Kamera: Nikon FM

Linse: Nikkor-N Auto 24mm f2.8 (1970)

Film: Rollei P&R 640 @ box speed

Kjemi: Rodinal (1:25 / 13:30 min. @ 20°C)

 

Thursday 29 February 2024: Today, at the Nabulsi roundabout just south of Gaza City, Israel committed a horrible massacre shooting into a large crowd of civilians desperate for food who was gathering around humanitarian aid trucks. Israel killed more than 100 people and seriously injured 700 - this is a TOTAL WAR CRIME.

 

Al Jazeera: Cold-blooded massacre (publ. 29 Feb. 2024) [Requires log-in to see]

 

Israelis have confirmed that IDF soldiers shot against a ‘violent crowd’ who moved towards them ‘menacingly’. Israel claim they are ‘investigating’ the event. In the American Fox News, these news are reported as a ‘deadly stampede’ and a ‘deadly aid incident’.

 

Fox News: Deadly stampede over aid in Gaza (publ. 29 Feb. 2024) [Fox changed the title 3 hours later]

 

There have been so many shocking events happening in the last few days - Aaron Bushnell self-immolating, and today this massacre - that I feel we also need to remind ourselves to keep our eyes seriously steady and hyper-focused on what is happening in the background.

 

First of all, the ICJ hearing on the legality of Israel´s occupation of Palestine concluded on monday, and it concluded with some of the best presentations held in all the hearings. I would like to highlight the supreme presentation delivered by the Arab League, and also the presentations of Spain and the Maldives. All nations heard presented similar views, with the exception of USA, the UK, Zambia and Fiji. USA, the UK, Zambia and Fiji’s presentations were more focused on the importance of entering private ‘negotiations’ between the parties rather than the court should decide on anything pertaining to the actual legality of Israel’s occupation. USA, UK, Zambia and Fiji wants this matter to be settled outside the court.

 

In my view, the Palestinians should NEVER EVER enter ANY negotiations on Israel’s occupation led by America and be tricked into settling a ‘deal’ with Israel. There is NOTHING legal about Israel’s occupation of their land. The whole world knows it.

 

Secondly, as the ICJ hearings were being concluded, prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (b. 1958) suddenly announced that the Palestinian government resigns. This smells America a looong way. First of all, the PA government hasn’t really resigned. The corrupt interloper Mahmoud Abbas (b. 1935) is still in reign as their President, and the old government still continues - only now in an administrative role and not in a political role. To me, it sounds very much like the USA is trying to lay the ground for a new government that they - will choose. I say; let the Palestinians themselves choose their own government in free and open elections.

 

Thirdly, suddenly the geriatric American president Joe Biden (b. 1942) starts talking about his ‘hope’ for a possible hostage deal and a ceasefire within next monday; March 4th. Well dream on, Joe, that ‘deal’ will not be happening because Israel refuses to meet the demands of Hamas of a permanent ceasefire, and the USA does not want to include the resistance movement in Gaza in their future plans for a new Palestinian government.

 

So that is where we stand today. What atrocities will Israel commit tomorrow? We shall see. In the meanwhile, I will present to you the most excellent presentation in the ICJ held by the League of Arab States, represented by Abdel Hakim El Rifai and Ralph Wilde. If there is ONE presentation you need to see, hear or read - it is this one:

 

International Court of Justice: Day 6 hearing on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories (publ. 26 February 2024) [Video]

  

International Court of Justice: Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem [Transcripts and Documents]

  

The PRESIDENT: I thank the delegation of Zambia for its presentation. I invite the next participating delegation, the League of Arab States, to address the Court and I call Mr Abdel Hakim El Rifai to the podium.

 

Mr EL RIFAI: [ARAB LEAGUE] (26 Feb. 2024)

 

1. Thank you, Mr President, honourable Members of the Court, it is a great honour and privilege to appear before you today, on behalf of the League of Arab States.

 

2. I would like to read a statement by His Excellency Mr Ahmed Aboul Gheit (b. 1942), Secretary- General of the League of Arab States.

 

3. The League of Arab States attaches high importance to the present proceedings, hoping that they contribute to safeguarding the principles of international law, to uphold the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and end the last oppressive, expansionist, apartheid, settler-colonial occupation, still standing in the twenty-first century.

 

4. The persistence of this occupation, acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity, displacement of populations, imprisonment of Palestinians behind illegal segregation walls, expansion of illegal settlements, creating new political realities on the ground aiming at complicating the dismantling of the occupation ⎯ all ⎯ will never discourage Palestinians from claiming their legitimate inalienable rights.

 

5. The insistence on placing Israel above the law, through the politicization of accountability and adopting double standards in the application of justice is a direct threat to international peace and stability.

 

6. Ending Israel’s total impunity, and subjecting it ⎯ like any other State ⎯ to the universal rules of international law, will help annul its pretexts to systematically reject peace initiatives, the most serious of which is the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which offered full normalization of relations with all Arab States, in exchange of Israel only respecting its already established obligations, under the bodies of international law, human rights law, and the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

 

7. This prolonged occupation is an affront to international justice. The failure to bring it to an end has led to the current horrors perpetrated against the Palestinian people, amounting to genocide. There can be no moral or juridical justification for occupying lands, killing, terrorizing and displacing their populations.

 

8. The League of Arab States trusts the esteemed Court will confirm the illegality of this occupation and unambiguously rule on the legal consequences for all parties, especially those who turn a blind eye, facilitate, assist or participate in any way in perpetuating this illegal situation.

 

9. Only the rule of law ⎯ not the prevailing “law of the jungle” ⎯ will pave the way to peace in the whole region. Ending the occupation is the gateway to peaceful coexistence.

 

10. Thank you very much for your kind attention. I now respectfully request, Mr President, that you call on Dr Ralph Wilde, Senior Counsel and Advocate, to address the legal questions before the Court.

  

The PRESIDENT: I thank Mr El Rifai. I now give the floor to Mr Ralph Wilde. You have the floor, Sir.

  

Mr WILDE: [ARAB LEAGUE] (26 Feb. 2024)

 

1. Mr President, distinguished Members of the Court, it is a great honour and privilege to appear before you, and to represent the League of Arab States.

 

1. MORE THAN CENTURY-LONG DENIAL OF SELF-DETERMINATION OF, AND WAR AGAINST, THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, ON THE BASIS OF RACISM

 

2. The Palestinian people have been denied the exercise of their legal right to self-determination through the more than century-long violent, colonial, racist effort to establish a nation State exclusively for the Jewish people in the land of Mandatory Palestine.

 

3. When this began after the First World War, the Jewish population of that land was 11 per cent. Forcibly implementing Zionism in this demographic context has necessarily involved the extermination, or forced displacement of, some of the non-Jewish Palestinian population; the exercise of domination over, and subjugation, dispossession and immiseration of, remaining non-Jewish Palestinians; the emigration to that land of Jewish people, regardless of any direct personal link; and the denial of Palestinian refugees the right to return. All operating through a racist distinction privileging Jewish people over non-Jewish Palestinian people.

 

4. This has necessitated serious violations of all the fundamental, jus cogens and erga omnes norms of international law — the right of self-determination, the prohibitions on aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, racial discrimination, apartheid and torture ⎯ and the core protections of international humanitarian law.

 

5. Today I will address, first, violations of international law arising out of the régime of racial domination — apartheid — perpetrated against the Palestinian people across the entire land of historic Palestine, and then, second, the existential illegality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.

 

6. As a necessary prerequisite, I must begin with the special right granted to the Palestinian people in the League Covenant.

 

2. PALESTINIAN SELF-DETERMINATION UNDER ARTICLE 22 OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS COVENANT

 

7. The legal right of self-determination of the Palestinian people originates in the “sacred trust” obligations of Article 22 of the League Covenant, part of the Versailles Treaty. Palestine ⎯ an “A” class Mandate under British colonial rule ⎯ was, after the First World War, supposed to have its existence as an independent State “provisionally recognized”: a sui generis right of self-determination. The United Kingdom and other members of the League Council attempted to bypass this, incorporating the 1917 Balfour Declaration commitment to establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine into the instrument stipulating how the Mandate would operate. However, the Council had no legal power to bypass the Covenant in this way. It acted ultra vires, and the relevant provisions were, legally, void. There was and is no legal basis in that Mandate instrument for either a specifically Jewish State in Palestine, or the United Kingdom’s failure to discharge the “sacred trust” obligation to implement Palestinian self-determination.

 

3. SELF-DETERMINATION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR —AN ADDITIONAL RIGHT

 

8. After the Second World War, a self-determination right applicable to colonial peoples generally crystallized in international law.

 

9. For the Palestinian people, this essentially corresponded to, and supplemented, the pre-existing Covenant right, regarding the same, single territory. The 1947 proposal to partition Palestine was contrary to this; the Arab rejection an affirmation of the legal status quo.

 

10. In 1948, then, Palestine was, legally, a single territory with a single population enjoying a right of self-determination on a unitary basis.

 

4. NAKBA IN 1948 — VIOLATION OF SELF-DETERMINATION AND CREATION OF A RÉGIME INVOLVING AN ONGOING VIOLATION OF THIS RIGHT,

AS WELL AS RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND APARTHEID

AND A DENIAL OF THE RIGHT TO RETURN

 

11. Despite this, a State of Israel, specifically for Jewish people, was proclaimed in 1948 by those controlling 78 per cent — more than three quarters — of Palestine, accompanied by the forced displacement of a significant number of the non-Jewish Palestinian population — the Nakba, catastrophe. This illegal secession was an egregious violation of Palestinian self-determination. Israel’s statehood was recognized, and Israel admitted as a United Nations Member, despite this illegality. Israel is not the legal continuation or successor of the Mandate.

 

12. This violation of Palestinian self-determination is ongoing, and unresolved. Two key elements are:

 

13. First, Palestinian people not displaced from the land proclaimed to be of Israel in 1948, and their descendants, have been forced to live as citizens— presently they constitute 17.2 per cent — of a State conceived to be of and for another racial group, under the domination of that group, necessarily treated as second class, because of their race.

 

14. Second, Palestinian people displaced from that land, and their descendants, cannot return.

 

15. These are serious breaches of the right of self-determination, the prohibitions of racial discrimination and apartheid, and the right of return. They must end, immediately.

 

5. 1967 ISRAELI CAPTURE OF THE PALESTINIAN GAZA STRIP AND WEST BANK (INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM)

 

16. As if this ongoing Nakba was not catastrophic enough, in 1967 Israel captured the remaining 22 per cent of historic Palestine — the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem — the Naksa. It has maintained that use of force to remain in control for the 57-year period since.

 

6. ILLEGAL RACIAL DOMINATION — APARTHEID — FROM THE JORDAN RIVER TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

 

17. For more than half a century, then, a State defined to be of and for Jewish people exclusively has governed the entire land of historic Palestine and the Palestinian people there. And the régime of racial domination — apartheid — and denying return, has been extended throughout. In the case of Palestinians living in the occupied territory, this has involved the same serious violations of international law, supplemented by serious violations of norms applicable in occupied territory.

 

18. Indeed, these people are subject to an even more extreme form of racist domination, as they are not even citizens of the State exercising authority over them. Even in East Jerusalem, which Israel has purported to annex, the majority non-Jewish Palestinian residents do not have citizenship, whereas Jewish residents, including illegal settlers, are citizens.

 

19. Just as in territorial Israel, in occupied territory, these serious violations concerning how Israel exercises authority over the Palestinian people must end immediately.

 

20. However, here, a more fundamental matter must also be addressed. The illegality of the exercise of authority itself.

 

7. THE GAZA STRIP AND WEST BANK AS PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, WITH THE CONSEQUENCE THAT ISRAEL’S PURPORTED ANNEXATION, AND ATTEMPTED COLONIZATION, ARE ILLEGAL

 

21. The enduring Palestinian right of self-determination means that the Palestinian people, and the State of Palestine, not Israel, are sovereign over the territory Israel captured in 1967. For Israel, the land is extraterritorial, and, given what I said about the Mandate, territory over which it has no legal sovereign entitlement.

 

22. Despite this, Israel has purported to annex East Jerusalem and taken various actions there and in the rest of the West Bank constituting de jure and de facto purported annexation, including implanting settlements. It is Israeli policy that Israel should be not only the exclusive authority over the entire land between the river and the sea, but also the exclusive sovereign authority there.

 

23. This constitutes a complete repudiation of Palestinian self-determination as a legal right, since it empties the right entirely of any territorial content.

 

24. Actualizing this through de facto and de jure purported annexation is, first, a serious violation of Palestinian self-determination and, second, because it is enabled through the use of force, a violation of the prohibition on the purported acquisition of territory through the use of force in the law on the use of force, and so an aggression. Serious violations of further areas of law regulating the conduct of the occupation are also being perpetrated, notably the prohibitions on implanting settlements and altering, unless absolutely prevented, the legal, political, social and religious status quo.

 

25. The occupation is, therefore, existentially illegal because of its use to actualize purported annexation. To end this serious illegality, it must be terminated: Israel must renounce all sovereignty claims and all settlements must be removed. Immediately.

 

26. However, this is not the only basis on which the occupation’s existential legality must be addressed.

 

27. We need to delve deeper into both the law of self-determination and the law on the use of force.

 

8. SELF-DETERMINATION AS A RIGHT TO BE SELF-GOVERNING, REQUIRING THE OCCUPATION TO END IMMEDIATELY

 

28. Beginning with self-determination: this right, when applied to the Palestinian people in the territory Israel captured in 1967, is a right to be entirely self-governing, free from Israeli domination.

 

29. Consequently, the Palestinian people have a legal right to the immediate end of the occupation. And Israel has a co-relative legal duty to immediately terminate the occupation.

 

30. This right exists and operates simply and exclusively because the Palestinian people are entitled to it. It does not depend on others agreeing to its realization. It is a right.

 

31. It is a repudiation of “trusteeship”, whereby colonial peoples were ostensibly to be granted freedom only if and when they were deemed “ready” because of their stage of “development” determined by the racist standard of civilization. The anti-colonial self-determination rule replaced this with a right based on the automatic, immediate entitlement of all people to freedom, without preconditions. In the words of General Assembly resolution 1514, “inadequacy of . . . preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence”.

 

32. Some suggest that the Palestinian people were offered, and rejected, deals that could have ended the occupation. And, therefore, Israel can maintain it pending a settlement. Even assuming, arguendo, the veracity of this account, the “deals” involved a further loss of the sovereign territory of the Palestinian people.

