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Here it is in closer detail, the little country station that was one of the centerpiece buildings in my Lego layout display back in March.
While I still loved my older station building, featured in my photos of the GWR 4575 class 2-6-2T model, I wanted something that was much more commonplace in style and image for a centerpiece railway station. A little known fact for some who live outside the UK, but often you may be able to tell what region or railway line you're on, based off the style of the stations. Certain brickwork or cobblestone and paint color on signs and fences can indicate the region, area and railway company that employed the station staff. While making the station, I wanted to bring my favorites of those colors and themes together, and the LNER's station style was just the right fit. Sharp green with cream iron columns and corbels was a great combo with the brick contrast behind. While certain aspects may not be purely LNER styled, I couldn't be happier with it.
The building itself is not based off any real structure. It was a mix of certain design elements and maximizing the available and very limited space I had to work in. Once again, I couldn't be happier. I had a massive buildup of dark red 1x2 plates and dark bluish grey 1x2 tiles that I knew I had to use together for the same building. Overall everything worked out perfectly. One little nitpick is the station platform is overall very short, just being a coach long, but it makes it easier to photograph on the plus side.
I will likely be entering this building in the appropriate categories of the upcoming OcTRAINber and current Brick Train Award contests as well, so I am happy to have taken these photos just in time for those. Absolutely cannot wait to see everyone else's fantastic creations!
Anyways, enjoy the photos, and I will be uploading photos of the second building and other smaller mocs very soon.
One of the first words to pop into my head when I saw the challenge for today was optics for some reason. This is a shot of s used roll of Kodak Max 400 color film behind the lens taken from a long broken slide projector. The lens acts nicely as a magnifying glass which is why I keep it around. Taken with a Canon 60mm USM Macro lens. Type L for a better view.
Our Daily Challenge - Starts With O - 9/10/11
Photographer: Fy Rae
Models: Fy Rae (left), Thayna Birk (right)
Region: Crossing Currents
Fy Rae returns from a massive wave, whispering with the Brazilian model Thayna Birk.
** Photography notes: Raw snapshot. No photoshopping or postprocessing. I aim to stay true to the SL experience, maximizing its capacity for beauty and emotion.
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To control Information Technology (IT) costs we think about and act within the enterprise as a whole, in part because we sell enterprise and mid-level solutions. We apply an Enterprise Architecture (EA) strategy which at the top level is comprised of infrastructure and communication considerations. This is not just about technical infrastructure, defined or designed by IT, because it is highly likely that such individual solutions (one offs) will not align to core business strategies (vertical needs verses horizontal needs spanning the whole company).
It is not really possible to do this, that is consider the entire company's needs, without significant participation by the business for which we use terms such as Solution Delivery or Product Management. Product and program managers from a solution delivery framework gather information, report back to the business, and return to apply the business strategies to align with short, medium, and especially long term business goals.
This business and implementation strategy focus is a change agent, to reduce siloed thinking, and achieve more horizontal capability across units. We reduce multiple applications, which take time to manage and maintain, and where it makes sense, fold them into one. Because we take security and privacy of our customers very seriously, any applications which may be at risk have been identified and are brought up into our standards. The process of combining risk management goals, application and data reduction streams saves money, although the process of so much change at once can be stressful at the unit, project, and personal levels.
We seek to empower self-service among our partners, customers and employees, for access to all kinds of information they need, and internally reduce redundant data stores, for example referring to customers by one identifier if possible. This is especially challenging in our partner relationships with multiple data stores that contain similar information about customers which are identified in completely different ways. This is the reason for serious data modeling and tight or loose coupling where needed – to retrieve and move information back to the partner systems. We leverage Microsoft software, and then buy, build, minimize or reuse existing systems.
In order to be more successful in our efforts to control IT costs we strive to increase flexibility among existing staff and provide rewards for strategic thinking – this strategic thinking aligns along company-wide goals. We need people with the right skills who work in efficient methods, only including the people who need to be included to make decisions or act. In fact we need to change confrontational and passive aggressive behaviors internally to collaborative personality styles – changing the organizations culture is doable but difficult. For more information I recommend reading "The Heart of Change" by Kotter and Cohen.
The technologies we invest in to help control IT costs are our own. We custom write stuff served up on Microsoft servers and plan to use SharePoint as the UI for our new change request tool. We are substantially reducing and eliminating the number of different applications (SQL stored procedures or XML Blobs mostly) we use and maintain on a daily basis. We are moving from C++ to C#/.NET (C Sharp and .Net technologies).
