View allAll Photos Tagged Level
Title: Lower level at Egleston Station
Date: 1933 December 12
Source: Boston Elevated Railway photographs, 9800.018.
File name: 9800018_002_072
Rights: Status not evaluated
Citation: Boston Elevated Railway photographs, 9800.018.City of Boston Archives, Boston
Florida Red-bellied Turtle - Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area, 3365 Taylor Creek Rd, Christmas, Florida
'Don't know how they do it, but the Eye's on these guys always seem to be level. Eye think it must have something to do with suppressing glare on the surface of the water where they do most of their looking.
But how does the eye orient itself?
Is it a conscious or subconscious muscle controlled mechanism?
Or,
does the eye "float" and it's simply heavier on the bottom side?
Or,
do they use visual input and consciously tilt their heads to reduce glare?
Only the turtle knows for sure,
that is is they're even conscious of it.
Dublin to Cork Railway Line - MP Dublin 132.
Level Crossing (XC212) at Newtown, near Ballyhea, Cork 30th April 2012. Note the original C.I.E. logo.
A portion of Desert View Watchtower Level 4 mural, before the start of conservation work, July 23, 2015. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Grand Canyon National Park is working with area tribes and art experts to restore the Fred Kabotie murals and The rock art images, painted by Fred Geary, which have been damaged by water. The first phase of the project is being funded through a grant from American Express obtained by Grand Canyon Association.This grant will help with the evaluation, documentation and testing process that is a critical component of all historic preservation projects. The park intends to preserve the murals while remaining true to Mary Colter’s design. Over the next year, a conservation specialist will analyze and restore the murals with the help of students participating in an intern training program.
On January 1, 2015, the Watchtower was purchased from the concessionaire managing it and designated a National Park Service building. NPS plans to return the Watchtower to its intended purpose, as a tribute to the Native American tribes who have cultural ties to Grand Canyon. The park is moving forward with plans to restore the tower to reflect Mary Colter’s original vision for the building.Visitors first enter through the large, open Kiva Room. Until recently, this room was filled to capacity with a large gift shop. The gift shop has since been removed from the rotunda and reduced to a much smaller footprint. The new Grand Canyon Association Park Store fits into the original space Colter envisioned for a gift shop: a corner off to the side of the rotunda. All the proceeds support the park.
Originally the Watchtower was designed as a space where visitors could see Native American craft demonstrations by weavers and basket makers. The park will bring Native American artists back into the space to share tribal traditions, dances, songs, skills, art and oral histories with the public. The park is also considering turning the old Desert View visitor center into a Native American cultural center.The transformation of the Watchtower back to its original intent is already proving to be a dramatic experience for visitors and park staff.
www.flickr.com/search/?w=21728045@N08&q=Star%20fruit
Carambola, or star fruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and throughout Malesia.[1] The fruit is commonly consumed throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and parts of East Asia. The tree is cultivated throughout tropical areas.
The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can occasionally vary); when cut in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name.[1] The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of hand. They may also be used in cooking and can be made into relishes, preserves, and juice drinks.
The original range of Averrhoa carambola is believed to be from Sri Lanka or Indonesia,[1] but has been cultivated in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia for hundreds of years. They remain a local favorite in those areas but have also recently gained popularity in parts of East Asiaand Queensland, Australia; as well as in the Pacific Islands, particularly Tahiti, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Guam. They are cultivated commercially in India, Southeast Asia, southern China, Taiwan, and the southern United States. They are also grown in Central America, Brazil, the Southwestern United States and Florida, and parts of Africa.[1][2] In other areas they are usually grown as ornamentals, rather than for consumption.[2]
The fruit is about 5 to 15 centimetres (2 to 6 inches) in length and is an oval shape. It usually has five prominent longitudinal ridges, but in rare instances it can have as few as four or as many as eight. In cross section, it resembles a star.[1] The skin is thin, smooth, and waxy and turns a light to dark yellow when ripe. The flesh is translucent and light yellow to yellow in color. Each fruit can have 10 to 12 flat light brown seeds about 6 to 13 mm (0.25 to 0.5 in) in width and enclosed in gelatinous aril. Once removed from the fruit, they lose viability within a few days.[3][4][5]
Like the closely related bilimbi, there are two main types of carambola: the small sour (or tart) type and the larger sweet type. The sour varieties have a higher oxalic acid content than the sweet type. A number of cultivars have been developed in recent years. The most common cultivars grown commercially include the sweet types "Arkin" (Florida), "Dah Pon" (Taiwan), "Ma fueng" (Thailand), "Maha" (Malaysia), and "Demak" (Indonesia) and the sour types "Golden Star", "Newcomb", "Star King", and "Thayer" (all from Florida). Some of the sour varieties like "Golden Star" can become sweet if allowed to ripen.[2][3][4]
including the slightly waxy skin. The flesh is crunchy, firm, and extremely juicy.[1] It does not contain fibers and has a texture similar in consistency to that of grapes. Carambolas are best consumed shortly after they ripen, when they are yellow with a light shade of green or just after all traces of green have disappeared. They will also have brown ridges at the edges and feel firm. Fruits picked while still slightly green will turn yellow in storage at room temperature, but will not increase in sugar content. Overripe carambola will be yellow with brown spots and can become blander in taste and soggier in consistency.[4][6]
Ripe sweet type carambolas are sweet without being overwhelming as they rarely have more than 4% sugar content. They have a tart, sour undertone, and an oxalic acid odor. The taste is difficult to match, but it has been compared to a mix of apple, pear, grape, and citrus family fruits. Unripe star fruits are firmer and sour, and taste like green apples.[3][7]
Ripe carambolas may also be used in cooking. In Southeast Asia, they are usually stewed in cloves and sugar, sometimes with apples. In China, they are cooked with fish. In Australia, they may be cooked as a vegetable, pickled, or made into jams. In Jamaica they are sometimes dried.[2]
Unripe and sour type carambolas can be mixed with other chopped spices to make relishes in Australia.[2] In the Philippines, unripe carambolas are eaten dipped in rock salt.[8] In Thailand, they are cooked together with shrimp.[2]
The juice from carambolas is also used in iced drinks, particularly the juice of the sour varieties. In the Philippines they can be used as seasoning. In India, the juice is bottled for drinking.[2]
Carambolas contain caramboxin[9] and oxalic acid.[10] Both substances are harmful to individuals suffering from kidney failure, kidney stones, or those under kidney dialysistreatment.[10] Consumption by those with kidney failure can produce hiccups, vomiting, nausea, mental confusion, and sometimes death.[11][12][13] Caramboxin is a neurotoxin which is structurally similar to phenylalanine, and is a glutamatergic agonist.[9]
Drug interactions
Edit
Like the grapefruit, carambola is considered to be a potent inhibitor of seven cytochrome P450 isoforms.[14][15] These enzymes are significant in the first-pass elimination of many medications, and, thus, the consumption of carambola or its juice in combination with certain prescription medications can significantly increase their effective dosage within the body.
The carambola is a tropical and subtropical fruit which can be grown at elevations up to 1,200 metres (4,000 feet). It prefers full sun exposure, but requires enough humidity and annual rainfall of at least 1,800 mm (70 in). It does not have a soil type preference, but requires good drainage.[citation needed]
Carambola trees are planted at least 6 m (20 ft) from each other and typically are fertilized three times a year. The tree grows rapidly and typically produces fruit at four or five years of age. The large amount of rain during spring actually reduces the amount of fruit, but, in ideal conditions, carambola can produce from 90 to 180 kilograms (200 to 400 pounds) of fruit a year. The carambola tree flowers throughout the year, with main fruiting seasons from April to June and October to December in Malaysia,[16]for example, but fruiting also occurs at other times in some other locales, such as South Florida.[4]
Growth and leaf responses of container-grown `Arkin' carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) trees to long-term exposure of 25%, 50%, or 100% sunlight showed that shading increased rachis length and leaflet area, decreased leaflet thickness, and produced more horizontal branch orientation.[17]
Major pests are fruit flies, fruit moths, ants, and birds.[3][16] Crops are also susceptible to frost.[3]
Top producers of carambola in the world market include Australia, Guyana, India, Israel, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States.[4] Malaysia is a global leader in star fruit production by volume and ships the product widely to Asia and Europe.[16] Due to concerns over pests and pathogens, however, whole star fruits cannot yet be imported to the US from Malaysia under current United States Department of Agriculture regulations. In the United States, carambolas are grown in tropical and semitropical areas, including Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, California, Virginia, Florida and Hawaii.[2][18]
In the United States, commercial cultivation and broad consumer acceptance of the fruit only dates to the 1970s, attributable to Morris Arkin, a backyard horticulturalist, in Coral Gables, Florida. The 'Arkin' variety represented 98% of the acreage in South Florida in the early 21st century.[19]
The trees are also grown as ornamentals for their abundant brightly colored and unusually shaped fruits, as well as for their attractive dark green leaves and their lavender to pink flowers.[4]
Like the bilimbi, the juice of the more acidic sour types can be used to clean rusty or tarnished metal (especially brass) as well as bleach rust stains from cloth. They may also be used as a mordant in dyeing.[2]
Etymology and vernacular names
Edit
The Portuguese word carambola, first known use 1598, was taken from Marathi karambalderived from Sanskrit karmaphala.[20] In Spanish, it is known as carambola. The carambola is called "star fruit" in English.
References
Edit
^ a b c d e f "Averrhoa carambola (carambola)". CABI. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^ a b c d e f g h i Julia F. Morton (1987). "Carambola". In Julia F. Morton. Fruits of warm climates. pp. 125–128.
^ a b c d e "Averrhoa carambola L." California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
^ a b c d e f Jonathan H. Crane (1994). The Carambola (Star Fruit) (PDF). Fact Sheet HS-12. Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
^ "Star Fruit". Fruitsinfo. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
^ "How to Eat Star Fruit". Buzzle. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
^ "Carambola or Star Fruit". FloridaGardener.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
^ "Balimbing / Carambola / Star Fruit". Market Manila. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
^ a b Garcia-Cairasco, N.; Moyses-Neto, M.; Del Vecchio, F.; Oliveira, J. A. C.; Dos Santos, F. L.; Castro, O. W.; Arisi, G. M.; Dantas, M. R.; Carolino, R. O. G.; Coutinho-Netto, J.; Dagostin, A. L. A.; Rodrigues, M. C. A.; Leão, R. M.; Quintiliano, S. A. P.; Silva, L. F.; Gobbo-Neto, L.; Lopes, N. P. (2013). "Elucidating the Neurotoxicity of the Star Fruit". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 52 (49): 13067–70. doi:10.1002/anie.201305382. PMID 24281890.
^ a b Muthu, N.; Lee, S. Y.; Phua, K. K.; Bhore, S. J. (2016). "Nutritional, Medicinal and Toxicological Attributes of Star-Fruits (Averrhoa carambola L.): A Review". Bioinformation. 12 (12): 420–424. doi:10.6026/97320630012420. PMC 5357571. PMID 28405126.
