produced the Industrial Age and the Computer Age allows us to harness the potential of clean energy. No country can escape the ravages of climate change. And there is no stronger sign of leadership than putting future generations first. The United States will work with every nation that is willing to do its part so that we can come together in Paris to decisively confront this challenge.

 

And finally, our vision for the future of this Assembly, my belief in moving forward rather than backwards, requires us to defend the democratic principles that allow societies to succeed. Let me start from a simple premise: Catastrophes, like what we are seeing in Syria, do not take place in countries where there is genuine democracy and respect for the universal values this institution is supposed to defend. (Applause.)

 

I recognize that democracy is going to take different forms in different parts of the world. The very idea of a people governing themselves depends upon government giving expression to their unique culture, their unique history, their unique experiences. But some universal truths are self-evident. No person wants to be imprisoned for peaceful worship. No woman should ever be abused with impunity, or a girl barred from going to school. The freedom to peacefully petition those in power without fear of arbitrary laws -- these are not ideas of one country or one culture. They are fundamental to human progress. They are a cornerstone of this institution.

 

I realize that in many parts of the world there is a different view -- a belief that strong leadership must tolerate no dissent. I hear it not only from America’s adversaries, but privately at least I also hear it from some of our friends. I disagree. I believe a government that suppresses peaceful dissent is not showing strength; it is showing weakness and it is showing fear. (Applause.) History shows that regimes who fear their own people will eventually crumble, but strong institutions built on the consent of the governed endure long after any one individual is gone.

 

That's why our strongest leaders -- from George Washington to Nelson Mandela -- have elevated the importance of building strong, democratic institutions over a thirst for perpetual power. Leaders who amend constitutions to stay in office only acknowledge that they failed to build a successful country for their people -- because none of us last forever. It tells us that power is something they cling to for its own sake, rather than for the betterment of those they purport to serve.

 

I understand democracy is frustrating. Democracy in the United States is certainly imperfect. At times, it can even be dysfunctional. But democracy -- the constant struggle to extend rights to more of our people, to give more people a voice -- is what allowed us to become the most powerful nation in the world. (Applause.)

 

It's not simply a matter of principle; it's not an abstraction. Democracy -- inclusive democracy -- makes countries stronger. When opposition parties can seek power peacefully through the ballot, a country draws upon new ideas. When a free media can inform the public, corruption and abuse are exposed and can be rooted out. When civil society thrives, communities can solve problems that governments cannot necessarily solve alone. When immigrants are welcomed, countries are more productive and more vibrant. When girls can go to school, and get a job, and pursue unlimited opportunity, that’s when a country realizes its full potential. (Applause.)

 

That is what I believe is America’s greatest strength. Not everybody in America agrees with me. That's part of democracy. I believe that the fact that you can walk the streets of this city right now and pass churches and synagogues and temples and mosques, where people worship freely; the fact that our nation of immigrants mirrors the diversity of the world -- you can find everybody from everywhere here in New York City -- (applause) -- the fact that, in this country, everybody can contribute, everybody can participate no matter who they are, or what they look like, or who they love -- that's what makes us strong.

 

And I believe that what is true for America is true for virtually all mature democracies. And that is no accident. We can be proud of our nations without defining ourselves in opposition to some other group. We can be patriotic without demonizing someone else. We can cherish our own identities -- our religion, our ethnicity, our traditions -- without putting others down. Our systems are premised on the notion that absolute power will corrupt, but that people -- ordinary people -- are fundamentally good; that they value family and friendship, faith and the dignity of hard work; and that with appropriate checks and balances, governments can reflect this goodness.

 

I believe that’s the future we must seek together. To believe in the dignity of every individual, to believe we can bridge our differences, and choose cooperation over conflict -- that is not weakness, that is strength. (Applause.) It is a practical necessity in this interconnected world.

 

And our people understand this. Think of the Liberian doctor who went door-to-door to search for Ebola cases, and to tell families what to do if they show symptoms. Think of the Iranian shopkeeper who said, after the nuclear deal, “God willing, now we’ll be able to offer many more goods at better prices.” Think of the Americans who lowered the flag over our embassy in Havana in 1961 -- the year I was born -- and returned this summer to raise that flag back up. (Applause.) One of these men said of the Cuban people, “We could do things for them, and they could do things for us. We loved them.” For 50 years, we ignored that fact.

 

Think of the families leaving everything they’ve known behind, risking barren deserts and stormy waters just to find shelter; just to save their children. One Syrian refugee who was greeted in Hamburg with warm greetings and shelter, said, “We feel there are still some people who love other people.”

 

The people of our United Nations are not as different as they are told. They can be made to fear; they can be taught to hate -- but they can also respond to hope. History is littered with the failure of false prophets and fallen empires who believed that might always makes right, and that will continue to be the case. You can count on that. But we are called upon to offer a different type of leadership -- leadership strong enough to recognize that nations share common interests and people share a common humanity, and, yes, there are certain ideas and principles that are universal.

 

That's what those who shaped the United Nations 70 years ago understood. Let us carry forward that faith into the future -- for it is the only way we can assure that future will be brighter for my children, and for yours.

 

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

 

END 11:00 A.M. EDT

Sales Manager

Jack Wu

 

Mobile: 86-136 9983 9394

 

Skype: wellwaytech

 

Email: jack@wellwaytech.com

 

MSN: jack@wellwaytech.com

     

Magic SMD5050/3528 Flexible LED Strip Light Color Changing LED Strip Lamp

   

LED strip light Product introduction:

 

1. Use low energy consumption SMD led for light source, high energy conservation efficiency can up to 75% than traditional light; high brightness, low brightness attenuation.

 

2. Environmental protection, lifespan up to 50000H.

 

3. Adopt super flexible PCB board as a base, can be folded and bended to 360 degree; low voltage, safe and reliable to use.