 

33. Israel cannot lawfully demand concessions on Palestinian rights as the price for ending its impediment to Palestinian freedom. This would mean Israel using force to coerce the Palestinian people to give up some of their peremptory legal rights: illegal in the law on the use of force and, necessarily, voiding the relevant terms of any agreement reached. The Palestinian people are legally entitled to reject a further loss of land over which they have an exclusive, legal, peremptory right. Any such rejection makes no difference to Israel’s immediate legal obligation to end the occupation.

 

9. THE OCCUPATION AS AN ILLEGAL USE OF FORCE IN THE JUS AD BELLUM AS A GENERAL MATTER (BEYOND THE LINK TO PURPORTED ANNEXATION)

 

34. Turning to the law on the use of force: Israel’s control over the Palestinian territory since 1967, as a military occupation, is an ongoing use of force. As such, its existential legality is determined by the law on the use of force, as a general matter, beyond the specific issue of annexation.

 

35. Israel captured the Gaza Strip and West Bank from Egypt and Jordan in the war it launched against them and Syria. It claimed to be acting in self-defence, anticipating a non-immediately imminent attack. The war was over after six days. Peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and Jordan were subsequently adopted.

 

36. Despite this, Israel maintained control of the territory — continuing the use of force enabling its capture.

 

37. Israel’s 1967 war was illegal in the jus ad bellum — even assuming, arguendo, its claim of a feared attack, States cannot lawfully use force in non-immediately imminent anticipatory self-defence.

 

38. Alternatively, assuming ⎯ again arguendo ⎯ that the war was lawful, the justification ended after six days. However, the jus ad bellum requirements continued to apply to the occupation as itself a continuing use of force. In 1967, with self-determination well established in international law, States could not lawfully use force to retain control over a self-determination unit captured in war, unless the legal test justifying the initial use of force also justified, on the same basis, the use of force in retaining control. Moreover, this justification would need to continue, not only in the immediate aftermath, but for more than half a century. Manifestly, this legal test has not been met.

 

39. Israel’s exercise of control over the Gaza Strip and West Bank through the use of force has been illegal in the jus ad bellum since the capture of the territory, or, at least, very soon afterwards.

 

40. The occupation is, therefore, again existentially illegal in the law on the use of force — an aggression — this time, as a general matter, beyond illegality specific to annexation. To terminate this serious violation, the occupation must, likewise, end immediately.

 

10. ILLEGAL FORCE DOES NOT BECOME LAWFUL IN RESPONSE TO RESISTANCE TO IT

 

41. What of Israel’s current military action in Gaza? This is not a war that began in October 2023. It is a drastic scaling-up of the force exercised there, and in the West Bank, on a continual basis, since 1967. A justification for a new phase in an ongoing illegal use of force cannot be constructed solely out of the consequences of violent resistance to that illegal use of force. Otherwise, an illegal use of force would be rendered lawful because those subject to it violently resisted — circular logic, with a perverse outcome.

 

11. ISRAEL CANNOT LAWFULLY USE FORCE TO CONTROL THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORY FOR SECURITY PURPOSES/PENDING A PEACE AGREEMENT

 

42. More generally, Israel cannot lawfully use force to control the Palestinian territory for security purposes pending an agreement providing security guarantees. States can only lawfully use force outside their borders in extremely narrow circumstances. Beyond that, they must address security concerns non-forcibly.

 

43. The United States of America, the United Kingdom and Zambia suggested here that there is a sui generis applicable legal framework, an Israeli-Palestinian lex specialis. This somehow supersedes the rules of international law determining whether the occupation is existentially lawful. Instead, we have a new rule, justifying the occupation until there is a peace agreement meeting Israeli security needs. This is the law as these States would like it to be, not the law as it is. It has no basis in resolution 242, Oslo or any other resolutions or agreements. Actually, you are being invited to do away with the very operation of some of the fundamental, peremptory rules of international law itself. As a result, the matters these rules conceive as rights vested in the Palestinian people would be realized only if agreement is reached, and only on the basis of such agreement. At best, if there is an agreement, this means one that need not be compatible with Palestinian peremptory legal rights, determined only by the acute power imbalance in Israel’s favour. At worst, if there is no agreement, this means that the indefinite continuation of Israeli rule over the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, on the basis of racist supremacy and a claim to sovereignty, would be lawful. This is an affront to the international rule of law, to the United Nations Charter imperative to settle disputes in conformity with international law, and to your judicial function as guardians of the international legal system.

 

44. A final potential basis sometimes invoked to justify continuing the occupation should be addressed. Occupation and human rights law — applicable to illegal and lawful occupations alike — oblige Israel to address security threats in occupied territory. However, they only regulate the conduct of an occupation when it exists. They do not also provide a legal basis for that existence itself. Existential legality is determined by the law of self-determination and the jus ad bellum only. There is no “back door” legal basis for Israel to maintain the occupation through the imperatives of occupation and human rights law.

 

12. EXISTENTIAL ILLEGALITY OF ISRAEL’S OCCUPATION OF THE PALESTINIAN GAZA STRIP AND WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM

 

45. In sum: the occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is existentially illegal on two mutually reinforcing bases.

 

46. First, the law on the use of force. Here, the occupation is illegal both as a use of force without valid justification, and because it is enabling an illegal purported annexation. As such, it is an aggression.

 

47. Second, the law of self-determination. Here, it is illegal again because of the association with illegal purported annexation, and also, more generally, because it is, quite simply, an exercise of authority over the Palestinian people that, by its very nature, violates their right to freedom.

 

48. This multifaceted existential illegality — involving serious violations of peremptory norms — has two key consequences.

 

49. First: the occupation must end: Israel must renounce its claim to sovereignty over the Palestinian territory; all settlers must be removed. Immediately. This is required to end the illegality, to discharge the positive obligation to enable immediate Palestinian self-administration, and because Israel lacks any legal entitlement to exercise authority.

 

50. Second, in the absence of the occupation ending, necessarily, everything Israel does in the Palestinian territory lacks a valid international legal basis and is, therefore (subject to the Namibia exception), invalid, not only those things violating the law regulating the conduct of the occupation. Those norms entitle and require Israel to do certain things. But this does not alter the more fundamental position, from the law on the use of force and self-determination, that Israel lacks any valid authority to do anything, and whatever it does is illegal, even if compliant with or pursuant to the conduct-regulatory rules.

 

13. THE WORDS OF REFAAT ALAREER

 

51. I will close by quoting Palestinian academic and poet Refaat Alareer (1979-2023), from his final poem posted 36 days before he was killed by Israel in Gaza on 6 December 2023:

 

If I must die, you must live to tell my story [...]

If I must die

let it bring hope, let it be a story.

 

Thank you for your attention.

 

The PRESIDENT: I thank the delegation of the League of Arab States for its presentation. Before I invite the next delegation to make its oral statement, the Court will observe a break for 10 minutes. The sitting is suspended.

 

The Court adjourned from 11.25 a.m.to 11.40 a.m.

Two eyes in Tibet denote the masculine and feminine principles in the world and the harmony between them. This is also the concept of Yin Yang in Feng Shui.

Many call it the "bead of LOVE". It is believed that the bead attracts love and partners, builds relationships. This is only partly true. First of all, the bead harmonizes the internal balance of male and female, then the surrounding space reacts accordingly. Thanks to inner harmony, existing relationships are normalized and what was previously empty is filled. Updates in life will not keep you waiting if you wear a 2-eyed Pure bead all the time.

 

Invisibility is so 20th Century. Thank you to the people at Lush Cosmetics for improving the health of the people we serve by normalizing their humanity. Allies need allies.

  

NCTE Showcase Event at Lush Tysons Corner, Virginia, USA, see: www.facebook.com/events/1762695184025567/

Last night photographed some chickens bounced flash. I complained about about my Fuji viewfinder being too dark, not being able to see for composing and be able to focus. I do know how to use flash but seldom use it, therefore the camera/flash switches are not burned into my brain. For the hen shoots exposure was not an issue because I used bounce flash. With Fuji, and to lesser degree all cameras, it pays to now how to use flash without TTL. Turns out focus was not an issues as I didn’t realize my camera had focal assist lamp on (a happy D’oh). But composition certainly was an issues. I ended up with way too many headless chickens shots. I have now found the switch for allowing me to see a normalized view hence be able to frame. I also know where the switch is to toggle focus assist light is.

 

Tomorrow I will do another shoot and hopefully get a better success rate … time will tell.

The goal of "SlutWalk" is to bring together people of all genders, ages, professions, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and economic statuses to create a dialogue and bring an end to attitudes that normalize victim blaming and slut shaming and to ultimately put an end to rape culture.

Licensing information: Due to the nature of this event and its goal to protect victims of violence everywhere, all photos are copyrighted and may not be used without explicit permission.

 

If you would like to use this photo to protect survivors of sexual assault and prevent violence, feel free to send me a request. for more information see www.slutwalkdc.com

 

Any other use, including embedding, is a violation of the license. Thank you and thanks for promoting the health of people and the communities they bring health to.

Adriene had this silver necklace made for my birthday. She appreciates my attempts to reclaim this word. When I was in college, I became sick and infuriated when hearing men call other men "pussys" for not being a "real man." But even more untolerable was hearing other women call other men "pussys" for failing at "manhood."

 

Whenever I heard "pussy" used in such a condescending way, I would always say "excuse me? those are my genitals you are referring to and my Pussy is POWERFUL, not weak. So if you are going to de-masculinize a man, you can de-phallasize him, you can call him an ass asshole, you can call him a dick, a bastard, but never give him the power of your pussy."

 

After giving that speech once every week I decided something had to be done, women needed to reclaim the word "pussy" and in effect reclaim their own pussies. So I coined the term "pussy power kunt control." Pussy Power stuck while kunt control fell to the wayside. I made buttons with the word "Pussy Power" and I passed it out to women who honored their pussies by referring to it as celebratory word, not a hurtful word.

 

Adriene has known me for about 10 years now and I think she has heard me give that speech so many times. Finally I have a beautiful necklace for my birthday from one of my best friends! thank you Adriene! you TOO have the power of the Pussy!

 

We will reclaim an identity that we allowed to be taken away from and reclaim the responsibilities that comes along with it. If YOU have Pussy Power, NEVER let a man or boy and most importantly another woman call another male a pussy in a hurtful or denigrating way. Those are YOUR genitals. PUSSY POWER!

 

Now on a separate note - Several friends commented on how they were so amazed I could post these photos about Adriene's pussy power necklace gift for me openly on flickr. My birthday was back in April - and those few comments made me pause before posting this on my blog. So here are my thoughts on this matter.

 

so when my friends told me that I was brave to openly post these- I ask them why exactly should I have been embarrassed or afraid? They would say well you know you get google searched for jobs and grants and people might think that you are a liability or they may judge you before they get to meet you. Academic colleagues have said well your students are going to find it and you're never going to get tenured for posting this or what happens if your professor sees this online? Well duh - I always googled people before I would interview, hire or even meet someone. I would like to remind everyone that I was openly doing internet searches on potential dates and hirings back in the late 1900's and early 2000's before Google even existed ok?

 

So of COURSE I understand that this public internet posting will be potentially seen by my past, current and future colleagues and/or students. But I don't think I am doing anything wrong or embarrassing when I insist that women not allow the word "pussy" to be used in a derogatory way. I am not using it in a nasty way - so how is that a liability? What I find offensive is when people remain quiet when something offensive is said. And worse off I find it offensive when people judge others for unsubstantiated reasons. To be anymore hush-hush with pussy feeds into larger schemas of patriarchy and misogyny.

 

I stand behind my attempts to un-dirty the word in a fashionable way. For too long (not in all communities) women's reproductive organs have been considered to be profane and unworthy of equal respect to the phallus. The sexuality associated with vaginas have been seen as a threat and rituals are created to take away the power from their vaginas. The menstrual cycles that women go through are seen as filthy - requiring physical separation of women from the community. I find it problematic that although we have formal gender equality, this is not always reflected in our vernacular. The heavy association of the word "pussy" is too weighted on the side of the "nasty" or as lacking a cock which means lacking power. So powerful and normalized is the cock that we celebrate and laugh at the word. Even when a male is called a "cock" - like "he's such a cock," he's a cock precisely because of his unwarranted use of power. We laugh at jokes about "dicks' - such as Justin Timberlake's Dick in a Box - but the word pussy is so nasty and weak that it can't even be intellectualized or comedized (I made this word up) in popular culture. My point is that the verbal representitive use of genitals reflects underlying real world inequalities and tensions between males and femals.

 

I simply will not be embarassed by the names of female genitals - And if this prevents me from being hired - then I certainly don't belong at that organization, institution or company. And if students can't take me seriously after reading this, then they need to grow up. Really. and if Professors find this and are horrified then I am sure glad that they aren't working with me.

 

When we make a claim to an identity, it's not just about claiming rights or something abstract like belonging - but it's about claiming responsibility to that identity. So in claims that I make - like I claim I am Chinese-American or I claim that I am from the U.S. or that I live in Brooklyn or that I a female- then I take a responsibility in those claims to act and to practice what I claim.

 

And hopefully future colleagues who do come upon this will see that this is a sign of character - that I am not afraid to stand behind someone or something. Now I am not some militant gender freak - so I feel no need to parade my thoughts or beat up people for calling men pussies. Nor do I lack the sense to wear this necklace when I interview someone or when I am being interviewed - or at some funding meeting or my dissertation defense or even at any professional meetings. I don't believe in drawing unnecessary attention to myself and detracting from the larger goals or messages in professional situations because I do understand wearing this necklace entails the burden of explaining the message - which I embrace in moments when I want to teach people about pussy power. BUT I will wear it when I find see fit and fashionable! And if after reading this explanation and you still find my pussy power offensive, horrific or distasteful then it's time to bring in some humor into your life and chillll out! Go turn on Prince and Mozart and watch some South Park.

   

A statue of celebrated New York photographer Diane Arbus by English sculptor Gillian Wearing was on display in Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park from October 20, 2021 to August 14, 2022. The life-size sculpture, standing shoes-to-the-ground without a base at 5’6” tall, depicts Arbus with "depicts Arbus with her finger on the shutter button of her iconic twin lens camera, as she might have been seen in the 1950s and '60s.”

 

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) photographed a wide range of subjects including strippers, carnival performers, nudists, people with dwarfism, children, mothers, couples, elderly people, and middle-class families, often in familiar settings, helping to normalize marginalized groups and highlighting the importance of proper representation.

