View allAll Photos Tagged Normalizes
The man in the photo above is Willy Brandt (1913–1992), a prominent German statesman and politician. He served as the Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974 and was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Political Career: Before becoming Chancellor, Brandt was the Governing Mayor of West Berlin during a critical period from 1957 to 1966, where he became an international symbol of resistance against communist East Germany.
Ostpolitik: He is most famous for his policy of Ostpolitik ("new eastern policy"), aimed at normalizing relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. This policy, though controversial domestically at the time, significantly reduced Cold War tensions in Europe.
Nobel Peace Prize: For his efforts towards reconciliation, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.
Iconic Moment: A defining moment of his chancellorship occurred during a 1970 visit to Warsaw, Poland, where he unexpectedly and spontaneously knelt at a memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a powerful gesture of repentance for German wartime atrocities.
Willy Brandt (born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. Fleeing to Norway and then Sweden during the Nazi regime and working as a left-wing journalist, he took the name Willy Brandt as a pseudonym to avoid detection by Nazi agents, and then formally adopted the name in 1948. Brandt earned initial fame as governing mayor of West Berlin. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice chancellor in Kurt Georg Kiesinger's cabinet, and became chancellor in 1969.
As chancellor, he maintained West Germany's close alignment with the United States and focused on strengthening European integration in Western Europe, while launching the new policy of Ostpolitik aimed at improving relations with Eastern Europe. Brandt was controversial on both the right wing, for his Ostpolitik, and on the left wing, for his support of American policies, including his silence on the Vietnam War that he broke only in 1973, and right-wing authoritarian regimes. The Brandt Report became a recognised measure for describing the general North–South divide in world economics and politics between an affluent North and a poor South. Brandt was also known for his fierce anti-communist policies at the domestic level, culminating in the Radikalenerlass (Anti-Radical Decree) in 1972. Brandt resigned as chancellor in 1974, after Günter Guillaume, one of his closest aides, was exposed as an agent of the Stasi, the East German secret service. Brandt died from colon cancer in 1992, aged 78.
LINK to video - The Life of Willy Brandt (English) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmAM4EC35-4
LINK to video - WEST GERMAN CHANCELLOR WILLY BRANDT VISITS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL - www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PsTRiZGEt8
LINK to video - WILLY BRANDT IS PRESENTED WITH THE NOBEL PRIZE - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr6HG8xNjeQ
COBS (Comet OBSveration database) contributions indicates that C/2021 Leonard had a significant outburst just prior to its recovery in the evening sky on December 15/16 2021. The comet flared to mag 3.5 and then quickly subsided to mag 5 by December 18. These three images were captured with a Vixen VSD 100 mm telescope and a Nikon Z7II camera mounted on a Vixen SXP. About 2.5 minutes of images were acquired with subs and stacked with AstroPixelProcessor and finished with Photoshop. With clouds and haze in Tucson and Comet Leonard gaining altitude each day the differences shown are not normalized and are a qualitative product of the captures.
CAPTURE INFO
-------------------
Scope Centering:
- RA: 350.7247376561124"
- Dec: 61.50483177183408"
Date Captured:
October 24, Home (Bortle 7)
GUIDING NOTES:
Average, averaging ~0.8 RMS
IMAGE CALIBRATION (PixInsight)
Weighted Batch Preprocessing
- Lights, Darks, Flat Darks, Bias
- Cosmetic Correction
- Stats
- (31) 240 second subs
- Normalize Scale Gradient Script to nomalize background
NON LINEAR PROCESSING (PixInsight)
1. Dynamic Background Extraction
2. Background Neutralization
3. Linear Noise Reduction using MultiscaleLinearTransform
4. Another Linear Noise Reduction using MultiscaleLinearTransform
LINEAR PROCESSING (PixInsight)
1. Easy Soft Stretch script
2. SCNR on the G channel
3. Created Star Mask and inverted to protect the stars
3. Ran HDRMultiscaleLinearTransform to enhance nebula
4. Ran a slight "S" curve using CurvesTransformation to darken background and enhance nebula
5. LocalHistogramEqualization @ 25 for contrast on nebula
6. LocalHistogramEqualization @ 25 to further contrast nebula
7. MultiscaleLinearTransform to sharpen detail in the nebula
8. Increased saturation of the stars using Curves
9. Made image ready for the web using ICCProfileTransformation
EQUIPMENT
Optics: William Optics 61ii doublet refractor @ 368mm FL
William Optics adjustable field flattener
Camera: ZWO 533mc Pro (OSC)
Filters:
- 2" Optolong L-Enhance using filter drawer
Mount:
- iOptron GEM 28
Guiding:
- ZWO 120mm mini (red filter)
- William Optics 32mm f/3.75 UniGuide Guidescope
- ZWO ASI Air Pro
- Used previous calibration
- Dither: 5 pixels, every 2 frames
Acquisition:
- ZWO ASI Air Pro (Plan Mode)
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...