 

4. Many colors: red,yellow,blue,green,white,warm white are available.

 

5. Input voltage: 12V/24V DC. 3 LEDS make one group under 12V while 6 LEDs make a group under 24V.

 

6. With waterproof and no-waterproof ,the waterproof level has :IP65,IP67,IP68

 

Application

 

Widely using in decorative lighting, amusement park, theater and mood lighting, hallway and walk-way lighting, stair accent lighting,concealed lighting, cove lighting, emergency exit path lighting, cabinet and under counter lighting, exhibition display lighting etc.

  

Mark:

 

Please do not connect the positive electrodetake to the negative.

Please do cut the strip in the shear.

Please do not connect directly to AC220V.

This product is 6 lamps a cut for24V,and 3 lamps a cut for 12V

  

Specifications:

 

1.Color:RGB

 

2.View Angle:120°

 

3.Working Voltage: 12VDC

 

4.LED Quantity: 600 LEDs/5 meter

 

5.Working Current/meter: 1.2A

 

6.Output Power: 9.6W /5 meter

 

7.Working Temperature:-20 to 50°

 

8.Protection Rate IP65(Non-waterproof)

 

9.Luminous Flux: 540-660 Lumens/meter

 

10.Color Temperature: 2500 –3000K

 

11.Size: L500cm (5M) x W0.8cm x T0.25cm

 

Character & Advertages:

 

1. Milk color tube encased

 

2. 3M adhersive tape on its back

 

3. Solid-state, high shock or vibration resistant

 

4. Major reduction in power costs

 

5. No flickering

 

6. No RF interference

 

7. No UV radiation

 

8. Instant soft start

 

9. Easy installation, maintenance free

 

10. Long life: 100, 000+ hours (10+ years); white LED: 50, 000+ hours

 

11. Low power consumption, high intensity

 

12. CE & RoHS approved

   

Applications:

 

Architectural decorative lighting

 

Archway, canopy and bridge edge lighting

 

Amusement park, theater and aircraft cabin mood lighting

 

Emergency hallway lighting

 

Backlighting for signage letters

 

Emergency exit path lighting

   

Trade Terms:

 

1. Payment: T/T, Western Union available

 

2. Lead time: 8-10 working days for 100~500 rolls, 15 working days for 500~1000 rolls

 

3. Samples can be available within 6-8 working days

 

4. Shipping freight is quoted under your requests

 

5. Shipping port: Shenzhen, China mainland

 

6. Discouts are offered based on order quantities

 

7. MOQ: 5 rolls

   

Our services:

 

1. Your inquiry related to our products or prices will be replied in 24hours.

 

2. Well-trained and experienced staffs to answer all your enquires influent English.

 

3. OEM & ODM are welcomed, OEM brand is available.

 

4. Distributor ship is offered for your unique desigh and some our current models.

 

5. Protection of your sales area, ideas of design and all your private informaton.

  

Customer Satisfaction:

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns before or after your purchase. We are committed to your 100% satisfaction.

 

Feedback:

 

Since your feedback is very important to our business`s development, we sincerely invite you to leave positive feedback for us if you are satisfied with our product and service. It`ll just take you 1 minute. Thank you!

 

Has anyone tried this? Just a little Led lamp, connected to the USB printer slot. The lamp costs about 3 dollars at IKEA. HUGE BUT, it is a great way to drain out the already fainting batteries so this is not practical at all...

LED

LED light

A trip through downtown Sarasota yesterday gave me an opportunity to find out some new subject matter. I have some shots ofthis building taken through the canon, but no ability to dl at the moment (aaarrgghhhh!). But I will post asap for iPhone 20d comparo purposes. I'm happy with the way the tones came out and caught a nice cloud reflection. The backlight helps to divide the dark small columns from the main bldg. So this was taken with hipstamatic, blackeys film and John s lens. Minimal post edit - gamma adjusted in iris.

 

View On Black

3. LED strip series

 

Flexible LED Strip/Decorative Lighting with 120-degree Wide Angle Illumination

* ****Features:

oContinuous length and flexible

o5 meters/roll, cuttable every 5cm

oRuns on 12V systems like solar cell charged batteries

oSuper-bright SMD top LED

oSolid-state, high shock- or vibration-resistant

o120-degree wide angle illumination

oNo RF interference

oMaintenance-free, with 3m adhesive tape on back for easy installation

oLong life: 100,000+ hours (10+ years), white LED: 50,000+ hours

oLow power consumption and high intensity

* ****Applications:

oArchitectural decorative lighting

oArchway, canopy and bridge edge lighting

oAmusement park, theater and aircraft cabin mood lighting

oEmergency hallway lighting

oAuditorium walkway lighting

oStairway accent lighting

oConcealed lighting

oBacklighting for signage letters

oChannel letter lighting

oEmergency exit path lighting

oCove lighting

A simple, quick, and very cheap circuit to turn on an LED when it gets dark. Read more about this project here.

See my YouTube video showing all of my current Light Painting Tools and how they work.

www.youtube.com/user/michaelrross1

 

State-of-the-art lighting technology illuminates the approximately 5,100-m2 glass shell that enwraps the Ars Electronica Center. The LED strips mounted behind the 1,100 glass panes that comprise the façade are individually programmable. Brightness and color mixture can be fine-tuned. There are a total of 40,000 diodes—a quarter each emitting red, green, blue and white. In normal nighttime operation, 3-5 kilowatts of electrical power are all it takes to produce innovative special effects.

 

credit: Nicolas Ferrando, Lois Lammerhuber

 

Final shots of the third relay module I built for Woody. The white stuff is just foam packing to stop the module moving about.

 

The LEDs at the front are connected to the 'normally closed' pins on the relays and light when the switch is closed. When each relay operates, the corresponding LED goes out which confirms that the relay is working. Powered by 4 button cells in the bottom right which will be used up quickly so this will only be switched on for an occasional check on the relays.

 

I have now added LEDs on the inputs from the NXT (on the relay side of the diodes). These are powered by the NXT to show that the program is sending signals to the relays; they only operate when a signal is received. The case is now full and I can't get anything else in!

 

Please note that the relay voltage is defined as 6v. You should change this to the nominal operating voltage of the relays you used to avoid damaging them. The program automatically adds 0.7v to the applied voltage to allow for the drop over the diode.