Health benefits

 

Potential health benefits of banana consumption. By a high potassium to sodium content, bananas may prevent high blood pressure and its complications. High fiber content may also contribute to this effect. High potassium may also prevent renal calcium loss, in effect preventing bone breakdown. In diarrhea, it contributes with electrolyte replacement, as well as increased absorption of nutrients. Bananas also have some antacid effect, protecting from peptic ulcers. Pectin content, a hydrocolloid, can ease constipation by normalizing movement through the intestine. The low glycemic index in unripe bananas is of particular benefit to people with diabetes. High fructooligosaccharide content may work as a prebiotic, nourishing the intestinal flora to produce beneficial vitamins and enzymes. Carotenoid content has antioxidant effects, and protects against vitamin A deficiency, resulting in e.g. night blindness. Moderate consumption decreases risk of kidney cancer, possibly due to antioxidant phenolic compounds In contrast, large consumption of highly processed fruit juice increases the risk of kidney cancer.

 

Fruit consumption in general decreases the risk of age-related muscular degeneration

   

### ........must view as slide show.......##

Mamiya C330f // CineStill 400D

with some heavy processing work

If someone is interested, this is the production line:

Raw-Development and tonemapping by Oloneo PhotoEngine

Local Normalization, Anisotropic Smoothing and Shock Filters by gimp-plug-in g´mic

Curves and Resizing in gimp and some Octave Sharpening from g´mic in the end.

Sony RX1 User Report.

 

I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.

 

The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.

 

Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.

 

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).

 

Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features

 

The Price

 

First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:

 

Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.

Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.

You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”

 

In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.

 

35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2

 

The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.

 

While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...

 

I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.

 

As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.

 

Design is about making choices

 

When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.

 

So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.

 

In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.

 

In use

 

So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.

 

Snapshots

 

As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.

 

I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.

 

To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.

 

Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.

 

Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.

 

How I shoot with the RX1

 

Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.

 

Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.

 

So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).

 

Working within constraints.

 

The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.

 

To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.

 

Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.

 

I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.

 

But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.

 

Pro Tip: Focusing

 

Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.

 

Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.

 

Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.

 

Carrying.

 

I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.

The Duran: U.S. and Japan prepare for conflict with China, citing this Financial Times article, "US military deepens ties with Japan and Philippines to prepare for China threat" and quoting U.S. Lt General James Biermann.

youtu.be/UJqwTcUFy0k

 

www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is-japan-getting-ready-for-a...

 

Is Japan Getting Ready for a War with China? It Looks Like It

 

Throughout history, there has been no love lost between China and Japan. While the island nation of Japan has been influenced throughout its history by China, modern relations have been strained due to past conflicts. Today, China’s and Japan’s economies are respectively the world’s second and third-largest by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and in recent years the two have become close business partners since relations were normalized in 1972.

 

Yet, Tokyo sees Beijing as its biggest security challenge, and as a result, the Japanese government has announced it would sharply increase military spending, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. This would mark Japan’s largest post-World War II shift away from pacifism.

 

Point of Contention

Among the sources of contention is actually an uninhabited group of Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed East China Sea islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. According to Japan, the islands, which had previously hosted a Japanese seafood factory, are part of its territory, both historically and by international law.

 

However, Beijing maintains that the islands were stolen in 1895, and should have been returned to mainland control at the end of World War II.

 

Though the actual islands may have little value, the region’s waters are rich fishing grounds while undersea oil deposits have been discovered. The 1972 normalization communiqué did not address the issue, and the dispute only intensified in 2012 after Tokyo nationalized the islands.

 

Arms Buildup

 

Japan will undertake its biggest arms buildup since the war, in an effort to deter China from war in East Asia. It was in a 2019 defense white paper that Tokyo had identified Beijing as its chief adversary – noting that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was undergoing a rapid modernization that had the potential to pose a serious security threat.

 

In addition, Japan has monitored China’s saber-rattling to return self-ruling Taiwan to mainland control, and by force if necessary. The concerns have only intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, which has weakened public opposition in Japan to the rearming. The next Communist Party delegation to gather in Beijing is scheduled for 2027 when Chinese leaders will determine where its own modernization stands. It is already being seen as a potentially noteworthy milestone for Beijing as it will mark the centennial of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

 

Clearly, Tokyo plans to be ready to stand up to any Chinese aggression that could occur – as well as any from North Korea or Russia. The strategy document reaffirmed concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its recent string of missile launches.

 

However, it placed North Korea below China on the current threat list, reversing the order from a previous strategy released in 2013. Tokyo’s spending plans commit Japan to 43 trillion yen (approximately $312 billion), in defense outlays over the next five years, starting in the next fiscal year that will begin in April. Japan would spend about 2% of its GDP on defense, which put it in line with spending targets shared by the U.S.’s European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Around $3.7 billion is reportedly earmarked just for missile systems, including the American Tomahawk, which would enable the Japanese military to target an adversary’s facilities if an attack appeared imminent. The message that Japan will likely want to send is that it would be far too costly to attack the island nation, thus pursuing a peace through strength strategy.

 

A Senior Editor for 1945, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,000 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.

 

Below is U.S. Ambassador Kennedy's concerns about handing administrative control of DiaoYu Islands, aka Senkaku Islands, to Japan while negotiating with Taiwan on textile "voluntary" quotas. Also attached below are several conversations among U.S. politicians on the Islands. (GRC = Government of the Republic of China)

 

history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d133

 

(c) Offer certain concessions to Taiwan. Ambassador Kennedy feels the impasse can be broken without causing disastrous side effects for either our industry or the Taiwan Government. While the Chinese have stressed the importance of certain military items (F–4's for example) Ambassador Kennedy is convinced that the “only” way to resolve the issues is to withhold turning the Senkaku Islands over to Japanese administrative control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement.3

 

4. Ambassador Kennedy's argument on the Senkaku follows:

 

“This is a major issue in Taiwan with both domestic and international implications. If the U.S. were to maintain administrative control, it would give the GRC a tremendous public boost since they have expressed themselves so forcefully on the issues. Further, it would be a very direct indication of our continued interest in and support for the GRC—and it would be done at Japan's expense, a point that is vital to our ability to proceed effectively with textile negotiations in Hong Kong and Korea and subsequently in Japan. Announcement of such a decision allows the GRC to save face both at home (it takes the Vice Premier off the hook) and abroad. Taiwan could accept the current textile package in face of Hong Kong and Korean pressure.

 

“In addition, such an act would, in my opinion, provide a very badly needed shock effect on the Japanese. It would indicate that U.S. acquiescence in all matters requested by the Japanese could no longer be taken for granted.

 

“I can fully appreciate the opposition which such a proposal will generate in certain quarters of our government. But I feel that this can and must be done. We accepted stewardship of these Islands after World War II. Neither historically nor geographically are they a part of the Ryukyus Chain containing Okinawa. Consequently, the GRC suffers a great loss of face if we allow Japan to gain administrative control of them. Since possession of the Islands is still in dispute, there is every reason for the United States to maintain administrative control until such time as the dispute is settled. Taiwan feels very strongly that once Japan had administrative control there is absolutely no possibility of their ever relinquishing that control. By no means am I suggesting that we hand the islands over to Taiwan. Rather, I am strongly recommending the wisdom of preserving the status quo rather than allowing Japan to assume administrative control with the great loss of face this entails for Taiwan.

 

“I know of no other action sufficiently important or sufficiently dramatic to resolve our textile problems specifically as well as to pave the way for resolution of several general international trade difficulties. The stakes involved are very high which I fully realize. I realize, too, that only the President can make such a decision. Therefore, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to present to him all the potential benefits and ramifications of my recommendations.”

 

5. Henry Kissinger is looking into the background of the Senkaku Islands dispute and will be able to report to you at our meeting this afternoon on what would be involved in not turning over the Senkaku Islands to Japan at this point.

  

3 See Documents 113, 114, and 115.

 

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 113

 

He then raised this issue of the Senkaku Islands.6

 

6 Japanese-American negotiations over Okinawa sparked renewed Chinese interest in the Senkaku Islands (Taioyutai or Daioyutai in Chinese). Chow gave a 4-page aidemémoire to Green on September 16, 1970, outlining the ROC's objections to Japanese sovereignty over these islands. (National Archives, RG 59, EA/ROC Files: Lot 75 D 61, Subject Files, Petroleum–Senkakus, January–September 1970) Shoesmith summarized reports of student demonstrations in Taipei against Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands and noted: “The Embassy believes that the initiative for the demonstrations has come from the students rather than the government. But the latter probably has given tacit approval out of reluctance to oppose the fruits of youthful patriotism and its own dissatisfaction over our China policy and oil exploration moratorium.” (Memorandum from Shoesmith t. Green, April 17; ibid., Lot 75 D 76, Petroleum–Senkakus, January–March 1971) There were also student protests in the United States and Hong Kong. The White House tape of the April 12 meeting indicates that Chow emphasized that the final disposition of the Senkakus should be kept open, and that this issue was a measure of the ROC's ability to protect itself. He emphasized the symbolic importance of the islands. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Recording of conversation between Nixon and Kissinger, April 12, 1971, Oval Office, Conversation No. 477–3)

______________

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 114

Ambassador Chow said that in the measures the U.S. was taking which affected his country, the understanding if not the support of the Chinese people was needed. He described the strong sentiments which various Chinese groups had with regard to a number of issues, particularly the question of the status of Senkaku Islets. The demonstration which had taken place in Washington on April 10 was a case in point—those demonstrating had been scientists, engineers, and professional people and not just students. The demonstration had come on all of a sudden because these people had become excited, and was symbolic of what they and the country would stand for. Ambassador Chow declared that he had been asked by President Chiang to take up the Senkaku question with the President and Dr. Kissinger.

 

Dr. Kissinger stated that he was looking into the Senkaku matter, and asked Mr. Holdridge to forward a report to him on the issues involved by April 13.3

 

Ambassador Chow, in commenting further on the Senkakus, remarked that even when the Japanese had occupied Taiwan and the Ryukyus, legal matters involving the Senkakus had been handled by courts on Taiwan, and the fishing boats which went to the Senkakus had been from Taiwan. From the Japanese point of view, they didn't care how the Senkakus were administered. For the Chinese though, the issue of nationalism was deeply involved.

 

__________

 

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976

Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 115

115. Memorandum From John H. Holdridge of the National Security Council Staff to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, April 13, 1971.

 

SUBJECT

The Chinese Claim to the Senkaku Islets

 

You asked for information on the Chinese claim to the Senkaku Islets. The most recent summary of this was contained in a Note Verbale sent the State Department by the Chinese Embassy on March 15 (Tab A).2 Its main points are as follows:

 

—As early as the 15th century Chinese historical records considered the Senkakus as the boundary separating Taiwan from the independent kingdom of the Ryukyus.

 

—The geological structure of the Senkaku Islets is similar to that of other islets associated with Taiwan. The Senkakus are closer to Taiwan than to the Ryukyus and are separated from the Ryukyus by the Okinawa Trough at the end of the Continental Shelf, which is 2,000 meters in depth.

 

—Taiwanese fisherman have traditionally fished in the area of the Senkakus and called at these islets.

 

—The Japanese Government did not include the Senkakus in Okinawa Prefecture until after China's cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895.

 

—For regional security considerations the GRC has hitherto not challenged the U.S. military occupation of the Senkakus under Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. However, according to international law temporary military occupation of an area does not affect the ultimate determination of its sovereignty.

 

—In view of the expected termination of the U.S. occupation of the Ryukyu Islands in 1972, the U.S. is requested to respect the GRC's sovereign rights over the Senkaku Islets and restore them to the GRC when this termination takes place.

 

Comment. As you can imagine, the Japanese Government has a comparable list of apparently offsetting arguments and maintains simply that the Senkakus remain Japanese. State's position is that in occupying the Ryukyus and the Senkakus in 1945, and in proposing to return them to Japan in 1972, the U.S. passes no judgement as to conflicting claims over any portion of them, which should be settled directly by the parties concerned.3

 

1 Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 521, Country Files, Far East, China, Vol. VI. Confidential. Sent for information. A notation on the memorandum indicates Kissinger saw it on April 23.

 

2 Attached but not printed.

 

3 Kissinger's handwritten comment in the margin reads: “But that is nonsense since it gives islands to Japan. How can we get a more neutral position?”

 

__________

history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d134

Nixon, Kissinger, and Peterson met at Camp David from 3:25 to 4:10 p.m. on June 7. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President's Daily Diary) According to a draft telegram to Rogers by U. Alexis Johnson: “Henry Kissinger stepped into the breach with material that I supplied him, and last night [June 7] obtained the President's decision that we would not change our position on the Senkakus. However, this points up the heat that GRC is bringing to bear on us and in turn in some degree probably reflects the heat that GRC is feeling on a subject which it neglected for so long.” (Ibid., RG 59, U. Alexis Johnson Files: Lot 96 D 695, Nodis Chrono 1971) Kissinger and Johnson discussed the Senkaku Island issue by telephone on the morning of June 7. Johnson stated: “The principle that we are applying is that we receive the islands from Japan for administration and are returning them to Japan without prejudice to the rights—no position between the two governments on it.” (Memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Johnson, June 7, 10:35 a.m.; ibid., Telcons, May–June 1971)

 

On June 7 Kennedy told Chiang Ching-Kuo of the decision on the Senkaku Islands. Chiang asked that the U.S. Government categorically state at the time of the signing of the Okinawa reversion agreement that the final status of the islands had not been determined and should be settled by all parties involved. (Backchannel message from Kennedy to Peterson, June 9; ibid., White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Peter Peterson, Box 1, 1971, Textile Negotiations (cables)) In a June 10 memorandum to Kissinger, Johnson noted that Rogers had raised this issue with Japanese Foreign Minister Aichi at their meeting in Paris on June 9. (Ibid., RG 59, U. Alexis Johnson Files: Lot 96 D 695, Kissinger, Henry, 1971) On June 12 Peterson informed Kennedy, who was in Seoul, that Rogers had approached Aichi, “strongly urging GOJ to discuss issue with GRC prior to signature of Okinawa Agreement on June 17.” He also noted that a Department of State spokesman would announce on June 17 that a return of “administrative rights” to Japan of the Senkaku Islands “can in no way prejudice the underlying claims of the Republic of China.” (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files, Peter Peterson, Box 1, 1971, Textile Negotiations (cables)) On June 15 Peterson cabled Kennedy, in Seoul, stating that Aichi had met with the ROC Ambassador in Tokyo to discuss the Senkaku issue. (Ibid.) On July 12 Chiang Ching-Kuo complained to McConaughy that “the Japanese so far have refused to talk in any meaningful way on the subject.” (Telegram 3388 from Taipei, July 12; ibid., RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL CHINAT)

...

