View allAll Photos Tagged Leveler
Do this at home, on a nice, dry day.
Run the inner dual tire up on a leveling ramps or a stack of Lynx levelers. The outer wheel needs to be lifted off the ground.
Its power enhanced by a flathead V-8 engine, this beautifully restored Model 8N With a road grader attachment was on parade at the 2016 California Antique Farm Equipment Show in Tulare, California.
Shot on location as part of the architectural series in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Post-processing done in Phocus 3.5.
Camera: Hasselblad FlexBody CP
Lens: Hasselblad CF Distagon T* 4/40 FLE
Back: Hasselblad CFV II 50c
Head: Arca-Swiss Core Leveler 75
Tripod: Gitzo GT3532LS
Vanitas Symbolism
A vanitas still-life painting or photograph represents an old genre that goes back at least to the 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters (with some notable contributions as well from the Spanish). It’s moralistic through and through, its message deriving ultimately from passages in the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, stressing the fragility and impermanence of life and life’s pleasures both intellectual, cultural, hedonistic, and artistic. From the Hebrew Bible: “Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher; all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 12: 8). From the Gospel of Matthew: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (6: 19-20). I hasten to add that I am not a religious person—but I find the vanitas genre fascinating. I tried to represent as many vanitas symbols as I could. What follows, for those academically inclined, is a brief explanation of the 5 categories covering the typical icons.
Category 1: Items representing hedonistic indulgence
- musical instruments: the gold clock behind, left, shows a woman playing a lute. Here, the green Russian balalaika is meant to stand in for the stringed instrument that (I presume) would have been readily available during the European Renaissance.
- alcohol and wine goblets: I have two decanters, one with orange liqueur, the other with what seems to be red wine to the left of the half full (or half empty) wine glass. That decanters and glass aren’t full symbolizes how quickly life’s pleasures disappear (see also Category 2).
- food: the limes and the lemon in the glass bowl to the left. The lemon especially is understood to be beautiful to the sight and smell but bitter, just like life can be.
- combs and mirrors symbolize narcissism, our infatuation with personal beauty (our vanity). We have a mirror, difficult to see, laying on its side just beside the fruit.
- objects of art: paintings, busts, statues, and the like. Here we have two paint brushes and a bust (of the ancient Greek poet Homer).
- jewelry: I meant to put some gold rings in there but I forgot. We do have what appears to be a heart-shaped blue diamond and, yes, it’s a replica of the Heart of the Ocean, the famous stone in Titanic and which I purchased for my wife (“she who must be obeyed”) at the Titanic exhibit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, when I was there a few years ago.
- perfume: we have two small bottles beside the mirror
- items of revelry or sinful living are represented here by dice and playing cards. Four of the five cards have an added, more modern, symbolic significance: two black aces and two black 8s comprise the famous Dead Man’s Hand, allegedly held by American gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot down while playing poker. The mask—I can’t pretend to have seen one in a classic vanitas painting—was my idea as another symbol of revelry and reminds me of Poe’s story “The Masque of the Red Death,” which is a vanitas painting in prose.
- expensive items (“conspicuous consumption”) are represented here by the exotic red rug. Though we can barely see it, it’s a prized possession of mine all the way from Turkey.
- seashells are exotic and hard to acquire (see bottom left)
- a terrestrial globe, such as we see on the far left, back, is a meta-symbol of the world’s wealth and vanity (and is made, in this case, of semi-precious stones)
Category 2: Items representing life’s transitory nature and the decay of all earthly things
- music and instruments, while Cat. 1, also belong to Cat. 2 because music is transitory
- coins, as represented here by silver and gold pieces, are also transitory, never staying with us but moving from hand to hand
- bubbles, smoke, candles, butterflies: flame from candles eventually expires, as do we; its smoke recalls Psalm 102:3: “For my days are consumed like smoke.” Bubbles, like life itself, are short-lived, fragile and easily broken; butterflies are beautiful but fragile and easily killed.
- flowers symbolize beauty and so might belong to Cat. 1 but they are short-lived and soon wilt and die, as the photo’s Calla Lilies will. The Book of Job may have provided the inspiration: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days. . . . He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down” (14: 1-2).
- clocks, watches, hour-glasses are centrally significant because they measure and record time passing: with every second, we move closer to death. Here we have three kinds of time pieces: a sand-clock, a normal clock, and a little pocket watch in front of the books. This photo is a 30-second time-exposure: you can actually see the sliver of sand running from the top to the bottom of the sand-clock.
- the skull is the central symbol in a vanitas illustration, symbolizing our inescapable death and decay. We’s all gonna die!
Category 3: Items representing human achievement and culture
- books, for instance, represent the delights of reading. They also contain human knowledge but it’s only of this world, typically, and won’t endure. (Note that one of the two books is a collection of Poe’s works: he illustrates vanitas themes in “The Masque of the Red Death” and a few other tales.)
- writing instruments are related to books and we have a gold pen on top of the Poe edition—but, again, pens record and therefore symbolize human knowledge and culture, which won’t last as this world will eventually come to an end. Human strivings, achievements, and culture are futile and impermanent.
- weapons and armor are products of human culture as well (military culture), but even these can’t protect us from death. The knight’s helmet on the far right is here to remind us of that grim truth. Death is a great leveler: even the wealthiest and most powerful among us will come to the same end as the poorest and weakest.
Category 4: Items representing the permanent in the Christian context
- religious icons such as crucifixes, rosaries, angels, saints, certain types of flora (carnations, ivy, wheat, laurel): these remind us of or symbolize life after death—in other words, what’s truly important. Life in Heaven is eternal as opposed to the transient pleasures of Earth, which we should scorn. I have none of these symbols here because I don’t swing that way, baby. Not all vanitas paintings, even the classic ones, contain religious images.
Category 5: Written messages to clarify the moralistic meaning of the illustration
- for those viewers who can’t figure it out on their own, some painters provide messages, typically in Latin, explaining it all with well-known epigrams or quotes from the Bible. I have provided perhaps the most famous: Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas. “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.”
In some respects I prefer this to one I posted a few years ago because this one has a dark backdrop, which reinforces the somber mood and meaning of the classic vanitas painting.
“The room itself is in messy disorder. On the table is a dish of fruit, which is real but appears artificial. Around it are grouped an ominous assortment of decanters, glasses, and heaped ash-trays, the latter still raising wavy smoke-ladders into the stale air—the effect on the whole needing but a skull to resemble that venerable chromo, once a fixture in every ‘den,’ which presents the appendages to the life of pleasure with delightful and awe-inspiring sentiment.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned)
kitchen Island/table. Built primarily with old growth hemlock barn siding and beams from western NY. The undercarriage was also built with Douglas Fir bleacher boards from LeMoyne College's gymnasium and yellow pine door casings salvaged ffrom a Buffalo area house. Even the figure 8s holding the top down are salvaged from an old table. The top is held together like a barn door with fasteners only.... the screws and leveler feet (and a tad bit of glue for the corners) and varnish are the only new materials. light sandings and varnish with tedious attention to detail, as barn wood is snaggy, and it is a usable and washable but rustic piece.
It's amazing how much info can be derived from this Photo:
Flying at 110mph (good cross-country climb)
Straight and balanced
Climbing through 4300' at 150 foot per minute
Heading 060
Broadcasting on TIBA with Stellenbosch frequency ready
Squawking 2000
Mixture fully Rich
Less than 1/2 throttle
Carb Heat off (cold)
2400 rpm
15Gal in Right fuel tank, 20 in Left (yeah, right!)
Fuel Pressure slightly low, but still acceptable
Oil Temp and pressure in the green
A. Fuji S5 body #1 with battery pack
B. Nikon 35-70mm f/2.8 lens (later replaced by 28-70mm f/2.8)
C. Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens
D. Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens
E. Space reserved for teleconverter or a prime macro lens (such as Nikon 55mm f/3.5 or Nikon 105mm f/2.8) or a fast prime lens (such as a Nikon 24mm f/2, Nikon 35mm f/1.4, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, or 85mm f/1.8).
F. Fuji S5 body #2 with battery pack
G. Nikon 20-35mm f/2.8 lens
Items stored in an outside pocket of the 400 AW Lowepro backpack:
White balance tool
White balance instructions on 3x5 index card
Remote camera trigger
Spirit leveler
Extra camera batteries
Extra CompactFlash memory cards
One or two S5 battery chargers when needed
Speed lights, light stands, umbrellas, tripod or monopod, remote speed light triggers and receivers, and extra batteries for speed lights are carried separately.
Artwork: Dame Edna's Looute
Artist: Karen TOOTH
Base Vehicle: Holden 1965 HD utility
Vehicle Donated by: Taylor's Auto Centre
Story: "An icon...On an icon...In an icon.
An icon...Instantly recognised as one of Australia's great personalities, Dame Edna transformed herself from housewife to international megastar, a transformation that parallels our country's growth from and isolated wild colony to an innovative player on the world stage.
On an icon...once there was a toilet out back in every yard of every house in Australia. Commonly referred to as 'The Dunny' it is a true social and economic leveler. No matter who we are, we all have to make the trip out back.
In an Icon...The Holden ute's development reflects the changing social history of this country from a practical workhouse in earlier times, to a performance focused sports vehicle for today's work-hard, play-hard generation. What a surprise for all of us to innocently discover Dame Edna on her throne, reading her local newspaper."