There's a sad knowledge in my heart of where this tendency of content overpolicing is going on a larger scale. This overreach of control and micromanagement that's getting normalized fast on or way to 1984.
If I'd posted this pic to a small local URBEX Facebook group, my post would be deleted without any explanation and prior communication on rules regarding location disclosure elsewhere, although I never disclose locations explicitly - not on Facebook, not on Flickr, not anywhere. And have been rude in the past to make clear that I won’t disclose the info, so that the received message is as laconic and clear as possible. So that the potential explorer in contact could go fuck him/herself ASAP and hard.
Today – after being around abandoned places for 30+ years and pondering this for a quite some time, especially in 20/21, I’m thinking a tad differently. Do I care about Fecesbook drama? No, I’m on my way out of there for good and only my business interests hold me to that decrepit shithole, plus I can find another ways to reach local customers, so the ban affects me only in principle (first post sanitization without prior communication) that’s laid bare below.
So, my first post in that group was deleted yesterday. Basis? As it turned out when I PM’d the admin of the group for some reasoning: “You have disclosed locations on your Flickr”, which just amazes me. I upload to Flickr using external tool exclusively, and have set a Publish rule to never post GPS locations. So I went through my Flickr titles, and found out whopping 5 unique places named.
This will be the 6th.
Some might argue that even this amount of information disclosure is too much, to which I wholeheartedly agree to a degree: only if the place is not in public domain, AND if there’s anything but walls and smashed windows left in there. Yesteryear I’d told you to fuck off. Today I’d do some work before doing so. I’d check your profile for signs of thorough and non-damaging interest, and will disclose the place only if some evidence is found. This is the healthier approach, in my opinion, and here’s why.
If you do some critical thinking on this idea of info non-disclosure between URBEX people, at least a couple of problems present themselves gloriously clearly, and they tend to contradict the assumption that information non-disclosure will somehow magically stop the entropy, and will keep the place up and in good health. 1) Places getting ruined or demolished anyways (entropy); 2) Places getting renovated and made boring to explorers.
I’m highly doubtful that scrappers, vandals, teens and addicts use local URBEX internet groups as their primary source of information. These places attract all these kinds of people. They use brains too, and scrappers can smell abandonment miles away, for their living depends on it, not just a silly drive to trespass and explore the living past. Teens and vandals are usually local pricks that enjoy the feeling of smashed windows and falling walls, and I can’t really blame them, it’s a ton of fun, if you look at it honestly.
I’ve been exploring long enough to see non-disclosed places destroyed by scrappers and vandals time and time again. To see how bulldozers level a premium undisclosed Soviet fallout shelter / Communications center – twice at least.
Been here long enough to experience a building getting renovated and opened to the public once again – this very picture is from that place!
And the net result of this is what exactly? What’s the message to take home?
Well, those bulldozed places are leveled, no more living history to experience and less quality pictures, because inevitably some talented photographers missed the place because of the lack of exchange of info between URBEXers. So - fewer enthusiasts got to experience those places and… that’s about it.