^ Chang CT, Chen YC, Fang JT, Huang CC (2002). "Star fruit (Averrhoa carambola) intoxication: an important cause of consciousness disturbance in patients with renal failure". Ren Fail. 24 (3): 379–82. doi:10.1081/JDI-120005373. PMID 12166706.
^ Neto MM, da Costa JA, Garcia-Cairasco N, Netto JC, Nakagawa B, Dantas M (2003). "Intoxication by star fruit (Averrhoa carambola) in 32 uraemic patients: treatment and outcome". Nephrol Dial Transplant. 18 (1): 120–5. doi:10.1093/ndt/18.1.120. PMID 12480969.
^ Titchenal A & Dobbs J (2003-04-28). "Kidney patients should avoid star fruit". Nutrition ATC. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
^ "Abstracts: Metabolism and metabolic enzymes studies for the 8th National Congress on Drug and Xenobiotic Metabolism in China". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
^ Potential Drug-Food Interactions with Pomegranate Juice Archived March 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c Crop Protection & Plant Quarantine Services Division (2004). Technical Document for Market Access on Star Fruit (Carambola) (PDF). The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Malaysia.[permanent dead link]
^ Marler, Thomas E.; Schaffer, Bruce; Crane, Jonathan H. (1994-07-01). "Developmental Light Level Affects Growth, Morphology, and Leaf Physiology of Young Carambola Trees". Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 119 (4): 711–718. ISSN 0003-1062.
^ Hein Bijlmakers. "Star Fruit". Tropical Fruits. Archived from the original on 2012-06-26. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
^ Robert J. Knight; Jonathan H. Crane (2002). "The 'Arkin' Carambola in Florida" (PDF). Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115: 92–93.[permanent dead link]
Carambola - Definition of carambola by Merriam-Webster". merriam-webster.com.
Having spent a couple of hours in a bird hide with nothing much to see except a nice kingfisher for 5 minutes. I decided to head home, dismantled the X-H1 from the 100-400 & 1.4TC, packed it into my bag and started the two mile walk back to the car. What's that Gull over there? - Hmm too much brown, ooo its an Osprey - knock off a couple of shots on the XT20 with 55-200, then a - rapid unpack and reassemble of the X-H1 to the 100-400 - knock off a few shots - seem fuzzy - thats because I had it on manual focus for the kingfisher on the perch - Ok - Continuous auto now on - just in time to catch the lovely bird take off after a failed fishing attempt - follow it with some more shots - oh-no - Lock-up!! - Knew I should have put in the 300mb/s cards instead of the 95s. Ok take battery out and put it in again - good to go for some more shots - this time of the now- two Ospreys overhead - I think I need to go lie down :)
i actually bought this to hang framed photos at my place. now i use it to layout tracking markers evenly across floors and walls.
Pros:
- it can screw onto a tripod
- it is self leveling
- three modes: vertical line, horizontal line, crosshair
Cons:
- good for about 30 feet
- not great in sunlight
affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/network/build-...
This photo shows the progress midway through renewing the level crossing in Dereham. The new rails and chairs have been put into position, and we are cutting and drilling the existing rails in order to join them back together with the new ones. Sadly we are only able to renew this crossing half at a time, due to a poor planning decision in the 1970s which left only one route into an industrial estate. Doing half a crossing proved to be a total nightmare with the old joint corroded solid, where we had to stage the works.
The majority of the sleepers were in good condition and so have been retained, with some new ones installed furthest from the camera. We are also installing checkrails to retain the tarmac, which is an improvement on the previous arrangement. The half of the road closest to the camera will be done next week.
Manulla Junction to Ballina Railway Line - MP Dublin 157 1/4.
Level Crossing (XX043) at Foxford Station, Mayo 17th February 2012.
This is one of the photographs that you find in corporate business reports, where the important people are displayed, except this instance is an honest depiction of an executive.
I know some of the details are off. Like how exactly do the two oddly shaped rooms on the right side fit together? Can someone fill me in?
New fill is brought in to help level the area where crews tore out all the concrete panels in the left two lanes of northbound I-405 in Bellevue.
Waterford to Rosslare Railway Line - MP Mallow 76 1/4.
Level crossing (XH003) at Ferrybank, Waterford looking at Abbey Junction 16th March 2007.
I thought I knew Yarmouth, but I heard in a discussion about what was the largest parish church in England, that Great Yarmouth Minster was one that laid claim to that accolade.
Minster? In Yarmouth?
But seems there is much to the town I did not know, and clearly it needs to be further explored. But whilst in the area, riding on trains, I took and hour out to walk from the station to the Minster to have a look, if it was open.
Maybe they are more welcoming to visitors now, but two boards outside announcing the fact, so I went in and was stunned at the size of it, too much to take in really, but it was full of light and I was given a very warm welcome. This made a very lasting impression.
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The Norman-era Minster Church of St Nicholas in Great Yarmouth remains, due to its floor-surface area, England's largest parish church.[1] It was founded in 1101 by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich,[2] and consecrated in 1119. Since its construction, it has been Great Yarmouth's parish church. It is cruciform, with a central tower, which may preserve a part of the original structure. Gradual alterations effectively changed the form of the building. Its nave is 26 feet (7.9 m) wide, and the church's total length is 236 feet (72 m).
In December 2011, the Bishop of Norwich officially designated it a Minster Church. It is not only used for religious services but is a hub for various other regional and civic events, including concerts by choirs, orchestras and other musical ensembles, art exhibitions and, during festivals and fayres, the church opens permitting stalls and traders inside.
The building, very possibly the town's oldest, is also its most visible, historic landmark. It sits in the central area of Great Yarmouth, close to the house of Anna Sewell.[2] The Transitional clerestoried nave, with columns alternately octagonal and circular, was rebuilt in the reign of King John. A portion of the chancel is of the same date. About fifty years later the aisles were widened, so that the nave is now, rather unusually, the narrowest part of the building. Immediately adjacent are two main graveyard areas: the Old Yard lies directly east behind the church, while the very substantial New Yard stretches for about half a mile to the north.
A grand west front with towers and pinnacles was constructed between 1330 and 1338, but a plague interrupted building extension plans. In the 16th century the ornamental brasses were cast into weights and the gravestones cut into grindstones. Within the church there were at one time 18 chapels, some maintained by guilds, others by private families, such as the Paxtons. At the Reformation the chapels were demolished and the building's valuable liturgical vessels sold off, the proceeds spent to widen the channel of the harbour.
During the Commonwealth period, the Independents appropriated the chancel, the Presbyterians the north aisle, while Churchmen were allowed the remainder of the building. The interior brick walls, erected at this time to separate the different portions of the building, remained until 1847. In 1864 the tower was restored, and the east end of the chancel rebuilt; between 1869 and 1870 the south aisle was rebuilt; and in 1884 the south transept, the west end of the nave and the north aisle underwent restoration.
During the Second World War, the building was bombed and nearly destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by the architect Stephen Dykes Bower and re-consecrated in 1961. During reconstruction, the church temporarily used St Peter's Church on St Peter's Road. When St Nicholas re-opened, attendance at St Peter's declined until the 1960s, when a growing Greek community had use of it, and in 1981 it became St Spiridon's Greek Orthodox Church.
On 2 October 2011, the Lord Bishop of Norwich Graham James raised St. Nicholas to the status of a Minster Church, so marked on 9 December 2011 during the town's Civic Carol Service. Its formal title is now the Minster Church of St. Nicholas, Great Yarmouth.
On 13 October 2014 a memorial stone was unveiled to commemorate the deaths of thirteen people in 1981 Bristow Helicopters Westland Wessex crash.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Yarmouth_Minster
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I do like Great Yarmouth. More than anywhere else in East Anglia, with the possible exception of Kings Lynn, you feel that this is a place which has broken the surly bonds of proximity to London, which is, after all, fewer than 150 miles away, and instead yearns out for the sea, and Europe. Yarmouth takes its name from the mouth of the River Yare: tightly crammed onto a narrow tongue of land, surrounded on three sides by water, it retains its endearingly shabby character and a sense of its own singular history, despite the best efforts of the Luftwaffe and the Borough planners, who over the last half-century must rank as some of the most neglectful and bone-headed planners of any of England's medium-sized towns.
Great Yarmouth has a seedy brashness, a jollity which overwrites the hard times it has suffered, and it has suffered indeed: the town lost a greater percentage of its houses to German bombing during the Second World War than any other town in England. The disappearance of the fishing industry led to an unemployment rate of mining town proportions, and the rugged working class character of the town, without any significant areas of middle class villas or suburban metroland, has often been a poor advocate for itself.
Can there be a more hauntingly lovely town centre street in East Anglia than South Quay? On one side are the confident 19th and early 20th century buildings, the town hall, the banks, the merchants' houses, the town pubs, while on the other side is the quay of the steely, silent Yare, the great ships parked opposite the buildings. For Great Yarmouth is still a major port, and the warehouses on the Southtown side remind those who pass beneath the great red brick buildings on the far bank exactly where all this prosperity came from.
And a twenty minute walk will take you across the heart of the town to Yarmouth's wide, white, sandy beaches, for today this is above all else a seaside town, of course. And while the beaches are by no means as lovely as those of Lowestoft ten miles to the south, nothing can beat Yarmouth for the sheer number of its amusement arcades, its fairgrounds, its candy floss stands and its cheap tat shops. Kiss me quick and squeeze me slow: this feels like the seaside used to, like it ought to, before we got all sophisticated about such matters. It reminds me of my childhood. In summer, all Norwich seems to come here for a cheap and cheerful day out, and you cannot get a seat on the train for love nor money.
When I first knew Great Yarmouth as a child in the 1970s, the roads to the north of the town centre were lined with small hotels, and while these certainly still exist, the days when thousands of people came to Great Yarmouth for a two week holiday are now gone. The former hotels are now residential care homes, or divided up into flats and bedsits, which are still not called apartments, thank goodness. The vast coach park immediately to the north of the town centre is still discernible as the site of Yarmouth Beach station, which brought the holiday-makers here. In those days, Great Yarmouth had three railway stations, but now there is only one, with its single line playing host to an hourly shuttle into Norwich.