Vanitas Symbolism (October 31, 2019)
A vanitas still-life painting or photograph represents an old genre that goes back at least to the 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters (with some notable contributions as well from the Spanish). It’s moralistic through and through, its message deriving ultimately from passages in the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, stressing the fragility and impermanence of life and life’s pleasures both intellectual, cultural, hedonistic, and artistic. From the Hebrew Bible: “Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher; all is vanity” (12: 8). From the Gospel of Matthew: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (6: 19-20). I hasten to add that I am not a religious person—but I find the vanitas genre fascinating and I already have a few vanitas photos in this gallery. Here, I tried to represent as many vanitas symbols as I could. What follows, for those academically inclined, is a brief explanation of the 5 categories covering the typical icons.
Category 1: Items representing hedonistic indulgence
- musical instruments: the gold clock behind shows a woman playing a lute. Also representing music, of course, is the sheet music, bottom right (Beethoven’s Für Elise).
- alcohol and wine goblets: I omitted the decanters this time but have a beautiful wine goblet shipped from the UK—it is, in fact, a hand-blown replica of a goblet often seen in the hands of the wicked Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. (It was hand-made in the Czech Republic for the Merchant Venturers.) It’s about half empty, which symbolizes how quickly life’s pleasures disappear (see also Category 2).
- food: the lemon to the left of the goblet. The lemon is understood to be beautiful to the sight and smell but bitter, just like life can be.
- objects of art: paintings, busts, statues, and the like. Here we have a bust of the Greek poet Homer and behind him a small replica of a statue sculpted by Michelangelo in 1533 for the Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici. As well, at the left, middle, we have a paint brush leaning against an obvious symbol of art, a paint palette.
- jewelry: we have some gold rings about in the middle of the photo just in front of the long knife. We also have what appears to be a heart-shaped blue diamond and, yes, it’s a replica of the Heart of the Ocean, the famous stone in the movie Titanic and which I purchased for my wife (“she who must be obeyed”) at the Titanic exhibit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, when we were there a few years ago. It’s hanging just below the blue butterfly in the case.
- perfume: we have two small bottles in front of the sheet music
- items of revelry or sinful living are represented here by the hookah beside the helmet, as well as the dice and playing cards. Four of the five cards have an added, more modern, symbolic significance: two black aces and two black 8s comprise the famous Dead Man’s Hand, allegedly held by American gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot down while playing poker. (This idea was suggested by my dA friend David—“Okavanga.”) The red mask with feathers—I can’t pretend to have seen one in a classic vanitas painting—was my idea as another symbol of revelry and reminds me of Poe’s story “The Masque of the Red Death,” which is a vanitas painting in prose.
- expensive items (“conspicuous consumption”) are represented here by the exotic red rug. It’s a prized possession of mine all the way from Turkey.
- seashells (two in the picture) are exotic and hard to acquire
- a terrestrial globe, such as we see on the far right, is a meta-symbol of the world’s wealth and vanity (and is made, in this case, of semi-precious stones)
- portraits sometimes appear in vanitas paintings—paintings within a painting! Of course, a portrait is perhaps the most obvious indicator of vanity but if the picture is of a beautiful man or woman, we get the added meaning of beauty as transient. Here I have a photo—yes, a selfie—of my beautiful wife (who’ll kill me when she finds out I included a photo of her in a vanitas picture).
Category 2: Items representing life’s transitory nature and the decay of all earthly things
- music and instruments, while Cat. 1, also belong to Cat. 2 because music is transitory
- coins, as represented here by the gold pieces flowing out of the (barely visible) black pouch, are also transitory, never staying with us but moving from hand to hand
- bubbles, smoke, candles, butterflies: flame from candles eventually expires, as do we; its smoke recalls Psalm 102:3: “For my days are consumed like smoke.” Note that one of the two pewter candlesticks is overturned, again suggesting the fragility of life. Bubbles, like life itself, are short-lived, fragile and easily broken; butterflies are beautiful but fragile and easily killed—as dramatized by the case with several colourful butterflies pinned under glass.
- flowers symbolize beauty and so might belong to Cat. 1 but they are short-lived and soon wilt and die. The Book of Job may have provided the inspiration: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days. . . . He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down” (14: 1-2). In fact, I headed to the backyard during a heavy rain storm to bring in a few of these impatiens, almost dead from the cold of a late October.
- clocks, watches, hour-glasses are centrally significant because they measure and record time passing: with every second, we move closer to death. Here we have three kinds of time pieces: an hourglass, a normal clock, and a little pocket watch in front of the books. This photo is a 30-second time-exposure: you can actually see the sliver of sand running from the top to the bottom of the sand-clock.
- the skull is the central symbol in a vanitas illustration, symbolizing our inescapable death and decay. We’s all gonna die!
Category 3: Items representing human achievement and culture
- books, for instance, represent the delights of reading. They also contain human knowledge but it’s only of this world, typically, and won’t endure. (Note that one of the books—the one on which sits the skull—is a collection of Poe’s works: he illustrates vanitas themes in “The Masque of the Red Death” and a few other tales.)
- weapons and armor are products of human culture as well (military culture), but even these can’t protect us from death. The knight’s helmet on the far left is here to remind us of that grim truth. Death is a great leveler: even the wealthiest and most powerful among us will come to the same end as the poorest and weakest. The long knife below the helmet, along with its scabbard, serve the same symbolic function. (Thanks to my buddy Bill for lending me these weapons. They go nicely with the helmet!) Note how both knife and scabbard are pointing to the skull on the far right, sitting by itself, biding its time.
Not only do the knife and scabbard work, visually, as leading lines but the entire composition is designed to slant from the top left of the photo to the bottom right. Visually, we’re led inexorably to the skull, to death.
Category 4: Items representing the permanent in the Christian context
- religious icons such as crucifixes, rosaries, angels, saints, certain types of flora (carnations, ivy, wheat, laurel): these remind us of or symbolize life after death—in other words, what’s truly important in the Christian context, as illustrated by a line from the Gospel of Matthew: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (6:19-20). Life in Heaven is eternal as opposed to the transient pleasures of Earth, which we should scorn. I have none of these symbols here because I don’t swing that way, baby. Not all vanitas paintings, even the classic ones, contain religious images.
Category 5: Written messages to clarify the moralistic meaning of the illustration
- for those viewers who can’t figure it out on their own, some painters provide messages, typically in Latin, explaining it all with well-known epigrams or quotes from the Bible. I have provided perhaps the most famous: Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas. “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.”
The dark backdrop, as typically seen in classic vanitas illustrations, reinforces the somber mood and meaning of the scene. Here the left of the backdrop is more brightly lit than the far right side, where the final symbol, the skull, sits in relative darkness.
“The room itself is in messy disorder. On the table is a dish of fruit, which is real but appears artificial. Around it are grouped an ominous assortment of decanters, glasses, and heaped ash-trays, the latter still raising wavy smoke-ladders into the stale air—the effect on the whole needing but a skull to resemble that venerable chromo, once a fixture in every ‘den,’ which presents the appendages to the life of pleasure with delightful and awe-inspiring sentiment.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned)
Capacité de la décapeuse : 28,28 m³
Travaux de terrassement de la tranche 3 de ZAC Europôle 2 de la Communauté d'Agglomération Sarreguemines visant à créer 3 plateformes pour un total de 234 915 m².
Pays : France 🇫🇷
Région : Grand Est (Lorraine)
Département : Moselle (57)
Ville : Hambach (57910)
Adresse : ZAC Europôle 2
Construction : Avril 2025 → Novembre 2025
Savour this delicious illustration by Miss May Rivers digitally enhanced from our own vintage edition of The Fruit Grower's Guide by John Wright (1891).
Free download under CC Attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit the artist and rawpixel.com.
Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: www.rawpixel.com/board/50751/fruit-growers-guide
The Stanford campus always looks like an oasis of twinkling lights at night.
Though it doesn't appear to be straight, the horizon is level (I have a built-in leveler in my 7D). I actually tried to straighten it, then realized I had created a "leaning tower of Stanford". (I think they do lean to the left here anyway....)
So, the lawn is sloped to the left, but the tower is vertical !
"Lucky Strike, France, June 17, 1945 - The Company led by Lt. Carty, waits their turn for mess."
From www.skylighters.org/special/cigcamps/cmplstrk.html
Camp Lucky Strike was situated in the town of Saint-Sylvian, 5 kilometers from Saint-Valery-en Caux. Its location was not selected by chance, but rather because the occupying German troops had constructed an airfield there in 1940 with a landing strip 1800 meters long and 50 meters wide. This airfield was one of the defensive elements of the Atlantic Wall: surveillance and coastal defenses were also a perfect starting point for attacks on southwest England. V-1 rocket launching ramps were installed at the beginning of 1944 in the woods surrounding the airfield. It was heavily bombed by the British throughout the war, but especially during the fighting which followed the June 1944 landings. In September 1944 American Engineer Corps troops took control of the area, repairing the landing strips and constructing the camp.
The camp became the most important military camp in Europe. It extended over 600 hectares (1 hectare = approximately 2 ½ acres). It was a mandatory port of entry for practically every American soldier, and 1½ million spent from a couple days up to 18 months there. It was the principal camp used for repatriated soldiers and liberated POWs, but also as a reception station for soldiers on leave. It was also a staging area for the Pacific Theater and — until August 10, 1945 — for the invasion of Japan. There were 100,000 men in the camp each day — 100,000 men to lodge, feed, train, and entertain. (Regarding repatriation, there were 6,000 daily departures by plane or boat from Le Havre, the only port liberated on the western coast that could accommodate large ships.)