 

[Message clipped] View entire message

First world problems on Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, California

Ariana & Harper

Maryland

September 2016

"The Society of Book and Snake (incorporated as the Stone Trust Corporation) is the fourth oldest secret society at Yale University and was the first society to induct women into its delegation. Book and Snake was founded at the Sheffield Scientific School in 1863 as a three-year society bearing the Greek letters Sigma Delta Chi. As other "Sheff" societies, it was once residential and maintained a separate residential "cloister" at 1 Hillhouse Ave, which was built in 1888 and deeded to Yale after the institution of the residential college system. Members who lived in the society residence, or "Cloister," become the Cloister Club. Today, the building is the Yale University Provost's Office. A plaque honoring the society can be found on the first floor of the building. The Book and Snake emblem is a book surrounded by the ouroboros.

 

Like other landed Yale societies, Book and Snake owns its own meeting hall, or "tomb" at the corner of Grove St. and High St. As is tradition with the meeting places of Yale secret societies, the building is windowless and is usually available only to the current members and alumni. The society hosts invite-only parties for other members of the senior class to attend.

 

Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world.

 

Chartered by the Connecticut Colony, the Collegiate School was established in 1701 by clergy to educate Congregational ministers before moving to New Haven in 1716. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first PhD in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew after 1890 with rapid expansion of the physical campus and scientific research.

 

Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools: the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and twelve professional schools. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each school's faculty oversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus in downtown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus in West Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughout New England. As of 2021, the university's endowment was valued at $42.3 billion, the second largest of any educational institution. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States. Students compete in intercollegiate sports as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I – Ivy League.

 

As of October 2020, 65 Nobel laureates, five Fields Medalists, four Abel Prize laureates, and three Turing Award winners have been affiliated with Yale University. In addition, Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U.S. presidents, 10 Founding Fathers, 19 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 31 living billionaires, 54 College founders and presidents, many heads of state, cabinet members and governors. Hundreds of members of Congress and many U.S. diplomats, 78 MacArthur Fellows, 252 Rhodes Scholars, 123 Marshall Scholars, 102 Guggenheim Fellows and nine Mitchell Scholars have been affiliated with the university. Yale is a member of the Big Three. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 187 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source of doctoral degree recipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League. It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh), after normalization for the number of graduates, baccalaureate source of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel, Fields, Turing prizes, or membership in National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, or National Academy of Engineering).

 

New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut, and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 as determined by the 2020 United States Census, New Haven is the 3rd largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport and Stamford and the principal municipality of Greater New Haven, which had a total population of 864,835.

 

New Haven was one of the first planned cities in America. A year after its founding by English Puritans in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four grid, creating the "Nine Square Plan". The central common block is the New Haven Green, a 16-acre (6 ha) square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is now a National Historic Landmark, and the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by the American Planning Association as a National Planning Landmark.

 

New Haven is the home of Yale University, New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer, and an integral part of the city's economy. Health care, professional and financial services and retail trade also contribute to the city's economic activity.

 

The city served as co-capital of Connecticut from 1701 until 1873, when sole governance was transferred to the more centrally located city of Hartford. New Haven has since billed itself as the "Cultural Capital of Connecticut" for its supply of established theaters, museums, and music venues. New Haven had the first public tree planting program in America, producing a canopy of mature trees (including some large elms) that gave the city the nickname "The Elm City"." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

So, they're really tiny, but a little bigger than squinkies, and not squishy-squishy-squashy like squinkies. I will probably buy more but I will certainly wait until the prices normalize, I paid what will likely prove to be egregiously inflated, because I needed to satisfy my curiosity.

Remake! I took the original photo version of this in 2010 to bring awareness to "Violence Against Women". At the time, I did not know that this would directly impact me in 2011 when I met my abuser, William.

 

A few weeks ago, William's mother sent me a friend request on Facebook, so I decided to remake this photo. There's no escaping this, even years into my healing. I'm reminded of it constantly. From his mother Pauline trying to add me on Facebook, to his partner Victoria liking my photos on Instagram. I have a life sentence of being a domestic abuse survivor. Antagonized. Intimidated.

 

The abuse didn't start with violence. For years, William broke me down & made me dependent on him. He made me cut off my friends, ruined my relationship with my family, got me a job at his workplace so I'd be near him, changed schools so we'd share the same campus. So we moved in together in late 2013 after I had nothing left. It only took until early 2014 for him to start beating me.

 

This is the reality. Abuse is a slow burn & then it's a horrific explosion. Rinse, repeat. He made me believe that I deserved everything & that I was crazy for not seeing that. Years later, after re-learning how to be a functioning person, I'll never be 100% okay again. Especially not with his loved ones doing this to me. But I've accepted this because I'm not the one who should be ashamed.

 

If my vulnerability brings awareness to this horrific issue, it will be worth it. Survivors are dealing with indescribable pain. I may seem strong, then I get a friend request on Facebook & I'm suddenly 22, hiding under the bed, while William drags me out to choke me. How can we accept that people do this to their loved ones? How can we accept that his loved ones are still trying to terrorize me?

 

Stop the violence. Be kind to each other. Normalize knowing the red flags of abuse. Support each other, even from afar. Call out assholes. Check in on your loved ones. Partner violence rates have increased because of the pandemic. We need to talk about this more. Survivors should not be embarrassed. People like William and his loved ones should be.

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

I combined 200 images of graffiti and normalized the contrast to produce this imaqe. The images were selected from a larger group of 20,000 images, all tagged "graffiti", and all licensed via creative commons. Each of the 200 images contributes an equal amount to the final result (the R,G,B values of each pixel are added together).

 

Given any large group of uncorrelated images, you can produce just about any image you like, if you choose a subset carefully, using similar techniques as those used to produce a photo mosaic.

 

Compared to some of the other images I've used (flowers, faces, squared circles, etc.), graffiti works especially well, because the images have fewer correlations, and explore a larger color space.

 

Software written in Processing.

www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison/fullscreen?attr...

1. SI: People have learned to normalize the bad state of streets and communal spaces, leading to a scarcity of caring to fix them.

 

2. Materials: Adobe lightroom; Digital camera; Door with a sticker on it (59)

 

3. Idea: I wanted to capture this sticker that's falling off and in need of replacement. (79)

 

4. Process: I zoomed in and filled in the frame to capture the sticker (58)

"In the grand tradition of generals and surrealists, we have been playing games. People learn things better through the open-ended, empathetic participation in knowledge-making that games allow. Just dispensing information to people-- though at times enlightening-- can also encourage apathy or forgetfulness. Lately, we have been using games to critically examine the dynamics and assumptions of larger social givens.Our new game SET was inspired by toy collectors, tourists, and museum curators. Throughout the game, players "play" by intervening and reorganizing existing groups of objects, thus questioning categories by constructing and redrawing them. In foregrounding the player's relation to the categories, SET explores the value of one's authorship in the production of knowledge. While games often risk normalizing power relationships by setting social roles and rules in stone, we have tried here to do just the opposite."

 

People learn things better through the open-ended, empathetic participation in knowledge-making that games allow. Just dispensing information to people-- though at times enlightening-- can also encourage apathy or forgetfulness. A project developed by Erik Carver and Marisa Jahn, SET is a game that critically examines the dynamics and assumptions of larger social givens. It's a game inspired by toy collectors, tourists, and museum curators. Throughout the game, players "play" by intervening and reorganizing existing groups of objects, thus questioning categories by constructing and redrawing them. In foregrounding the player's relation to the categories, SET explores the value of one's authorship in the production of knowledge. While games often risk normalizing power relationships by setting social roles and rules in stone, SET tries to do just the opposite.

 

--

 

Erik Carver

 

Erik Carver is an architect and artist. He is a founder of the Institute for Advanced Architecture (advancedarchitecture.org)-- an organization dedicated to advancing architecture through research, exchange, and exhibition-- as well as the Common Room exhibition space (common-room.net) and the interdisciplinary art group Seru. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

 

Erik has worked for the firms of Diller+Scofidio, Laura Kurgan, and Lyn Rice before starting his own practice. These designs have included a student center renovation, an art museum, apartment renovations, a vacation home, exhibitions, a performance space/bar, an expo pavilion, schools, offices and an interpretation center.

 

His work has appeared in Volume magazine, Art in America, and Nature, and he has shown work and lectured at venues including Exit Art, the Ise Foundation, and Columbia's Neiman Gallery, and the Storefront for Art and Architecture (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), CAVS (MIT), Basekamp (Philadelphia), the Contemporary Art Center (North Adams, MA), and Pond (San Francisco).

  

Marisa Jahn

 

Of Ecuadorian and Chinese descent, Marisa Jahn is an artist whose work explores, constructs, and intervenes natural and social systems. In 2000, Jahn has co-founded Pond: art, activism, and ideas (www.mucketymuck.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing experimental art. Jahn has presented and exhibited work in museums, galleries, and spaces at venues such as The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), ISEA/Zero One 06/08 (San Jose, CA), MoKS (Estonia), the Moore Space (Miami), the Museum of Contemporary Art (North Miami), in galleries and public places in Tokyo, Honduras, Estonia, Turkey, North America, and Taiwan. Jahn's work has been reviewed in Art in America, Frieze, Punk Planet, Clamor, San Francisco Chronicle, the Fader, Artweek, Metropolis, the Discovery Channel, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). She has received awards and grants such as the Robert & Colleen Haas Scholarship, MIT Department of Architecture Fellowship (2005-8), CEC Artslink, and is an artist in residence at the MIT Media Lab (2007-9) and at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2008). She received her BA from UC Berkeley and an MS from MIT's Visual Arts Program. She lives between Boston and New York, where she functions as the Immediator of art-activist campaigns for The Church of Stop Shopping/Reverend Billy. www.marisajahn.com, www.mucketymuck.org

When I was here back in 2010, there were mostly old classic cars. In 2015, model cars are noticeably more common on the streets. Now that Cuba has normalized relationships with the U.S, I'm sure 2020 will be significantly different.

Tangier to Fez Morocco train. Takes about five hours with multiple stops, and passes thru beautiful countryside. The train must have been moving slow when I took this picture of the man on the donkey. He saw me taking the picture of him thru the train window, and gave me a big smile....Moroccans are pretty friendly people. Though Tangier hustlers are a different breed.

 

Hope I get back to Morocco. Great country to visit. You do have to watch what you eat.....I made it all the way, till I ate something at Rick's Café in Casablanca, that had my stomach off for five weeks. Probiotic Acidophilus normalized whatever the bug was. Rick's is great place to see though. Just stay away from salads, and dairy (ice cream)

IO Aircraft, Imaginactive / Charles Bombadier, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization, Martin Rico, Drew Blair

 

IO Aircraft: www.ioaircraft.com/hypersonic/blueedge.php

Imaginactive: imaginactive.org/2019/02/blue-edge/

Martin Rico, Industrial Graphics Designed: www.linkedin.com/in/mjrico/

 

Seating: 220 | Crew 2+4

Length: 195ft | Span: 93ft

Engines: 4 U-TBCC (Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle) +1 Aerospike for sustained 2G acceleration to Mach 10.

 

Fuel: H2 (Compressed Hydrogen)

Cruising Altitude: 100,000-125,000ft

Airframe: 75% Proprietary Composites

Operating Costs, Similar to a 737. $7,000-$15,000hr, including averaged maintenence costs

 

Iteration 3 (Full release of IT3, Monday January 14, 2019)

IO Aircraft www.ioaircraft.com

Drew Blair www.linkedin.com/in/drew-b-25485312/

 

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

hypersonic commercial aircraft, hypersonic commercial plane, hypersonic aircraft, hypersonic plane, Imaginactive, ICAO, International Civil Aviation Orginization, Charles Bombardier, Martin Rico, hypersonic airline, tbcc, glide breaker, fighter plane, hyperonic fighter, boeing phantom express, phantom works, boeing phantom works, lockheed skunk works, hypersonic weapon, hypersonic missile, scramjet engineering, scramjet physics, boost glide, tactical glide vehicle, space plane, scramjet, turbine based combined cycle, ramjet, dual mode ramjet, darpa, onr, navair, afrl, air force research lab, office of naval research, defense advanced research project agency, defense science, missile defense agency, aerospike, hydrogen, hydrogen storage, hydrogen fueled, hydrogen aircraft, virgin airlines, united airlines, sas, finnair ,emirates airlines, ANA, JAL, airlines, military, physics, airline, british airways, air france, aerion supersonic, aerion, spike aerospace, boom supersonic,

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

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle. Current technologies and what Lockheed is trying to force on the Dept of Defense, for that low speed Mach 5 plane DOD gave them $1 billion to build and would disintegrate above Mach 5, is TBCC. 2 separate propulsion systems in the same airframe, which requires TWICE the airframe space to use.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle is 1 propulsion system cutting that airframe deficit in half, and also able to operate above Mach 10 up to Mach 15 in atmosphere, and a simple nozzle modification allows for outside atmosphere rocket mode, ie orbital capable.

 

Additionally, Reaction Engines maximum air breather mode is Mach 4.5, above that it will explode in flight from internal pressures are too high to operate. Thus, must switch to non air breather rocket mode to operate in atmosphere in hypersonic velocities. Which as a result, makes it not feasible for anything practical. It also takes an immense amount of fuel to function.

 

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

 

Advanced Additive Manufacturing for Hypersonic Aircraft

 

Utilizing new methods of fabrication and construction, make it possible to use additive manufacturing, dramatically reducing the time and costs of producing hypersonic platforms from missiles, aircraft, and space capable craft. Instead of aircraft being produced in piece, then bolted together; small platforms can be produced as a single unit and large platforms can be produces in large section and mated without bolting. These techniques include using exotic materials and advanced assembly processes, with an end result of streamlining the production costs and time for hypersonic aircraft; reducing months of assembly to weeks. Overall, this process greatly reduced the cost for producing hypersonic platforms. Even to such an extent that a Hellfire missile costs apx $100,000 but by utilizing our technologies, replacing it with a Mach 8-10 hypersonic missile of our physics/engineering and that missile would cost roughly $75,000 each delivered.

 

Materials used for these manufacturing processes are not disclosed, but overall, provides a foundation for extremely high stresses and thermodynamics, ideal for hypersonic platforms. This specific methodology and materials applications is many decades ahead of all known programs. Even to the extend of normalized space flight and re-entry, without concern of thermodynamic failure.

 

*Note, most entities that are experimenting with additive manufacturing for hypersonic aircraft, this makes it mainstream and standardized processes, which also applies for mass production.