That the demand for cheap meals and takeaway food has not diminished is testified to by the large population of Greeks, mainly from Cyprus; they started arriving here during the days of the fascist dictatorship and the war in the 1970s. The vast former Anglican parish church of St Peter, redundant in the 1980s, has been happily reborn as the Greek Orthodox church of St Spiridon. Today, especially in the area to the south of the town centre, you are as likely to hear Greek spoken on the streets as English. And what English! This must be one of the last towns in England with a strong, identifiable accent of its own - people do not have Norfolk accents here, they have Great Yarmouth accents, which stand out in the streets of sophisticated Norwich as much as voices from Birmingham or Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
People who have never been here know Great Yarmouth from books, especially the opening few chapters of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, for here it was that the Peggoty family lived in an upturned boat on the beach, and here it was that David was happy. Dickens was writing in the 1840s about a Great Yarmouth of a quarter of a century earlier, and you will find few traces of Dickens's Yarmouth today. Great Yarmouth underwent a massive building boom in the 1860s, and this and the modern era define its character above all else. But wandering around the Middlegate area you may be struck by how, among the dull and often crass buildings of the 1960s and 1970s, there is occasionally some extraordinary survival, a 16th century house wider at the top than the bottom, perhaps, or an early medieval tollhouse, or a grand 18th century frontage with a perfunctory building tacked on behind. This was the heart of the area destroyed by a succession of German bombing raids in 1941 and 1942. Because of Great Yarmouth's singular situation on a spit of land, its population lived crammed into narrow alleys called rows, many early medieval in origin, the bulk built in the 15th and 16th centuries. This unique medieval townscape of perhaps 140 rows survived up until those fateful nights. It was almost completely destroyed, with a consequent heavy loss of life. Hauntingly, several bombed buildings have been left exactly as they were after the destruction, in a railed off area behind the replacement Unitarian church.
It is easy to forget quite how prosperous Great Yarmouth was during the medieval period. As Bill Wilson reminds us in the revised Pevsner, at the time of the 1334 merchant's tax register, Yarmouth raised more in the subsidy than either Norwich or Lynn, which a hundred years before had been exceptionally prosperous places. Only York, Bristol and London were richer than Yarmouth on the eve of the Black Death; the town had provided three times more sailors for the attack on Calais than London, and in 1348 there were 220 boats on the Yare river mouth. But the following year the Black Death wiped out perhaps two-thirds of the townsfolk, and it would take Yarmouth hundreds of years to recover its former prosperity.
It was at this time that the town walls were completed, and it is still possible to trace the course of the walls today, especially to the south of the town. On three sides, the walls defended Yarmouth from the sea, on which it resolutely turned its back; on the river side, there was no wall. Within the walls, at its widest and most northerly point, the town had its market place, still a busy one, and further north than that, looking down the length of the market place, over the rows, the warehouse, along the river and out to the sea, they built a great church, dedicated to the patron saint of sailors, St Nicholas.
A hundred miles up the east coast is the great port city of Hull, which dwarfs the town of Great Yarmouth, but with which Great Yarmouth otherwise shares very much in common. There, the great late 15th Century church of Holy Trinity is claimed as the country's biggest, which may well be true in terms of its sheer bulk. But here in Yarmouth the medieval merchant wealth had done better than that, and here it was that, in terms of floor area, the burghers of Yarmouth built the largest church in England.
Whereas the Hull church towers over and dominates the medieval street plan, here in Great Yarmouth St Nicholas seems to sprawl, its width and length dwarfing the central tower. Holy Trinity is fully in proportion, a typical late medieval church writ large, but St Nicholas is not. This great building has an idiosyncrasy, and to visit it is to see a church in a new way. There are several reasons for this, not least that this building was largely complete a full 150 years before Holy Trinity. There is no clerestory, and hardly any of the language of Perpendicular which would inform and shape so many of England's great urban churches. The setting of the building below the level of the market place means that the overall impression is of the green of the vast copper roofs. To see it in the low sun of a cold winter's afternoon, with the stone and flintwork glowing and the frost beginning to gleam on the parapets, is to see one of East Anglia's most beautiful urban sights, I think.
Walking around the outside of the building is a not inconsiderable task, and you soon become acquainted with the rhythm of the flintwork, windows and stone dressing, which make it feel that it is all of a piece, which is an illusion, although there are reasons for it. The west front is vast, but hidden by trees and in any case visible only from a minor road.To the east of the chancel is a haunting 1840s gravestone which tells us that beneath this Stone rests two Babes that brought Happiness to their Parents although they are Dead. I wondered if Dickens had ever spotted it. And as you come back round to the south porch you'll find one of England's most unusual 19th century gravestones. It remembers George Beloe, a nine year old boy who was unfortunately drowned when the suspension bridge over the Bure, just outside of Yarmouth, collapsed in 1845. A large crowd had gathered on the bridge to watch a clown float down the river in a barrel pulled by geese, and the bridge collapsed when they surged from one side to the other as he went under. The full death toll was never known, because many of the victims must have been washed out to sea by the fast-flowing current. Seventy-nine bodies were recovered, most of them children. What makes George Beloe's headstone extraordinary is that it depicts, in stone relief, the collapse of the bridge. Now eroded by weather after more than a century and a half, you can still make out the two ends of the bridge, and the eye of God looking down as the deck collapses into the Bure.
Having made your circumnavigation, you can now step through the huge porch, which faces the market place, into the interior of this extraordinary building. You may know already what to expect, but if you do not then you will be struck by how outstandingly light and clean the interior is. As your eyes adjust to the great distances, you may then notice the curious pattern of the arcades which open and close vistas as you begin to wander, as if this was a maze of vast, low rooms. And then you would notice the jaunty, bleached Festival of Britain feel of the furnishings, the acreage of modern glass, most of it very good, and the uncluttered simplicity, and then it will strike you - there is nothing old here.
On the night of 24th June 1942, St Nicholas was completely destroyed by German bombing. All that was left standing were the outer walls and the tower, in danger of collapse. The stonework was utterly calcined by the fierce heat. In a town which had suffered so much over the previous twelve months, it was a greivous loss, and it would be almost twenty years before St Nicholas was open for business again. Essentially, it had to be rebuilt, using the surviving walls and tower. The chosen design was that of a relatively minor architect, but a man who would be responsible for the two great East Anglian church architectural controversies of the 20th Century, Stephen Dykes Bower.
It is inevitable that a comparison should be made with Coventry Cathedral, which also replaced a bombed predecessor. The two buildings are about the same size, the work was carried out over the same period of years in the late 1950s, and the two buildings opened just a year apart. But while Basil Spence's Coventry Cathedral is a fabulous, iconic structure in the spirit of the age and in the full flush of post-war enthusiasm, St Nicholas at first appears little more than an exercise in pedantic and ponderous medievalism. As Bill Wilson points out, the £315,000 awarded by the War Damage Commission here was but a quarter of the money allotted to Coventry, but he also recalls Pevsner's scathing attack on the design: What an opportunity was lost! What thrilling things might have been done inside! A modern interior, airy, noble, of fine materials could have arisen to affirm the vitality of C20 church architecture inside the C13 walls. How defeatist does the imitation-Gothic interior appear, once this has been realized!
And Pevsner was not alone. The main criticism seemed to be that, while the opportunity had not been taken to produce something brave and modernist, the rebuilding was also not true to the principles and details of the Gothic which had been there before. Instead, Dykes Bower made up his own Gothic, particularly in the arcades and tracery. It is a simple Gothic, stripped of detail and without the clutter beloved of the 19th Century revival. Coventry Cathedral's design was startling and newsworthy, and the great artists of the day were commissioned to provide its fixtures and fittings. It has come to represent a city which otherwise projects a rather vague image to the world. But Great Yarmouth is not Coventry, and there is a big difference between the urban church of a relatively small and insular town and the Cathedral of a great diocese. It is perhaps unfair that Coventry's Cathedral is still viewed today as a phoenix risen from the ashes in a way that Great Yarmouth's church can never be, despite the near-identical circumstances. But that's not all. Bill Wilson, writing in 1991, concludes that the problem with the concept is the lack of assertive detail and the fact that so large a space needs to be filled with plenty of furnishings. Unhappily, there are hardly any...
And yet, and yet. When I step into St Nicholas now, I find myself thrilled by the cool light, the almost monastic simplicity. Apart from the hideous organ, the open spaces are barely punctuated, and there is something timeless and eternal about the silence. Dykes Bower's arcades are hardly there, vanishing into the whiteness above and the simplicity of the bare wood roofs. Through the crossing the jewel-like chancel glows, almost beckoning. From the other direction the west window does exactly the same. What Pevsner could not have foreseen is that this building is entirely suited to modern Anglican spirituality which has extended in recent years beyond mere congregational worship. And he also could not have foreseen how we would come to view the simplicity of Dykes Bower's design, the white walls, the lack of detail, the stripped, bleached wood and the cool, hard floors as being exactly symptomatic of the 1960s, the decade which gave this new building its birth. For this, I like it very much, not least because it was reopened on 8th May 1961, the day I was born.
Perhaps best of all I like the range of glass around the east and west windows by Brian Thomas. They are all of a piece, installed for the reopening. There can be few modern schemes outside of the cathedrals on so vast a scale, and yet they are elaborate, detailed and intimate. This great, light building is the perfect setting for them. The east window depicts the Crucifixion, surrounded by scenes from the Passion. In the north aisles are the joyful mysteries of the Christ story, from the Annunciation to the Presentation, while in the south aisles is the salvation story from Adam and Eve to Christ's mission. At the west end are the sacraments.
There are effectively four aisles, two either side of the church, which extend up to beyond the crossing. The aisles each side become conjoined as they flank the nave itself, making the nave appear narrow and tall in comparison, despite what we know to be true of it. The triple lancet of the west window aids this illusion. Below it, the Norman font is from a redundant Wiltshire church, and looks most un-East Anglian. There are small artworks and minor survivals dotted about, but they do not intrude. The early 18th century pulpit came from St George, a few hundred metres to the south, now closed. The pews in the central part of the nave are also from St George, and although they are simple they strike a jarring note. Modern chairs would be better. Dykes Bower screened off the south chancel chapel to create a space for private prayer, and this doesn't work as well as it might, creating an obstruction within the otherwise openness of the east end. The garishly painted organ is also his.
But this is a place to wander - despite the vast scale I found I had circumnavigated the interior three times without really noticing. It struck me then quite how much Dykes Bower must have intended this - he was designing a great town church interior, and looking across the water to Holland and Belgium as much as to anywhere else in England. He wanted a church that opened onto the market place, into which shoppers could come for a sit down and even a prayer, a building whose open spaces would be wandered through. Having told you all of this, I expect you are already making plans to come to Great Yarmouth and visit this church for yourself as soon as you possibly can. You may be aghast to learn, then, that this wonderful structure is hardly ever open to the public. At present, you can only visit on a Saturday morning: otherwise, it is merely the private, vastly-subsidised venue of a small group of Sunday worshippers. Nothing could be more short-sighted, and little could be more shameful.
For, while the mission of the Church of England is increasingly seen as to the whole people of God and not just to its registered members, and churches all over England are making themselves open to pilgrims and strangers wanting to feel a sense of the numinous and even perhaps to be open to a spirituality which may or may not be Christian but which is at least a yearning for God, the people of Great Yarmouth are locked out of their own church from day to day. They can at least visit the Catholic church of St Mary, which has a sign saying, curiously, that the church is open as often as possible, but that is a small Victorian building, and cannot compare with St Nicholas which is, after all, the heart and soul of Great Yarmouth's history, a touchstone down its long generations.