The camp, where the 89th Infantry Division managed the reception of troops, was a veritable American city for 18 months. Life was therefore rhythmical with this enormous hub of military personnel, short stopover for some, several months for others. One could find, like in any American city, a hospital, church, movie theater, post office, police station, barber shop, and a supermarket. There were also concerts and shows with famous celebrities (Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney, among others). And around the camp, there were the usual prostitutes and easy access to the local black market.
The first American troops arrived around Christmas 1944. They consisted of engineer units composed in large part of black soldiers. The local population discovered with much amazement the equipment used by the Americans (Harley Davidson motorcycles, Jeeps, Dodges, bulldozers, levelers, GMC trucks, etc.). It was impressive to see such machinery that up to this point was unknown in France. A large part of the landscape was covered in a blanket of cobblestone measuring 30 centimeters in thickness. The cobblestone was brought ashore from the beaches of Veulettes by the sea, St. Valery-en-Caux, and also Veules les Roses. GMC trucks assured an uninterrupted shuttle between the beaches and the plateau that was covered by thousands of tents.
The bomb craters on the German airstrip were repaired with cement. This airstrip became the principal boulevard of a virtual tent city. Sometimes, the traffic on the airstrip was interrupted to allow airplanes to land. One had to worry less about the police than about the trucks, tanks, bulldozers, Chryslers, Cadillacs, or Jeeps! The traffic was as bad as in New York and controlled apparently, like they do there. It was also very dangerous to those pedestrians that would risk crossing the street without paying attention to traffic signals. They would be flattened like a pancake.
The city was divided into four sections: A, B, C, and D. Each section was made up of 2,900 tents under which were housed 14,500 men. These virtual neighborhoods even had public parks, and in certain places, statues of pretty women. The Red Cross also had offices in the neighborhoods: nurses and girls who would serve hot coffee, cake, and newspapers day and night. A little further down were the bars: one for officers; another for NCOs and soldiers. One could drink everything they used to in pre-war France: the best liqueurs, good champagne, cognacs, and water of life (aqua vita), as well as Coca-Cola, whiskey, gin, and American beer. The bars were only open from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., which was not enough time to satisfy the customers. Each sector aslo had its own auditorium, which served as a theater, cinema, and chapel all in one.
More permanent structures with ceilings, floors, and direct lighting began to appear. There was a PX and several gift shops. The PX carried everything — one could find handkerchiefs, electric razors, chocolates, condoms, cigarettes, cigars, toothbrushes, lighters, watches, and knives. In the gift shops GIs could find items from Paris which they usually sent to their mothers, wives, and girlfriends such as perfume, scarves, lace, and jewelry. In each section of the camp there was also a hospital, shot clinic, and, just about everywhere, VD clinics. Condoms were available everywhere and the soldiers really needed them, since the camp was assaulted, day and night, by an army of women! They came from everywhere: Paris, Dijon, and Marseilles. The MPs worked hard. In 15 days during the summer of 1945 more than 300 arrests were made.
As for medical care, aside from the hospital there was a dental clinic in each section. In each clinic there were ten dentists!
The heart of the post was situated near the Janville Chateau and not far from there was a small factory which produced 200 liters of ice cream per day.
A military tribunal was located in the Chateau and was presided over by a Colonel. And very near that, behind the bars, was a prison composed of a tent without heat and the guard shack. Each sector had a repair shop with thousands of repair parts and a gas station which received fuel from the harbor via tanker trucks carrying millions of liters. The lifeline of the city was assured by an administration housed in the Anglesqueville Chateau in the city of St. Sylvain. Potable water was pumped from the Durdent River, after which it was sterilized and carried by pipeline into the camp.
The winter of 1944-1945 was very cold, and, at first, the organization of the camp was poor. The quality of the food left a lot to be desired. Soldiers came from faraway America and were greeted as liberators (which they were) by the locals who gave them bread and accepted them in their homes for warmth. The soldiers ate jams and jellies almost exclusively and often demanded onions (which they ate raw) to avoid scurvy. Afterwards, things began to change. Provisions arrived in abundance from the United States and the locals discovered the riches of the U.S. Army (chocolate, tobacco, cigarettes, blankets, shoes, clothing, soap, etc., everything that had become scarce during the German occupation). The American soldiers' uniforms (which were very informal, with rank insignia hardly apparent on the officers) shocked the locals, along with their weapons, notably the M-1 carbine. Relations with the local population were very limited due to the language barrier, but it was very good with the French civilian workers employed in the camp. The living conditions in the camp were very hard for the GIs, especially because of the cold, but it was infinitely more comfortable than for the French civilian population, who lacked everything, particularly food, medicine, and clothing. There was a certain feeling of bitterness on the part of the population due to the wastefulness of certain goods by the GIs.
U.S. soldiers bound for the camp landed at Le Havre (which was taken on September 12, 1944 by the British after an intense bombardment which destroyed 85% of the city — 12,000 tons of bombs were dropped in 12 days, with a large number of victims in the civilian population) and were carried to Camp Lucky Strike by trucks and trains to the station at St. Valery-en-Caux.ST VALERY EN CAUX STATION A terrible train accident occurred there on the morning of January 17, 1945. The train's brakes failed and the locomotive hit the station (see photo at left). The cars derailed one after another and 53 GIs were killed and over 200 injured. Very few spoke of the accident in 1945, because Army Headquarters did not want this bad news to fall into the hands of the German army, even if the end of the war was near. The incident is still vivid in the memory of the local inhabitants, and a plaque telling of the accident is mounted on the front of the station, which can be viewed today.
Camp Lucky Strike was a transit camp where troops never stayed very long. After several days of rest, the GIs moved out for the front. Others came back, but not with the same names… German and Italian prisoners of war who were also interned there. Some of these prisoners were used as truck drivers.
A large parade, which the local population was invited to, took place on the airstrip on July 14, 1945. The parade was greatly appreciated. After the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, the camp was used for the return of troops to the United States. Before their departure, the soldiers were given new uniforms and their old ones were burned or buried. Likewise, other worn-out equipment was either burned or buried.
Camp Lucky Strike was also made up of several satellite camps in the neighboring countryside. The civilian buildings housed various army offices (MP, administration, etc.). It was as though the region had become a small part of America. The troop movements were numerous and the contacts with the soldiers remained mostly superficial. The soldiers' units did not concern the locals. They were more concerned with their names and addresses. Sometimes photographs were exchanged, but the relationships, which grew during this period, have faded with time. Towards the end of the demilitarization period little of the camp remained, except for some German prisoner barracks, which housed some 1,500 prisoners and 50 guards. The guards did not actually guard anything and kept busy with other work. The prisoners were free to come and go as they pleased. (There was either no guard or if there was one he was German!)
Tanker trucks were at their disposition. They came and went in all directions — Lee Havre or Rouen. They also delivered wood, blankets, shirts, shoes, and cigarettes (and pistols!). The headquarters of the black market, open all the time, was situated on the coast of Janville, not far from the small Chapel of the Virgin, designated an historical monument.
Camp Lucky Strike remained active until the end of 1945, and was officially closed in 1946. After its closure, it was necessary to clear the countryside and remove the cobblestone in order to return the fields to the farmers. This work was done by hand by numerous workers and lasted over a year. The French did not possess the same enormous mechanical means that the United States Army did. The cobblestone that was reclaimed was returned to the beaches and also served to fill in the many holes and trenches made by the German troops during occupation. Thousands of cubic meters were also used to construct the Cany-Barville Stadium (Cany-Barville, with a population of 3,500, is located four kilometers south of the site of Lucky Strike).
With the completion of the clearing of the camp proper, a section of terrain approximately 150 meters wide, which comprised the old landing strip, was handed over to a French aeronautical association, who put on an air exposition every two or three between 1946 and 1995. This airfield, along with its buildings, was named the St. Valery-Vitte Fleur Airport and covered a little more than 35 hectares. Closed in 1995 due to old age, the only thing that remains of the airfield is the guard shack that was at the entrance of the original camp at the intersection of the roads leading toward St. Valery-en-Coax and Cany-Barville.
Substantial traces of what was once the most important Allied military camp in Europe during WW II no longer exists, except perhaps in the memories of a few hundred thousand surviving American veterans and as footnotes in a few history books.
Explored Jul 21, 2012 #414
120 degree panorama of Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada.
Casa Loma, located in midtown Toronto, was originally a residence for millionaire financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. However, Sir Henry lost his fortune - and Casa Loma - during the depression after World War I. Since then, the Gothic Revival castle has served as a luxury hotel and nightclub during prohibition, a top-secret World War II military research lab, and since then, as a museum operated by the Kiwanis Club.
Casa Loma has been used for many movies. Most recently, as the interior of Dr. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men films. Watch the movies and you'll see Casa Loma in all the hallway scenes, Dr. Xavier's study, the conservatory where mutant children learn to channel their skills, and the old stables, where Cyclops keeps his bike.
The building was also in David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers and doubled as Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Image details:
Camera: Fujifilm X10
Panorama gear: Nodal Ninja 5 panorama head, EZ Leveler II, Manfrotto 055MF4 Carbon Fiber tripod
Focal length: 7.1mm
Exposure: M4:3, A, ISO100, 1/90th, F/9, nine vertical JPG exposures
Processing: Microsoft Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) panorama software, Photoshop CS3 (color correction, cropping)
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■ Please don't use my images for any purpose, including on websites or blogs, without my explicit permission.
■ S.V.P ne pas utiliser cette photo sur un site web, blog ou tout autre média sans ma permission explicite.