 

You can open the program to read it using Wordpad, Write, etc.

 

Use this at your own risk, I accept no responsibility, etc.

 

NOTE - It has been pointed out to me that the NXT controls the motor speed by sending voltage pulses - the fewer the pulses the slower the motor. Each 'pulse' is still 9v so the use of relays with a nominal voltage of less than 7.5V might lead to damage. I have used 5v relays with a battery producing about 8v using the method shown here but there is no guarantee that there will not be a reduction in the life of the relays, especially if using the full 9v the NXT can provide with fresh batteries. If you have any doubt, use 9v relays. Relays will normally rated to work at about 75% of the rated value so a 9v model should still be reliable at 7V.

 

The unit could, of course, be used to operate more than a camera. The Songle SRD-5V-SL-C relays I used can handle up to 10A and 28v, enough to drive a substantial motor (not through a stereo plug though).

 

Here is a link to the latest NXC version of my progam which includes the code to operate the relays - not all sections fully tested but it does shoot panos. dl.dropbox.com/u/4174373/Woody NXC ZZ V1-2.nxc

 

You can read this file in any text editor (including Notepad) but will need the free Bricx Command Center to add it to your NXT (bricxcc.sourceforge.net/).

These are two unmarked men's LED watches from the 1970s. They contain National Semiconductor timekeeping modules and work well.

Freight train graffiti

Singapore (Listeni/ˈsɪŋɡəpɔːr/), officially the Republic of Singapore, and often referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City, and the Red Dot, is a global city and sovereign state in Southeast Asia and the world's only island city-state. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southernmost tip of continental Asia and peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island and 62 islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km2), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

 

The islands were settled from the second century AD by a series of local empires. In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded modern Singapore as a trading post of the East India Company; after the company collapsed, the islands were ceded to Britain and became part of its Straits Settlements in 1826. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from Britain in 1963, by uniting with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was expelled two years later over ideological differences. After early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its human capital.

 

Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub. Its standings include: "easiest place to do business" (World Bank) for ten consecutive years, most "technology-ready" nation (WEF), top International-meetings city (UIA), city with "best investment potential" (BERI), 2nd-most competitive country (WEF), 3rd-largest foreign exchange centre, 3rd-largest financial centre, 3rd-largest oil refining and trading centre and one of the top two busiest container ports since the 1990s. Singapore's best known global brands include Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport, both amongst the most-awarded in their industry; SIA is also rated by Fortune surveys as Asia's "most admired company". For the past decade, it has been the only Asian country with the top AAA sovereign rating from all major credit rating agencies, including S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

 

Singapore ranks high on its national social policies, leading Asia and 11th globally, on the Human Development Index (UN), notably on key measures of education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, housing. Although income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, and the country has one of the highest per capita incomes, with low taxes. The cosmopolitan nation is home to 5.5 million residents, 38% of whom are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. Singaporeans are mostly bilingual in a mother-tongue language and English as their common language. Its cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive ethnic "hawker" cuisine and major festivals - Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western - which are all national holidays. In 2015, Lonely Planet and The New York Times listed Singapore as their top and 6th best world destination to visit respectively.

 

The nation's core principles are meritocracy, multiculturalism and secularism. It is noted for its effective, pragmatic and incorrupt governance and civil service, which together with its rapid development policies, is widely cited as the "Singapore model". Gallup polls shows 84% of its residents expressed confidence in the national government, and 85% in its judicial systems - one of the highest ratings recorded. Singapore has significant influence on global affairs relative to its size, leading some analysts to classify it as a middle power. It is ranked as Asia's most influential city and 4th in the world by Forbes.

 

Singapore is a unitary, multiparty, parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People's Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959. One of the five founding members of the ASEAN, Singapore is also the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat, and a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The English name of Singapore is derived from the Malay word, Singapura, which was in turn derived from Sanskrit (Singa is "lion", Pura "city"; Sanskrit: सिंहपुर, IAST: Siṃhápura), hence the customary reference to the nation as the Lion City, and its inclusion in many of the nation's symbols (e.g., its coat of arms, Merlion emblem). However, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island; Sang Nila Utama, who founded and named the island Singapura, most likely saw a Malayan tiger. It is also known as Pulau Ujong, as far back as the 3rd century, literally 'island at the end' (of the Malay Peninsula) in Malay.

 

Since the 1970s, Singapore has also been widely known as the Garden City, owing to its extensive greening policy covering the whole island, a priority of its first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, dubbed the nation's "Chief Gardener". The nation's conservation and greening efforts contributed to Singapore Botanic Gardens being the only tropical garden to be inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The nickname, Red Dot, is a reference to its size on the map, contrasting with its achievements. In 2015, Singapore's Golden Jubilee year, the celebratory "SG50" branding is depicted inside a red dot.

 

HISTORY

Temasek ('Sea Town' in the Malay language), an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire, is the earliest written record relating to the area now called Singapore. In the 13th century, the Kingdom of Singapura was established on the island and it became a trading port city. However, there were two major foreign invasions before it was destroyed by the Majapahit in 1398. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was nominally part of the Johor Sultanate and the island sank into obscurity for the next two centuries, while the wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control.

 

BRITISH COLONISATION 1819-1942

In 1819, Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived and signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, on behalf of the British East India Company, to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post. In 1824, the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, becoming the regional capital in 1836.

 

Prior to Raffles' arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860, the population had swelled to more than 80,000 and more than half were Chinese. Many immigrants came to work at rubber plantations and, after the 1870s, the island became a global centre for rubber exports.

 

After the First World War, the British built the large Singapore Naval Base. Lieutenant General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie was appointed General Officer Commanding of the Malaya Command on 8 November 1935, holding the post until 1939;

 

WORLD WAR II AND JAPANESE OCCUPATION 1942-45

in May 1938, the General Officer Commanding of the Malaya Command warned how Singapore could be conquered by the Japanese via an attack from northern Malaya, but his warnings went unheeded. The Imperial Japanese Army invaded British Malaya, culminating in the Battle of Singapore. When the British surrendered on 15 February 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the defeat "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". Between 5,000 and 25,000 ethnic Chinese people were killed in the subsequent Sook Ching massacre.