But if you can get inside, and if you stand beneath the crossing looking westwards, the view is typical: clean, clear, full of light and gravitas with a sense of prayerfulness and even of mystery. There is enough to convince. This building does not feel defeatist; if anything, it was a rather brave approach to the problem. But few people saw it like that at the time, and few people did in the years after. It must be said that Dykes Bower did not go out of his way to win friends in the modernist world - as his wikipedia entry says of him, he was a devoted and determined champion of the Gothic Revival style through its most unpopular years. And yet, he had the last laugh. When he finished here, he spent the next two decades overseeing the transformation of the church of St James at Bury St Edmunds into a fitting cathedral for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. His is the chancel there, his the transepts, the side chapels and the north ambulatory, all in his own faux-gothic style. And when he died in 1994 he left a cool two million pounds to the Diocese for the construction of a huge Gothic central tower over the crossing of the cathedral. The Diocese spent another ten years or so raising the extra needed, which was fairly controversial in those years when the CofE was haemorraging cash left, right and centre. Despite the voices against it, the tower was built, entirely to Dykes Bower's fancy, and the gleaming white edifice now towers over Bury as if it had been there for half a millennium or more.
Simon Knott, October 2010
Reclame voor Samsung's over the ear koptelefoon 'Level'. Wrs bedoeld als tegenhanger voor Apple's Beats.
Limerick to Athenry Railway Line - MP Limerick 16 3/4.
Level Crossing (XE42) at Ballycar, Clare 22nd June 2012.
Grand Central Terminal (GCT) is a commuter (and former intercity) railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.
The terminal serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut. Until 1991, the terminal served Amtrak, which moved to nearby Pennsylvania Station upon completion of the Empire Connection. The East Side Access project is underway to bring Long Island Rail Road service to the terminal.
Although the terminal has been properly called “Grand Central Terminal” since 1913, it has "always been more colloquially and affectionately known as Grand Central Station", the name of the previous rail station on the same site, and of the U.S. Post Office station next door, which is not part of the terminal. It is also sometimes used to refer to the Grand Central – 42nd Street subway station, which serves the terminal.
Grand Central Terminal features both monumental spaces and meticulously crafted detail. In a February 2013 BBC News article, historian David Cannadine described it one of the most majestic buildings of the twentieth century. In 2011, travel magazine Travel + Leisure rated it the sixth-most-visited tourist attraction for its roughly 21.6 million annual visitors.
The Main Concourse
The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous – 275 ft (84 m) long, 120 ft (37 m) wide and 125 ft (38 m) high: – and usually filled with bustling crowds. The ticket booths are in the Concourse, although many now stand unused or have been repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines. The large American flag was hung in Grand Central Terminal a few days after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The main information booth is in the center of the concourse. This is a perennial meeting place, and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central. The clock, designed by Henry Edward Bedford and cast in Waterbury Connecticut, is made from brass. Each of the four clock faces is made from opalescent glass (now often called opal glass or milk glass), though urban legend has it that the faces are made of opal and that Sotheby's and Christie's have estimated their value to be between $10 million and $20 million. A 1954 New York Times article on the restoration of the clock notes that "Each of the glass faces was twenty-four inches in diameter...". Within the marble and brass pagoda lies a "secret" door that conceals a spiral staircase leading to the lower-level information booth.
Hercules, Minerva and Mercury, statuary by Jules-Félix Coutan, atop the terminal, with the MetLife Building behind
Outside the station, the 13-foot (4.0 m) clock in front of the Grand Central façade facing 42nd Street contains the world's largest example of Tiffany glass. It is surrounded by sculptures of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury. The sculptures were designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan and carved by the John Donnelly Company. At its unveiling in 1914, the 48-foot (14.6 m)- high trio was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.
The upper level tracks are reached from the Main Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it. On the east side of the Main Concourse is a cluster of food purveyor shops called Grand Central Market.
Display board
The original blackboard with arrival and departure information by Track 36 was replaced by an electromechanical display in the main concourse over the ticket windows that displayed times and track numbers of arriving and departing trains.[when?] It contained rows of flip panels that displayed train information, and became a New York institution, as its many displays would flap simultaneously to reflect changes in train schedules, an indicator of just how busy Grand Central was. A small example of this type of device hangs in the Museum of Modern Art as an example of outstanding industrial design.
The flap-board destination sign was replaced with high-resolution mosaic LCD modules manufactured by Solari Udine of Italy, the maker of the original flap boards for train stations and airports. Similar modules are now also used on the trains, both on the sides to display the destination, and on the interior to display the time, next station, calling points, and other passenger information.
The Main Concourse has an elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling, conceived in 1912 by Warren with his friend, French portrait artist Paul César Helleu, and executed by James Monroe Hewlett and Charles Basing of Hewlett-Basing Studio, with Helleu consulting. Corps of astronomers and painting assistants worked with Hewlett and Basing.
The starry ceiling is astronomically inaccurate in a complicated way. While the stars within some constellations appear correctly as they would from earth, other constellations are reversed left-to-right, as is the overall arrangement of the constellations on the ceiling. For example, Orion is correctly and beautifully rendered, but the adjacent constellations Taurus and Gemini are reversed both internally and in their relation to Orion, with Taurus near Orion's raised arm where Gemini should be. One possible explanation is that the overall ceiling design might have been based on the medieval custom of depicting the sky as it would appear to God looking in at the celestial sphere from outside, but that would have reversed Orion as well. A more likely explanation is partially mistaken transcription of the sketch supplied by Columbia Astronomy professor Harold Jacoby. Though the astronomical inconsistencies were noticed promptly by a commuter in 1913, they have not been corrected in any of the subsequent renovations of the ceiling.
The original ceiling was replaced in the late 1930s to correct falling plaster.
There is a small dark circle amid the stars above the image of Pisces. In a 1957 attempt to counteract feelings of insecurity spawned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, an American Redstone missile was set up in the Main Concourse. With no other way to erect the missile, the hole was cut so the rocket could be lifted into place. Historical preservation dictated that this hole remain (as opposed to being repaired) as a testament to the many uses of the Terminal over the years.
By the 1980s, the ceiling was obscured by decades of what was thought to be coal and diesel smoke. Spectroscopic examination revealed that it was mostly tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke. A 12-year restoration effort completed in autumn 1996 restored the ceiling to its original luster. A single dark patch above the Michael Jordan Steakhouse was left untouched by renovators to remind visitors of the grime that once covered the ceiling.
In recognition of their outstanding service to Delaware, Governor John Carney honored 13 young people and five groups with the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards during a ceremony May 24 at the Polytech Adult Education Conference Center in Woodside.
“Across the state, I am impressed by the level of commitment our young people have to serving others,” Governor Carney said. “I am proud to honor their energy, spirit and willingness as they help us to build stronger and healthier communities. Without question, they demonstrate that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”
More than 200 people, including Renee Beaman, director of DHSS' Division of State Service Centers, which oversees the awards, and Georgeanna Windley, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service, joined the Governor in honoring the young volunteers for their outstanding service, community impact and inspiration to others.
The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the Governor and are coordinated by the State Office of Volunteerism and the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service.
2017 GOVERNOR’S YOUTH VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
INDIVIDUALS
Wei-Ling Moloy
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Angela Williamson
Wei-Ling Moloy is an active volunteer at Hagley Museum & Library, serving as a youth leader in its Youth Leadership Program (YLP) and as a camp counselor. As a youth leader, Wei-Ling facilitates and designs programs and activities related to Hagley’s stories of technology, science, and innovation. As a camp counselor, she supported the adult camp instructors by interacting with campers, assisting with activities, and maintaining the enjoyment and safety of campers. Beginning in 2014, as a shy, quiet volunteer, Wei-Ling has grown into a strong leader who is respected both by her fellow youth leaders and the adult mentors in the Hagley Museum & Library volunteer program.
Suprit Bodla
Community Service
Nominator: Jim Power
Since 2013, Suprit Bodla has volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, Christiana Care Health System and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). He has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit LLS and also to raise public awareness of the fight against blood cancer. Suprit is also a student mentor for the Science Ambassadors Program at the Charter School of Wilmington, where he, along with his peers, helped to organize a STEM tutoring program at Marbrook Elementary School and work with the Delaware Children’s Museum to provide science and match activities for Engineering Week.
Nadeem D. Boggerty
Community Service
Nominators: Adrienne Gomez
Dover High School honor student Nadeem D. Boggerty has been volunteering in his community for the past six years with his church, his school and through social organizations. One of the many organizations at which Nadeem volunteers is the Calvary Church in Dover, where he and his family help pack boxes and assist with dinner on Thanksgiving each year. Nadeem also participates in several social service organizations (the Omega Gents, a program steered by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; EMBODI, hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and BeB.O.L.D., a nonprofit youth mentoring organization in Dover) where he has helped feed the homeless, staff information tables at Back-to-School Fairs, toy drives, First State Community Day, and other activities that support the local community.
Sarah Davis
Education
Nominator: Michelle Neef
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Davis been volunteering with Faithful Friends Animal Society for four years. Sarah passionately promotes, educates and supports her community and has become a true leader and advocate for her generation. Furthermore, she displays great compassion while taking the initiative to ensure the safety of animals. Her tenacity has saved the lives of many dogs and cats, and improved the lives of neighbors who care for them. Sarah has provided long-term foster care to neonate kittens and delivered food from Faithful Friends Animal Society Pet Food Bank to pet owners with low incomes or those struggling in other ways to assist them in keeping their family pets in their home. She also rescued dogs and cats from perilous environments and has been instrumental for the Trap-Neuter-Return program, which works to reduce and improve the community cat population.
Cheyenne McGowan
Environment
Nominator: Emily Krueger
Cheyenne McGowan started with the Brandywine Zoo as a summer teen intern with its Zoo Camps during the summer of 2016. After the summer, she continued her volunteer efforts by signing up to help with various educational events at the zoo, including International Red Panda Day, Vulture Weekend, and Noon Year’s Eve. Her role for these events was educating the public at learning stations using animal artifacts, activities, or crafts. In addition, Cheyenne frequently came in to interpret the zoo’s animal exhibits to the public as a docent. Since she started volunteering a year ago, Cheyenne has helped educate hundreds of people at the zoo, which serves the greater Wilmington area, on different environmental topics, including climate change, animal adaptations, and specific animal facts.
Michael Robinette
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Margaret Jenkins
Since 2013, Michael Robinette has volunteered with the Mary Campbell Center’s Children & Youth program. Mike works with more than 100 children each summer, in a variety of age groups with unique physical or intellectual disabilities. His responsibilities include assisting children in different activities throughout the day such as arts and crafts, games, swimming and cooking. Mike also supports staff with talent show planning and production. Additionally, he provides supervision and companionship for campers on field trips during the summer camp program. Mike gets to know the campers on a one-on-one level and is quick to learn their likes and dislikes, and when they need or want help.