© Tom Freda / All rights reserved - Tous droits réservés
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On Thursday March 22, 2018, my Railfan Friend Jim and I visited Kirby Farm in Williston, Florida to witness the beginning of a Place for Critically ILL and Disadvantage Children. - Kirby Family Farms is Focused on Railroad and Agricultural History !
Kirby Family Farm will not open officially open for at least a full year, since there is much work to be done. They have assembled a great number of discarded Carnival Rides, Narrow Gauge Locomotives, 18 Ringling Brothers Circus (Passenger) Cars, a few Circus Wagons, a former USAF End Cab Switcher and various Surplus Trucks donated by US Government Agencies. Some of the former Steam Locomotives have been converted to Diesel-Mechanical and were formerly used by various Theme Parks such as OpryLand and Bush Gardens Williamsburg.
This photograph shows a two former Military Vehicles, that Daryl Kirby acquired for his new enterprise. The ride folds up for storage if it needs to be moved to another location. There are other Rides and Attractions in the background.
Daryl was very cordial with us, allowing us to roam freely taking photographs. We spoke with him and his employees about the monumental amount of worked to achieve an grand opening in 2019. He has acquired many discarded carnival rides through donations and purchases and he needs Volunteers.
The Kirby Family Farm has hosted "6 Gun Territory Re-Enactments" during through the 1960's. aka: "Six Gun Territory" featuring Sam Huston. They also feature Christmas and Easter Celebrations and Fund Raisers. He is looking for Volunteers and additional acquisitions.
The Kirby family Farm is located at: 19650 Northeast 30th Street, Williston, Florida 32696. They can be reached at 352-812-7435.
The Kirby Family Farm Website is at: kirbyfarm.com
Big thanks to my buddy Rob O for stitching these two shots to make this one. I did not have my Nodal Ninja and EZ Leveler...used my geared head and the nodal point was off. He is a PS master!!!
"They look with respect and long remember", said Superior, and you "insure that respect with a brilliantly-styled Superior Side Service Coach". They further proclaimed the "silent flawless magic of the Super-Matic Table, the practical efficiency of the Lev-L-Matic leveler", along with "the dramatic beauty of your Superior Coach".
This is a special photo - I had another one from the exact same spot at quitting time a few years ago and had the opportunity for another similar image. This is my Dad, finishing another day of harvesting wheat ... his 75th year of driving combine. Needless to say, he's isn't relinquishing this position anytime soon!
1st year was pulling a combine with a Caterpillar RD4 (which is why he says, WHAT? all the time!) ... now, he drives a combine with GPS/auto-steer and auto-header height control!
This was the previous photo - www.flickr.com/photos/jeffzenner/15548450271
Description for Uni:
Here is a image that i edited for my 'Connected Images' (Unit 2) work, i combined the pair through photoshop, this image has also been used as a poster around my school, advertising photography as a subject to future 6th form A-levelers.
...
Another photo manip made on photoshop. The front photograph is of a lovely Lorikeet, the background image is of a long exposure firework photo! :)
The Lorikeet was taken with my Canon EOS 500D
The firework photo was taken with my Fujifilm FinePix F47fd.
Date and Time of capture: 4/8/2024 from about 2 to about 5 pm EDT.
Location: Washington D.C.
Gear: Seestar S50 "smart telescope" equipped with a Seestar-supplied solar filter. Cavix LP-64 camera leveler interposed between the Seestar and a tripod.
This single panel view shows a chronological sequence of some of the eclipsed images from my still shots of the partial solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 from Washington DC.
The original still images were edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic (LR) as follows:
Applied the same 1:1 aspect ratio crop to the selected images.
After masking the background, I pushed the Blacks slider in LR's Basic Panel all the way to the left (i.e. -100) to get the same black background for each image.
Finally, using LR's Print module I created a chronological arrangement of the above edited images.
Á Bao A Qu - A creature that lives on the staircase of the Tower of Victory in Chittor. It may only move when a traveler climbs the staircase, and it follows close at the person's heels. Its form becomes more complete the closer it gets to the terrace at the tower's top. It can only achieve this ultimate form if the traveler has obtained Nirvana, otherwise it finds itself unable to continue.
Abtu and Anet - Two identical fish that, according to Egyptian legend, swam in front of the prow of the sun god's ship on the lookout for danger.
The Alicanto - A mine shaft dwelling bird that feeds upon gold. It is pursued by miners.
The Amphisbaena - A two-headed snake, with one head being where its tail would normally be. It is venomous and, if chopped in half, its two parts can reunite.
An Animal Imagined by Kafka - A kangaroo-like animal with a flat, human-like face and a very long tail.
Singing Beast Imagined by C. S. Lewis - An animal that sits upon its haunches like a dog, but appears more like a horse. Its toes are camel-like, and, unable to produce its own milk, it raises its young by weaning them on the milk of other animals. It has an entrancing call that sounds almost like a glorious song. (from Perelandra)
An Animal Imagined by Poe - A small, flat animal with pure white fur and bright red claws and teeth. Its head is feline, except for its canine-like ears.
Animals in the Form of Spheres - At the time of its writing, some believed that planets and stars were actually living beings, and that the movement of the heavenly bodies was voluntary.
Antelopes with Six Legs - According to Siberian myth, these six-legged antelopes were far too fast for human beings to catch. A divine huntsman, Tunk-poj, cut off the animal's rear-most legs to make the animal easier for humans to hunt.
The Ass with Three Legs - This massive creature is said to stand in the middle of the ocean. It has three legs, six eyes, nine mouths, and one golden horn.
Axehandle Hound
Bahamut - A huge, measureless fish which is often used to describe the spaces between heaven, earth, and hell.
Baldanders - Also known as Soon-Another's, these creatures can assume many shapes. It appears to have a human head and torso, the tail of a fish, the leg of a goat, and the wings and claws of a bird.
The Banshee - The "woman of the fairies" does not have a distinct shape, but is instead described by her keening wails.
Barometz - This "animal" is actually a plant in the shape of a lamb with golden fleece.
Basilisk - The basilisk's appearance has changed over the ages, but it is most often considered a chicken-like serpent with anywhere from four to eight legs. It is extremely venomous, and its gaze can turn anyone into stone.
Behemoth - A massive creature that is often likened to an elephant or hippopotamus.
Brownies - Small brown colored men that often visit homes while the inhabitants are asleep to perform various chores.
Burak - A horse-like creature with long ears and the wings and tail of a peacock. It may also have a man's face.
The Calchona - A creature resembling a shaggy white Newfoundland dog, bearded like a billy goat, which attacks mountain travelers.
Carbuncle - This creature was alleged to be seen in Latin America. Legends say the Carbuncle has some sort of jewel on its head.
Catoblepas - Described as a black buffalo with a hog's head, this creature's head is so heavy that it constantly hangs low to the ground. It is also believed that, like the basilisk, looking into its eyes will kill you instantly.
Celestial Cock - The Celestial Cock, also known as the Cock of Dawn, has three legs and makes its home in the Fu-sang tree, a mile-tall tree that grows in "the region of dawn." It is said to crow three times each day: once at dawn, once at midday and once when the sun sets.
Celestial Horse - A winged, white dog with a black head.
Celestial Stag - No one has ever seen a Celestial Stag. They live in underground mines, searching for the light of day. They will attempt to bribe, speak to, and even torture miners in their quest to reach the surface, where they turn into a deadly liquid form.
Centaur - A well-known beast with the torso of a man and the hindquarters of a horse. Most are portrayed as savage beasts, but others can be well learned in many arts.
Cerberus - A three-headed dog known to guard the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology.
The Cheshire Cat - A rather mischievous cat with a large, grinning face. It can also make itself invisible, leaving behind only its disembodied smile.
The Chimera - Although it may have several different forms, the chimera is most often described as a three-headed beast. Sprouting from its back is the head of a goat, a lion's head at its front, and a snake's head as its tail.
The Chinese Dragon - Compared to the Western Dragon, this dragon is considered divine and holy. It is often seen with antler-like horns and protrusions running along its spine. The Chinese dragon is often pictured with a pearl: the source of its power.
The Chinese Fox - These foxes appear like average foxes, but may sometimes be seen standing on their hind legs to walk. They presumably live about a thousand years, and are bad omens for their mischievous ways. They are known to shapeshift and are able to see into the future.
The Chinese Phoenix - Two basic creatures are described as a symbol of eternal love: the male Feng and the female Huang. They are described as very beautiful birds similar to a peacock, have three legs, and live in the sun.
Chonchon
Ch'ou-T'i - A legendary Chinese creature with a head both front and back.
Chronos or Heracles - This dragon-like creature is often known by two names. Like the chimera, it is made of three heads: a bull's head at its front, a god's head at its middle, and a lion's head at its rear.
The Denizens of Ch'uan-T'ou - Creatures with human heads, beaks, and bat wings.
An Insect Imagined by C. S. Lewis - A strange, jointed insect consisting of a cylindrical body and many thin legs.
Crocotta and the Leucrocotta - The crocotta is described as a hybrid of a dog and a wolf, and may be able to imitate the voice of a person. The leucrocotta is similar, but described as an antelope and hyena hybrid.
A Crossbreed - An animal described by Kafka in "Description of a Struggle" that is half cat and half lamb. Its fur is woolly and soft, yet it has a cat's face and claws. It does not make any sounds, and refuses to chase after rats.
Dopplegänger - Also known as the Double, the Dopplegänger is best described as a man's exact counterpart.
Eastern Dragon - Quite similar to the Chinese dragon of the same region, the Eastern dragon takes roughly the same form, but may be lacking wings. The pearl is also the source of its power, and they can make themselves invisible if they so wish.