We use Microsoft software as our strategy to control IT costs - it is easy to manage, and has great support. Some team members keep an eye on relevant Open Source software as competitive analysis. When we use it, we know not only how but why.
Our company is getting the maximum value from its data center investment because we have not invested to the level we need for our infrastructure. We expect to remediate this lack of investment after deploying skilled, thoughtful product managers with the right combination of education and practical experience to assist in this effort through the next couple of years.
What is our organization doing to maximize the value from its data center investment? In addition to the other things mentioned we outsource development and support to India, Israel, and developing countries, etc. We also are making use of tax advantaged locations for large savings in transactions.
We are adding metrics and measurements by which we evaluate not just personal progress but internal and external customer satisfaction with our IT initiatives on a project by project basis to self-improve.
The practices which enable us to maximize value from our IT investment are varied and multifaceted. To maximize ongoing investment we are adding solution delivery strategies, planning ahead, and aligning IT with company-wide goals. Of course in our space we have some unique issues, and as a public company even more so. One thing that may surprise you is some of our projects we do end to end locally because of how critical success is. We leverage our best, most successful local managers to produce projects and design larger scale solutions if we determine it is the best strategy – so in this way we are flexible – we don't just out source everything.
We are in the process of reducing the number of applications we need to maintain, and where it is appropriate fold one into another so long as the user interface or back ends do not become unmanageable. We are making over our change request platform from top to bottom which we feel will enable quicker turnarounds on change requests – it is both loosely and tightly coupled where it needs to be. For the presentation layer we choose Microsoft SharePoint.
Conversely, what factors are inhibiting our organization from reaping the maximum value from its data center investments? The factors inhibiting the maximum value include a lack of foresight in strategic planning for long term goals –
1. Putting temporary things together to just meet immediate needs.
2. Focusing on small details and not seeing the big picture.
3. Lack of metrics to evaluate progress, process, and client / customer / partner success.
4. Unwillingness of team members to change or promote change even when it is in their and the companies' best interest.
5. Having too many data centers, identifying customers in too many ways.
How important is productivity within the IT function in our efforts to control IT costs and maximize our data center investment? Functionality, capacity, and reliability far outstrip productivity, but that is only because we have already hit very high productivity goals and exceeded them. Here are some of the metrics we examine:
Metrics
Percentage of project budgeted costs
Scope requirements
Total cost of ownership
Traceability
Defects rate (sev1, sev2, sev3 bugs - zero tolerance for sev1)
Completed requirements
Customer satisfaction scores (cust sats)
Schedule slippage
Flexibility of management styles
End-to-end throughput time per client-side user request
System extensibility
Scalability
Maintainability
Defects per thousand lines of code (KLOC or by function)
Support functionality and documentation availability, and completeness prior to launch
Rates of failure
Restoration (emergency)
Availability
Test effectiveness
Business acceptance
System acceptance (signoff)
Average turn around time for service and change requests
Number of security or privacy defects (last two should be zero tolerance in launch candidates)
Number of post freeze change requests
Among the mandatory metrics used are peer review effectiveness of code, and post mortems and overall customer satisfaction. In other words we do not consider just ontime delivery of products, enhancements, or new functionality.
What is our organization doing to improve productivity within its IT function?
Getting the right people – some people grew with us or came to us with deep knowledge from the school of hard knocks – work experience – we seek to capture the most knowledgeable and either increase their education or find those with both practical work experience and advanced degrees. Good thing this is Seattle with its heavily educated population. New programs at the university level such as Informatics and Information Management are producing the people we need – not just MBAs or Master of Comp Sci - because so much of our development work we outsource to India and developing countries, and IT is not traditionally closely aligned with marketing or sales. We do outsource much of the development work as is possible.
The undergrad Informatics and Master of Science in Information Management programs at the University of Washington are housed in Mary Gates' Hall, renovated and named in honor of Bill Gate's late mother, it's headed by Mike Crandall (Dublin Core, Microsoft, Boeing). So you can see this is the direction we are going regionally, because that is where the spend is. Another great information school is at the University of California at Berkeley, housed in one of the oldest and most architecturally beautiful collegiate buildings on the west coast, South Hall. On the physical level all Berkeley had to do is add wireless. Excellent academics such as the seminal thinker Dr Michael Buckland are there at Berkeley, and business leaders such as Mitch Kapor. Industry wide I think iSchools are having an effect, adding a more well rounded, even playful culture to high tech operations.