 

What would normally be measured in years and perhaps a decade to go from drawing board to test flights, is reduced to singular months and ready for production within a year maximum.

 

Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle (U-TBCC)

 

To date, the closest that NASA and industry have achieved for turbine based aircraft to fly at hypersonic velocities is by mounting a turbine into an aircraft and sharing the inlet with a scramjet or rocket based motor. Reaction Engines Sabre is not able to achieve hypersonic velocities and can only transition into a non air breathing rocket for beyond Mach 4.5

 

However, utilizing Unified Turbine Based Combine Cycle also known as U-TBCC, the two separate platforms are able to share a common inlet and the dual mode ramjet/scramjet is contained within the engine itself, which allows for a much smaller airframe footprint, thus engingeers are able to then design much higher performance aerial platforms for hypersonic flight, including the ability for constructing true single stage to orbit aircraft by utilizing a modification/version that allows for transition to outside atmosphere propulsion without any other propulsion platforms within the aircraft. By transitioning and developing aircraft to use Unified Turbine Based Combined Cycle, this propulsion system opens up new options to replace that airframe deficit for increased fuel capacity and/or payload.

 

Enhanced Dynamic Cavitation

 

Dramatically Increasing the efficiency of fuel air mixture for combustion processes at hypersonic velocities within scramjet propulsion platforms. The aspects of these processes are non disclosable.

 

Dynamic Scramjet Ignition Processes

 

For optimal scramjet ignition, a process known as Self Start is sought after, but in many cases if the platform becomes out of attitude, the scramjet will ignite. We have already solved this problem which as a result, a scramjet propulsion system can ignite at lower velocities, high velocities, at optimal attitude or not optimal attitude. It doesn't matter, it will ignite anyways at the proper point for maximum thrust capabilities at hypersonic velocities.

 

Hydrogen vs Kerosene Fuel Sources

 

Kerosene is an easy fuel to work with, and most western nations developing scramjet platforms use Kerosene for that fact. However, while kerosene has better thermal properties then Hydrogen, Hydrogen is a far superior fuel source in scramjet propulsion flight, do it having a much higher efficiency capability. Because of this aspect, in conjunction with our developments, it allows for a MUCH increased fuel to air mixture, combustion, thrust; and ability for higher speeds; instead of very low hypersonic velocities in the Mach 5-6 range. Instead, Mach 8-10 range, while we have begun developing hypersonic capabilities to exceed 15 in atmosphere within less then 5 years.

 

Conforming High Pressure Tank Technology for CNG and H2.

 

As most know in hypersonics, Hydrogen is a superior fuel source, but due to the storage abilities, can only be stored in cylinders thus much less fuel supply. Not anymore, we developed conforming high pressure storage technology for use in aerospace, automotive sectors, maritime, etc; which means any overall shape required for 8,000+ PSI CNG or Hydrogen. For hypersonic platforms, this means the ability to store a much larger volume of hydrogen vs cylinders.

 

As an example, X-43 flown by Nasa which flew at Mach 9.97. The fuel source was Hydrogen, which is extremely more volatile and combustible then kerosene (JP-7), via a cylinder in the main body. If it had used our technology, that entire section of the airframe would had been an 8,000 PSI H2 tank, which would had yielded 5-6 times the capacity. While the X-43 flew 11 seconds under power at Mach 9.97, at 6 times the fuel capacity would had yielded apx 66 seconds of fuel under power at Mach 9.97. If it had flew slower, around Mach 6, same principles applied would had yielded apx 500 seconds of fuel supply under power (slower speeds required less energy to maintain).

 

Enhanced Fuel Mixture During Shock Train Interaction

 

Normally, fuel injection is conducted at the correct insertion point within the shock train for maximum burn/combustion. Our methodologies differ, since almost half the fuel injection is conducted PRE shock train within the isolator, so at the point of isolator injection the fuel enhances the combustion process, which then requires less fuel injection to reach the same level of thrust capabilities.

 

Improved Bow Shock Interaction

 

Smoother interaction at hypersonic velocities and mitigating heat/stresses for beyond Mach 6 thermodynamics, which extraordinarily improves Type 3, 4, and 5 shock interaction.

 

6,000+ Fahrenheit Thermal Resistance

 

To date, the maximum thermal resistance was tested at AFRL in the spring of 2018, which resulted in a 3,200F thermal resistance for a short duration. This technology, allows for normalized hypersonic thermal resistance of 3,000-3,500F sustained, and up to 6,500F resistance for short endurance, ie 90 seconds or less. 10-20 minute resistance estimate approximately 4,500F +/- 200F.

  

*** This technology advancement also applies to Aerospike rocket engines, in which it is common for Aerospike's to exceed 4,500-5,000F temperatures, which results in the melting of the reversed bell housing. That melting no longer ocurrs, providing for stable combustion to ocurr for the entire flight envelope

 

Scramjet Propulsion Side Wall Cooling

 

With old technologies, side wall cooling is required for hypersonic flight and scramjet propulsion systems, otherwise the isolator and combustion regions of a scramjet would melt, even using advanced ablatives and ceramics, due to their inability to cope with very high temperatures. Using technology we have developed for very high thermodynamics and high stresses, side wall cooling is no longer required, thus removing that variable from the design process and focusing on improved ignition processes and increasing net thrust values.

 

Lower Threshold for Hypersonic Ignition

 

Active and adaptive flight dynamics, resulting in the ability for scramjet ignition at a much lower velocity, ie within ramjet envelope, between Mach 2-4, and seamless transition from supersonic to hypersonic flight, ie supersonic ramjet (scramjet). This active and dynamic aspect, has a wide variety of parameters for many flight dynamics, velocities, and altitudes; which means platforms no longer need to be engineered for specific altitude ranges or preset velocities, but those parameters can then be selected during launch configuration and are able to adapt actively in flight.

 

Dramatically Improved Maneuvering Capabilities at Hypersonic Velocities

 

Hypersonic vehicles, like their less technologically advanced brethren, use large actuator and the developers hope those controls surfaces do not disintegrate in flight. In reality, it is like rolling the dice, they may or may not survive, hence another reason why the attempt to keep velocities to Mach 6 or below. We have shrunken down control actuators while almost doubling torque and response capabilities specifically for hypersonic dynamics and extreme stresses involved, which makes it possible for maximum input authority for Mach 10 and beyond.

 

Paradigm Shift in Control Surface Methodologies, Increasing Control Authority (Internal Mechanical Applications)

 

To date, most control surfaces for hypersonic missile platforms still use fins, similar to lower speed conventional missiles, and some using ducted fins. This is mostly due to lack of comprehension of hypersonic velocities in their own favor. Instead, the body itself incorporates those control surfaces, greatly enhancing the airframe strength, opening up more space for hardware and fuel capacity; while simultaneously enhancing the platforms maneuvering capabilities.

 

A scramjet missile can then fly like conventional missile platforms, and not straight and level at high altitudes, losing velocity on it's decent trajectory to target. Another added benefit to this aspect, is the ability to extend range greatly, so if anyone elses hypersonic missile platform were developed for 400 mile range, falling out of the sky due to lack of glide capabilities; our platforms can easily reach 600+ miles, with minimal glide deceleration.

The visualization shows the influence of the economic crisis in the lexicon of Italian fiction. Analyzed(*) are the ten books awarded with the last ten editions of the Strega Prize. Books are arranged chronologically (x-axis) and by the total number of words (y-axis). For each novel the visualization displays a syntactic and semantic study on the frequency of fifty words, divided into five categories, and related to the theme of the crisiss. In order to understand the actual influence of the crisis semantic vocabulary within the novel, the visualization also shows the placement of the words along the timeplot of the novel through a dispesion plot on books’ length normalized.

Ariana & Harper

Maryland

September 2016

I've been getting back into vintage Mego Pocket Heroes lately, and I had no idea there were so many manufacturing variations during their run in the 70's.

 

I grew up with the "more normalized" version on the far right, but recently acquired the other two versions. Including the middle one which I didn't even know existed!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison/fullscreen?attr...

- Clearly visible: Chlorophyll (II) spectrum (red) from the background

- Rod: Mixture of blue and chlorophyllic red (magenta)

- "Arms" in yellow and

- Blue for the ripe sporangae

Note: The excitation through the 365nm LED ist filtered with a sharp shortpass excitation filter at 400nm. Without this filter, all pictures would be superimposed with a violet fog.

 

Spectra measured with the following equipment:

Objective: Mitutoyo 100x NA 0.70, tube lense: 165mm (Thorlabs)

Illumination: UV (365nm)

Spectrometer: AvaSpec-2048 (Avantes)

Amplitudes normalized to respective peaks.

On Explore/Flickr Top 500, Jan. 31, 2009

__________________________________________________________________

  

More colors appearing, later into the competition... painting the night sky. If Van Gogh have seen this much firecrackers, for sure, he might probably paing another version of "The Starry Night".

 

I'm a little busy for now, I'll just upload and run. My connection is so slow. Will normalize next week.

 

January 17, 2009

Sinulog 2009 Fireworks Competition

Reclamation Area, Cebu City

Cebu, Philippines

Post-Playtex Era Strong In Cullman

 

Chamber of Commerce weather greeted several dozen lactating women and their families at the Walmart Pavilion inside Heritage Park on Saturday morning.

 

The gathering celebrated the 4th annual BIG Latch On. This event ran from 10 am until noon.

 

Cullman County nursing mothers along with their husbands and other support members convened to breastfeed their babies in a supportive, lactation-friendly environment.

 

Ashley Wright, the lead organizer of this event, invited all area lactating moms as well as their friends, family, and community to come out and participate in the cause.

 

The BIG Latch On is an annual, global event that celebrates, promotes and supports breastfeeding.

 

The larger goal of the global BIG Latch On movement is to normalize breastfeeding.

 

There was a worldwide synchronization latch from 10:30 to 10:31 am Cullman time.

 

Groups of nursing moms and their supporters around the world either latched their babies, expressed milk or fed breast milk by spoon to their babies all at the same time across the world. It was a sacred, touching and profound moment at Heritage Park.

 

cullmantoday.com/2017/08/06/post-playtex-era-strong-in-cu...

 

Sony RX1 User Report.

 

I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.

 

The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.

 

Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.

 

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).

 

Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features

 

The Price

 

First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:

 

Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.

Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.

You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”

 

In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.

 

35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2

 

The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.

 

While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...

 

I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.

 

As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.

 

Design is about making choices

 

When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.

 

So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.

 

In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.

 

In use

 

So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.

 

Snapshots

 

As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.

 

I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.

 

To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.

 

Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.

 

Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.

 

How I shoot with the RX1

 

Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.

 

Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.

 

So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).

 

Working within constraints.

 

The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.

 

To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.

 

Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.

 

I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.

 

But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.

 

Pro Tip: Focusing

 

Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.

 

Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.

 

Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.

 

Carrying.

 

I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.

Sony RX1 User Report.

 

I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.

 

The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.

 

Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.

 

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).

 

Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features

 

The Price

 

First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:

 

Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.

Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.

You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”

 

In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.

 

35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2

 

The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.

 

While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...

 

I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.

 

As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.

 

Design is about making choices

 

When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.

 

So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.

 

In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.

 

In use

 

So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.

 

Snapshots

 

As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.

 

I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.

 

To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.

 

Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.

 

Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.

 

How I shoot with the RX1

 

Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.

 

Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.

 

So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).

 

Working within constraints.

 

The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.

 

To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.

 

Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.

 

I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.

 

But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.

 

Pro Tip: Focusing

 

Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.

 

Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.

 

Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.

 

Carrying.

 

I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.

Sony RX1 User Report.

 

I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.

 

The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.

 

Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.

 

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).

 

Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features

 

The Price

 

First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:

 

Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.

Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.

You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”

 

In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.

 

35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2

 

The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.

 

While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...

 

I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.

 

As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.

 

Design is about making choices

 

When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.

 

So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.

 

In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.

 

In use

 

So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.

 

Snapshots

 

As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.

 

I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.

 

To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.

 

Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.

 

Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.

 

How I shoot with the RX1

 

Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.

 

Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.

 

So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).

 

Working within constraints.

 

The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.

 

To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.

 

Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.

 

I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.

 

But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.

 

Pro Tip: Focusing

 

Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.

 

Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.

 

Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.

 

Carrying.

 

I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.

Urbex Benelux -

 

Between 1940 and 1945, the factory was badly damaged by bombing, which caused major fires in the paper and wood supplies. At the end of the war, only one machine was ready to use, but a law passed in October 1942 required businesses with damage greater than 25 percent to stop.

 

After a slow start-up, the company worked back in 1947 with 140 employees and production had increased to four tons per year. It would take until 1949 before the supply could be normalized.

Sony RX1 User Report.

 

I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.

 

The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.

 

Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.

 

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).

 

Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features

 

The Price

 

First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:

 

Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.

Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.

You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”

 

In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.

 

35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2

 

The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.

 

While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...

 

I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.

 

As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.

 

Design is about making choices

 

When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.

 

So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.

 

In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.

 

In use

 

So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.

 

Snapshots

 

As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.

 

I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.

 

To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.

 

Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.

 

Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.

 

How I shoot with the RX1

 

Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.

 

Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.

 

So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).

 

Working within constraints.

 

The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.

 

To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.

 

Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.

 

I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.

 

But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.

 

Pro Tip: Focusing

 

Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.

 

Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.

 

Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.

 

Carrying.

 

I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2021. “La Roma di Mussolini” - The strange backdrop to the G-20: A Roman neighborhood built as a fascist showpiece. The Washington Post (27/10/2021). Anche: Il G20 nel quartiere d’epoca fascista: "Il Washington Post" ora la cancel culture prenderà di mira l’Eur? Corriere Della Sera (28/10/2021). S.v., “Architettura fascista non fascista" (1991/2017); in: Dr. Arch. Rossana Vinci (2017); Dr. Arch. Flavia Marcello (2007); Prof. Arch. Rossana Bossoglia & Prof. Arch. Giorgio Muratore (2003) & Dr. Arch. Elisabetta Terragni (1991). wp.me/pbMWvy-287

 

Foto: Mauro Pagliai, “Son of the Century.” SKYPIXEL (29 Jan. 2020); in: RARA 2021 [21/08/2021].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51637355274

 

1). ROME - The strange backdrop to the G-20: A Roman neighborhood built as a fascist showpiece. The Washington Post (27/10/2021).

 

In the Roman neighborhood known as EUR, all the classic telltales of Rome drop away. Gone are the cobblestone roads, the antiquities, the worn palazzi dappled like watercolors. What you get instead are broad boulevards and imposing white buildings, plus a man-made lake. Everything is orderly, planned. Look in the right direction, and you’ll even see a sculpture heroically depicting the planner: Benito Mussolini.