Eater of the Dead - Most commonly associated with Egyptian myth, the Eater attends to the "wicked". It is described as having the head of a crocodile, the midsection of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippo.
Eight-Forked Serpent - A massive serpent with eight heads and eight tails. Its eyes are a deep red, and trees are said to grow along its back.
The Elephant That Foretold the Birth of the Buddha - A white elephant with six tusks that appeared in a dream to, as its namesake suggests, foretell the birth of Buddha.
The Eloi and the Morlocks - In the setting of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, it is suggested that humans evolve (or devolve) into two distinct species. The Eloi are thin and fragile artisans, living on fruits. The Morlocks are blind laborers, living underground and rising to the surface on moonless nights to feed on the Eloi.
Elves - Little is known about the actual appearance of elves, but they seem to be very small people, and are often portrayed as having pointed ears. They are known for causing all sorts of mischief, such as tangling hair and stealing cattle.
The Wonders of God's Creation Manifested in the Variety of Eight - A mysterious creature that lives in the world of Bliss. Allegedly, all sounds, sights, and smells to this creature are divine.
The Fairies - Fairies are described as beautiful, tiny people that like to meddle in the affairs of humans.
Fastitocalon - A massive whale that many sailors often mistake for an island.
Fauna of Mirrors - It was believed that another world existed behind all mirrors, inhabited by a wide amount of unknown and strange creatures. Luckily, our worlds are now cut off from one another.
Garuda - This beast is the mount of the god Vishnu. It is half man and half vulture, with a white face, deep red wings, and a golden body.
Gillygaloo - A bird which nests on mountain slopes and lays square eggs, which lumberjacks use as dice.
Goofang - A fish("about the size of a sunfish but much bigger") which swims backwards to keep the water out of its eyes.
Goofus Bird - A bird that builds its nest upside down and flies backwards.
Gnomes - Sprites of the earth and hills, gnomes are often shown as bearded dwarves, often with rough features. They often watch over treasure as well.
Golem - This creature was created for the purpose of doing menial chores, and was controlled by a magic tablet placed under its tongue. Normally apathetic and unaware, if uncontrolled the creature enters a wild frenzy.
Griffin - The griffin is best described as an eagle with the body of a lion, and it is very strong.
Haniel, Kafziel, Azriel, and Aniel - Sometimes referred to as angels, these four beasts also possessed four faces: a man's, a lion's, an ox's, and an eagle's. They also possessed four wings.
Haokah, the Thunder God - He appears as a man with large antlers, using the wind to beat his thunder drum.
Harpies - Creatures with a vulture's body, a woman's face, and an insatiable hunger. They are described as having filthy genitalia and a foul smell about them.
Heavenly Cock - Also known as the Bird of Dawn, this Chinese rooster has three legs and crows three times a day, to signal dawn, noon, and dusk.
Hide - A many-eyed octopus-like creature shaped like an animal's hide.
Hidebehind - A strong, nocturnal creature which feeds off the intestines of its prey. It captures and hides from wayfarers in the woods by sucking in its body so that it can hide behind the trunk of any tree, or the person trying to look at it. It is said they have an aversion to alcohol.
Hippogriff - A creature invented by Ludovico Ariosto in the 16th century in his epic Orlando Furioso, based on an expression of Virgil's denoting the impossible, "to cross griffons with horses"; the griffon [see above] being a cross between a lion and an eagle believed by Virgil's commentator Servius to loathe horses.
Hochigan - A long-ago bushman who stole the animals' gift of speech. Borges links this to Descartes' idea that monkeys stay silent to avoid having to work, and to a story by Argentinian author Lugones about a chimpanzee killed by the strain of learning to talk.
Hsiao - An owl-like creature with a man's face, an ape's body, and a dog's tail.
Hsing-T'ien - A headless creature with eyes on its chest and its mouth on its belly.
Hua-Fish - A flying snake-fish that foretells drought.
Huallepen - A swift-moving dog with a human head, which laughs maliciously.
Hui - An amphibious sheep-like animal, which can mate with cows to produce deformed offspring; if a pregnant woman sees one, her child will also be deformed.
Humbaba - A giant in the Assyrian epic Gilgamesh that guards mountain cedars, he is scaly, with vulture claws, lion paws, bull's horns and a tail and penis with snakes' heads at the ends. Men-scorpions from the poem, which guard the mountain Mashu, are also mentioned.
Hundred-Heads - The hundred heads was said to be a gigantic fish with many heads, each one that of a different animal. Legend holds that the fish was the reincarnated spirit of a monk who had often called others "monkey-head" or something similar. The karma of these insults had made him return as a monster.
The Hydra of Lernaea
Ichthyocentaur - from the waist up, this creature has the form of a man, but below the waist they have the fins and tail of a fish. Their forefeet are either in the form of a lion's or a horse's.
Jewish Demons- In Jewish tradition the world between those of the body and spirit is that of angels and devils, densely populated and including creatures from many other cultures. One of the devils is Keteb Mereri, Lord of the Noontide and of Scorching Summers.
Jinn- One of the three kinds of intelligent creatures created by Allah in Muslim tradition, Jinn are formed from smoke of fire, have five orders, can be good or evil and of either sex and can appear as clouds or in various forms or be invisible. Borges mentions various legends about them, as well as Victor Hugo's poem "Les Djinns", and the possible link between the Latin genius and Jinn.
Kami - this beast is said to be a giant cat-fish that lives beneath the surface of the earth, and causes earthquakes with its movements.
the Kilkenny Cats - These cats often fight with each other, devouring everything but the other's tail.
A King of Fire and his Steed - These were beings formed completely of the constantly changing flames of fire.
Kraken
Kujata - A giant bull with thousands of eyes, nostrils, mouths, and feet, which helps to support the world(perched atop Bahamut).
The Lamed Wufniks - there are precisely thirty-six Lamed Wufniks in existence. It is said that, without knowing it, they support the universe and affirm god. If one comes to realize their purpose, they immediately die and are replaced by another unsuspecting man.
Lamia - Half woman and half serpent, these creatures are said to have sprung from one of Zeus's varied love interests. They are thought to be sorceresses, and although they cannot speak they whistle sweetly.
Laudatores Temporis Acti
Lemuri - The Lemuri were the souls of the evil dead, created by Romulus to subdue the restless spirit of his brother Remus.
The Leveler - Reputed to live on the planet Neptune, this creature is 10 times the size of an elephant, and looks quite a bit like it. Its most remarkable features are its conical legs (which are flat on the bottom). Bricklayers employ the leveler to flatten hilly areas for construction projects. It is herbivorous and has few enemies.
Lilith - A woman created before Eve, according to a Hebrew document. Dante Gabriel Rossetti imagined her as a snake in Eden Bower and the similarity of her name with the Hebrew layil or night produced the Middle Age idea of her as a creature of the night.
The Lunar Hare - Ideas of the shapes seen in the moon range include the English "man in the moon", the legend of Cain eternally carrying thorns there, and the Chinese legend of the Lunar Hare: It jumped into a fire to feed the Buddha, who sent its soul to the moon, where it mixes the elixir of life.
Mandrake
Manticore
Mermecolion - An ant/lion hybrid which inevitably starves because it cannot eat either meat or grains, although its lion half craves the former and its ant half craves the latter.
Minotaur
The Monkey of the Inkpot - an extract from Wang Tai-Hai describes a small creature with black fur and scarlet eyes that sits by writers and drinks their leftover ink.
The Monster Acheron - A giant, taller than a mountain, with three mouths and all of Hell in his stomach, described in the Vision of Tundale.
The Mother of Tortoises - A giant tortoise made of water and fire, on whose shell is written the "Universal Rule", a divine treatise.
Musical Serpent - A four-winged serpent which makes sounds similar to those of the "Musical Stone".
Nāga - a half human half snake creature
Nasnas - A creature shaped like half a man, with one leg, one arm, one eye, and half a heart.
The Norns
The Nymphs
Odradek
An Offspring of Leviathan - A creature of medieval legend, "a dragon that was half beast and half fish".
Ocean Men - Merman - like creatures of Chinese legend, who cause storms.
One-Eyed Beings
The Ouroboros
The Panther
Peryton
The Phoenix
Ping Feng - A black pig with a head at each end.
Pinnacle Grouse - Has only one wing, and flies in a continuous circle around the top of a mountain.
Pygmies - 27-inch dwarfs mentioned by Pliny and Aristotle who inhabited the mountains beyond India, waging war on the cranes that attacked them for three months a year. The Carthaginians also had a god called Pygmy who was used as figurhead on warships.
Queer Arm People - People with a single arm and three eyes, who build flying chariots.
The Rain Bird - Also called the shang yang, this bird creates rain by carrying water from rivers in its beak.
Remora
Roperite - A pony-sized animal which uses its lariat-like beak to ensnare rabbits.
Rukh
Salamander
The Satyrs
Scylla
The Sea Horse - An aquatic horse, which sometimes surfaces to mate with land horses.
The Shaggy Beast of La Ferte-Bernard
Simurgh
Sirens
The Sow Harnessed with Chains - Also called the Tin Pig, this creature is heard rattling its chains on railroad tracks by night, but is never seen.
Sphinx
Squonk
Strong Toad - Distinguished from other toads by its turtle-like shell, the Strong Toad glows like a firefly, cannot be killed except by burning, and can attract or repel anyone nearby with its stare.
Swedenborg's Angels - The perfected souls of the blessed and wise, living in a Heaven of ideal things, each reflecting the perfection of this realm.