Santiago Vizcaino
Health & Special Needs
Nominator: Richard Huber
Santiago Vizcaino began volunteering with the Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired in the summer of 2016. During his time with the agency, Santiago has provided assistance in producing resource material for students with visual impairments, assisting staff with departmental projects and developing training procedures for the organization. Beginning at the Instruction Resource Material Center, Santiago produced large-print reading material for students, which were provided to 247 students. He developed a process that allowed books to be converted to PDF format, which allows a student with a visual impairment to use an iPad or other electronic device to review the document via voice narration or zoom text option, depending on the individual student’s needs. In addition, Santiago helped to develop training procedures for other volunteers.
Joy Baker
Human Needs
Nominator: Joyce Sessoms
In 2016 alone, Joy Baker volunteered an estimated 200+ hours in a variety of capacities in the Delmar and Laurel communities. She serves on the Youth Board of Directors of The ARK Education Resource Center, volunteers at her church as an assistant to the program coordinator responsible for youth activities, and is a member of the National Honor Society. For ARK, Joy acts as a recruiter and fundraiser, and is also an active participant in ARK-sponsored events like the Back-to-School Extravaganza held in Janosik Park.
Katelyn Craft
Human Needs
Nominator: Emily Holcombe
In July 2016, Katelyn Craft began volunteering at Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), Delaware’s first and only nonprofit pediatric skilled nursing facility for children who are medically fragile. Through the Resident Playdate volunteer program, ECC is able to provide the residents the chance to interact with individuals who can offer something other than medical care. At age 14, Katy knew she wanted to bring smiles and joy to children who have extensive medical needs. She has spent more than 100 hours reading, playing games, watching movies, assisting with arts and crafts projects, or just spending quality time with children who have little family involvement. In addition, Katy volunteered her time assisting with special events and fundraisers, like the Gala Fundraiser and Visits with Santa.
Daevean DeShields
Human Needs
Nominator: Aaron Tyson
Following the inspiration of his grandfather, Daevean DeShields created Project HOOP, which stands for Helping Out Other People. The goal of Project HOOP was to fill 1,000 bags with supplies to be distributed to people who are homeless through Faith United Methodist Church’s Open Hands Sound & Clothing Ministry. After recruiting from his local and school community (including his school principal), Daevean was able to meet and surpass his goal with a remarkable 1,015 bags assembled.
Jakob Ryan Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Shirin Skovronski
For almost two years, Jakob Ryan Thomas has volunteered as a junior firefighter with the Mill Creek Fire Company. In 2016 alone, he responded to 488 calls of emergency responses to structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, medical assistance, and other miscellaneous calls, amassing more than 500 volunteer hours. Jakob’s actions assisted the community in multiple emergencies, which were often quite serious and dangerous in nature.
Richard Thomas
Public Safety
Nominator: Robert Bassett, Jr.
Richard Thomas has been a volunteer firefighter with Camden-Wyoming Fire Company for two years, assisting in more than 300 emergency situations such as car accidents and house fires. Richard also assists with teaching fire prevention to children. Despite his youth, Richard is well-respected at the fire company and is seen as a mentor for new firefighters.
Ananya Singh
Social Justice/Advocacy
Nominator: Meghan Pasricha
For the past nine years, Ananya Singh has been a member of the Global Youth H.E.L.P. Inc. (GYH), a Delaware nonprofit whose mission is to train and support young people to become leaders by serving their communities through community service projects. Ananya served first as president of the middle school chapter and is currently chair of the high school chapter. Her time and efforts have been vital for many different community service projects, including the Annual Backpack Donation for the YWCA Home-Life Center, the Christmas Hygiene Product Donation, the Annual Ice Cream Party for the YWCA Home-Life Center and the Premier Charities Feeding the Homeless. She also has taught English and karate to younger children.
GROUPS
Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club
Arts & Culture
Nominator: Kenny Monroe
Following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew (Sept. 28-Oct. 10, 2016) in the Caribbean, the Teen TITAN program members of the Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club developed the “Hope for Haiti Donation Drive.” In a relatively short time, the Team Titan program members spent 400 hours collecting clothing, toiletries, bottled water, educational material and other items. More than 300 items filled more than 10 boxes and were sent to the people in Haiti to be used as they began to rebuild and recover from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.
Cape Henlopen High School Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program
Community Service
Nominator: Angela Thompson
For 10 continuous years, the participants of the Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program (JROTC) at Cape Henlopen High School have learned that everyone belongs to a community and therefore has a responsibility to that community. The 45 young men and women who comprise the current JROTC roster continue that legacy of service by devoting an average of 2,000 man-hours to community service activities benefiting a number of organizations, including the Delaware Seashore State Park, Beebe Medical Center, American Red Cross Blood Drive, the Salvation Army, Brandywine Senior Citizens Center and the National Kidney Foundation.
A.I. du Pont Middle School – Walk in the Kings Footsteps
Education
Nominator: Michele Fidance
When posed with the question “What will I do to walk in the footsteps of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the student body of A.I. du Pont Middle School in Wilmington decided to answer the question literally. A small group of students, led by Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) instructors, were given the project of researching the speeches of Dr. King in order to choose quotes that meant something to them. The students then inscribed their selected quote on a cut-out of a footprint, which was then affixed to the wall in the cafeteria as a means to inspire their fellow students. Once students beyond the JDG classes saw the footprints, they wanted to participate as well. The project helped to raise awareness among students of Dr. King’s life, teaching and legacy, and how it translates into community action and service.
P.S. duPont Middle School Student Council – Adopt a Family
Health and Special Needs
Nominator: Mallory Stratton
Each year, the student council of P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington spearheads its annual Adopt-A-Family Drive. The drive involves the school community at-large adopting the families of 15 to 20 P.S. duPont students who are need assistance to make the holiday season a little brighter. The donations of clothing, books and toys generated by the student council benefited upwards of 50 fellow students and their siblings in 2016.
Delmar High School - Wildcat Wellness Pantry
Human Needs
Nominator: Michele Fidance
The Wildcat Wellness Pantry is a food pantry at the Delmar American Legion, which provides nonperishable food and household items for individuals in need. The pantry is staffed by as many as eight Jobs for Delaware Graduate (JDG) volunteers. The JDG volunteers come in on Saturdays to assist families in need and taking inventory to ensure the pantry can reach even more people. An additional group of more than 60 volunteers collect the proceeds from canned food drives that occur during the school year to continually stock the pantry.
The common crane (Grus grus), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (Grus virgo) and the Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) that only are regular in the far eastern part of the continent. Along with the sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis), demoiselle crane and the brolga (Antigone rubicunda), it is one of only four crane species not currently classified as threatened with extinction or conservation dependent on the species level. Despite the species' large numbers, local extinctions and extirpations have taken place in part of its range, and an ongoing reintroduction project is underway in the United Kingdom.
Taxonomy
The first formal description of the common crane was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Ardea grus. The current genus Grus was erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Grus is the Latin word for a "crane".
Description
The common crane is a large, stately bird and a medium-sized crane. It is 100–130 cm (39–51 in) long with a 180–240 cm (71–94 in) wingspan. The body weight can range from 3 to 6.1 kg (6.6 to 13.4 lb), with the nominate subspecies averaging around 5.4 kg (12 lb) and the eastern subspecies (G. g. lilfordi) averaging 4.6 kg (10 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 50.7–60.8 cm (20.0–23.9 in) long, the tarsus is 20.1–25.2 cm (7.9–9.9 in) and the exposed culmen is 9.5–11.6 cm (3.7–4.6 in).
Males are slightly heavier and larger than females, with weight showing the largest sexual size dimorphism, followed by wing, central toe, and head length in adults and juveniles.
This species is slate-grey overall. The forehead and lores are blackish with a bare red crown and a white streak extending from behind the eyes to the upper back. The overall colour is darkest on the back and rump and palest on the breast and wings. The primaries, the tips of secondaries, the alula, the tip of the tail, and the edges of upper tail coverts are all black and the greater coverts droop into explosive plumes. This combination of colouration ultimately distinguishes it from similar species in Asia, like the hooded (G. monacha) and black-necked cranes (G. nigricollis). The juvenile has yellowish-brown tips to its body feathers and lacks the drooping wing feathers and the bright neck pattern of the adult, and has a fully feathered crown. Every two years, before migration, the adult common crane undergoes a complete moult, remaining flightless for six weeks, until the new feathers grow.
It has a loud trumpeting call, given in flight and display. The call is piercing and can be heard from a considerable distance. It has a dancing display, leaping with wings uplifted, described in detail below.
Distribution
The common crane breeds in Europe and across the Palearctic to Siberia. By far the largest breeding populations can be found in Russia, Finland and Sweden. It is a rare breeder in southern and western Europe, with larger numbers breeding in the central and eastern parts of the continent. It has reappeared in several western European countries where it had been extirpated as a breeding bird decades or even centuries ago, including the United Kingdom and, since 2021, the Republic of Ireland. In Russia, it breeds as far east at the Chukchi Peninsula. In Asia, the breeding range of the common crane extends as far south as northern China, Turkey and the Caucasus region.
The species is a migrant and common cranes that breed in Europe predominantly winter in Portugal, Spain and northern Africa. Autumn migration is from August to October in the breeding areas, but from late October to early December at the wintering sites. Spring migration starts in February at wintering sites up to early March, but from March through May at the breeding areas. Migration phenology of common cranes is changing due to climate change. Important staging areas occur anywhere from Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany to China (with a large one around the Caspian Sea) and many thousand cranes can be seen in one day in the Autumn. Some birds winter elsewhere in southern Europe, including Portugal and France. During mild winters, some may stay near their breeding locations year-round, even in northwestern Europe. Common cranes that breed in far eastern Europe, including European Russia, winter in the river valleys of Sudan, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Eritrea with smaller numbers in Turkey, northern Israel, Iraq and parts of Iran. The third major wintering region, primarily used by those breeding in central Russia, is in the northern half of the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan. Minimal wintering also occurs in Burma, Vietnam and Thailand. Lastly, the easternmost breeders winter in eastern China, where they are often the most common crane. Migrating flocks fly in a "V" formation.
It is a rare visitor to Japan and Korea, mostly blown over from the Chinese wintering population, and is a rare vagrant to western North America, where birds are occasionally seen with flocks of migrating sandhill cranes.
Habitat
In Europe, the common crane predominantly breeds in boreal and taiga forest and mixed forests, from an elevation of sea-level to 2,200 m (7,200 ft). In northern climes, it breeds in treeless moors, on bogs, or on dwarf heather habitats, usually where small lakes or pools are also found. In Sweden, breeders are usually found in small, swampy openings amongst pine forests, while in Germany, marshy wetlands are used. Breeding habitat used in Russia are similar, though they can be found nesting in less likely habitat such as steppe and even semi-desert, so long as water is near. Primarily, the largest number of common cranes are found breeding in wooded swamps, bogs and wetlands and seem to require quiet, peaceful environs with minimal human interference. They occur at low density as breeders even where common, typically ranging from 1 to 5 pairs per 100 km2 (39 sq mi).