 

Conceived as a fascist showpiece for an event that never happened — war canceled the 1942 World’s Fair — EUR is getting a chance eight decades later to serve as a backdrop for a global gathering: this time, the Group of 20 summit.

 

Reminders of what EUR (pronounced Ay-oor) was supposed to represent are still vivid. Mussolini had hoped it would stand as an example of an ideal city, with gardens and open spaces, and he commissioned some of the most acclaimed Italian architects and artists to remake a land used previously only by farmers and an abbey of cloistered monks. EUR’s boundaries were marked off in a near-perfect pentagon. Mussolini planted a tree at the 1938 groundbreaking.

 

But today, EUR also has lanyard-wearing office workers eating $12 salmon wraps. It has monuments designed to glorify the fascist ideal that now house global companies, like Fendi. It has a couple of eerie blocks almost resembling Pyongyang — empty, colossal and colonnaded — but it also has dentist’s office and chain restaurants, energy company headquarters and upper-middle-class apartments.

 

“What I’ve often heard is that a neighborhood like this could only be built by a dictator,” said Lorenzo Volpato, 49, a self-described leftist who lives and works in EUR and called the neighborhood pleasant regardless of the fascist markers. “It’s got metro stations. It’s modern. It’s more livable than Rome.”

 

The neighborhood has managed to grow — and normalize — in large part because of a Roman willingness to rebuild, move on and coexist with even the worst parts of the past. It’s especially striking at a time when monuments to enslavers, Confederate generals, kings and colonial leaders have come toppling down across the United States and other parts of Europe. In EUR, such monuments have become just a part of the low-slung skyline.

 

“It was to be a place where you wouldn’t be bound by antiquity,” Luca Ribichini, a professor of architecture at Rome’s Sapienza University. “It was supposed to personify the new modernity.”

 

The plans, at least initially, fell into chaos. By 1945, the fascist regime had been toppled, Mussolini had been executed — his body hung upside down in public — and EUR was only half-completed, sealed off and all but abandoned.

 

But over the next decade, the postwar Italian government moved ministries to the area. Ahead of the 1960 Olympics, construction firms built roads and apartment buildings and finished what the fascists had started. Eventually, it became a sort of alternative Rome — while showing what more of Italy might have looked like had Mussolini retained power.

 

Foto: Mrsimone7, “Rome – Foro Italico / Stadium at Night,” Skypixel (20 Dec. 2016); in: RARA 2020 [04/08/2020].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51635880647

 

“It’s this relic of a megalomaniacal project that has been turned into a business district,” said Agnes Crawford, a 20-year resident of Rome who leads private tours, including, occasionally, in EUR, where she said the museums are high-quality and crowd-free.

 

“But,” Crawford said, “it still retains some menacing overtones.”

 

Some of the fascist markers have been removed over the years. But other reminders remain. One of the most noteworthy markers is a large inscription at the top level of the Fendi building. The quote, without context, is fairly innocuous, paying tribute to Italians as a people of “poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists, navigators, migrants.” But that quote echoes a part of Mussolini’s 1935 speech announcing the invasion of Ethiopia, a campaign that later led to charges of war crimes.

 

Just a few blocks away, there is an even more overt Mussolini homage. It comes in the form of a towering bas-relief sculpture, selectively narrating the long history of Rome. The sculpture moves through time from top to bottom, starting with the mythological founding of the city by Romulus and Remus, continuing through the centuries with Roman conquerors returning with spoils from Jerusalem, and with the construction of St. Peter’s Square. At the bottom of the sculpture there is one dominant image: Mussolini on horseback, surrounded by soldiers, as children and women lift their hands.

 

Sculpted in 1939, it stands at the entrance of a building housing EUR S.p.A., the company that owns many of the properties in the neighborhood. Inside, there’s also a courtyard fountain inlaid with fascist eagles. In one of the conference rooms, sitting without fanfare in the corner, is a metal head of Mussolini.

 

“The debate about art and beauty goes far beyond the history of the most ferocious regimes,” said Antonio Rosati, the chief of EUR S.p.A., who said his politics lean left and he isn’t bothered by the remnants of Mussolini’s era.

 

There are numerous theories about why Italians have felt less of a need to fully remove the propaganda of a terrible time. One idea is that Romans have so much history, they didn’t feel compelled to single out the most recent horror. Some have noted that the fascist icons — unlike the Confederate monuments — were built contemporaneously, and don’t reflect some after-the-fact nostalgia for an earlier period.

 

For David Hannuna, a Jewish lawyer who was born and raised in EUR, the icons have never been a source of anger — instead, he said, they provide a reminder about progress.

 

“There was pride in being able to freely live, freely and openly practicing our religion, in a place where in another time that would’ve been a problem,” Hannuna said.

 

Standing on a street corner, awaiting a tire change, Claudio Foglia, 69, said he, too, never saw a problem with the propaganda-infused art and architecture in his 40 years of working in the neighborhood, at the Italian energy firm Eni. But he is retired now. He has started reading more, including about fascism. He said he now worries that Italy “metabolized” fascism too quickly, and without fully addressing the sentiments that made it vulnerable. Just the previous weekend, a rally in Rome against the coronavirus Green Pass had turned violent, spurned in part by leaders of Forza Nuova, a neofascist group.

 

“It’s painful for an Italian to read these things and realize we haven’t dealt with them,” Foglia said. “We are acting as if nothing happened.”

 

One thing is clear about Mussolini’s aesthetic: He liked his buildings to be seen. He signed off on the demolition of entire neighborhoods around the Vatican and the Colosseum, clearing the way for broad, showy thoroughfares that created sightlines for the most famous spots in the city. He used the same idea in EUR, where the most celebrated buildings are set off at wide distances from one another, connected by straight, flat roads.

 

One such road connects the Piazza della Civiltà Italiana — the arched and statue-lined Fendi headquarters — with the Palazzo dei Congressi, a travertine-clad hall designed for conferences and events.

 

To some observers over time, the palazzo has felt intimidating in its geometric vastness. When TV travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain visited the facility for a 2016 episode, his film crews trained their cameras on a single custodian, cleaning a hall that Bourdain said had been designed to “dwarf the individual.”

 

For the G-20, the palazzo is serving as a media center. Large banners with the slogan “People, Planet, Prosperity” are draped outside, and on a recent afternoon, work crews were spread out in all areas, putting up prefabricated walls, building temporary meeting spaces or interview rooms.

 

An official from Eur S.p.A., which manages the building, led a tour to the heart of the palazzo: a vaulted space with ample lighting, adorned in perforated material the color of gold.

 

“It’s a perfect cube,” said one of the officials on the tour. It’s 124 feet high, wide and long. And for now it houses 72 white media work desks.

 

The tour continued up to the roof deck — an area of rectangular benches, all cold marble — that was depicted as a mental institution in a classic 1970 movie, “The Conformist.” During the shooting for that film, the sky was nearly the same gray as the marble. The monochrome conveyed an eerie vibe.

 

But if you visit now on a gorgeous day, the marble benches glow. The severity is softened by olive trees growing from spots of soil interspersed along the roof. From way up here, you can see all of EUR — the apartments, the offices, the people ending their workdays.

 

The neighborhood has at least one thing in common with the rest of Rome: The view at sunset is lovely.

 

Fonte / source:

--- The Washington Post (27/10/2021).

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/27/g20-rome-eur/

 

Fonte / source, foto:

--- Mauro Pagliai, “Son of the Century.” SKYPIXEL (29 Jan. 2020); in: RARA 2021 [21/08/2021].

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2021. “Via dell’Impero? È ancora in fondo a destra.” La Repubblica (21/08/2021). S.v., Mayor Virginia Raggi, NYT (22/03/2017); Francesco Rutelli, NYT (29/06/2001) & Benito Mussolini, NYT (22/04/1924). Dr. Ruth Ben Ghiat & Vera Fisogni (07/2017); Dr. Arch. Rossana Vinci (2017); Dr. Arch. Flavia Marcello (2007); Prof. Arch. Rossana Bossoglia & Prof. Arch. Giorgio Muratore (2003); Dr. Arch. Elisabetta Terragni (1991) & Prof. Arch. William L. MacDonald (1983).

 

Fonte / source, foto:

--- Mrsimone7, “Rome – Foro Italico / Stadium at Night,” Skypixel (20 Dec. 2016); in:

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020. The World Is Tearing Down Racist [or Fascist] Monuments but Not in Italy. The Daily Beast (15 August 2020). S.v., Finestre sull’Arte (04/08/2020) & La Repubblica (03/08/2020); anche: THE NEW YORKER (5 October 2017); Il giornale dell architettura (27/10/2017) & Il Sole 24 Ore (08/10/2017). wp.me/pbMWvy-uw

 

Foto: Riccardo, “Fendi’s palace, other side of Rome – This is the Fendi palace in Rome, also known as the “Square Colosseum.” Skypixel.com. (22/03/2019).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51635880387

 

2). ROMA - Il G20 nel quartiere d’epoca fascista: "Il Washington Post" ora la cancel culture prenderà di mira l’Eur? Corriere Della Sera (28/10/2021).

 

Il Washington Post colpito dallo «strano sfondo» del summit: mentre i monumenti di schiavisti e e colonizzatori negli Usa sono stati eliminati a Roma sono entrati a far parte del panorama.

 

La scelta dell’Eur come sede del G20 romano stuzzica i guardiani Usa del politically correct. E qualcuno vorrebbe spingere la cancel culture americana attraverso l’Atlantico. Presentando l’evento con un articolo pubblicato da decine di quotidiani statunitensi e di molti altri Paesi del mondo, dall’India al Brasile, l’Associated Press si limita a menzionare che, come sede del vertice, è stata scelta un’area edificata nell’era fascista, ma il Washington Post va molto più in là: in un servizio intitolato «Lo strano sfondo del G20: un quartiere romano che doveva essere il fiore all’occhiello del fascismo» analizza storia e architettura di un luogo progettato come sede dell’Esposizione Universale di Roma del 1942 (da qui l’acronimo Eur), mai tenuta a causa della Guerra mondiale.

 

Il Post ripercorre il desiderio di Mussolini di celebrare con l’Expo del ’42 il ventennio fascista, la scelta dei governi antifa-scisti del Dopoguerra di «normalizzare» il quartiere, oggi zona di uffici, e il modo in cui la città ha metabolizzato l’Eur. Ma dà anche voce a chi lo considera «la reliquia di un progetto megalomane trasformata in distretto d’affari». Soprattutto, il quotidiano critica il fatto che in alcuni luoghi siano rimaste sculture dell’era fascista come il bassorilievo all’ingresso dell’edifico dell’Ente Eur che descrive varie ere storiche: da Romolo e Remo alla costruzione della basilica di San Pietro, per poi finire con un Mussolini a cavallo. Il giornale trova «scioccante che, mentre i monumenti di schiavisti, generali confederati, re e colonizzatori sono stati eliminati negli Stati Uniti e in gran parte d’Europa, a Roma sono entrati a far parte del panorama». Conclusione sconsolata: a Roma c’è talmente tanta storia che la gente non fa troppo caso a certe cose.

 

Fonte / source, foto:

--- Riccardo, "Fendi's palace, other side of Rome - This is the Fendi palace in Rome, also known as the "Square Colosseum." Skypixel.com. (22/03/2019).

www.skypixel.com/photos/other-side-of-rome

 

Fonte / source:

--- Corriere Della Sera (28/10/2021).

www.corriere.it/esteri/21_ottobre_28/g20-quartiere-d-epoc...

President Barack Obama, right, meets with Vietnamese Communist party secretary general Nguyen Phu Trong in the Oval Office of the White House, on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Washington. Trong is the de facto leader of Vietnam despite holding no official government post, and is visiting Washington to boost ties 20 years after the U.S. and Vietnam normalized relations following the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Using five criteria, real estate brokerage Redfin and the Beer Institute have attempted to quantify which American cities are the "best American beer cities for beer lovers."

— These Are the 15 Best Cities for Beer Lovers

29 June 2016.

 

*****************

▶ Results

(See another graphic: here.)

 

☞ "At the head of the list of the best cities for beer lovers were Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Milwaukee, and the majority were Rust Belt cities, powered by their relative affordability, low tax on beer, and plenitude of breweries.

 

☞ The old guard of beer cities was well represented by the hometowns of Miller (Milwaukee), Budweiser (St. Louis) and Coors (Denver) placing in the top 10.

 

☞ On the West Coast, stalwarts like Seattle, Portland and San Francisco all placed highly, however the growing price of homes along the West Coast kept them from the top spots."

 

***************

▶ Methodology

 

"Data on active brewery permits per state and breweries per adults aged 21+ per state was provided by the Beer Institute and the figures are from 2015. The beer tax per state was found from the Tax Foundation study conducted on March 17, 2016. Walk Score and median home sale prices as of May 2016 were taken from Redfin.com. The final ranking was determined by ranking 50 cities according to each metric, and then taking the average of all those rankings to rank order the top 15 best cities for beer lovers. Our real estate agents then weighed in on the list. The Redfin team consumed many beers from all around the country in order to ensure the accuracy of the list."

 

▶ Criteria:

☞ The number of breweries in the city's state per 100,000 adults aged 21+.

☞ The number of active brewery permits in that state.

☞ State beer taxes (lower ranked better)

☞ The median home sale price.

☞ The city’s 'Walk Score.'

 

▶ About Walk Score

☞ Walk Score, from the company of that name, is a numerical walkability score using an algorithm awarding points ...

 

☞ Points are "based on the distance to the closest amenity in each category. If the closest amenity in a category is within .25 miles (or .4 km), we assign the maximum number of points. The number of points declines as the distance approaches 1 mile (or 1.6 km)—no points are awarded for amenities farther than 1 mile. Each category is weighted equally and the points are summed and normalized to yield a score from 0–100. The number of nearby amenities is the leading predictor of whether people walk. Relevant amenities include businesses, parks, theaters, schools, and other common destinations."

 

***************

▶ About the Beer Institute

 

The Beer Institute is a national trade association representing companies that produce and import beer sold in the United States. It was organized in 1986 to represent the industry before Congress, state legislatures, and the public. Different than the Brewers Association, the Beer Institute represents all breweries, large and small, although primarily funded by the American chapters of international companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller, etc.

 

***************

▶ Image via Redfin.

▶ Uploaded by: YFGF.

▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).

— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.

▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.