Improving and opening the culture is important. Having a shared lexicon is one of the benefits of educated people; those with MSIM (master of science in information management), Informatics, technical MBA degrees can comunicate effectively with highly technical people - this can produce enormous savings and long term cost benefits. Increased, clear, enthusiastic communication saves IT costs.
In strategy meetings, for example, we often include Enterprise Architects to assist in stack ranking program and project development, because this helps reduce redundant systems.
Our organization's ability to measure the return on investment (ROI) or success of its IT investments is “Fair but mixed,” we want ROI to be easily measureable and this means evaluating the correct things, asking the right questions in the first place, not following other organizations techniques, although we examine them as examples.
We are adding ways to evaluate our ROI – we do use business analysis methods. There is always an identifiable way to analyze and measure the relationship of what something costs even if it appears intangible such as Brand protection.
Considering the strategic and tactical stuff we are doing, at the core, creativity is what drives our success. Creativity is always a very difficult thing to measure. In fact it could be said that if you try, you are barking up the wrong tree. However creative thinking around practical goals has provided us success. This is where the ideas around flexibility and being very responsive come to play.
We have found very very high ROI around outsourced projects because they must be clearly defined within the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) compliance.
Those people who actually think out of the box are oftentimes not recognized by co-workers and management. Change is perceived as negative among full time staff. We seek to show support for both full time employees and consultants, and change this view and enhance their ability to communicate ideas. That is why our management keeps an open door policy. Unfortunately like any other policies the hazard is that individual managers must believe in our policies around openness and creativity; such self-selecting polices are impossible to enforce.
Our organization uses balanced scorecards, Six Sigma and other types of internally derived quantitative value measurement methods to measure the ROI or success of our IT investments.
The continued use of these methods we expect will substantially improve the management and measurement of our IT investments. Some of the metrics are at the discretion of the product or program manager, others are mandatory. In part we have some success- at issue is adopting metrics and measurement as well as Enterprise Architecture and engaging with open arms increased strategic thinking and planning.
Senior management must come together and present a unified strategy for the entire company – which is a top down management style but it must be embraced from the bottom up. This is within a framework of enforced change as we seek to achieve excellence in all of our business units, especially in core infrastructure – those units which either produce money, or cost money. Some of our key investments we know are lost leaders, but other research will more than make up for those. Enforced change in this context means business units receive minimum budget until they comply.
We are still feeling the effects of the changes the Web brings in enterprise directly and for our customers; we continue to learn from the effects of communities and communication via the Web. The opportunities for growth are so enormous that it is all the more important that we curb spending where it is not required and apply it as much as possible to grow in creative arenas which still have huge untapped profit potential. It is not just about money, among hard core technologists – those who really love it – money is secondary in many ways - it’s about the fun stuff technology can bring as well as the benefit to serve humanity that technology brings.
High tech, information technology, and software development have made some strides to maturity but we are still learning new things; it will be a learning industry, discovering and inventing stuff for a long time to come.
p.s.
Enforced Change is a radically different challenge, and promises different ways of looking at human-to-human, individual-to-corporation, corporate-to-corporate, human-to- computer interactions, etc, which I plan to cover in future articles, so stay tuned!
A re-post from an overnight trip into the mountains last year. I like going to a scenic vista on Friday evenings to see the sunset, spend the night and see the sunrise, then hike out and go home. That way I'm maximizing my picture taking time in the good light with a minimum of hiking back and forth. Can't wait until spring starts, 1/2 decent photography conditions are nowhere to be found in my area of late.
Friday I decided to break the ice and carry the overnight pack up on a mountain to spend the night for the first time this year. I have a goal to spend at least one night on all of the interesting mountains around my area, and haven't been to this one in awhile or ever spent a night on it. It has a great view over the James River and also to the east, had a look on Google Earth and found that it would have a clear shot of the sunrise. Pack was a little on the heavier side since I had to carry up all of the water I may need, plus all of the little luxuries like fleece liner for sleeping bag, 2 pillows, and Ipod with battery powered base for tunes.