 

From November 1944 to May 1945, the Allies conducted an intensive bombing of Singapore.

 

RETURN OF BRITISH 1945-59

After the surrender of Japan was announced in the Jewel Voice Broadcast by the Japanese Emperor on 15 August 1945 there was a breakdown of order and looting and revenge-killing were widespread. The formal Japanese Occupation of Singapore was only ended by Operation Tiderace and the formal surrender on 12 September 1945 at Singapore City Hall when Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of Southeast Asia Command, accepted the capitulation of Japanese forces in Southeast Asia from General Itagaki Seishiro.

 

A British Military Administration was then formed to govern the island. On 1 April 1946, the Straits Settlements were dissolved and Singapore became a separate Crown Colony with a civil administration headed by a Governor. Much of the infrastructure had been destroyed during the war, including the harbour, electricity, telephone and water supply systems. There was also a shortage of food leading to malnutrition, disease, and rampant crime and violence. High food prices, unemployment, and workers' discontent culminated into a series of strikes in 1947 causing massive stoppages in public transport and other services. In July 1947, separate Executive and Legislative Councils were established and the election of six members of the Legislative Council was scheduled for the following year. By late 1947, the economy began to recover, facilitated by a growing demand for tin and rubber around the world, but it would take several more years before the economy returned to pre-war levels.

 

The failure of Britain to defend Singapore had destroyed its credibility as an infallible ruler in the eyes of Singaporeans. The decades after the war saw a political awakening amongst the local populace and the rise of anti-colonial and nationalist sentiments, epitomized by the slogan Merdeka, or "independence" in the Malay language.

 

During the 1950s, Chinese Communists with strong ties to the trade unions and Chinese schools carried out armed uprising against the government, leading to the Malayan Emergency and later, the Communist Insurgency War. The 1954 National Service Riots, Chinese middle schools riots, and Hock Lee bus riots in Singapore were all linked to these events.

 

David Marshall, pro-independence leader of the Labour Front, won Singapore's first general election in 1955. He led a delegation to London, but Britain rejected his demand for complete self-rule. He resigned and was replaced by Lim Yew Hock, whose policies convinced Britain to grant Singapore full internal self-government for all matters except defence and foreign affairs.

 

SELF-GOVERNMENT 1959-1963

During the May 1959 elections, the People's Action Party won a landslide victory. Singapore became an internally self-governing state within the Commonwealth, with Lee Kuan Yew as its first Prime Minister. Governor Sir William Allmond Codrington Goode served as the first Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Head of State), and was succeeded by Yusof bin Ishak, who became the first President of Singapore in 1965.

 

MERGER WITH MALAYSIA 1963-65

As a result of the 1962 Merger Referendum, on 31 August 1963 Singapore joined with the Federation of Malaya, the Crown Colony of Sarawak and the Crown Colony of North Borneo to form the new federation of Malaysia under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement. Singaporean leaders chose to join Malaysia primarily due to concerns over its limited land size, scarcity of water, markets and natural resources. Some Singaporean and Malaysian politicians were also concerned that the communists might form the government on the island, a possibility perceived as an external threat to the Federation of Malaya.However, shortly after the merger, the Singapore state government and the Malaysian central government disagreed on many political and economic issues, and communal strife culminated in the 1964 race riots in Singapore. After many heated ideological conflicts between the two governments, on 9 August 1965, the Malaysian Parliament voted 126 to 0 to expel Singapore from Malaysia with Singaporean delegates not present.

 

INDEPENDENCE 1965 TO PRESENT

Singapore gained independence as the Republic of Singapore (remaining within the Commonwealth of Nations) on 9 August 1965. Race riots broke out once more in 1969. In 1967, the country co-founded ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and in 1970 it joined the Non-Aligned Movement. Lee Kuan Yew became Prime Minister, leading its Third World economy to First World affluence in a single generation. His emphasis on rapid economic growth, support for business entrepreneurship, limitations on internal democracy, and close relationships with China set the new nation's policies for the next half-century.

 

In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as Prime Minister, while the latter continued serving in the Cabinet as Senior Minister until 2004, and then Minister Mentor until May 2011. During Goh's tenure, the country faced the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak and terrorist threats posed by Jemaah Islamiyah.

 

In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the country's third Prime Minister. Goh Chok Tong remained in Cabinet as the Senior Minister until May 2011, when he was named Emeritus Senior Minister despite his retirement. He steered the nation through the 2008 global financial crisis, resolved the disputed 79-year old Malayan railways land, and introduced integrated resorts. Despite the economy's exceptional growth, PAP suffered its worst election results in 2011, winning 60% of votes, amidst hot-button issues of high influx of foreign workers and cost of living. Lee initiated a major re-structuring of the economy to raise productivity, improved universal healthcare and grants, especially for the pioneer generation of citizens, amongst many new inclusive measures.

 

On 23 March 2015, its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who had 'personified Singapore to the world' for nearly half a century died. In a week of national mourning, 1.7 million residents and guests paid tribute to him at his lying-in-state at Parliament House and at community sites around the island.

 

Singapore celebrated its Golden jubilee in 2015 – its 50th year of independence, with a year-long series of events branded SG50. The PAP maintained its dominance in Parliament at the September general elections, receiving 69.9% of the popular vote, its second-highest polling result behind the 2001 tally of 75.3%.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 163.63 m. April and May are the hottest months, with the wetter monsoon season from November to January.

 

From July to October, there is often haze caused by bush fires in neighbouring Indonesia, usually from the island of Sumatra. Although Singapore does not observe daylight saving time (DST), it follows the GMT+8 time zone, one hour ahead of the typical zone for its geographical location.

 

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government representing constituencies. The country's constitution establishes a representative democracy as the political system. Executive power rests with the Cabinet of Singapore, led by the Prime Minister and, to a much lesser extent, the President. The President is elected through a popular vote, and has veto powers over a specific set of executive decisions, such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of judges, but otherwise occupies a largely ceremonial post.