In winter, this species moves to flooded areas, shallow sheltered bays, and swampy meadows. During the flightless moulting period there is a need for shallow waters or high reed cover for concealment. Later, after the migration period, the birds winter regularly in open country, often on cultivated lands and sometimes also in savanna-like areas, for example on the Iberian Peninsula.
Behaviour
Diet
The common crane is omnivorous, as are all cranes. It largely eats plant matter, including roots, rhizomes, tubers, stems, leaves, fruits and seeds. They also commonly eat, when available, pond-weeds, heath berries, peas, potatoes, olives, acorns, cedar nuts and pods of peanuts. Notably amongst the berries consumed, the cranberry, is possibly named after the species.
Animal foods become more important during the summer breeding season and may be the primary food source at that time of year, especially while regurgitating to young. Their animal foods are insects, especially dragonflies, and also snails, earthworms, crabs, spiders, millipedes, woodlice, amphibians, rodents, and small birds.
Common cranes may either forage on land or in shallow water, probing around with their bills for any edible organism. Although crops may locally be damaged by the species, they mostly consume waste grain in winter from previously harvested fields and so actually benefit farmers by cleaning fields for use in the following year. As with other cranes, all foraging (as well as drinking and roosting) is done in small groups, which may variously consist of pairs, family groups or winter flocks.
Breeding
This species usually lays eggs in May, though seldom will do so earlier or later. Like most cranes, this species displays indefinite monogamous pair bonds. If one mate dies, a crane may attempt to court a new mate the following year. Although a pair may be together for many years, the courtship rituals of the species are enacted by every pair each spring. The dancing of common cranes has complex, social meanings and may occur at almost any time of year. Dancing may include bobs, bows, pirouettes, and stops, as in various crane species. Aggressive displays may include ruffled wing feathers, throwing vegetation in the air and pointing the bare red patch on their heads at each other. Courtship displays begin with a male following the female in a stately, march-like walk. The unison call, consists of the female holding her head up and gradually lowering down as she calls out. The female calls out a high note and then the male follows with a longer scream in a similar posture. Copulation consists of a similar, dramatic display.
The nesting territory of common cranes is variable and is based on the local habitat. It can range in size from variously 2 to 500 ha (4.9 to 1,235.5 acres). In common with sandhill cranes (and no other crane species), common cranes "paint" their bodies with mud or decaying vegetation, apparently in order to blend into their nesting environment. The nest is either in or very near shallow water, often with dense shore vegetation nearby, and may be used over several years. The size and placement of the nest varies considerably over the range, with Arctic birds building relatively small nests. In Sweden, an average nest is around 90 cm (35 in) across.
The clutch of the common crane usually contains two eggs, with seldom one laid and, even more rarely, 3 or 4. If a clutch is lost early in incubation, the cranes may be able to lay another one within a couple of weeks. The incubation period is around 30 days and is done primarily by the female but occasionally by both sexes. If humans approach the nest both parents may engage in a distraction display but known ground predators (including domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)) are physically attacked almost immediately.
New hatchlings are generally quite helpless but are able to crawl away from danger within a few hours, can swim soon after hatching and can run with their parents at 24 hours old. Chicks respond to danger by freezing, using their camouflaged brownish down to defend them beyond their fierce parents. Young chicks use their wings to stabilise them while running, while by 9 weeks of age they can fly short distances. The adult birds go through their postbreeding moult while caring for their young, rendering them flightless for about 5 to 6 weeks around the time the young also can't fly yet. According to figures of cranes wintering in Spain, around 48% birds have surviving young by the time they winter and around 18% are leading two young by winter. By the next breeding season, the previous years young often flock together. The age of sexual maturity in wild birds has been estimated at variously from 3 to 6 years of age.
Longevity
This species could live up to 30 or 40 years of age. But the data on longevity (43 years) and life expectancy (12 years, N=7 cranes) were published with captive cranes. Common cranes living in the wild must show shorter lives. Successful breeders, the best subjects in the population, are guessed to live on average 12 years. Unsuccessful breeding cranes, therefore, may have shorter lives. Elementary survival analysis with the Euring database reports a life expectancy at birth (LEB) of c. 5 years. This LEB of 5 years was similar to that estimated for other crane species, as for example the Florida sandhill cranes (G. canadensis) (LEB = 7 years). Reports of tagged common cranes have increased rapidly in the last decades. Therefore, longevity and life expectancy at birth of wild common cranes will be updated.
Sociality
The common crane is a fairly social bird while not breeding. Flocks of up to 400 birds may be seen flying together during migration. Staging sites, where migrating birds gather to rest and feed in the middle of their migration, may witness thousands of cranes gathering at once. However, the flocks of the species are not stable social units but rather groups that ensure greater safety in numbers and collectively draw each other's attention to ideal foraging and roosting sites. Possibly due to a longer molt, younger and non-breeding cranes are usually the earliest fall migrants and may band together at that time of year. During these migratory flights, common cranes have been known to fly at altitudes of up to 33,000 ft (10,000 m), one of the highest of any species of bird, second only to the Ruppell's Griffin Vulture.
Cranes use a kleptoparasitic strategy to recover from temporary reductions in feeding rate, particularly when the rate is below the threshold of intake necessary for survival. Accumulated intake of common cranes during daytime at a site of stopover and wintering shows a typical anti-sigmoid shape, with greatest increases of intake after dawn and before dusk.
Interspecies interactions
There are few natural predators of adult cranes, although white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Bonelli's eagles (Aquila fasciata), eastern imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca} and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are a potential predatory threat to common cranes of all ages. The crane has been known to counterattack eagles both on the land and in mid-flight, using their bill as a weapon and kicking with their feet. Common cranes were additionally recorded as prey for Eurasian eagle-owls (Bubo bubo) in the Ukok Plateau of Russia. Mammals such as wild boar (Sus scrofa), wolverine (Gulo gulo) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are attacked at the nest, as they are potential predators. When facing off against mammals, cranes jab with their bill, hit with their wings and kick with their feet. The cranes nimbly avoid strikes against themselves by jumping into the air. It is probable that they are threatened by a wider range of large mammalian predators as is the black-necked crane but these have not yet been recorded. Herbivorous mammals such as red deer (Cervus elaphus) may also be attacked at the nest, indicating the high aggressiveness of the birds while nesting. The determined attack of a parent crane often assures safety from predators, but occasional losses to predation are inevitable. The carrion crow (Corvus corone) is locally a successful predator of common cranes' eggs, trickily using distraction displays to steal them. Other species of Corvus may also cause some loss of eggs, with common ravens (Corvus corax) also taking some small chicks. Common cranes may loosely associate with any other crane in the genus Grus in migration or winter as well as greater white-fronted geese and bean geese.
Population and conservation
In 2015, the global population was estimated to be about 500,000 individuals. The vast majority of pairs nest in Russia, Finland (30-40,000 pairs in 2009) and Sweden (c. 30,000 pairs in 2012). On the fringes of its range, it has often become rare or even been extirpated, but in several European countries this trend has been reversed and overall the European population is increasing.
In the early 20th century, it was considered rare in Poland, but gradually began to increase and this has accelerated since the 1980s. In 2010-2012, the Polish population was estimated to number 20-22,000 pairs. Norway had 3-5,000 pairs in 2015 and Estonia had 5,800 pairs in 1999, with both increasing. The German breeding population increased from 700 pairs in 1978 to more than 10,000 pairs in 2017, which is still a fraction of the size of the numbers that once bred in the country. After having disappeared as a breeding bird decades earlier, the species began breeding again in France in 2000 and in 2017 there were more than 20 pairs. In Denmark, the common crane returned as a breeder in 1953, about a century after it had disappeared. Numbers remained extremely low, less than 5 pairs, until the 1990s when a rapid increase began; in 2022 there were at least 750 pairs in Denmark. In the Netherlands, the species disappeared as a breeding bird centuries ago, but it returned in 2001 and by 2020 there were about 40 pairs in the country. The common crane returned to the Czech Republic as a breeder in 1981 and by 2004 it had increased to 35 pairs. In 2009, the species again began to breed in Slovakia, and in Austria it returned as a breeding bird in 2018 after having disappeared in 1885. Although large numbers winter in Spain, the last breeding in the country had been in 1954. In 2017, a pair that had been released after being rehabilitated bred in Spain. It was extirpated as a breeder from Italy around 1920 and Hungary by 1952, and it also used to breed in the Balkans; significant numbers still pass through these countries during migration.
In the United Kingdom, the common crane became extirpated in the 17th century, but a small and increasing population now breeds again in the Norfolk Broads and a reintroduction began in 2010 in the Somerset levels. A total of 93 birds were released between 2010 and 2014 as part of the reintroduction effort, and there are now 180 resident birds in the UK. In 2016, a wild crane was born in Wales for the first time in over 400 years. In 2021, the British population had increased to 72 pairs. In the Republic of Ireland, several visiting flocks were observed in the 2000s and in 2021 a pair managed to breed for the first time on the island in 300 years.
The main threat to the species and the primary reason for its decline comes from habitat loss and degradation, as a result of dam construction, urbanisation, agricultural expansion, and drainage of wetlands. Although it has adapted to human settlement in many areas, nest disturbance, continuing changes in land use, and collision with utility lines are still potential problems. Further threats may include persecution due to crop damage, pesticide poisoning, egg collection, and hunting. The common crane is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Culture
In 1870 Józef Chełmoński painted a picture: "Departure of Cranes" (National Museum in Cracow)
In Ireland, despite being extinct for over 200 years, the common crane plays a very important part in Irish culture and folklore and so thus recent efforts to encourage it back to Ireland are received with much enthusiasm.
The Kranich Museum in Hessenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, is dedicated to art and folklore related to the common crane.
The common crane is the sacred bird of the god Hephaestus, and it features heavily in the god's iconography. In Indian states of Rajsthan and Gujarat this crane is described in lots of folk songs. For example: a newly married woman (whose husband has gone to a far away place for earning) will sing a song to crane to take a message to her husband and request to tell him to come home early.
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Olkhon (Ольхон, also transliterated as Olchon) is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world. It is by far the largest island in Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia, with an area of 730 square kilometres (280 sq mi). Structurally, it acts as the southwestern margin of Academician Ridge. The island measures 71.5 kilometres (44.4 mi) in length and 20.8 kilometres (12.9 mi) in width.
Olkhon has a dramatic combination of terrain and is rich in archeological landmarks. Steep mountains line its eastern shore, and at 1,276 metres (4,186 ft) above sea level, Mount Zhima is the highest point on the island, peaking at 818 metres (2,684 ft) above the water level of Lake Baikal. The island is large enough to have its own lakes, and features a combination of taiga, steppe and even a small desert. A deep strait separates the island from the land.
The island's appearance is a result of millions of years of tectonic movement resulting in the hollowing of the channel between the land (Small Sea Strait) and the block of stone forming the island. The steep slopes of the mountains show the vertical heave of the earth.
The population of the island is less than 1,500 and consists mostly of Buryats, the island's aboriginal people.