Got a late start and trail is 3 miles up with a healthy elevation gain. Wanted to get set up before dark and so was pretty driven to get there, figured would be struggling first time out but felt really good the whole way and made fabulous time...didn't stop to rest more than a few seconds. Turbo was with me and he had his pack too, I made him carry his water and food. This was my first time on this particular trail so I didn't know when I was close to camp, I had always taken another way. After what I thought was time to be seeing the end, I looked over at another mountain that had similar looking cliffs and thought "Oh no!" Getting there would require some elevation loss through a saddle and then climb back up. Got in the right mindset for that and then soon arrived where I wanted to be...without all the extra trouble.
Fullers Rocks is a long set of cliffs that can be seen from the parkway bridge over the James, straight upstream. The mountain falls away fast below so one looks really high up. I was pleasantly surprised to find an abundance of Fringe Trees in bloom along the trail and cliffs, they are pretty but smell even better. The evening wind was blowing in strong and steady from the east, bringing up their aroma. I got camp set up, took some photos (not overly impressed with evening conditions), cooked dinner (Backpackers Pantry Sante Fe Chicken) then went out on the rocks for some attempts at night shots. I normally don't have a fire, but had a really large one this time just for the camping feeling. It was actually rather warm all night. Didn't sleep much, it's tough in the tent with Turbo since he wants all of the stuff I brought for my comfort. The place was fairly loud too with planes, trains and some trucks from the highway. I only sleep well camping next to streams or the ocean.
Woke up with the morning glow and shot the sunrise, cooked breakfast (Boars Head bacon and oatmeal) then packed up for the walk back. Legs will be sore tomorrow for sure but after the burn they will make me feel like I could jump a car or something. Hope to get back after this next week somewhere too.
Rode home on the parkway to check on some things that are coming soon, sky had turned rather blah so no photos.
From my set entitled “Pansies”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607213822856/
In my collection entitled “Goldenrod”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The pansy or pansy violet is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Pansies are derived from Viola tricolor also called the Heartsease, 'Johnny Jump Up', stepmothers flower, or ladies delight. However, many garden varieties are hybrids and are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana but sometimes they are listed under the name Viola tricolor hortensis. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name of a number of wildflowers belonging, like the cultivated pansy, to the genus Viola. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have "pansy" in their name.
Pansy breeding has produced a wide range of flower colors including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, and even black (dark purple) many with large showy face markings. A large number of bicoloured flowers have also been produced. They are generally very cold hardy plants surviving freezing even during their blooming period. Plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well draining soils. Pansies are developed from viola species that are normally biennials with a two-year life cycle. The first year plant produce greenery and then bear flowers and seeds their second year of growth and afterwards die like annuals. Because of selective human breeding, most garden pansies bloom the first year, some in as little as nine weeks after sowing.
Most biennials are purchased as packs of young plants from the garden centre and planted directly into the garden soil. Under favourable conditions, pansies and viola can often be grown as perennial plants, but are generally treated as annuals or biennial plants because after a few years of growth the stems become long and scraggly. Plants grow up to nine inches (23 cm) tall, and the flowers are two to three inches (about 6 cm) in diameter, though there are some smaller and larger flowering cultivars available too.
Pansies are winter hardy in zones 4-8. They can survive light freezes and short periods of snow cover, in areas with prolonged snow cover they survive best with a covering of a dry winter mulch. In warmer climates, zones 9-11, pansies can bloom over the winter, and are often planted in the fall. In these climates, pansies have been known to reseed themselves and come back the next year. Pansies are not very heat-tolerant; they are best used as a cool season planting, warm temperatures inhibit blooming and hot muggy air causes rot and death. In colder zones, pansies may not persist without snow cover or protection (mulch) from the extreme cold.
Pansies should be watered thoroughly about once a week, depending on climate and rainfall. To maximize blooming, plant food should be used about every other week, according to the plant food directions. Regular deadheading can extend the blooming period.
The pansy has two top petals overlapping slightly, two side petals, beards where the three lower petals join the center of the flower, and a single bottom petal with a slight indentation.
Stem rot, also known as pansy sickness, is a soil-borne fungus and a possible hazard with unsterilized animal manure. The plant may collapse without warning in the middle of the season. The foliage will flag and lose color. Flowers will fade and shrivel prematurely. Stem will snap at the soil line if tugged slightly. The plant is probably a total loss unless tufted. The treatment of stem rot, includes the use of fungicides such as Cheshunt or Benomyl , which are used prior to planting. Infected plants are destroyed (burned) to prevent the spread of the pathogen to other plants.