早川裕弌・小花和宏之・齋藤　仁・内山庄一郎

※本号掲載総説参照（321-343頁）．

 

This is an example of 3D point cloud by Structure-from-Motion (SfM) Multi-View Stereo (MVS) photogrammetry. The 3D point cloud was produced from thousands of aerial photographs taken by small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or unmanned aircraft or aerial system (UAS). The spectrum of colors indicates different information given to each point: red-green-blue (RGB) color, normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) calculated using a near infrared camera data, topographic shade by eye-dome lighting (EDL), morphological roughness, and surface curvature. These data are readily obtained by SfM-MVS photogrammetry, and can be effectively used for various applications in geomorphology and related studies. For more details on SfM-MVS photogrammetry, see our review article in this issue (p. 321-343).

 

(Yuichi S. Hayakawa, Hiroyuki Obanawa, Hitoshi Saito, Shoichiro Uchiyama)

 

www.researchgate.net/publication/304674520_SfMduoshidians...

I did some mokeups for the next arana's makeup, it's the first time I did and was so cool. I don't like them so much cuz I know can change too much in the reality.

▪The first is the initial makeup i designed for her. Works cool on computer games but not on bjd, looks a raccoon.

▪The second is how I imagine is I send her to Darjeeling, I love her works on lips.

▪third I went crazy painting colorful lips. I inspired in some Instagram photo but I can't remember who.

▪ The fourth I changed her eyes to normalized them and enlaged them too. Algo I went crazy again doing something weird hahahha Do you like some or have any new ideas?

⊙

ИN

Deflowering Eyes

Igigi

 

www.saatchiart.com/print/New-Media-Deflowering-Eyes-Inna-...

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igigi

Igigi are the gods of heaven in the mythology of Mesopotamia.

The name has unknown origin. The signs for the names, and one of the options for the etymology of the igigi are i2-gi3-gi3, which are the same signs for 5-1-1 or 5-60-60 5*(60+60)=600 which are by some traditions All the gods.

Another option is to try to interpret the words themselves. Igi means (eye) in the Sumerian language, and it used as logogram in the Akkadian language, gi stands for (penetrate sexually). Therefore, Igigi could be translated to (Eyes in the sky, the watchers, who deflower).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

 

Igigi/Igigu (a group of gods)

This Semitic term describes a group of possibly seven or eight gods. It is likely that the god Marduk was one of them, but the total membership in this group is unclear and likely changed over time.

Functions

Like the term Anunna, the term Igigu is equally complicated and in need of a comprehensive new study. Igigu, which is likely of Semitic origin, indicates a group of gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon. It is, however, not entirely clear what distinguishes the Igigu from the Anunna.

The story of Atrahasis, the Babylonian story of the Flood and a precursor to the flood story in the Gilgameš Epic (Tablet XI), offers some evidence on the relationship between the Annunaki and the Igigu. The poem begins with the lines "When the gods like men bore the work and suffered the toil, the toil of the gods was great, the work was heavy, the distress was much" (lines 1-4) (Lambert and Millard 1999 [1969]: 43). The composition continues: "The Seven great Anunnaki were making the Igigu suffer the work" (lines 5-6) (Lambert and Millard 1969 [1999]: 43). What follows is partly fragmentary, but seems to indicate that the Igigu gods did not want to work any more and therefore the Anunnaki had to find a solution. Ultimately, this led to the creation of humans, who from then on had to bear the gods' work. In this story it appears that the Igigu were subordinate to the Anunnaki (von Soden 1989: 341-2). It is unclear which deities were included in the Igigu group.

In the prologue to the famous Code of Hammurabi it is indicated that the Anunnaki elevated the god Marduk among the Igigu gods (for a translation see Roth 1997: 76-142; also see von Soden 1966: 144), but it is difficult to assess the significance of this passage.

Some mythological texts, such as the Anzu myth, speak of an assembly of the Igigu gods, but whether this might be an institutionalized assembly, as suggested by Kienast 1965: 146, remains doubtful.

Divine Genealogy and Syncretisms

As mentioned above, it is not clear how many and which gods belonged to the Igigu, although the god Marduk appears to belong to this group for certain. It is possible that the group included only seven (von Soden 1966), eight (Kienast 1965: 144) or ten (Black and Green 1998: 106) gods, but this is uncertain as well.

Other gods who may belong to this group are Ištar, Asarluhi, Naramṣit, Ninurta, Nuska, and Šamaš (Kienast 1965: 149). Some gods seem to belong to both the Anunnaki and the Igigu (Kienast 1965: 152), yet more research is needed to gain a better understanding of this situation in the first millennium BCE.

Cult Place(s)

We currently know of no cult places for the Igigu. Kienast (1965; 1976-80) has repeatedly suggested that the Igigu are only attested in literary and mythological texts. However, von Soden (1966) has brought forth some evidence that might indicate that there are very few theophoric personal names TT which invoke the Igigu, thus offering some evidence for their veneration.

Time Periods Attested

The term Igigu is first attested in texts from the Old Babylonian period (Kienast 1976-80: 40; von Soden 1989: 340) and only occurs in Akkadian contexts (Edzard 1976-80: 37). A Sumerian logographic equivalent of the term Igigu is nun-gal-e-ne, to be translated as "the great princes/sovereigns." This term is mentioned in a literary text that has been ascribed to the princess Enheduanna, daughter of king Sargon, the founder of the Old Akkadian dynasty (Inana C, ETCSL 4.7.3 l. 2). This particular composition is only attested in Old Babylonian manuscripts and it is unclear whether an older date can be proven. According to Edzard (1976-80: 39) it is possible that nun-gal-e-ne was originally an epithet of the Anunna gods that later became identified with the Igigu under influence from Akkadian.

The Igigu and Anunnaki are frequently attested in literary, mythological, and religious (incantations and prayers) texts until the end of the cuneiform tradition. The Igigu are mentioned, among others, in the Anzu myth (Foster 2005: 555-578), in Enāma eliš TT (Foster 2005: 436-486), and the Erra poem (Foster 2005: 880-913), all of which are attested in manuscripts of the first millennium BCE.

Iconography

Because this term describes a group of gods, there are no known images of the Igigu.

Name and Spellings

The etymology of this term is unclear. It has been suggested the term is of Old Akkadian (Kienast 1965: 157; 1976-80: 40) or of (Old) Amorite (von Soden 1966: 144) or possibly Arabic origins (von Soden 1989: 340). For the various spellings see Kienast 1965: 142.

Written forms:

logographic: dnun gal-e-ne, dnun-gal-meš;

syllabic and pseudo-logographic: i-gi-gu, i-gi-gi, di-gi4-gi4, di-gi4-gi4-ne, i-gi4-gu, dí-gì-gì (the latter appears first in ninth century BCE);

cryptographic: dgéš-u

Normalized forms:

Igigu, Igigi

Igigu in Online Corpora

The Corpus of Ancient Mesopotamian Scholarship

Nungalene in Online Corpora

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

Further Reading

Edzard 1976-80, "[Igigu], Anunna und."

Kienast 1965, "Igigu und Anunnakku nach den akkadischen Quellen."

Kienast 1976-80, "Igigu, Anunnakku und."

von Soden 1966, "Die Igigu-Götter."

von Soden 1989, "Die Igigu-Götter in altbabylonischer Zeit."

Nicole Brisch

Nicole Brisch, 'Igigi/Igigu (a group of gods)', Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Oracc and the UK Higher Education Academy, 2012 [oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/igigi/]

Released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0, 2011.

The Pennsylvania

Sumerian Dictionary

igi [EYE] (1133x: ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian, unknown) wr. igi; i-bi2; i-gi "eye; carved eye (for statues)" Akk. īnu

psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/epsd/e2510.html

The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project is carried out in the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. It is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and private contributions.

____________________________________

Cycles of the earth, winds, Igigi it's all here and no wonder the church has been hiding the text. The smoke sedates the Elohim (judges) they have their Territories, Not demons nor angels but IGIGI; the Watchers the little big eyed guys who have been stealing my eggs while I sleep 1-4.

archive.org/details/bookofenochproph00laur

ia802707.us.archive.org/10/items/bookofenochproph00laur/b...

The book of Enoch the prophet

by Laurence, Richard, 1760-1838

Publication date 1883

Publisher London : Kegan Paul, Trench

Collection Princeton; americana

Digitizing sponsor Internet Archive

Contributor Princeton Theological Seminary Library

Language English.

Addeddate 2008-11-12 13:13:18

Call number 185459

Camera Canon 5D

External-identifier urn:oclc:record:1041620576[WorldCat (this item)]

Foldoutcount 0

Identifier bookofenochproph00laur

Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t16m3hr86

Lcamid

Missingpages

Openlibrary_edition OL23282189M

Openlibrary_work OL16734660W

Pages 244

Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT

Ppi 500

Rcamid

Scandate 20081117214436

Scanfactors 4

Scanner scribe2.nyc.archive.org

Scanningcenter nyc

SHOW LESS

Full catalog record MARCXML

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watcher_(angel)#Grigori

Philo

According to PrEv 1.10.1-2 of Philo of Byblos, Sanchuniathon mentioned "some living beings who had no perception, out of whom intelligent beings came into existence, and they were called Zophasemin (Heb. șōpē-šāmayim, that is, 'Watchers of Heaven'). And they were formed like the shape of an egg."

The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume 1, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments

EDITED BY JAMES H. CHARLES WORTH, DUKE UNIVERSITY

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: ISBN: 0-385-09630-5 Copyright © 1983 by James H. Charlesworth All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America Designed by Joseph P. Ascherl Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/THEOL264/James%20...

____________________________________

Livius.org Articles on ancient history

www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/104-106-the-epic-of-a...

The Epic of Atraḥasis

The Epic of Atraḥasis is the fullest Mesopotamian account of the Great Flood, with Atraḥasis in the role of Noah. It was written in the seventeenth century BCE

The text is known from several versions: two were written by Assyrian scribes (one in the Assyrian, one in the Babylonian dialect), a third one (on three tablets) was written during the reign of king Ammi-saduqa of Babylonia (1647-1626 BCE). Parts are quoted in Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgameš; other influences are in the Babylonian History by Berossus (quote). These texts can be used to reconstruct the lost parts of the Epic of Atraḥasis, while the overall structure is, of course, known from the Bible.

Summary

The conditions immediately after the Creation: the Lower Gods have to work very hard and start to complain

Revolt of the Lower Gods

Negotiations with the Great Gods

Proposal to create humans, to relieve the Lower Gods from their labor

Creation of the Man

Man's noisy behavior; new complaints from the gods

The supreme god Enlil's decision to extinguish mankind by a Great Flood

Atraḥasis is warned in a dream

Enki explains the dream to Atraḥasis (and betrays the plan)

Construction of the Ark

Boarding of the Ark

Departure

The Great Flood

The gods are hungry because there are no farmers left to bring sacrifices, and decide to spare Atraḥasis, even though he is a rebel

Regulations to cut down the noise: childbirth, infant mortality, and celibacy

The translation offered here is adapted from the one by B.R. Foster.

Translation

Complaints of the Lower Gods

[1] When the gods were man

they did forced labor, they bore drudgery.

Great indeed was the drudgery of the gods,

the forced labor was heavy, the misery too much:

[5] the seven great Anunna-gods were burdening

the Igigi-godsnote with forced labor.

[Lacuna]

[21] The gods were digging watercourses,

canals they opened, the life of the land.

The Igigi-gods were digging watercourses

canals they opened, the life of the land.

[25] The Igigi-gods dug the Tigris river

and the Euphrates thereafter.

Springs they opened from the depths,

wells ... they established.

...

They heaped up all the mountains.

[Several lines missing]

[34] ... years of drudgery.

[35] ... the vast marsh.

They counted years of drudgery,

... and forty years, too much!

... forced labor they bore night and day.

They were complaining, denouncing,

[40] muttering down in the ditch:

"Let us face up to our foreman the prefect,

he must take off our heavy burden upon us!

Enlil, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

come, let us remove him from his dwelling;

[45] Enlil, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

come, let us remove him from his dwelling!"

[Several lines missing]

[61] "Now them, call for battle,

battle let us join, warfare!"

The gods heard his words:

they set fire to their tools,

[65] they put fire to their spaces,

and flame to their workbaskets.

Off they went, one and all,

to the gate of the warrior Enlil's abode.

...

Insurrection of the Lower Gods

[70] It was night, half-way through the watch,

the house was surrounded, but the god did not know.

It was night, half-way through the watch,

Ekur was surrounded, but Enlil did not know!

[Several lines missing; the great gods send a messenger]

The Great Gods Send a Messenger

[132] Nusku opened his gate,

took his weapons and went ... Enlil.

In the assembly of all the gods,

[135] he knelt, stood up, expounded the command,

"Anu, your father,

your counsellor, the warrior Enlil,

your prefect, Ninurta,

and your bailiff Ennugi have sent me to say:

[140] 'Who is the instigator of this battle?

Who is the instigator of these hostilities?

Who declared war,

that battle has run up to the gate of Enlil?

In ...

[145] he transgressed the command of Enlil.'"

Reply by the Lower Gods

"Everyone of us gods has declared war;

...

We have set ... un the excvation,

excessive drudgery has killed us,

[150] our forced labor was heavy, the misery too much!

Now, everyone of us gods

has resolved on a reckoning with Enlil."

[The great gods decide to create man, to relieve the lower gods from their misery.]

Proposals by Ea, Belet-ili, and Enki

[a1] Ea made ready to speak,

and said to the gods, his brothers:

"What calumny do we lay to their charge?

Their forced labor was heavy, their misery too much!

[a5] Every day ...

the outcry was loud, we could hear the clamor.

There is ...

Belet-ili, the midwife, is present.note

Let her create, then, a human, a man,

[a10] Let him bear the yoke!

Let him bear the yoke!

Let man assume the drudgery of the god."

Belet-ili, the midwife, is present.

[190] Let the midwife create a human being!

Let man assume the drudgery of the god."

They summoned and asked the goddess

the midwife of the gods, wise Mami:note

"Will you be the birth goddess, creatress of mankind?

[195] Create a human being, that he bear the yoke,

let him bear the yoke, the task of Enlil,

let man assume the drudgery of the god."

Nintu made ready to speak,note

and said to the great gods:

[200] "It is not for me to do it,

the task is Enki's.

He it is that cleanses all,

let him provide me the clay so I can do the making."

Enki made ready to speak,

[205] and said to the great gods:

"On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month,

let me establish a purification, a bath.

Let one god be slaughtered,

then let the gods be cleansed by immersion.

[210] Let Nintu mix clay with his flesh and blood.

Let that same god and man be thoroughly mixed in the clay.

Let us hear the drum for the rest of the time.