There are several settlements and five villages on the island: Yalga, Malomorets, Khuzhir, Kharantsi, and Ulan-Khushin. The village of Khuzhir is the administrative capital of Olkhon, designated as such in April 1987, when the Soviet government issued a comprehensive decree protecting Lake Baikal. Khuzhir is home to about 1,200 residents and boasts a museum of local nature and history.
Most residents are fishermen, farmers, or cattle-ranchers. Due to an increasing number of tourists from all over the world, many residents work in this sector as well, and tourism has become an important part of the economy in Olkhon.
The indigenous Buryats, adherents of shamanism, believe the island to be a spiritual place; one of the groups of deities adhered to in Buryati yellow shamanism is called the oikony noyod, the "thirteen lords of Olkhon. On the western coast, close to Khuzhir, is Baikal's most famous landmark, the Shamanka, or Shaman's Rock. Natives believe that Burkhan, a modern religious cult figure of the Altai peoples, lives in the cave in this rock. The rock is one of nine Asian Most Sacred Places. Olkhon is considered a centre of Kurumchinskay culture of 6th-10th centuries.
The museum at Olkhon, named after Revyakin, exposits on the nature and ethnography of the island, including pipe-smoking and a samovar collection.
The island has a long history of human habitation. The original indigenous people were the Kurykans, forefathers of two ethnic groups: the Buryats and Yakuts.
Russian explorers first visited during the 17th century.
One of the most important ecological problems of Olkhon Island is the disposal of household waste. At present, the waste is disposed of in large piles in forestry near the village of Khuzhir. The dump is unenclosed, and the tipping process is uncontrolled. Moreover, with recent increases in tourism on the island, new sources of hard rubbish have begun to appear.
Another ecological concern affecting the island is the illegal felling of timber by local inhabitants. A complicated net of forestry roads in the areas adjacent to Khuzhir lead to woodland areas on the mountain slopes. Timber is brought out of the forest at night time, and the deforestation is taking its toll on the area.
Il Lago Bajkal (in russo: О́зеро Байка́л, Ozero Bajkal, ['ozʲɪrə bʌj'kɑl],in mongolo ed in buriato Dalai-Nor, Mare sacro) è un lago della Siberia meridionale, diviso fra i territori dell'oblast' di Irkutsk e della repubblica di Buriazia. È stato posto sotto la tutela dell'UNESCO come patrimonio dell'umanità nel 1996. Fa parte della lista delle Sette meraviglie della Russia.
Il lago Bajkal si estende su una superficie di 31.722 km², che ne fa uno dei maggiori laghi al mondo per superficie; si allunga per 636 km da nord a sud (è il secondo del mondo per lunghezza dopo il lago Tanganica), con una larghezza media di 48 km (massima 79,4 km). La profondità media del lago è di 744 m, con una massima di 1.642 m nella parte centrale. Questi valori ne fanno contemporaneamente il lago d'acqua dolce più profondo del mondo e quello con il volume maggiore (23.615 km3). Contiene un volume d'acqua pressoché equivalente a quello dei cinque grandi laghi americani messi assieme. Si stima che contenga circa il 20% delle riserve d'acqua dolce del pianeta (esclusi i ghiacciai e le calotte polari).
Il lago Bajkal si estende in una zona geologicamente molto tormentata; occupa una zona di sprofondamento (fossa tettonica) molto profonda (la criptodepressione arriva a quasi 1.200 m sotto il livello del mare, dato che il pelo dell'acqua del lago è a circa 450 m s.l.m.), ed è circondato da piccole catene montuose che si allungano tutto intorno alle sue coste: monti del Bajkal, monti del Barguzin, monti Primorskij, monti Chamar-Daban, monti Ulan-Burgasy e, all'estremità settentrionale, l'Altopiano Stanovoj.
Il Bajkal riceve le acque di 336 immissari, i maggiori dei quali sono il Selenga (che nasce in Mongolia), il Barguzin, la Verchnjaja Angara (Angara Superiore), la Turka e la Snežnaja; possiede per contro un solo emissario, l'Angara, tramite il quale il lago tributa allo Enisej. Il bacino imbrifero del Bajkal si estende su una superficie di circa 557.000 km².
Il Bajkal si trova in una regione dal clima molto duro, con fortissime escursioni termiche fra le stagioni estreme; il lago, con la sua enorme massa d'acqua, esercita una forte azione di mitigazione delle temperature, con il risultato di avere inverni meno freddi ed estati più fresche e umide delle zone circostanti. D'inverno il lago è interessato da un esteso congelamento delle acque superficiali; questi ghiacci, per via della inerzia termica data dalla gran massa d'acqua, tendono a formarsi piuttosto tardi (dicembre) e a fondere completamente solo verso maggio.
Il lago è frequentemente battuto da un forte vento che viene chiamato "sarma" dalle popolazioni locali, che può toccare i 150 km/h.
Il lago Bajkal è caratterizzato da un ambiente atipico per un lago: le sue acque sono molto ricche d'ossigeno (soluzione satura al 75%) e anche il punto più profondo è popolato da forme di vita, mentre in altri laghi profondi in varie parti del mondo le forme di vita macroscopica scompaiono oltre i 300 m a causa dell'anossia.
Il lago Bajkal è sede di svariati endemismi.
Nel 1962 erano state censite nel lago e nelle sue vicinanze 1.220 diverse specie animali e vegetali, nel 1978 il numero era cresciuto a 1.400 e da allora ogni anno nuove forme di vita continuano ad essere scoperte. Ad oggi le nuove specie scoperte in loco sono oltre 2.500, di cui il 60% di tipo animale ed il 15% di tipo vegetale. Nel lago vi sono 250 specie di crostacei e ben 52 di pesci, di cui 27 endemiche del Bajkal.
Una delle specie più caratteristiche è la nerpa, la foca del Bajkal (Pusa sibirica), specie endemica di taglia piccola, dal manto grigio scuro, si nutre di pesci, ed è all'apice della catena alimentare del lago Bajkal. Alla fine del secolo scorso la caccia ne aveva drasticamente ridotto il numero, oggi risalito, grazie ad una politica di tutela, ad oltre 75.000 individui.
All'altra estremità della catena alimentare c'è un piccolo crostaceo filtratore del genere Epischura, che costituisce il 97% del plancton e raggiunge una biomassa pari a circa 4 milioni di tonnellate. Questo gamberetto non sopporta una temperatura più elevata di 12 °C, e quindi necessita di una elevata concentrazione di ossigeno, né sopporta una concentrazione salina anche solo leggermente superiore a quella (molto bassa) del lago Bajkal, ossia 100 mg di sali per litro d'acqua.
Alcuni ricercatori ritengono che soprattutto le specie endemiche più piccole si siano evolute dall'antica fauna di un immenso lago salmastro che sembra ricoprisse quasi l'intera Asia centrale agli inizi del Terziario (65 milioni di anni fa). Più tardi, 30 milioni di anni fa, il predetto lago si era frammentato in tanti piccoli laghi salmastri circondati da foreste di tipo tropicale. Una serie di importanti sconvolgimenti tettonici (ancor oggi in loco si verificano oltre 2.000 scosse ogni anno) dovuti alla collisione tra il continente euroasiatico con il sub-continente indiano, formarono una profonda frattura nella crosta terrestre la quale venne progressivamente riempita dalle acque convogliate dalla vasta pianura circostante, il volume d'acqua raccolto equivale alla massa d'acqua trasportabile da tutti i fiumi del pianeta nell'arco di un intero anno.
La fossa di frattura del Bajkal è una delle tipiche strutture geologiche estensionali, particolarmente vistosa perché superficiale, che si formano perpendicolarmente alle catene orogeniche (la catena orogenica in questo caso è quella himalayana).
Alcuni pesci, come la golomjanka (Comephorus baikalensis), e la suddetta foca del Bajkal sembrano essere arrivati in queste acque in epoche più recenti, forse dall'Artico attraverso gli immensi fiumi siberiani.
Nei pressi del lago esiste una riserva naturale nella quale vivono gli zibellini, specie a rischio di estinzione che oggi viene protetta, ed il cui allevamento è monopolio dello Stato russo.
Le acque del lago, mai più calde di 14 °C, lasciano filtrare lo sguardo fino a più di 40 m di profondità. Tale purezza è stata a più riprese posta a rischio da svariati eventi:
negli anni settanta, con il progetto per la costruzione della Ferrovia Bajkal-Amur, voluta da Leonid Brežnev per aprire la Siberia allo sfruttamento delle sue materie prime;
attraverso la nascita della città di Severobajkal'sk, 600 km a nord del lago;
riversando nel Bajkal gli scarichi delle industrie di Ulan-Ude (capitale della Buriazia, 350 000 abitanti), attraverso il fiume Selenga;
costruendo, proprio a Bajkal'sk, ad un centinaio di metri dalla riva, un grande impianto di trasformazione del legno e di lavorazione della cellulosa, peraltro contestato dalle popolazioni locali.
Fin dagli anni settanta, a protestare contro l'inquinamento del lago vi fu il biologo Grigorij Galazyj, membro dell' Accademia delle Scienze, ed allora direttore dell' Istituto di limnologia di Irkutsk, successivamente direttore del Museo del Bajkal. Secondo Galazyj "Nessuno dei molti decreti e progetti varati per proteggere il Bajkal è stato messo in atto, ed ogni giorno l'impianto per la lavorazione del legno riversa nel lago 250.000 l di acque di scarico, oltre a consumare 500.000 m³ di legno l'anno".
Sulle sponde del lago si sono insediate comunità di credo differente; le religioni principali sono tre: lo "sciamanesimo tibetano", il "buddhismo" ed il cristianesimo ortodosso che fu portata dai russi dopo che Kurbat Ivanov scoprì le acque del lago Bajkal nel 1643.
Il territorio della Buriazia, che è bagnata dal Bajkal per il 60% della linea costiera e la sua gente, i Buriati, furono annessi allo stato russo dai trattati del 1689 e del 1728, quando le terre intorno al Bajkal furono separate dalla Mongolia. Dalla metà del XVII secolo all'inizio del XX il numero di Buriati aumentò da 27.700 a 300.000.
Dopo l'annessione della Buriazia alla Russia la cultura buriata subì le influenze del buddhismo tibetano e della Chiesa Cristiana Ortodossa. I Buriati furono per lo più sottoposti ad un processo di integrazione ad usi e costumi tipicamente russi che li portò ad abbandonare progressivamente il nomadismo unitamente all'agricoltura itinerante, mentre i Buriati dell'est (Transbajkal) subirono l'influenza mongola (ancora oggi diversi gruppi vivono in yurta e sono in gran parte buddhisti). Nel Settecento fu costruito il primo monastero buddhista buriato.