Swedenborg's Devils - these are people which, after dying, choose to go to hell rather than to heaven. They are not happy there, but they are reputed to be more content in hell than they would have been in heaven.
Sylph
Talos
The T'ao T'ieh - a dog with one(often monstrous) head attached to two bodies, which symbolizes the sins of gluttony and greed.
Teakettler
Thermal Beings - Entities composed solely of heat, from an earlier stage of the world's creation.
Ti-chiang - A faceless, supernatural bird with six feet and four wings.
The Tigers of Annam - Tigers who rule over the four cardinal directions, with the Yellow Tiger commanding them from the world's center.
The Trolls - Due to the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia, pagan giants were diminished into small, malevolent, stupid, mountain-dwelling elves. The Elder Edda states that the giants would cross Bifrost, a great rainbow, at the Twilight of the Gods, breaking it with their weight and so destroying the world. Trolls figure in Ibsen's Peer Gynt as 'nationalist' creatures that view their squalour as luxury and suggest putting out Peer Gynt's eyes so he can avoid seeing the ugliness he is confronted with.
Two Metaphysical Beings - Condillac's sensitive statue inhabited by a new-formed soul which becomes human through sensory perception(starting with smell); a creature that can only sense the outside world through a moveable feeler.
Unicorn
The Unicorn of China
Upland Trout - Flying fish which nest in trees and fear water.
Valkyrie
The Western Dragon
Youwarkee - The half-bird half-woman heroine of the 1751 novel Peter Wilkins by Robert Paltock, Youwarkee is one of the winged glumms that inhabit an Antarctic island. Peter Wilkins is a shipwrecked sailor who marries her and converts them to Christianity.
Zaratan
~ Gear Stuff ~
Camera: Contax 645AF + MP-1 + MAM-1
Lens: Hasselblad C Sonnar 5,6/250 Superachromat
Tripod: Gitzo GT3532LS + Arca-Swiss Core Leveler 75
~ Strobist Stuff ~
Manfrotto C-Stand 30
Broncolor Siros 400 S
Broncolor BeautyBox 65 + Grid
Broncolor RFS 2.1
The marvels of the HSBC building - truly a splendid piece of architecture. The architect was Lord Norman Foster, and there is an absence of an internal supporting structure. Basically, Foster put all the guts of a building on the exterior and left a large atrium in the middle of it. I think he did the MoMA in Paris as well.
I took a 3 shot HDR of the foyer before - This is a 3 shot HDR of the fire escapes situated outside the building. You can see the reflections of the Cheung Kong and Citibank buildings in the glass.
3 shot HDR: processed in photomatix, photoshop, topaz. I hate the noise in the 50D - lassoed the sky and gaussianed the hell out of it (thanks Suziqb for the tip), cloned out halos, upped sats on reds and toned down yellows. Oh - image is as is - no crop. (trick is to illuminate the AF points and then use that as a leveler).
Can't wait for the 7D's auto leveler. Still torn between selling my EF-S lenses and going full frame 5DmkII, or just getting the 7D for the flash trigger/leveler/awesomeness.
I think this might just survive a DMU.
Shot on location as part of the architectural series in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Post-processing done in Capture One 20.
Camera: CONTAX 645
Lens: Zeiss Distagon T* 3,5/35
Back: Phase One P45+
Head: Arca-Swiss Core Leveler 75
Tripod: Gitzo GT3532LS
Filter: LEE Landscape Polariser
Northside area of Cincinnati, Ohio. This rather beat up Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck is beginning to sag under the load. With the way things are being stacked into it, I know I certainly wouldn't want to be following it closely.
HTT
Yes 21st March is the first day of Spring but I think we in the UK will be greeted by much less endearing weather than I enjoyed here when I stayed at the private enterprise Kabbutz at Neviot on the Red Red Sea just south of Eilat. The Sun and sea is great leveler as Arabs and Jews enjoyed the beach alongside one another with no animosity.
Shot on location as part of the photowalk series at Maurach, Lake Constance, Germany.
World Heritage Site stilt house museum in the background to the left.
Camera: Hasselblad 500C/M
Lens: Hasselblad F Planar T* 2/110
Film: Ilford Ortho+ @ ISO80
Filter: Hasselblad ProShade 6093 + Hasselblad B70 ProShade Adapter + LEE Big Stopper
Tripod: Gitzo GT3532LS + Arca-Swiss Core Leveler 75
Developer: Ilford DD-X 9m40s inversion @ 21ºC
Stop: Ilford Ilfostop
Fixer: Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+9
Tank: JOBO 1510
Scanner: EPSON Perfection V700 Photo
Perishable delivery waiting to be unlaoded and distributed to the different departments. The orange divider separates the refrigerated section from the frozen.
Canon EOS M camera with a Really Right Stuff camera body plate BEOSM on a Really Right Stuff lever release clamp B2 40 LR on a Nodal Ninja 3 MKII with Advanced Rotator RD16-II mounted on a Really Right Stuff TVC-23 Versa Tripod.
Accessories include Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens with B+W 52mm 010 UV-Haze MRC Nano XS-Pro Digital and Canon GPS Receiver GP-E2
My next accessory would be a Leveler.
Very solid setup. Notice the power supply charging the battery I installed inside the pier. A 14ah gell cell battery fits nicely on the top alloy stanchion inside the pier. Unplug the charger connection, plug in the mount connector and you're ready to go 12 hours on a charge.
Capacité de la décapeuse : 28,28 m³
Travaux de terrassement de la tranche 3 de ZAC Europôle 2 de la Communauté d'Agglomération Sarreguemines visant à créer 3 plateformes pour un total de 234 915 m².
Pays : France 🇫🇷
Région : Grand Est (Lorraine)
Département : Moselle (57)
Ville : Hambach (57910)
Adresse : ZAC Europôle 2
Construction : Avril 2025 → Novembre 2025
Date and Time of capture: 3/25/2024 at about 10:34 pm EDT
Location: Washington D.C.
Gear: Seestar S50 "smart telescope" with a Cavix LP-64 camera leveler interposed between the Seestar and a tripod.
Processing details:
Using the Seestar I captured 09:11 mins of raw avi lunar video. This equates to 5970 frames.
Rather than stack the above frames using an option provided within the Seestar app, I loaded the above into AutoStakkert! 4.0.11 and processed the video as follows.
(Note that AutoStakkert has multiple stacking options among which is the choice of which frames to stack based on their quality. This is a very useful feature that I did not find in the Seestar app.)
1st step: Under Image Stabilization I selected Surface, Improved Tracking, Crop. Under Quality Estimator I selected Automatic which defaults me to local (AP). AP = Alignment Point. Under Analyse I selected Double Stacking Reference.
2nd step: Initiated Analyse. Upon completion I checked the quality of frames in the Quality Graph from which I decided to stack the top 35.5% i.e. 2119 frames out of the original total of 5970 frames. I then selected an AP size of 168 and an AP minimum brightness of 45. This generated 63 APs.
3rd step: Placed an AP Grid on the surface from which I saw that the above 63 APs fully covered the image surface. Selected Replace and Multi-Scale options.
Under Stack Options I chose TIF for file format and sharpen with 85% for Blend Raw. This will generate a TIF file which is only slightly sharpened due to a blend of largely (85%) unsharpened stacked image and a small amount (15%) of sharpened stacked image. This choice is quite subjective and was made after some experimentation. It opens up the option of applying if desired more sharpening downstream in postprocess.
4th step: Initiated stacking and obtained a TIF output file.
5th step: Imported the stacked output file into Lightroom and postprocessed it as follows:
* Cropped to 1:1 aspect ratio.
* Applied Preset Pop and increased its amount to 110 (default is 100).
* Applied Mask 1. Chose Contrast 14 and Blacks -4.
* Applied Mask 2. Selected Temperature -5 and Tint -20. This is to deal with the somewhat yucky color cast in the AutoStakkert image.
* Applied Mask 3. Selected Clarity 3 and Dehaze 3.
* Applied mask 4. Chose a Sharpness of 70.
(Note that using multiple masks helps me to evaluate the individual effect of different settings and decide how much of which setting is appropriate.)
Exported the Lightroom output as my "final" image.
"Macho" and the truck to aspire to they might be, but a sand quarry is a great leveler...............because any tipper driven into a soft spot can get stuck. Thorncombe Contractors' unfortunate Kenworth driver chose to take a wide turn after loading and came to grief. Quite a time was spent deciding where to attach the towing sling to enable a wheeled loading shovel to extricate the truck and trailer outfit.
I've been meaning to post a shot of this for a while, and finally got around to it this evening.
This is my dedicated panoramic tripod. If I plan to take panoramas, I lug this baby around with me in addition to my main pistol grip carbon fiber tripod.
I still have my Nodal Ninja 3, and it is configured to shoot with my XTi and 10-22mm lens, but it can't handle the weight of the 5dmkii.
This is configured to hold the 5DMkii with the battery grip, on a Manfrotto quick release plate.
The new EZ Leveler is great. With the two sets of knobs you can lock the head level and eliminate any residual flex. With the previos version of the EZ Leveler there was always a little bit of play in the head, which made it difficult to get perfectly consistant alignment between images.
The RD16 head makes it a snap to change the horizonal rotation, or lock rotation. However, if you are like me and really only use the head in a single configuration that may not be terribly important to you.