[215] From the flesh of the god let a spirit remain,

let it make the living know its sign,

lest he be allowed to be forgotten, let the spirit remain."

The great Anunna-gods, who administer destinies,

[220] answered "yes!" in the assembly.

The Creation of Man

On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month,note

he established a purification, a bath.

They slaughtered Aw-ilu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.

[225] Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.

That same god and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay.

For the rest of the time they would hear the drum.

From the flesh of the god the spirit remained.

It would make the living know its sign.

[230] Lest he be allowed to be forgotten, the spirit remained.

After she had mixed the clay,

she summoned the Anunna, the great gods.

The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.

[235] Mami made rady to speak,

and said to the great gods:

"You ordered me the task and I have completed it!

You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration.

[240] I have done away with your heavy forced labor,

I have imposed your drudgery on man.

You have bestowed clamor upon mankind.

I have released the yoke, I have made restoration."

They heard this speech of hers,

[245] they ran, free of care, and kissed her feet, saying:

"Formerly we used to call you Mami,

now let your name be Belet-kala-ili:"note

[The human population increases and their noise disturbs the gods, who decide to wipe out mankind. The god Enki, however, sends a dream to Atrahasis. When the text resumes, Enki is still speaking.]

Enki explains Atraḥasis' dream

[i.b35] "Enlil committed an evil deed against the people."

[i.c11] Atraḥasis made ready to speak,

and said to his lord:

"Make me know the meaning of the dream.

let me know, that I may look out for its consequence."

[i.c15] Enki made ready to speak,

and said to his servant:

"You might say, 'Am I to be looking out while in the bedroom?'

Do you pay attention to message that I speak for your:

[i.c20] 'Wall, listen to me!

Reed wall, pay attention to all my words!

Flee the house, build a boat,

forsake possessions, and save life.

[i.c25] The boat which you build

... be equal ...

...

...

Roof her over like the depth,

[i.c30] so that the sun shall not see inside her.

Let her be roofed over fore and aft.

The gear should be very strong,

the pitch should be firm, and so give the boat strength.

I will shower down upon you later

[i.c35] a windfall of birds, a spate of fishes.'"

He opened the water clock and filled it,

he told it of the coming of the seven-day deluge.

Atraḥasis and the Elders

Atraḥasis received the command.

He assembled the Elders at his gate.

[i.c40] Atraḥasis made ready to speak,

and said to the Elders:

"My god does not agree with your god,

Enki and Enlil are constantly angry with each other.

They have expelled me from the land.

[i.c45] Since I have always reverenced Enki,

he told me this.

I can not live in ...

Nor can I set my feet on the earth of Enlil.

I will dwell with my god in the depths.

[i.c50] This he told me: ..."

Construction of the Ark

[ii.10] The Elders ...

The carpenter carried his axe,

the reedworker carried his stone,

the rich man carried the pitch,

the poor man brought the materials needed.

[Lacuna of about fifteen lines; the word Atraḥasis can be discerned.]

Boarding of the Ark

[ii.29] Bringing ...

[ii.30] whatever he had ...

Whatever he had ...

Pure animals he slaughtered, cattle ...

Fat animals he killed. Sheep ...

he choose and and brought on board.

[ii.35] The birds flying in the heavens,

the cattle and the ... of the cattle god,

the creatures of the steppe,

... he brought on board

...

[ii.40] he invited his people

... to a feast

... his family was brought on board.

While one was eating an another was drinking,

[ii.45] he went in and out; he could not sit, could not kneel,

for his heart was broken, he was retching gall.

Departure

The outlook of the weather changed.

Adadnote began to roar in the clouds.

[ii.50] The god they heard, his clamor.

He brought pitch to seal his door.

By the time he had bolted his door,

Adad was roaring in the clouds.

The winds were furious as he set forth,

[ii.55] He cut the mooring rope and released the boat.

[Lacuna]

The Great Flood

[iii.5] ... the storm

... were yoked

Anzu rent the sky with his talons,

He ... the land

[iii.10] and broke its clamor like a pot.

... the flood came forth.

Its power came upn the peoples like a battle,

one person did not see another,

they could not recognize each other in the catastrophe.

[iii.15] The deluge belowed like a bull,

The wind resounded like a screaming eagle.

The darkness was dense, the sun was gone,

... like flies.

[iii.20] the clamor of the deluge.

[Lacuna. The gods find themselves hungry because there are no farmers left and sacrifices are no longer brought. When they discover that Atrahasis has survived, they make a plan to make sure that the noise will remain within limits: they invent childbirth, infant mortality, and celibacy.]

Mankind Punished

[iii.45] Enki made ready to speak,

and said to Nintu the birth goddess:

"You, birth goddess, creatress of destinies,

establish death for all peoples!

[iii.d1] "Now then, let there be a third woman among the people,

among the people are the woman who has borne

and the woman who has not borne.

Let there be also among the people the pasittu (she-demon):

[iii.d5] Let her snatch the baby from the lap who bore it.

And etablish high priestesses and priestesses,

let them be taboo,note and so cut down childbirth."

This page was created in 2007; last modified on 12 October 2020.

Home » Sources » Content » ANET » 104-106 The Epic of Atraḥasis

All content copyright © 1995–2020 Livius.org. All rights reserved.

____________________________________

Brain Magick: Exercises in Meta-Magick and Invocation by Philip H. Farber

archive.org/details/BrainMagic/Brain%20Magic

archive.org/stream/BrainMagic/mega-book-two-volumes-in-on...

"Satana-il was the supreme leader of an extraterrestrial race that accompanied the Anunnaki in their second landing on earth.

This galactic race was physically and genetically different from the An unna ki and the Igigi. Their duty was to serve the Anu nna ki.

They rebelled against the An unna ki and broke the laws of their leader by breeding with the women of the Earth.

Contrary to the general belief, the An unna ki were not the first extraterrestrial race to marry, or the have sexual relations with the women of earth."

____________________________________

archive.org/details/img20190908220021901

Ancient Creation Myths

by Alberta Parish

Publication date 2019-09-08

Topics Enlil, Enki, Anunnaki, Sumerians, ancient myths, Babylonians, Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, Noah, Genesis Flood, Sumerian flood myth

God: The Original Slavemaster by Alberta Parish

Ever since I was a child, I have always believed in a benevolent God called Yahweh and Jehovah that biblical writers claimed created mankind for the express purpose of his will. In a Christianized Western culture, I was taught that only through Jesus Christ could I have eternal life with him and Yahweh. The epic of Atrahasis, an Akkadian tablet dating from the 18th Century BCE, gives a completely different account of mankind's creation and how the universe was formed beginning with the primordial waters.

Atrahasis was the last Sumerian king before the Great Deluge who was saved from the flood by the Anunnaki god Enki who had rulership of the great deep. According to Atrahasis, Homo Sapiens were created to serve the Anunnaki, which were extraterrestrials that landed in the Persian Gulf region about 450,000 years ago in search of gold to repair their home planet Nibiru's ozone.They made the Igigi gods, who were lower gods, mine for gold. Enlil, the ruler of earth and sky, who is also the equivalent of the biblical God Yahweh, also made the Igigi build canals, reedbeds, rivers and mountains. They built the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and after 3,600 years, rebelled against their oppressor, Enlil.

Atrahasis had recorded that the Igigi cast off their work tools and surrounded Enlil's temple demanding to be relieved of their hard labor. It was later decided that the Anunnaki would make a species that were intelligent enough to do the work that the Igigi had refused to do. This was mankind's original purpose for being created by these extraterrestrials. It was also decided that an Anunnaki had to be sacrificed to make mankind.

The epic of Atrahasis states, "They slaughtered Aw-ilu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.

Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.

That same god and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay...After she had mixed the clay, she summoned the Anunna, the great gods.

The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay.

Mami made ready to speak, and said to the great gods: "You ordered me the task and I have completed it!

You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration.

I have done away with your heavy forced labor,

I have imposed your drudgery on man.

You have bestowed clamor upon mankind."

With the help of Enki, half-brother of Enlil, the mother goddess Nintu (i.e., Mami) formed seven males and seven females from fourteen pieces of clay. It was also after this event that the human population grew, because the first seven males and females were given the ability to reproduce. When the human population grew, Enlil complained of their noise. He then set about to reduce the population. First, he caused a drought and mankind was destroyed. But it did nothing to reduce the population. Then, pestilence followed. Still, the population continued to grow. Lastly, Enlil caused a great famine. Eventually, the people turned cannibal as a result of the famine. Finally, Enlil proposed a solution to destroy the human population through a flood.

Read the remainder of my essay at www.ancientcreationmyths.com.

Addeddate 2019-09-15 19:04:20

Identifier img20190908220021901

Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4

____________________________________

ETCSLtranslation

etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?charenc=gcirc&amp...

© Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford

Updated 2006-12-19 by JE

Igigi Search the English translations

Result: 3 paragraph(s)

 

A hymn to Marduk for Abī-Ešuḫ (Abī-Ešuḫ A): c.2.8.5.1

King who gathers up the divine powers of heaven and earth, foremost son of Enki, Marduk, mighty lord, perfect hero, foremost of the Great Princes (a name for the Igigi gods), strong one of the Anuna, the great gods who have given him justice and judgment! Great prince, descendant of holy An, lord who decides destinies, who has everything in his grasp (?), wise, august knower of hearts, whose divinity is manifest, who shows concern for all that he looks upon! Your ancestor An, king of the gods, has made your lordship effective against the armies of heaven and earth.

 

A hymn to Inana (Inana C): c.4.07.3

The great-hearted mistress, the impetuous lady, proud among the Anuna gods and pre-eminent in all lands, the great daughter of Suen, exalted among the Great Princes (a name of the Igigi gods), the magnificent lady who gathers up the divine powers of heaven and earth and rivals great An, is mightiest among the great gods -- she makes their verdicts final. The Anuna gods crawl before her august word whose course she does not let An know; he dare not proceed against her command. She changes her own action, and no one knows how it will occur. She makes perfect the great divine powers, she holds a shepherd's crook, and she is their magnificent pre-eminent one. She is a huge shackle clamping down upon the gods of the Land. Her great awesomeness covers the great mountain and levels the roads.

 

The debate between Bird and Fish: c.5.3.5

"You are like a watchman living on the walls (?), ……! Fish, you kindled fire against me, you planted henbane. In your stupidity you caused devastation; you have spattered your hands with blood! Your arrogant heart will destroy itself by its own deeds! But I am Bird, flying in the heavens and walking on the earth. Wherever I travel to, I am there for the joy of its …… named. ……, O Fish, …… bestowed by the Great Princes (a name for the Igigi). I am of first-class seed, and my young are first-born young! …… went with uplifted head …… to the lustrous E-kur. …… until distant days. …… the numerous people say. How can you not recognise my pre-eminence? Bow your neck to the ground."

____________________________________

A song to Ninimma (Ninimma A): translation

web.archive.org/web/20060925024833/http://www-etcsl.orien...

SEGMENT A

1-18You are the seal-holder of the treasury of the ....... You are the caretaker of the great gods, you are ....... Ninimma, you are the lady of all the great rites in the E-kur. Lady, you are the ...... of Enlil, you are the heavenly scribe. You ...... the tablet of life.

1 line fragmentary

You, who bring the best corn, are the lady of the E-sara. The surveyor's gleaming line and the measuring rod suit you perfectly. You can hold your head high among the great princes. You are ....... You are ......, the cherished one.

1 line fragmentary

......; you are exceptional in wisdom. ...... joy ....... My lady, you were exalted already in the womb; you are resplendent like the sunlight. You are suited to the lapis-lazuli crown (?); you are the heavenly ....... ...... adorned with loveliness .......

1 line fragmentary

approx. 10 lines missing

 

SEGMENT B

1-11...... like a strong (?) ....... ...... of the E-kur ...... lady ....... ...... the forceful one of Nanna ....... You are profoundly intelligent, one who knows everything. You are the shining light which fills the exalted sanctuary. You are she who ...... by Enlil. You are ....... You are ....... You are most apt for the holy susbu rites and lustration rites.

1 line unclear

Ninimma of the holy divine plans, it is sweet to praise you!

 

SEGMENT C

1You are .......

 

Top | Home | Email us This composition: composite text | bibliography

 

Revision history

22.x.1999 : GZ : adapting translation

06.xii.1999 : JAB : proofreading

13.xii.1999 : GC : tagging

22.xii.1999 : ER : proofreading SGML

22.xii.1999 : ER : converting to HTML 4.0

7.ix.2001 : ER : header and footer reformatted; substantive content of file not changed

____________________________________

 

Inly, Bohdan

 

about.me/chekanart

 

April:2015:

Processing Method processing method: using gimp,qtpfsgui,windows microsoft visual studio 2010.

 

Opened gimp 2.8, used the rotate tool to straighten the image, next i used the crop tool to clean the edge's of the image, next Channel mixer from the colour tool i converted b&w,next i ticked the monochrome box and adjusted to RGB R:145 G:145 B: -110,, then chose the top image changing the mode to "overlay" lowering the opacity to 35%, next used the normalize button from the colour tools to stretch the light levels over the image, this is something i've just started to tried out with my photo processing it's a great tool, next i flattened the image and exported and saved it as JPG, ..

 

As with all my previous hdr uploads i duplicated image x3 the 1st (original) duplicate i kept as normal, 2nd duplicate image i used the levels tool and adjusted the level from the middle to the left of the graph to 0.7 to make the image "Underexposed". next, opened 3rd image used levels tool & adjusted from the middle again to the right of the graph to 1.7.0 to make the image "Overexposed", next i opened Qtpfsgui free hdr software and loaded in the images as followed. 1. Original, 2.Under exposed, 3. Overexposed. clicked hdr tonemapping button,saved image as JPG, then opned up microsoft visual studio 2010, clicked auto edit, to bring out the colour & tones of the image, then closed to save.

   

After decades of rapid and robust growth, the U.S. economy has lost some of its allure. GDP growth averaged 2 percent over the past 5 years, well below the 3 percent or more rates in the two decades before the global financial crisis. Productivity growth is at historic lows and population aging is weighing on labor supply. Some of the lackluster performance can be blamed on the drawn-out recovery, but there is growing evidence that market dynamism had begun to decline well before the Lehman crisis. Business startup and exit rates have fallen since the early 1990s and the labor market has steadily become less and less fluid. Are the gravitational forces of demographic change and productivity normalization finally pulling down growth, or is another innovative burst around the corner? The seminar examines the reasons behind the U.S. growth slowdown, the prospects for a recovery in productivity and dynamism, and the scope for policies to influence current growth trends.