Il nome "Buriati" è menzionato per la prima volta in un'opera mongola: infatti costoro sono i discendenti diretti dell'antico popolo nomade dei mongoli ed ancora oggi vivono lungo le sponde del lago; una leggenda locale asserisce che la madre di Gengis Khan fosse nata nel villaggio di Barguzin, sulla riva orientale del lago. I buriati d'inverno sono soliti attraversare il lago ghiacciato (quando la crosta è spessa 1 metro) con i camion poiché in tal modo la distanza fra le città di Irkutsk ed Ulan Ude si accorciano di molto, anche se questa pratica è molto pericolosa.
I Buriati sono soliti pescare l'"omul", specie endemica piuttosto pregiata, unitamente ad altre 52 specie presenti nel lago e svariati tipi di crostacei.
Un'antica credenza popolare afferma che esistono due demoni maligni abitanti delle acque profonde intorno all'isola di Olkhon: "Burkhan" e "Doshkin Nojon", pronti a prendersi le anime dei pescatori durante le tempeste.
Una piccola consuetudine è quella di collocare dei nastrini colorati portafortuna detti "semelga" sopra gli arbusti.
La Roccia dello Sciamano.
Trattasi di un masso enorme che spunta appena dalle acque proprio laddove l'Angara lascia il Bajkal.
La Roccia dello Sciamano è protagonista di una leggenda che i buriati imparano a conoscere già in tenera età. Secondo tale leggenda il Grande Uomo Bajkal giunse in questa regione con le sue 337 figlie e decise di fermarsi; mentre dormiva una delle figlie, alla quale i gabbiani avevano raccontato le prodezze di Jenisej, decise di fuggire per correre verso l'uomo-fiume di cui si era innamorata; svegliatosi, il Bajkal scagliò verso la fuggitiva una pietra, la Roccia dello Sciamano appunto.
Chi era sospettato di un crimine veniva posto la sera al di sopra della roccia. Se al mattino era ancora lì e la corrente non l'aveva portato via, costui era innocente e veniva liberato. Tuttavia pare che ciò accadesse di rado, in quanto il fiume Angara possiede delle acque tanto rapide ed irruente che è l'unico fiume della regione a non gelare d'inverno.
(from wikipedia.org)
Reg. LK03 NJV
Fleet number. 6024
Volvo B7TL with Plaxton President bodywork and dating from 2003. This vehicle is wearing 'Stanley Travel' livery. This bus saw previous service with First London where it carried the fleet number VNL32323 and Go Ahead Blue Triangle & Go Ahead London General where it was fleet number PVN13.
Seen coming of Robert Stephenson's bi-level rail and road High Level Bridge of 1849 which spans the River Tyne from Newcastle to Gateshead working a Metro Replacement Bus route number 900 from Four Lane Ends to Heworth during a 2 week line closure of the core section of the Tyne & Wear Metro system due to overhead line renewal work.
Photograph by: Ryan Nyenhuis
Sunday June 15th 2008, Fathers Day. Ryan and I woke with a plan. The plan being to sneak into the abandon R.L. Hearn Thermal Generation Power Plant which is located in the south east area of downtown Toronto. We wanted to photograph the beauty of decay.
We had made a trip over to the power plant a week prior to scout out the area, to see where guards were located and to find easy access inside.
Sneaking past the guard house located at the front of the property and making our way along the north west section of property towards the back of the plant where the barbed wire fence was weakest.
We then smoked three quarters of a joint together before working up the nerve to hop the fence. Ryan went first, watching him hop the fence and dart out into the yard and hiding behind scrap metal for cover then finally making it to the back of the building. Then it was my turn. What excitement that was, knowing your breaking the law to do something adventurous.
After getting onto the property we were standing at the back of the Hearn and looking for our way inside. To do so we had to hop up onto a metal fence post and from there had to reach up and grab a hold of plywood that covered up the tall entrance area. A good 15 foot climb up, over and in.
Once inside the first photo that was taken was the one of Ryan and I standing together, titled "final hours".
This place was like no other we had ever explored together. The shear size of it all was breathtaking and mind blowing at the same time. The beauty of destruction.
After the first photo was taken we started exploring the plant. Taking the necessary precautions we had come prepared with asbestos masks and flashlights.
We had made our way around on the ground floor, through locker rooms, showers, storage rooms. Then we started making our way up stairs to the 2nd and 3rd level offices, had the remainder of our joint together.
From the office levels we went back onto the factory area and started climbing the metal stairs up further still. Some photos show how high up we were in that building.
We then made ourselves up onto the roof. What a view from there looking out over the city core. Looking out over Lake Ontario we saw really dark storm clouds. Ryan pulled out a cigarette and had a smoke.
We were up on the roof for about a half hour before Ryan asked me "what do you want to do now man?". "Do you want to go home now or stay a bit longer and explore?". My camera battery had died at this point and being there any longer served no purpose for me. I was hesitant on a response because at the same time I wanted to keep exploring because the plan was to keep coming back weekend after weekend to explore and document the old structure.
I then agreed to keep exploring. We came in off the roof, coming down a level, walked through a doorway into a long looking dark room. All across the top level of The Hearn runs conveyor belts that run coal from one end to the other. Walking together along the metal grating flooring. Ryan was 2 feet in front of me.
I then ended up tripping over a small extruded piece of metal on the floor, and from that second on I pointed my flashlight directly onto the floor to see where I was walking.
Very shortly after this happens, in mid sentence Ryan just falls into blackness. All I see is from his waist up as he plunges into complete blackness and followed by about 4-5 seconds before hearing a sick crash far below.
I then look 2 feet in front of me and see there is no more floor. My imediant thought is that he is dead. Then my brain clicks "I have to get my best friend out of here".
I then tried my best to back track to get out of the building, taking a route that he and I had not taken to get to this point. All I knew is I had to get out of The Hearn and find someone that could help.
I don't even know how I got out of that place. When I did I came out on the back side of the building, ran around to the guard house screaming for help.
I screamed to the guard that my best friend just fell in there and is hurt really bad, he asked what we were doing in there and I told him we were just taking photos.
The guard then called like every paramedic, fire and police officer in the city. About 10 minutes after the call was made all I could hear were the sirens. Scared and relived at the same time I was.
Once they all showed up I told them Ryan was in there, that we were up high in the building and he fell. All the cops were telling me to retrace my steps, they wanted to see where we came in from. I screamed at them "we don't have time for that right now, my best friend is dying in there". I then started leading them to the front of the Hearn because I knew it was the closet way inside. We get to the front and all entrances were boarded up. One cops said to me "Ian there is no way in through this way, you have to show us where you came in from". I then demanded to the fire fighters that they bust this plywood down to get inside.
Once inside the cops started fucking with my mind, me being in total shock at the time they started asking me where we had explored, they wanted me to take them on what would have been a few hours of exploration, which we didn't have time for.
Then an officer finds his asbestos mask and glasses. My first thought is he was okay, that he somehow managed to crawl out under his own power. I was wrong. His mask and glasses had bounced off of objects on the fall and Ryan was nowhere to be found.
The police tried getting a hold of Rogers Communication to see if they could pin point his location with the cell phone he had on him. They ended up using thermal vision to locate him. He was trapped in a coal hopper located high up in the building.
I was escorted out at this point in time because I was too "hysterical" for the cops liking.
Two and a half hours went by, a fierce thunderstorm was passing through.
While they were working on getting Ryan out I was giving my statement to the police. Never gave one of those in my life. I told them everything that I am writing here right now, everything, even the joint smoking. I had Nothing to hide.
We went in undetected but I didn't care if the whole world was watching at this point, I was doing what any best friend would do. I was trying to save him. City Pulse News was there and I was trying to hide from them. I was scared that this is how his family would find out and how my family would find out, being Fathers days and all.
After two and a half hours of hell they finally got Ryan out. I watched them carry him out on a backboard and I yelled to him that I loved him.
Ryan was rushed to St. Micheal's Hospital, the best in all the city for trauma.
I followed about an hour after him, being escorted in a police car. On the drive one officer said to me "this is going to cost you and your buddy about a hundred thousand dollars for all that had to be done here today". What a jackass thing to say. I responded by saying "I don't give a fuck about money, take all I have from me I don't care, I'm loosing the most important person in my life right now".
We get to the hospital, I enter the trauma wing of St. Micheal's. They told me that I was going to be the one to call the home of the Nyenhuis'. I thought that was insane, and told them I could not make that call, that they would have to.
I then went into the waiting room, sat down. I remember the NBA finals were on the televisions in there and I ended up falling asleep somehow.
Waking to Stevie and Tammy's faces hours later (Stevie being Ryan's room mate and Tammy being Ryan's girlfriend).
Stevie told me that John and Cheryl were on their way and that we could go up stairs to the trauma ward to see Ryan.
The trauma centre, located on the 9th floor of St. Micheal's Hospital.
Hours passed by, as the night went on the news kept getting worse and worse about his condition.
I ended up leaving to come back to my apartment at 6am the following morning, I had to talk to my parents and try and shovel some food into my system. Still being in shock and never got treatment for shock when it happened.
I returned to the hospital at 3pm that day. Only to find nothing had changed with his condition.
Then came the worst words I ever had to hear, Ryan's father coming in the room and telling me it was time to say goodbye to Ryan.
We made our way into where he was being cared for. To see my best friend in the state he was in broke my heart. Blood coming out the back of his head, body black and blue bruised from head to toe, internal damage that could not be repaired, feeling his forehead and it being ice cold. He was laying there in front of us, dead. Machines were the only thing keeping him "alive".
I said my goodbyes to him, telling him that he can't leave me here, he can't leave the creation of Studies In Comfort behind, something that is so brilliant, that we were supposed to take over the world together and do all that was planned. I told him to haunt me.
I then looked at his eyes and saw tears. He may have been brain dead but I know he heard every word I said. Doctors did not give an explanation to what was coming out of his eyes.
If only I had said to Ryan "hey man watch your step" he might still be alive today. I have been told over and over again that I can not blame myself for what happened that day. I sometimes still do.
Ryan and I once had a conversation that if something ever happened to one of us that Studies In Comfort would stop, without a core creator there is no sense to continue it. Well I am going against those wishes. I can't lose what he and I created even before it took off the ground.
I now know my purpose in life. To carry on Studies In Comfort. I must continue on for him, finish off the 3 studio albums we had in the works and continue on with this art form.
Ryan died at the wheel and I have moved his lifeless body to the passengers seat and now a fucking insane madman is driving.
Ryan Nyenhuis, whos favourite artist was Nine Inch Nails, who lived on floor number 9, who wore a roman numeral 9 on his right arm, who died on the 9th floor at St. Micheal's Hospital, Toronto.
Thank you to 55 Division and all the paramedics and fire fighters who helped get Ryan out of that terrible dark place.
Ryan Nyenhuis is survived by his father, John, mother Cheryl, sisters, Jennifer and Leah, their beautiful children, myself and Studies In Comfort.
Ryan John Nyenhuis
July 28th 1981 - June 15th 2008
We love and miss you.
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All photographs were taken by Ryan Nyenhuis & Ian Levack with a Casio EX-Z1050 camera.