Is education a social ladder to personal and professional success in China? Here in Chinatown from Paris
OVERVIEW
The 20 year-old sock factory worker, Liu Yong, wants to save money to study anything that she wants. Her dream is to get an education and become a doctor. A disabled migrant worker in the episode "Getting Rich" states, "My son is three years old. No matter what, we want him to get some education when he gets older. I don't want him to go out to work somewhere else. I have high hopes for my son." How can these migrant workers and other economically disadvantaged groups in China change their lives and destinies through educational reform? Is education a social ladder to success? In the following discussion, we provide some background introduction about the Chinese tradition of selecting civil servants through examination as well as current problems that exist in education and society. The discussion questions will lead students to explore the many sides of these issues.
ISSUES FOR EXPLORATION
Education has been regarded as a ladder of social ascendancy in China since ancient time. The most famous saying about "study" in China is from a poem in Song Dynasty (960-1279) by Wang Zhu, literarily translated as "The emperor values heroes, book can teach you (how to be). Everything else is low-grade, only study is above all." This poem has been considered as the golden rule in China for hundreds of years. It encourages people to study. But why is "study" so important? There is also a poem persuading people to study from the Song Dynasty that says, "In the book, there is a lot of food, a house made of gold, and a pretty girl." It implies that studying can make you have enough to eat, a fancy house, and a beautiful woman. But what makes education so powerful in Chinese society? The imperial civil service examination is the answer.
The imperial civil service examination began in 605 AD in Sui Dynasty, developing and maturing in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, and continuing to the Qing Dynasty, and lasting continuously for 1300 years. The imperial civil service examination had a huge influence on Chinese society. Even China's neighboring countries such as Japan and Vietnam imported this system. The civil service personnel examination in modern times also evolved from this system, although recent scholarship suggests that the civil service examination was less of a social ladder than an earlier generation of scholars believed. This imperial civil service examination selected officials for government. If a person studied well, he could pass the examination, and would have a chance to be selected to an official position. If someone became an official, he would receive respect from others as well as obtain the power and fortune from the position. So, the person's whole life was changed. Therefore, many poor scholars studied for years and years in the hope of passing the examination and obtaining a coveted official position. There were numerous stories about how the scholars worked very, very hard, and finally passed the examination and succeeded in getting official positions. These stories encouraged generations of generations of youth in China to study hard, making it into a tradition. The higher level examination that one passed, the higher official position one got. As a result, more power, more respect, and more fortune one would have achieved. The system became a social ladder. In Tang Dynasty, 80% of the prime ministers were from Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). In 320 years time, Song Dynasty held 118 Imperial Civil Service examinations with more than 20,000 people passed the highest imperial examinations becoming Jinshi. In the 277 years of Ming Dynasty 89 examinations were held with 17,000 people passed the highest imperial examinations becoming Jinshi. In the 267 years of Qing Dynasty 120 examinations were held with 26,000 people passed the highest imperial examinations becoming Jinshi.
Although the imperial civil service examination has been abolished for over a 100 years, its influence on Chinese culture, education, people's behavior and thinking still exists. The college entrance examination in China now can be seen as extension and variation from the imperial civil service examination. Every summer the whole country holds the college entrance examination with the same examination questions of the same subjects on the same three days. If one gets a higher score, he or she can go to college. If one fails to pass the examination, he or she has to wait for a year to take the examination again or loses the chances of studying at a college. Whether one can enter a college to receive formal higher education becomes a bridge to a successful life for high school students in China. It is the symbol of success in the 12 year's basic education. It has become consensus of most of the high school graduates and their parents that getting into a famous university through college entrance examination is the way to obtain a high pay and dignified job nowadays.
Though it is every government's goal, providing Education for All is a tall order for the world's most populous nation. Despite pledges by the Chinese government that mass education is one of their priorities, after half a century of the People's Republic, China continues to be a country governed by a tiny educated elite while university education remains a dream for the greatest majority of population. In a country of 1.3 billion people, there are just 2.5 million university places. Only three or four of every 100 Chinese pass the entrance exams. Things were getting better in the past few years with all the universities and colleges having expanded enrolment, but the expansion was far from enough. Because of a high barrier at the university level, students compete to get into high schools that offer the best preparation. This determines a child's future from an early age. Severe competition begins at elementary school where children under 10-year-old struggle to get the best grades, spending long hours over school lessons and homework in order to get better grades. Only better grades in elementary school can make children remain in the competition from the starting points, and have the chance to get into a good high school, then from high school to college. School children in China have no leisure time to play in their childhood.
Noticing this problem, the Ministry of Education announced that primary school students were not going to get homework in the coming semester in 2005. The announcement that schools would boldly experiment with new teaching methods aimed at raising ''well- rounded'' individuals. It should have been a cause for jubilation but it made hundreds of Chinese parents worry. They feared their children might not get into high school and university. Moreover, they dreaded that new reforms would handicap their sole offspring for life, depriving them of the potential to get well-paid jobs. Educational reform needs to take many different aspects into consideration. The ease of educational burden must begin at the university level admission, noting that if the teaching process is to be made more humane, the educators should stop relying solely on the grades when admitting students to colleges. A research team with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently reported on social mobility in contemporary China has grabbed a lot of public attention. The report says social groups occupying higher positions on the social ladder have had a better chance of passing their title and positions to their children since the 1980s. At the same time, children from less advantaged classes are facing tougher and tougher challenges to make their way into these positions. These emerging trends in social mobility in China need to be taken seriously.
Social mobility, people's ability to move from one social stratum to another - which is mainly reflected in their economic status - is an index that gauges a country's social justice and openness. In developed countries it is relatively easy to become more affluent, and move up a class or two. In China this ability to move has radically changed over the last half century. Before the country embarked on its reform and opening up policy more than two decades ago, China's social mobility was political. Anything political - such as political leanings, political identity - at that time could have a deciding say on people's social status. When the reform and opening-up policies were launched, China shifted its focus to economic development. The move has meant that a person's occupation has replaced their political status in determining which stratum they belong to. Merit also has an increasingly important role in how a person's social status is fixed. The ideal social mobility pattern is one in which more and more farmers and workers switch to other higher social groups, increasing the middle class. Only after such a pattern is properly in place can China become a truly just and open society. To achieve this goal, educational reform is needed. China's wealth gap between urban and rural communities is among the highest in the world now. There exist the serious imbalances between primary and higher education in China. Efforts must be made to give top priority to primary education, particularly for the rural population. Currently, this has become the government's policy being applied in the poverty stricken rural areas in middle and western China and continued efforts are being made to improve primary and middle schools. Improving the educational level of farmers plays an important role in raising their skill levels and ultimately their incomes. Educational institutes should make the curriculum and the education system more relevant to the demands of the labor market, the establishment of community colleges for vocational training to disadvantage groups and enterprise training.
China's imperial civil service examination played an important role in Chinese history of education. It created a group of well educated officials serving the country. The system encouraged thousands of youths from both rich and poor families to study, to work hard in order to achieve success in career and life. It created comparatively equal opportunities and competitions in official selections. Modern civil service system and college entrance examinations still have a lot to learn from the old system. However, with social changes and economic reform continuing, new problems appeared. A new educational system is needed to meet the challenge of the modern society. We should think how to fill the wealth gap between urban and rural communities, how to help more and more farmers and workers switch to other higher social groups, increasing the middle class; and how educational reform can help people like the sock factory and motor factory workers in "China Rises" and thousands of migrant workers and their children to reach their dreams in getting better education, finding secured jobs and living a good life.
ON THE HORIZON
1. Questions about the imperial civil service examination and ancient view on "study": How does the imperial civil service examination affect Chinese society?
• What do you think of the imperial civil service examination? Is it a good or bad system? Why?
• If the imperial civil service examination is a good system, should China restore it in modern form? Why?
• If the imperial civil service examination is a bad system, what bad result did it make?
• Do you agree that the imperial civil service examination encouraged students to work harder? Why?
• Do you agree that in general Chinese students study harder than American students because of the influence of the saying
"Everything else is low-grade, only study is above all."
• Do you agree with the above old saying? Tell your reason.
• What can we learn from the imperial civil service examination system in modern time?
• Explore what systems were used to select officials in ancient China before the imperial civil service examination began.
• Find stories about how ancient Chinese scholars studied painstakingly to prepare for taking the imperial civil service examination.
2. Questions about the college entrance examination in China: How does the college entrance examination affect modern China's education?
• Compare the college entrance examination in China with the imperial civil service examination. Find similarities and differences.
• Compare the college entrance examination in China with the college admission process in the U.S. Find strong and weak points of each system respectively.
• Do you think the college entrance examination in China is fair for all the students? Why?
• Do you think the college entrance examination in China provides equal opportunities for all the people who want to get higher education?
• How to improve the college entrance examination in China?
• Can the college entrance examination help China to fill the economic gap between urban and rural area? Why?
• Did the college entrance examination help people to obtain the ability of moving from one social status to another? Why?
• After studying about Chinese imperial civil service examination and the college entrance examination, please tell your view on what is an examination system with fair competition.
3. Questions about current educational reform: How can educational reform help create a fair, open and harmonious society in China?
• What are the major problems in China's educational system, those cause the imbalance in education between urban and rural areas?
• How can education help the economically disadvantaged group in China to change their life?
• In the past the Chinese believed that "Everything else is low-grade, only study is above all." Do you think it works in the same way in modern China as in ancient China? Why?
• With current educational system in China can the migrant workers and their children make their dream true to get a better life through education?
• What is the priority for educational reform in China?
• Are there any good points in the American educational system that the Chinese can learn?
• If you were the minister of education in China, what would you do to reform the educational system to help create a fair, open and harmonious society in China?