And this particular piece I’m posting – it’s Spilves lidosta in Latvia, an Airport that’s an example of premium Stalin's neoclassical architecture in an awesome shape. Only some boarded windows and that’s about it. Why it was in such a pristine condition when we visited it in 2010 and managed to get in? Well, because it was a tad harder to access (some activity on runways and around, and a very naked/open place, no hiding to be had) and guarded the whole time: security personnel, cameras and all that sweet Jazz for us to bypass non-destructively. Today this airport is available to the public and the net result is? Well, less explorers got to experience the place and take pics on their own terms, and access now inaccessiblep areas.
You tell me if this approach isn’t damaging to URBEX movement as a whole? I see a whole lot of Ego masturbation in this too, and it’s ugly. Because scrappers will find their scrap, vandals will find their stuff to smash, and owners or the city will one day demolish or renovate our URBEX sites, and we will move on, trying to protect this information from ourselves.
Thanks for the read! : )
Jessops Pan 100S scanned with Plustek 7600i Ai.
Best enjoyed with Dark Ambient / URBEX
The main bead - "Two Eyes" Agate Pure dZi bead.
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.
Black round beads - Shungite, I want to write a little more about this stone:
Karelian SHUNGITE is a Precambrian rock, which in composition and properties is intermediate between Diamond and Graphite. It got its name from the village "Shunga" in Karelia, where it is still mined. Later, Zazhogino and other deposits were also discovered.
Since ancient times, even before scientists and chemists became interested in this stone, Shungite was used in Russia for filtering and structuring water. (in ancient times it was called the Aspid stone or Paragon).
Now it is also used in medicine, in particular in pharmacology - a whole range of gastric absorbents, ointments, and masks are produced on the basis of Shungite.
Scientists have recently discovered the ability of Karelian Shungite to neutralize the radiation of electronic signals and monitors.
In the scientific community, opinions previously differed about the harm caused to people by "radio wave sickness" and about the degree of danger to humans from household electrical appliances. Most research scientists note the negative effect from the use of objects that exceed the norm of the electromagnetic flux.
Below is a link to research by scientists on the effect of Karelian Shungite on irradiated mice.
No "magic". These are the results of scientific experiments on the therapeutic effect of Karelian Shungite. Not very humane experiments on irradiation of laboratory mice, scientific evidence with accurate measurements, tables, formulas, and numbers. This is something that can be trusted unconditionally. Dry scientific facts. This work was supported by the Yonsei University Research Fund of 2016. Published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity in 2017.
Praying that the pandemic will be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized throughout the world.
Amen...
I mourn with all those who are mourning and ask for comfort to all that need it.
This one took a lot more tweaking to "normalize" than most of the Mighty Micros figures, but I'm very satisfied with it. Also, finally a good use for the unfitting Mr. Freeze head from a few years back.
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) is rife with drug dealers and users.
This scene is common. Two drug pushers and a group of users. The people sitting are preparing to use their drugs.
One can see similar occurrences on any visit to the area.
With the addition of COVID-19, the situation has only worsened.
Following is a John Mackie, Vancouver Sun columnist, reflection on the situation. Mackie has been reporting on the DTES for decades.
UPDATE 23 May 2020 - VANCOUVER SUN
John Mackie:
The Downtown Eastside is a war zone disaster — stop ghettoizing it.
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun 23 May 2020
Twenty years ago local musician Kuba Oms was recording at the Miller Block, a now defunct Hastings Street recording studio near Save-On-Meats.
He jaywalked and was stopped by a cop, who handed him a ticket.
“I said ‘Are you kidding me?’” Oms recounts. “You know there’s a guy shooting up over there, and a crack dealer over there. And the cop said ‘That’s a health issue.’”
That story pretty much sums up the city’s attitude toward the Downtown Eastside over the past few decades.
In some ways the cop was right — it is a Vancouver health issue. But letting people openly do drugs in public and turn Hastings and the wider Downtown Eastside into a ghetto is political correctness gone mad.