The plant should be watered every other day, and watering should never be missed for more than three days. The plant should never be over watered.
Leaf spot (Ramularia deflectens) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include dark spots on leaf margins followed by a white web covering the leaves. It is associated with cool damp springs.
Mildew (Oidium) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include violet-gray powder on fringes and underside of leaves. It is caused by stagnant air and can be limited but not necessarily eliminated by spraying (especially leaf undersides).
The cucumber mosaic virus is transmitted by aphids. Pansies with the virus have fine yellow veining on young leaves, stunted growth and anomalous flowers. The virus can lay dormant, affect the entire plant and be passed to next generations and to other species. Prevention is key: purchases should consist entirely of healthy plants, and pH-balanced soil should be used which is neither too damp nor too dry. The soil should have balanced amounts of nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Other diseases which may weaken the plant should be eliminated.
To ward off slugs and snails, sharp, gritty sand can be laid, or the soil can be top-dressed with chipped bark. The area should be kept clean of leaves and foreign matter, etc. Beer in little bowls buried to the rims in the flower beds will also keep slugs and snails at bay.
To combat aphids, which spread the cucumber mosaic virus, the treatment is to spray with diluted soft soap (2 ounces per gallon).
All that smoke at the Portland International Raceway is intentional.
Dragster speeds are limited by tire traction. Hot tires are softer and grip the strip better. As racers approach the starting line, they burn rubber to maximize traction before the race.
The Portland Wednesday night Cruise-In also features drag racing.
1st Lieutenant Kharisma Bandhan.
Squad position: Art 4.
Callsign: Legs.
Hailing from the Luzon system, 1Lt Bandhan was a semi-pro rooftop racer before being recruited by Dramstellar as part of their spin up in response to Krewstara's hostile actions kickstarting the Colonia II conflict. Bandhan didn't actually arrive until towards the tail end of the fighting as part of the militia squads Dramstellar had organized as opposed to the mostly mercenary forces they'd hired for much of the conflict. Nevertheless she distinguished herself during her battles, including landing the first recorded killing blow on a Krewstarian Chubdam and earning ace status during the push to take Castle Mount and the space elevator foundations. When Dramstellar began examining their hastily thrown together squads for top pilots to hire for their formal mobile frame program, Lt Bandhan was one of the top recommendations from the militia leadership, second only to WO Vinter herself.
1st Lieutenant Bandhan's Ruschia Test Type has been fine tuned for exceptional close quarters combat, maximizing speed and aggression without sacrificing defense. To achieve this balance, armor was removed from the feet, arms, and skirt to help reduce weight, while a extra large jump thruster pack was added to the back, complete with super enriched fuel tanks to radically boost the output of all three jump jets as needed. To balance the reduction in armor, two twin auto-turrets were added to the mobile frame on the right of the core and the left of the back. These autoturrets are semi autonomous, designed to intercept incoming attacks or distract enemy mobile frames. Of course the ability to rapidly close in on your opponents doesn't mean much without the ability to wreck havoc on them, so the Ruschia striker variant is equipped with an anti-armor lance to inflict serious damage and a plasma edge moon-axe to seal the deal. To help ensure 1Lt Bandhan reaches her targets, her Ruschia is equipped with a miniaturized flash laser turret. The power cell despite its size is only good for a single burn, but is capable of burning completely through a mobile frame... in optimal circumstances. Given the need to keep the Ruschia as streamlined and light as possible, Bandhan was limited in what she could push for as far as customization goes. She settled on an elongated canopy design that mimics her old roof top racing frame, and provides improved HUD functionality.
I looked at this protrait one too many times as it sat on my work desk. Frankly, I don't know who the teenage girl is but I can say that as long as it is a ferro (not tin) type we can assume she is too old to court any more. HA This is just one more edit to show and to fill in this retouching series. This kind of portrait snap is not often seen so much today. The embossed card is 2.4 by 4 inches in size so it didn't waste a lot of sensitive material. The photographer probable trimmed his plates by tin shears! Waste not want not. A fellow may have needed to coat the metal base and mix all the coating emulsion (egg white?) and all the processing chemistry. I wonder if the negative was a glass plate and this is a print. Ahh... somewhat unlike today. In any case, I finally attacked this original. Still, it me long to pull this edit off using few my preferred tricks. I could have left it in it's extended resting spot for a few more years. Actually, there is little color in this color snap... but I like to preserve the faded color.