• If you were the minister of education in China, what would you do to change the educational policy to help create a fair, open and harmonious society in China?
• Imagine that you are in a small mountainous village to set up a Hope Elementary School. You are the only teacher with a group of 25 kids aging from 6 to 12. What do you plan to do to help these kids get equal education?
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/coll-chin...
Many families see school as the place where every child has an equal chance to learn, grow, and access future opportunities. We hope classrooms will open doors, nurture potential, and prepare children for a bright future. Yet conversations around the US education system suggest a more complicated reality. Schooling is not only about learning—it can also reflect deeper social structures, sometimes acting as an informal screening tool tied to social class.
Understanding how these dynamics work doesn’t mean losing faith in schools. Instead, it helps families make informed decisions, advocate effectively, and create richer educational experiences for their children at home.
Introduction
While schools aim to provide equal access to learning, the path through the system is not the same for every child. Differences in funding, curriculum decisions, available programs, and family resources mean that educational experiences can vary widely from one community to the next.
Exploring these complexities allows families to better support their children. This article outlines how and why the US education system sometimes functions as a sorting mechanism—and what families can do to navigate it more confidently.
The Dual Role of Schools: Learning Environment and Sorting System
Schools are designed to promote knowledge, critical thinking, and personal development. Ideally, every child would receive the same encouragement and tools needed to thrive. But in practice, schools often serve another function: sorting students into different academic or social pathways.
Researchers describe this sorting process as part of social stratification—a system where individuals are organized into layers based on factors like wealth, access, or opportunity. In schools, this can happen through the availability of resources, placement into certain classes, or access to extracurricular programs. Over time, these differences can influence a child’s future academic and career options.
How the US Education System Shapes Social Mobility
Social mobility refers to the ability to move up or down the social ladder. Education is widely viewed as the key driver of upward mobility. However, certain features of the US school system can unintentionally limit this movement—especially for students in under-resourced areas.
Funding disparities and resource gaps
Public school funding in many states is tied to local property taxes. Schools in wealthier neighborhoods benefit from higher revenue, which can translate into:
Smaller class sizes
Higher teacher salaries
Updated facilities and technology
More varied electives and advanced courses
Stronger college counseling or enrichment programs
Schools in lower-income neighborhoods often operate with fewer resources, affecting the depth and quality of educational opportunities available to their students.
Access to libraries, science labs, arts programs, or even full-time counselors can differ dramatically, shaping both academic preparation and long-term confidence.
Curriculum tracking and its influence
“Tracking” groups students into different academic levels—such as honors, AP, or general education. While the intention is to tailor instruction, placement can sometimes reflect more than academic ability. Socioeconomic background, early childhood opportunities, and even unconscious biases can influence track placement.
Once a student is placed on a particular track, it can be difficult to move to a more rigorous one. This can affect access to competitive colleges, scholarships, and advanced study.
Standardized testing: helpful measure or barrier?
Standardized tests are used to compare student performance, evaluate schools, and guide decisions like college admissions. However, these tests may reflect inequities in:
Access to tutoring
Test preparation materials
Enrichment programs
Early literacy or numeracy experiences
Critics note that standardized tests can unintentionally favor students with greater resources. Families can read more about the development and debates surrounding standardized testing on Britannica.
www.thethinkacademy.com/blog/edubriefs-unpacking-the-us-s...
'Seoul Learn' is a project that provides equal educational opportunities to the vulnerable population that has difficulties in accessing educational resources due to socioeconomic reasons. Educational inequality in Korea has been identified as the main culprit behind generational poverty. The project offers various educational services via public platforms to prevent education from causing inequalities.As the Covid-19 pandemic widened the educational gap, educational inequalities emerged as a serious social issue. At the same time, educational inequality has been identified as the main culprit behind generational poverty. Such disparity in education arises from unequal access to education and highly differs according to parents’ economic status. There is a deepening educational gap due to socioeconomic background, degree of private education outside of school, and support and educational resources provided by parents. Families earning 8 million won or more every month spend 5.1 times more on monthly private education per person (593,000 won) than those earning less than 2 million won (116,000 won) (Statistics Korea, 2021). Children of parents with fewer assets and education tend to underachieve (OECD’s PISA, 2018). '
Seoul Learn' is a welfare policy that provides various complimentary educational services to the vulnerable class through public platforms to prevent education from causing inequalities.The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is pursuing three goals and following basic plans that were set while establishing 'Seoul Learn' policies:
Creating “a fair city of education” by focusing on supporting low-income families and tackling educational disparities induced by income levels
Creating “a sustainable city of education” by offering educational content customized for each life cycle
Creating “an innovative city of education” by building innovative educational platforms that combine different educational technologies
Prior to the project, the SMG evaluated the pre-existing online learning environment for teenagers from low-income families to achieve a practical outcome. It verified that underprivileged students had received learning devices, such as tablet PCs and Internet services from the city government and the office of education. The SMG and the office of education cooperated in providing the necessary support to those students to have seamless remote education amid the pandemic. When students needed additional support, Seoul introduced them to the “PC of Love” distribution project and ensured that they had immediate help.
After confirming that the physical environment was ready, Seoul prepared an administrative foundation by revamping related city ordinances. Then, it gathered together with the like-minded office of education and businesses to launch the website of Seoul Learn on August 27, 2021 and started to provide educational services.
Teenage Seoul citizens belonging to a vulnerable group (children of low-income groups, school dropouts, children of multicultural families, and others) can take an online qualification test and join Seoul Learn. Member students can choose up to three educational content providers (1 regular school subject, 1 language and certificate, and 1 reading) and enjoy all of their content without any limits. In addition, members can apply for 1:1 online and offline mentoring services affiliated with prestigious universities in Korea. Mentors from each college are helping teenage students with their learning plans, emotional stability, and career design. Private companies are also joining the project by providing learning materials, such as textbooks, as part of their corporate social responsibility activities.
Seoul aims to develop the website of Seoul Learn into an educational platform combining educational technologies by July 2023. This will allow the SMG to manage learning history, make it into data sets, and provide tailored education. The city government also plans to prepare interactive, hands-on remote educational programs.
oecd-opsi.org/innovations/seoul-learn-for-restoring-educa...
Shot on location as part of the architectural series in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Post-processing done in Capture One 20.
Camera: Contax 645
Back: Phase One P45+
Head: Arca-Swiss Core Leveler 75
Tripod: Gitzo GT3532LS
Filter: LEE 0.6 G S
Capacité de la décapeuse : 28,28 m³
Travaux de terrassement de la tranche 3 de ZAC Europôle 2 de la Communauté d'Agglomération Sarreguemines visant à créer 3 plateformes pour un total de 234 915 m².
Pays : France 🇫🇷
Région : Grand Est (Lorraine)
Département : Moselle (57)
Ville : Hambach (57910)
Adresse : ZAC Europôle 2
Construction : Avril 2025 → Novembre 2025
Date and Time of capture: 3/25/2024 at about 10:34 pm EDT
Location: Washington D.C.
Gear: Seestar S50 "smart telescope" with a Cavix LP-64 camera leveler interposed between the Seestar and a tripod.
I generated this short video by animating frame numbers 2786 to 2792 extracted from my 5970 frames-long video of the full moon.
This short is the consequence of an accidental observation while I was prepping my video frames for stacking. The stacked and postprocessed result is shown in my Seestar S50 album.
The image in each frame was cropped to 1:1 aspect ratio and processed in Topaz DeNoise AI and Gigapixel AI only.
(Note that due to lack of any full-scale processing, such as one involving stacking and postprocessing, the lunar image is itself structurally somewhat nebulous. Its purpose is merely to provide a background against which one can watch the movement of an airplane.)
Name: Mortality
Size: A3
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Influenced by the sketch by Christopher Ryan, I sketched this skull. I find skulls very interesting as they are always smiling, and one possible reason I find behind it is that, it is only after death that they realize there was no point in living the way they did. Only a thin layer of covering changes the skull's expressions drastically to a sadness, depression or a happiness. God had created us all happy, which is evident from the smile on the skull, but it is the way of life that we lead that makes a difference, and after all death is a great leveler. This sketch is an easy one as it does not require any blending but at the same time it also requires confident strokes that mark the definite shape of the skull. The irony of the sketch is that, it deals with death and happiness at the same time and surprisingly fits in well. Anyways, who knows how it feels after dying.
Installed on 2 iEQ45 tripod leg. Easy install, just unscrew metal stud and replace it with the adjustable leveler. The leveler has a 2mm vibration damper in the base also.
What to do when beavers threaten your conservation efforts?
Western North Carolina’s Kanuga Conference Center is home to a Southern Appalachian Mountain bog - one of North America’s rarest habitats. Bogs often home to rare plants and animals, provide important habitat for migratory birds and game species, improve water quality by filtering sediment and contaminants, and store floodwaters which helps decrease downstream flooding. They’re places we very much want to conserve.
Kanuga’s bog has seen the recent arrival of beavers. On one hand, they’re cutting down shrubs, which is a positive step as it allows more sunlight to fall on the plants managers want to thrive. On the other hand, their dams are making water levels so high they’re turning the bogs into ponds – eliminating habitat for the plants and animals that need the bog to live.
A solution? Install pond levelers –pipes through the beaver dams that help drain the pooled water down to a desired level and minimize the ability of beavers to detect stream flow – tricking them into thinking their dams are intact.
Recently staff from Kanuga Conferences, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, The Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service joined a team of Haywood Community College students to install two pond levelers at the Kanuga Bog.