 

The Parliament serves as the legislative branch of the government. Members of Parliament (MPs) consist of elected, non-constituency and nominated members. Elected MPs are voted into the Parliament on a "first-past-the-post" (plurality) basis and represent either single-member or group representation constituencies. The People's Action Party has won control of Parliament with large majorities in every election since self-governance was secured in 1959.

 

Although the elections are clean, there is no independent electoral authority and the government has strong influence on the media. Freedom House ranks Singapore as "partly free" in its Freedom in the World report, and The Economist ranks Singapore as a "flawed democracy", the second best rank of four, in its "Democracy Index". Despite this, in the 2011 Parliamentary elections, the opposition, led by the Workers' Party, increased its representation to seven elected MPs. In the 2015 elections, PAP scored a landslide victory, winning 83 of 89 seats contested, with 70% of popular votes. Gallup polls reported 84% of residents in Singapore expressed confidence in the government, and 85% in its judicial systems and courts – one of the highest ratings in the world.

 

Singapore's governance model eschews populist politics, focusing on the nation's long-term interest, and is known to be clean, effective and pragmatic. As a small nation highly dependent on external trade, it is vulnerable to geo-politics and global economics. It places great emphasis on security and stability of the region in its foreign policies, and applies global best practices to ensure the nation's attractiveness as an investment destination and business hub.

 

The legal system of Singapore is based on English common law, but with substantial local differences. Trial by jury was abolished in 1970 so that judicial decisions would rest entirely in the hands of appointed judges. Singapore has penalties that include judicial corporal punishment in the form of caning, which may be imposed for such offences as rape, rioting, vandalism, and certain immigration offences.There is a mandatory death penalty for murder, as well as for certain aggravated drug-trafficking and firearms offences.

 

Amnesty International has said that some legal provisions of the Singapore system conflict with the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that Singapore has "... possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population". The government has disputed Amnesty's claims. In a 2008 survey of international business executives, Singapore received the top ranking with regard to judicial system quality in Asia. Singapore has been consistently rated among the least corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International.

 

In 2011, the World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index ranked Singapore among the top countries surveyed with regard to "order and security", "absence of corruption", and "effective criminal justice". However, the country received a much lower ranking for "freedom of speech" and "freedom of assembly". All public gatherings of five or more people require police permits, and protests may legally be held only at the Speakers' Corner.

 

EDUCATION

Education for primary, secondary, and tertiary levels is mostly supported by the state. All institutions, private and public, must be registered with the Ministry of Education. English is the language of instruction in all public schools, and all subjects are taught and examined in English except for the "mother tongue" language paper. While the term "mother tongue" in general refers to the first language internationally, in Singapore's education system, it is used to refer to the second language, as English is the first language. Students who have been abroad for a while, or who struggle with their "Mother Tongue" language, are allowed to take a simpler syllabus or drop the subject.

 

Education takes place in three stages: primary, secondary, and pre-university education. Only the primary level is compulsory. Students begin with six years of primary school, which is made up of a four-year foundation course and a two-year orientation stage. The curriculum is focused on the development of English, the mother tongue, mathematics, and science. Secondary school lasts from four to five years, and is divided between Special, Express, Normal (Academic), and Normal (Technical) streams in each school, depending on a student's ability level. The basic coursework breakdown is the same as in the primary level, although classes are much more specialised. Pre-university education takes place over two to three years at senior schools, mostly called Junior Colleges.

 

Some schools have a degree of freedom in their curriculum and are known as autonomous schools. These exist from the secondary education level and up.

 

National examinations are standardised across all schools, with a test taken after each stage. After the first six years of education, students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), which determines their placement at secondary school. At the end of the secondary stage, GCE "O"-Level exams are taken; at the end of the following pre-university stage, the GCE "A"-Level exams are taken. Of all non-student Singaporeans aged 15 and above, 18% have no education qualifications at all while 45% have the PSLE as their highest qualification; 15% have the GCE 'O' Level as their highest qualification and 14% have a degree.

 

Singaporean students consistently rank at or near the top of international education assessments:

- In 2015, Singapore topped the OECD's global school performance rankings, based on 15-year-old students' average scores in mathematics and science across 76 countries.

- Singaporean students were ranked first in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, and have been ranked in the top three every year since 1995.

- Singapore fared best in the 2015 International Baccalaureate exams, taken in 107 countries, with more than half of the world's 81 perfect scorers and 98% passing rate.

 

The country's two main public universities - the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University - are ranked among the top 13 in the world.

 

HEALTH

Singapore has a generally efficient healthcare system, even though their health expenditures are relatively low for developed countries. The World Health Organisation ranks Singapore's healthcare system as 6th overall in the world in its World Health Report. In general, Singapore has had the lowest infant mortality rate in the world for the past two decades.

 

Life expectancy in Singapore is 80 for males and 85 for females, placing the country 4th in the world for life expectancy. Almost the whole population has access to improved water and sanitation facilities. There are fewer than 10 annual deaths from HIV per 100,000 people. There is a high level of immunisation. Adult obesity is below 10%

 

The government's healthcare system is based upon the "3M" framework. This has three components: Medifund, which provides a safety net for those not able to otherwise afford healthcare, Medisave, a compulsory health savings scheme covering about 85% of the population, and Medishield, a government-funded health insurance program. Public hospitals in Singapore have autonomy in their management decisions, and compete for patients. A subsidy scheme exists for those on low income. In 2008, 32% of healthcare was funded by the government. It accounts for approximately 3.5% of Singapore's GDP.

 

RELIGION

Buddhism is the most widely practised religion in Singapore, with 33% of the resident population declaring themselves adherents at the most recent census. The next-most practised religion is Christianity, followed by Islam, Taoism, and Hinduism. 17% of the population did not have a religious affiliation. The proportion of Christians, Taoists, and non-religious people increased between 2000 and 2010 by about 3% each, whilst the proportion of Buddhists decreased. Other faiths remained largely stable in their share of the population. An analysis by the Pew Research Center found Singapore to be the world's most religiously diverse nation.