I had to maximize the scan resolution on the image so that I could do my best editing the mini image and get the best results. The ferro type plate was larger than the oval cutout but I decided not to tear the old card apart. Who knows what could happen. I returned it to another layer under the knocked out stock embossed card. I had very little overlap so I lost very little.
I have no idea what happened to it in someone's long custody other than normal atmospheric deterioration. There were creases at the top but no surface damage on the left side. I might have been a damaged negative. As always, under - applying retouching is always better than creating cartoons.
Maximize for a better view....
Water Spout over Lake Erie
(TREC) Tom Ridge Environmental Center Erie, Pa
June 19, 2008
11:27 am.
Continuing my tour of architecture. 😊
A must see when in Little Rock is the Heifer International HQ. It is a LEED Platinum certified building. Made out of recycled, local, and sustainable materials it maximizes the use of sunlight and captures rainwater in a tower hidden behind the colorful images at the left of the frame. Alison and I got to tour it last year.
My previous roleplay character. Chateau de Versailles. Photo taken at The Rose Theatre.
** Photography notes: Raw snapshot. No photoshopping or postprocessing. I aim to stay true to the SL experience, maximizing its capacity for beauty and emotion.
The far side faces the ocean. They have sensibly built the house above dyke level, although the cars may get wet in the coming floods :)-
Maximize/full screen for better detail. Strange picture, it´s almost straight out of camera (just color correction/small saturation up and a little contrast) but it looks like highly edited. Loved the symmetry.
The former Santa Fe franchise has always been centered around their mostly double-track CTC Chicago-to-L.A. Transcon mainline. That has been greatly enhanced with hundreds of millions in capital invested by BNSF since the BN+Santa Fe merger.
Here is a great example of that benefit just east of Hereford, TX at milepost 595. On main track two, the XHERRYL9-14 (#3829) has just completed it's unloading of 114 hopper loads of corn to the ADM elevator in Hereford, TX and is coming out onto the mainline for it's trip to Royal, NE and another corn load. The rear-end of the empty grain train is still on the elevator loop track so he moves at restricted speed onto the mainline.
Without losing a beat, the dispatcher in Fort Worth has routed the hot Z-train, ZPHXWSP7-13L (#7131) over to main one to pass the empty corn train. The Willow Springs-bound Z-train from Phoenix with a total of 60 UPS and FedEx loads will not be delayed by the slower train entering the mainline as the DS will cross the Z-train back over the main two at the next crossover. Keeping the Transcon fluid is the main priority, especially with volumes on the Transcon regularly reaching 90-100 trains per day now.
On 17 March 2009, Boeing first displayed an F-15SE demonstrator. The F-15SE was designed to use fifth-generation fighter technology, such as radar-absorbing materials, to significantly reduce its radar cross-section (RCS). Unique features to the F-15SE were the conformal weapons bays (CWB) that would have replaced the conformal fuel tanks (CFT) to hold weapons internally – thus reducing fuel capacity. Other feature include a 2D Vector Engine, Folded wings maximizing carrier capacity.
This Lego has a massive list of functional components and playability rocking >1900 pieces!
Please maximize the image.
Incised onto the surface of this large gravestone is the image of a warrior standing on a ground line facing right. His name, Athanias, is inscribed at the top of the stele in either Boeotian or Sikyonian script. He wears a conical helmet decorated with a wreath, a short belted tunic that exposes his right shoulder, and sandals. A sheathed sword suspended by a baldric hangs by his left side. In his right hand he carries a downward-pointing spear; his left hand rests atop his shield. The interior of the shield is decorated with a scene of Bellerophon astride Pegasos, thrusting his spear into the Chimaera below. Incised stelai such as this were once painted, but no traces of pigment remain.
Black limestone grave stele
Height 160 cm; width 75 – 80 cm
Late 5th – Early 4th century BC.
Thebes, Archaeological Museum
This photo was taken during the March Against Racism in central London on Saturday on 18 March. Many activists were furious at the new anti-immigration legislation which is clearly in breach of international law.
Although there are no legal routes available to refugees from many Asian and African countries suffering from conflict and murderous repressive regimes, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is overseeing legislation which will criminalize refugees risking their lives at sea to reach relative safety. They will now have their asylum claims denied as inadmissible.