Drive down Hastings Street between Abbott and Gore and you’ll see dozens, even hundreds of people hanging out on the street, in various states of sobriety. They are definitely not social distancing. It’s a miracle that COVID-19 hasn’t swept the entire area.
The height of this madness was the recent occupation of Oppenheimer Park. Vancouver has real issues of homelessness, but to some degree Oppenheimer was about a fringe group of politicos manipulating the homeless.
Many police resources were diverted to the park and there was a crime wave in nearby Chinatown — one business closed because they were being robbed a dozen times a day.
The province recently made hotel rooms available for the homeless people occupying Oppenheimer Park, so things have calmed down somewhat. But the big question is what happens in a few months? Is government going to find permanent homes for them?
Odds are if they do, it will be in highrises in the Downtown Eastside. For decades that’s where the city and province have been concentrating social housing, especially for the mentally ill and drug addicted.
Their argument is these residents feel comfortable there. But the reality is the more poverty is concentrated, the worse the area seems to become.
Maybe it’s time for the city of Vancouver to give its head a shake and realize that its much-ballyhooed Downtown Eastside Plan is actually part of the problem, not the solution.
Part of the plan decrees you can’t build condos on Hastings between Carrall Street in Gastown and Heatley Avenue in Strathcona, or in historic Japantown around Oppenheimer Park.
Development in those areas has to be rental only, with at least 60 per cent social housing. This pretty much ensures that no market housing is built in the poorest area of the city.
When the plan was unveiled in 2014, Vancouver’s former head planner Brian Jackson said the aim was to ensure that low-income people in the Downtown Eastside weren’t displaced.
“The plan is attempting to achieve balance,” he explained then.
In fact, the plan does the exact opposite. There is no balance in the Downtown Eastside: It’s been turned into a ghetto. A friend who’s worked there for two decades calls it a war zone.
The city desperately need some market housing, co-ops and development on Hastings and around Oppenheimer. The anti-poverty activists will scream blue murder that it’s gentrification, but it’s actually normalization. You don’t have to displace anybody, you just have add a different mix to make it safer.
I live in Strathcona, where about 6,500 people live in social housing and about 3,500 in market homes. It’s a close-knit neighbourhood that has the balance Brian Jackson was taking about — it’s diverse and features a variety of incomes.
Japantown and the Downtown Eastside could be a real neighbourhood again if the city retained its stock of handsome historic buildings but allowed some development of its many non-descript structures.
It could be like Strathcona, even the West End. But I fear it could get even worse, if the planners and politicians continue to concentrate all the Lower Mainland’s poverty and social ills in one small area.
jmackie@postmedia.com
John Mackie is a veteran Postmedia reporter who has written several stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Plan.
SIMPLE = T / file does conform to FITS standard
BITPIX = -32 / number of bits per data pixel
NAXIS = 3 / number of data axes
NAXIS1 = 1059 / length of data axis 1
NAXIS2 = 1229 / length of data axis 2
NAXIS3 = 3 / length of data axis 3
EXTEND = T / FITS dataset may contain extensions
COMMENT FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) format is defined in 'Astronomy
COMMENT and Astrophysics', volume 376, page 359; bibcode: 2001A&A...376..359H
BZERO = 0 / offset data range to that of unsigned short
BSCALE = 1 / default scaling factor
DATE = '2025-03-02T17:27:07' / UTC date that FITS file was created
DATE-OBS= '2025-03-01T19:17:35.122801' / YYYY-MM-DDThh🇲🇲ss observation start,
INSTRUME= 'Seestar S50' / instrument name
OBSERVER= ' ' / observer name
TELESCOP= 'S50_0cf310c1' / telescope used to acquire this image
XPIXSZ = 2.9 / X pixel size microns
YPIXSZ = 2.9 / Y pixel size microns
XBINNING= 1 / Camera binning mode
YBINNING= 1 / Camera binning mode