 

There are monasteries and Dharma centres from all three major traditions of Buddhism in Singapore: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Most Buddhists in Singapore are Chinese and are of the Mahayana tradition, with missionaries having come into the country from Taiwan and China for several decades. However, Thailand's Theravada Buddhism has seen growing popularity among the populace (not only the Chinese) during the past decade. Soka Gakkai International, a Japanese Buddhist organisation, is practised by many people in Singapore, but mostly by those of Chinese descent. Tibetan Buddhism has also made slow inroads into the country in recent years.

 

CULTURE

Singapore has one of the lowest rates of drug use in the world. Culturally, the use of illicit drugs is viewed as highly undesirable by Singaporeans, unlike many European societies. Singaporeans' disapproval towards drug use has resulted in laws that impose the mandatory death sentence for certain serious drug trafficking offences. Singapore also has a low rate of alcohol consumption per capita and low levels of violent crime, and one of the lowest intentional homicide rate globally. The average alcohol consumption rate is only 2 litres annually per adult, one of the lowest in the world.

 

Foreigners make up 42% of the population, and have a strong influence on Singaporean culture. The Economist Intelligence Unit, in its 2013 "Where-to-be-born Index", ranks Singapore as having the best quality of life in Asia and sixth overall in the world.

 

LANGUAGES; RELIGIONS AND CULTURES

Singapore is a very diverse and young country. It has many languages, religions, and cultures for a country its size.

 

When Singapore became independent from the United Kingdom in 1963, most of the newly minted Singaporean citizens were uneducated labourers from Malaysia, China and India. Many of them were transient labourers who were seeking to make some money in Singapore and they had no intention of staying permanently. A sizeable minority of middle-class, local-born people, known as the Peranakans, also existed. With the exception of the Peranakans (descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants) who pledged their loyalties to Singapore, most of the labourers' loyalties lay with their respective homelands of Malaysia, China and India. After independence, the process of crafting a Singaporean identity and culture began.

 

Former Prime Ministers of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, have stated that Singapore does not fit the traditional description of a nation, calling it a society-in-transition, pointing out the fact that Singaporeans do not all speak the same language, share the same religion, or have the same customs. Even though English is the first language of the nation, according to the government's 2010 census 20% of Singaporeans, or one in five, are illiterate in English. This is a marked improvement from 1990 where 40% of Singaporeans were illiterate in English.

 

Languages, religions and cultures among Singaporeans are not delineated according to skin colour or ancestry, unlike many other countries. Among Chinese Singaporeans, one in five is Christian, another one in five is atheist, and the rest are mostly Buddhists or Taoists. One-third speak English as their home language, while half speak Mandarin Chinese. The rest speak other Chinese varieties at home. Most Malays in Singapore speak Malay as their home language with some speaking English. Singaporean Indians are much more religious. Only 1% of them are atheists. Six in ten are Hindu, two in ten Muslim, and the rest mostly Christian. Four in ten speak English as their home language, three in ten Tamil, one in ten Malay, and the rest other Indian languages as their home language.

 

Each Singaporean's behaviours and attitudes would therefore be influenced by, among many other things, his or her home language and his religion. Singaporeans who speak English as their native language tend to lean toward Western culture, while those who speak Chinese as their native language tend to lean toward Chinese culture and Confucianism. Malay speaking Singaporeans tend to lean toward the Malay culture, which itself is closely linked to the Islamic culture.

 

ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

At the national level in Singapore, meritocracy, where one is judged based on one's ability, is heavily emphasised.

 

Racial and religious harmony is regarded by Singaporeans as a crucial part of Singapore's success, and played a part in building a Singaporean identity. Singapore has a reputation as a nanny state. The national flower of Singapore is the hybrid orchid, Vanda 'Miss Joaquim', named in memory of a Singapore-born Armenian woman, who crossbred the flower in her garden at Tanjong Pagar in 1893. Many national symbols such as the Coat of arms of Singapore and the Lion head symbol of Singapore make use of the lion, as Singapore is known as the Lion City. Other monikers by which Singapore is widely known is the Garden City and the Red Dot. Public holidays in Singapore cover major Chinese, Western, Malay and Indian festivals.

 

Singaporean employees work an average of around 45 hours weekly, relatively long compared to many other nations. Three in four Singaporean employees surveyed stated that they take pride in doing their work well, and that doing so helps their self-confidence.

 

CUISINE

Dining, along with shopping, is said to be the country's national pastime. The focus on food has led countries like Australia to attract Singaporean tourists with food-based itineraries. The diversity of food is touted as a reason to visit the country, and the variety of food representing different ethnicities is seen by the government as a symbol of its multiculturalism. The "national fruit" of Singapore is the durian.

 

In popular culture, food items belong to a particular ethnicity, with Chinese, Malay, and Indian food clearly defined. However, the diversity of cuisine has been increased further by the "hybridisation" of different styles (e.g., the Peranakan cuisine, a mix of Chinese and Malay cuisine).

 

WIKIPEDIA

In the days of my youth

I was told what it means to be a man,

Now I've reached the age

I've tried to do all those things the best I can.

No matter how I try,

I find my way into the same old jam.

 

Good Times, Bad Times

  

A Led Zeppelin tribute I created with Potato-shop.

We aren't as happy with LED lighting as we used to be. They are expensive, don't last long and clearly are a major source of e-waste.

Agentic is led by founder Phillip Djwa. Phillip is a certified Internet Marketing specialist and strategist with 20 years experience in the high-technology industry. During this time, Phillip has worked on a wide range of technology and web-integrated communications projects for Fortune 500 companies, high-tech start-ups, and not-for-profit organizations. His clients have included the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, VanCity, BC Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services, Community Legal Education Ontario (The Law Foundation of Ontario), First Nations Schools Association, Granville Island (Canada Mortgage and Housing), and many others.