As marchers reached Downing Street, Braverman was thousands of miles away in Rwanda, reaffirming the UK's commitment to illegally expelling refugees to the impoverished country, which itself has a poor human rights record.
I asked ChatGPT to write 10 reasons why welcoming refugees is beneficial to society. Although I share many people's concerns about what the impact of this technology might be, I was fairly impressed by its reply -
1. Boosts economy: Refugees have the potential to contribute to the economy by starting businesses, creating jobs, and adding to the workforce.
2. Increases cultural diversity: Refugees come from different cultural backgrounds and can enrich society's cultural diversity by sharing their traditions, customs, and experiences.
3. Fosters empathy and understanding: Welcoming refugees can help increase empathy and understanding among people from different backgrounds, leading to harmony and greater social cohesion.
4. Strengthens our humanitarian values: Taking in refugees is a reflection of our commitment to human rights and humanitarian obligations, and it demonstrates solidarity with those who are suffering and seeking safety.
5. Tackles brain drain in developing countries: Some refugees may have high levels of education and skills that are needed in their home countries. By providing opportunities for them to work and contribute in host countries, they can then return and help rebuild their communities.
6. Reduces conflict: By providing a safe haven for refugees, host communities can play a role in reducing the levels of conflict and instability that can lead to forced displacement.
7. Brings new perspectives and ideas: Refugees can bring fresh perspectives, ideas, and expertise that can help drive innovation and progress in various fields.
8. Strengthens global solidarity: By welcoming refugees, host countries demonstrate a commitment to global solidarity and cooperation, which can help build bridges across borders.
9. Helps to maximize their potential: Providing support and resources to refugees can help maximize their potential and enable them to contribute to their host communities in meaningful ways.
10. Enhances international relationships: Building positive relationships with refugees and their home countries can lead to new opportunities for cultural exchange, trade, and diplomacy, which can facilitate greater cooperation between nations.
Apologies if some of the photographs in this series are clearly overexposed, which is due to my own stupidity and negligence as I forgot to reset the white balance after some indoor photography.
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Allegany State Park, western NY – October 15, 2009
Possibly the worst war crime of the twenty first century has been the continued and deliberate assault on civilians in rebel held East Aleppo by Assad's regime forces, allied militia units from Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah as well as the continuous assault from the air by the Syrian and Russian air forces.
To call such air assaults indiscriminate would be wrong since they have clearly been targeted to maximize civilian casualties. Activists inside Aleppo have shown strong evidence of the use of chlorine and other gas against the civilian population and journalists and doctors have confirmed the deliberate targeting of hospitals, often with second strikes to kill the rescuers.
I rarely find myself in agreement with a Conservative MP but when Andrew Mitchell writes that "the Russians are committing war crimes and using their position as a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council to shield themselves from international humanitarian law... they are hitting hospitals with bunker-busting bombs and attacking civilians cowering in cellars. They are using cluster and incendiary munitions" he is absolutely right but only a few on Britain's left seem willing to take to the streets to demand a halt the bombing with a few admirable exceptions.
On 17th December a crowd of over a thousand protesters marched through London to protest against the lack of any resolute Western action to secure a permanent ceasefire in East Aleppo and to prevent the continued bombing of civilians by Russian and Syrian aircraft.
They chanted "Down with the child killer Assad" and "Shame on war criminal Putin" and demanded the British government take action to halt the conflict and the suffering of thousands of children who remain besieged in the city.
Already two months ago Zeid Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, had called the siege and bombardment of Eastern Aleppo "crimes of historic proportions."
Opposition activists in Aleppo have reported that Russian aircraft have persistently targeted hospitals and other civilian targets along with the continued use of barrel bombs by the Syrian airforce as Syria's tyrant Assad vowed to "clean" the city.
No ambulances, no working hospitals and no medical equipment remains to treat up to 30,000 civilians still trapped in the war zone.
There has also been criticism of American and British air strikes but some distance from Aleppo itself in other areas of Syria with an estimate of between 500 and 700 civilians killed as of April 2016 reported by the website Airwars and the United States admitting that its rules regarding collateral civilian damage are even laxer than those used in drone strikes ( Economist 4th October 2014 - "Unintended Consequences: Are US Airstrikes creating a Sunni backlash" ).
However the number of casualties from Russian air strikes appears to be much higher with claims of up to 8,479 non-combatants reportedly killed as of 11th October 2016 according to the monitoring website Airwars.