 

A career-long social entrepreneur, Phillip has provided support to many worthwhile community initiatives, including the First People’s Heritage Council, Friends of Chamber Music, and the First Nations Technology Council. Phillip has a BA from Simon Fraser University in Fine Arts with a concentration in electronic music, and an MFA in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. Phillip is the Agentic team member responsible for new business and working with our clients on the strategic planning of their online initiatives; and designing, developing and implementing web-based and web-integrated projects for our clients.

 

Phillip was one of the executives behind the Melting Silos initiative, which is a NFB and Telefilm funded project to match new media companies and filmmakers in an innovative and supportive development process. He also received BC Film grants in 2013 for innovative digital media projects.

 

He is also a board member of OpenMedia.ca and Webofchange.com as well as an advisor to the national ICT Council. He volunteers for many organizations, including the Vancouver Crisis Centre answering the phone and chat. He has been on juries for Emmys, Canada Media Awards, Dept of Canadian Heritage and many others.

 

Lastly, he is an active speaker in both technology, digital media and the future of work.

The budget Rollei 35 LED, Made In Singapore with Triotar lens. Little gem of a cam!

Smd led

Sunday the 26th August 2018

 

Media Information on the WMOF2018 Closing Mass in Phoenix Park

3.00pm Sunday 26 August 2018

 

The WMOF2018 Closing Mass will be celebrated by Pope Francis in Phoenix Park, Dublin on Sunday 26 August. 500,000 people are expected to attend the Mass including up to 20,000 overseas visitors.

 

A mammoth 12-hour programme exploring faith through music, reflections, video and drama will entertain pilgrims as they arrive to and make their way home from the Phoenix Park. Prelude in the Park will feature national and international performers from Ireland, England, America, Germany, Austria, France, India, Canada and USA. They will lead worship, drama and pop-up concerts to prepare everyone for the arrival of Pope Francis at 2.30pm.

 

Over 1,000 performers from the world of music, arts and Church ministry groups were involved in the three-day Pastoral Congress in the RDS. Many of these will bring a taste of their Congress programme to entertain the crowds before and after Mass.

 

Eimear Quinn, Daniel O Donnell, Derek Ryan, Paddy Maloney, Comholtas as well as Christian Performers Rexband from India, Rend Collective from Northern Ireland will feature. Other performers include Audrey Assad, Factor One – Dublin, Aris Choir, Dublin Gospel Choir, YOUCAT Foundation, KisiKids, Fr. Ray Kelly, I Am – Worship Band from Derry, Donna Taggart, O Neill Sisters from Kerry.

 

The Mass

Father Liam Lawton, liturgical composer and priest of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, will sing the psalm, The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor, which he has composed for the Papal Mass. Father Liam will be joined by a 3,000 strong papal Mass choir that has been brought together for the Mass.

 

The first reading will be proclaimed ‘as Gaeilge’ by Marie Wheldon from Clontarf, who was involved in the new Irish language translation of ‘An Leabhar Aifreann’. While Teresa Menendez, originally from Argentina and marketing manager for the World Meeting of Families 2018, will read the second reading in Spanish.

 

Rev. Noel McHugh, Permanent Deacon of Dublin Diocese, will preach the Gospel. Married to Paula, their son, John, died (aged 23) running a half marathon in the Phoenix Park in September 2015.

 

Mother of five Emma Mhic Mhathuna, will bring up one of the offertory gifts for the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park tomorrow afternoon. The mother of five will be accompanied by her children, Natasha, Seamus, Mario, Oisín, and Donnacha, and friends, Mai Uí Bhruic and Tomás Ó Bruic.

 

Also involved in the offertory procession will be:

•Olive Foley, widow of former Ireland rugby international and Munster head coach, Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley, and their children, Dan and Tony;

•Paul and Bridget Uzo, and their children Stephanie and Kelvin, representatives of the African Community in the Archdiocese of Dublin;

•The family of one of those killed in the Omagh bombing 20 years ago;

•and a family involved in the “All Are Welcome” Mass in Avila, in Donnybrook, Dublin.

 

•LITURGICAL MUSIC

The music chosen for the Papal Mass will place an emphasis on congregational singing, so many of the pieces will be familiar to those in the Phoenix Park congregation of 500,000.

Irish music and composers feature prominently throughout the Mass. The Opening Hymn is A Joy For All The Earth, written by Ephrem Feeley, which is the official hymn for WMOF2018.

 

The music chosen for the Papal Mass will place an emphasis on congregational singing so many of the pieces will be familiar to those in the Phoenix Park congregation of 500,000.

Irish music and composers feature prominently throughout the Mass. The Opening Hymn is A Joy For All The Earth which is the official hymn for WMOF2018 written by Ephrem Feeley. Well-known liturgical composer Father Liam Lawton has composed a new Psalm for the Mass which is called The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor.

 

Two pieces by Ireland’s most renowned liturgical composer, Seán Ó Riada, feature as the Penitential Rite/Kyrie (A Thiarna Déan Trócaire), and at the Lord’s Prayer (Ár nAthair). Fintan O’Carroll’s Celtic Alleluia with an enhanced verse by Ronan McDonagh will be sung as the Gospel acclamation.

 

The Apostles’ Creed will be John O’Keeffe’s own composition, while Fr. Pat Ahern’s A Thiarna Éist Linn will be sung between the Prayers of the Faithful.

 

As this is a World Meeting of Families there will be a number of international composers featured in the Mass including Caritas et Amor by Z. Randall Stroope has been chosen for the Presentation of Gifts and three piece from Jean-Paul Lécot’s Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes will feature as the Gloria, Sanctus, and Doxology/Amen.

 

The Communion hymns will be Ave Verum (William Byrd), The Last Supper (Bernard Sexton), Come Feast at this Table (Ian Callanan), Anima Christi (Mon. Marco Frisina), and Bí Íosa im Chroíse.

 

And finally, the Anthem to Our Lady will be Go mBeannaítear Duit, A Mhuire by Peadar Ó Riada (son of Seán), and the Recessional Hymn: Jesus Christ, You Are My Life by Mon. Marco Frisina.

 

•THE VESTMENTS - POPE FRANCIS WILL WEAR GREEN VESTMENTS INSPIRED BY CELTIC IMAGERY

Green has been chosen as the colour of vestments to be worn by Pope Francis during the Closing Mass of WMOF2018 which is the colour associated in the liturgy with Ordinary Time. The green is a symbol of how God is ever-faithful, and it also quite appropriate for a celebration in Ireland.

At the centre of each vestment is the Trinity spiral, the same as can be seen in the WMOF2018 logo. The three parts of the spiral represent the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and also draws from Celtic imagery, as spirals can be found on many ancient stones and monuments of Ireland’s past. The colours used in the spiral are the same green, red and gold as the vestments.

Alongside the central spiral are lines which lift and spread out along the side of the vestments. These lines are inspired by the line in the liturgy ‘Lift up your hearts’ inviting us to participate in the celebration of Mass. When expanded the lines represent a cross, with the Trinity spiral as the head of the cross.

The vestments were produced by Haftina, a family business based in Poland, which specialises in liturgical vestments, chalice gowns, altar tablecloths and canopies. The vestment designs were created by Haftina in collaboration with the WMOF2018 Liturgical Committee.

•PENAL CROSS AND PROCESSIONAL CROSS

A penal cross will be present on the Altar while Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the Phoenix Park. The cross, which is carved into a single piece of wood, dates back to 1763 and has been cared for at a Carmelite Community in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The carvings on the front and back of the cross are designed to tell the story of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The penal cross served as the inspiration for the processional cross which was newly created by Anne Murphy of Eala Enamels, based in Co Carlow in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

•CHALICES AND CIBORIA

To aid in the distribution of Holy Communion during celebrations of Mass both at the Pastoral Congress in the RDS and at the Phoenix Park, 4,000 ciboria and 200 chalices have been produced by MMI who are based in the Bluebell industrial estate in Dublin. The ciboria and chalices are pewter and silver, adorned with a Celtic cross containing the Trinity spiral of WMOF2018.

ENDS

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

· The Closing Mass of WMOF2018 will take place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin on Sunday 26 August at 3.00pm. Pope Francis will celebrate this Mass which will have a congregation of 500,000 people including 15,000 from overseas.

 

Biographies of Liturgical Music Team:

 

· Liturgical Music Coordinator, Derek Mahady is a native of Rooskey, Co. Roscommon and works as a choral conductor, vocalist, piano accompanist and music educator. Derek has been involved in liturgical music from an early age. He began his liturgical music ministry in parishes throughout his home diocese of Elphin and his neighbouring diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. Currently, he works in music ministry at Newman University Church, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin and has regularly featured as a regional and national tutor for the Irish Church Music Association. Derek holds a Master of Arts Degree in Choral Conducting from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, a Higher Diploma in Education from University of Dublin, Trinity College and a Bachelor of Music (Pedagogy) from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Conservatory of Music and Drama. Derek also features as a soloist on the first recording of the official World Meeting of Families 2018 hymn A Joy for all the Earth.

 

· Conductor, John O’Keeffe is director of Sacred Music and Choral Groups at St Patrick’s College and NUI Maynooth. The native of Portmagee, Co Kerry, studied Church music at St Finian’s College, Mullingar, before going on to further education at universities in Maynooth, Limerick, and UCD, and at the Catholic cathedrals of Dublin and Westminster, where he served as organ scholar.

 

· Organist, David Grealy, began his musical training as a chorister in the Galway Boy Singers, and organ scholar of Galway Cathedral from 2002-2005. He has held various positions as organist, including at Westminster Cathedral, and is currently the associate organist in St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, where he works closely with the Palestrina Choir, as well as playing the organ for the Cathedral’s busy schedule of liturgies.

 

· Assistant Conductor of Massed Choir, Amy Ryan is originally from Killarney, Co Kerry. She holds a BMus from the CIT Cork School of Music and a Masters degree from the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary. As Assistant Director of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Girls’ Choir from 2015-2018, she led the choir in Sunday morning liturgies, most recently on RTÉ television. Amy founded and conducts award-winning chamber choir, Cuore. In March of this year she conducted the Irish premiere of Graun’s passion oratorio Der Tod Jesu with Jubilate Choir. In April she conducted UCD Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Choir in their performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at the National Concert Hall. Amy currently lectures in Music at Trinity College, Dublin and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

 

· Assistant Conductor of Massed Choir, Dominic Finn is originally from Cobh, Co. Cork. He studied a Degree in Arts & Music at UCC, followed by a Diploma in Sacred Music at NUI Maynooth. He is currently the Director of Music at St. Colman’s Cathedral Cobh, and has been involved there for over 24 years as well as throughout the Diocese of Cloyne. Dominic also works as a secondary school teacher at Colaiste Muire, Cobh where he teaches Geography and Music. His choirs at St. Colman’s Cathedral have done many national broadcasts and recordings over the years, and have also worked with several composers such as Philip Stopford, John Rutter, and Liam Lawton to name just a few. Dominic has travelled extensively conducting his choirs from the Cathedral in major venues including St. Stephen’s Cathedral Vienna, Westminster Cathedral London, St. James’s Church, Spanish Place London, along with St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City in 2009 and 2013. Next year Dominic will oversee the music for the 100 year celebrations of the Dedication of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Diocese of Cloyne.

 

· Father Liam Lawton is a priest of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Throughout his two decade-long career, his songs have been sung by choirs all over the world, have been translated into a number of different languages, and national and international artists have recorded them. He has recorded 18 collections of music to date, and has graced the stages of the Vatican, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall Chicago, the Anaheim Convention Centre in L.A., The Malmo Arena in Sweden, The National Concert Hall, Dublin, and many of the world’s sacred sites.

 

rolling

Made in Germany : no, it's not an Agfa, the shutterbutton is not orange but green.

Made in Singapore : no, it's not a Rollei XF, but it's a lookalike.

Made in Spain : YESSSSS, toreador prend garde à toi, toreador, toreador, ...garde à toi,...

 

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