FOCALLEN= 251.962 / Camera focal length
CCD-TEMP= 14.9375 / CCD temp in C
EXPTIME = 10 / Exposure time [s]
STACKCNT= 277 / Stack frames
LIVETIME= 2770 / Exposure time after deadtime correction
EXPSTART= 2.46074e+006 / Exposure start time (standard Julian date)
EXPEND = 2.46074e+006 / Exposure end time (standard Julian date)
FILTER = 'LP ' / Active filter name
IMAGETYP= 'Light ' / Type of image
OBJECT = 'M 42 ' / Name of the object of interest
APERTURE= 5 / Aperture of the instrument
GAIN = 80 / Camera gain
SITELAT = 51.2556 / [deg] Observation site latitude
SITELONG= -0.574471 / [deg] Observation site longitude
CTYPE1 = 'RA---TAN' / Coordinate type for the first axis
CTYPE2 = 'DEC--TAN' / Coordinate type for the second axis
CUNIT1 = 'deg ' / Unit of coordinates
CUNIT2 = 'deg ' / Unit of coordinates
EQUINOX = 2000 / Equatorial equinox
OBJCTRA = '05 35 3.113' / Image center Right Ascension (hms)
OBJCTDEC= '-05 33 1.712' / Image center Declination (dms)
RA = 83.763 / Image center Right Ascension (deg)
DEC = -5.55048 / Image center Declination (deg)
CRPIX1 = 529.5 / Axis1 reference pixel
CRPIX2 = 614.5 / Axis2 reference pixel
CRVAL1 = 83.763 / Axis1 reference value (deg)
CRVAL2 = -5.55048 / Axis2 reference value (deg)
CDELT1 = -0.000659219 / X pixel size (deg)
CDELT2 = 0.000659693 / Y pixel size (deg)
PC1_1 = 0.981557 / Linear transformation matrix (1, 1)
PC1_2 = -0.191169 / Linear transformation matrix (1, 2)
PC2_1 = 0.190794 / Linear transformation matrix (2, 1)
PC2_2 = 0.98163 / Linear transformation matrix (2, 2)
PLTSOLVD= T / Siril internal solve
HISTORY mean stacking with winsorized sigma clipping rejection (low=3.000 high=3
HISTORY .000), additive+scaling normalized input, unnormalized output, image wei
HISTORY ghting from star count, unequalized RGB
HISTORY Photometric CC
HISTORY Photometric CC
HISTORY Photometric CC
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.082, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.224, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.357, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.423, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.467, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.413, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.434, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.383, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.378, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.385, lo=0.000, hi=1.000)
HISTORY Histogram Transf. (mid=0.497, lo=0.020, hi=1.000)
END
The 57th Emirate Xenon, Ruler of the Caliphate of Xena, and of it's moral character. His Servitude was marked by intensive aid to the poor, and his normalization of trade relations with Zodiac, and with the Caliphate of Arga. Allowing a branch of the Zodian defense contractor Renminbi Corp. to be set up in the capital city of New Stellac, and in the latter case by arming his police force with Hero Factory equipment originating in Arga.
Compassionate, powerful, and beloved by his people. Long live the virtuous Emirate Xenon.
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...
Here is the first photo set for the Babes & Boobs project, a pro-public breastfeeding photo essay I wanted to personally start up in hopes of persuading society to normalize and not criticize breast feeding, as well as hoping to change the future for expecting moms.
Jennifer is a strong woman with a heart of gold, who was kind enough to be my first volunteer (and I’m sure Addisyn didn’t mind either!)
Me: “What do you hope for, or what is your vision at the end of the project?”
Jennifer: “The more normal we can make it, the better. It’s not right to be rude to people, but especially when I’m only just trying to feed my child.”
See more at www.babesandboobsblog.tumblr.com/
Dinamarca - Copenhague - Ciudad libre de Christiania
***
ENGLISH
www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/culture/alternative-ch...
Freetown Christiania, also known as Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous anarchist district of about 850 to 1,000 residents, covering 34 hectares (84 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen. It was temporarily closed to residents in April 2011 by the Danish government, but later re-opened.
Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. In the years following 2004, measures for normalizing the legal status of the community led to conflicts, police raids and negotiations.
Meditation and yoga have always been popular among the Christianites, and for many years Christiania had a theatrical group Solvognen, who, beyond their theatre performances, also staged many happenings in Copenhagen and throughout Sweden. Ludvigsen had always talked of the acceptance of drug-addicts who could no longer cope with regular society, and the spirit of that belief has still not diminished, even though many problems sprouted due to drug traffic and use (mostly of 'hard drugs', however, which are not tolerated in Christiania). These addicts enter and remain in Christiania and are considered just as integral to the Freetown ethics as the entrepreneurs. For this reason many Danes have seen Christiania as a successful social experiment. However, for years the legal status of the region has been in a limbo due to different Danish governments attempting to remove the Christianites. Such attempts at removal have all been unsuccessful so far.
Christiania is considered to be the fourth largest tourist attraction in Copenhagen (and it has half a million visitors annually)] and abroad it is a well-known "brand" for the supposedly progressive and liberated Danish lifestyle. Many Danish businesses and organizations also use Christiania as a show place for their foreign friends and guests. The purpose is to show something Danish that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Famous for its main drag, known as Pusher Street, where hash and skunk weed were sold openly from permanent stands until 2004, it nevertheless does have rules forbidding 'hard drugs', such as cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. The hash commerce is controversial, but since the rules require a consensus they cannot be removed unless everybody agrees. Legalization of cannabis is one of the ideas of many of the citizens in Christiania. The region negotiated an arrangement with the Danish defense ministry (which still owns the land) in 1995. Since 1994, residents have paid taxes and fees for water, electricity, trash disposal, etc.
After bitter negotiations that temporarily resulted in the area being sealed off to the public, in June 2011, the residents of Christiania agreed to collectively set up a fund to formally purchase the land at below market prices. The community made its first payment in July 2012, officially becoming legal landowners.
***
ESPAÑOL
www.copenhague.es/que-ver/christiania/
La Ciudad libre de Christiania (Danés: Fristaden Christiania) es un barrio parcialmente autogobernado de unos 1000 residentes. Cubre un área de 34 hectáreas en el barrio de Christianshavn (puerto de Christian), en la capital de Dinamarca, Copenhague. Christiania se estableció con un estatus semilegal de comunidad de vecinos que se autoproclama independiente del Estado danés.
Christiania está organizada en torno a Pusher Street (La calle del Vendedor de Estupefacientes), calle, a tramos de asfalto, a tramos de adoquines, y a tramos sencillamente de tierra, en la que se encuentran algunos bares, tiendas, souvenires y centros culturales. Al salir de Pusher Street nos encontramos en un camino alrededor de un canal. Este caminito de tierra discurre entre las casas de los "christianitas", muchas de ellas personalizadas. Hay guarderías, puentes, y esculturas en el agua. Christiania es famosa porque en ella se permite el consumo y venta de drogas blandas. Por ello recibe el apelativo de "distrito verde" (green district). No obstante, desde 2004 el gobierno ha radicalizado su postura y se producen más redadas en la zona. Esto no impide que diariamente turistas y gente local transiten la zona para comprar marihuana o hachís, y que en los bares, terrazas y bancos se congregue la gente a fumar.1
El barrio de Christiania se ha convertido en interés turístico por el precio de las bebidas y alimentos (casi un 50% más baratos que en otras partes de la ciudad debido a que no hay impuestos), de sus tiendas de ropa, artesanía y recuerdos. En el pasado se podían contratar visitas guiadas por el barrio de Christiania, pero desde hace unos pocos años la comunidad decidió prohibirlas ya que se quejaban de que fueran expuestos o mostrados como si fueran animales en un zoológico. Igualmente puedes entrar al área sin problema por tu cuenta.
Al salir por la entrada principal de la ciudad de Christiania se puede leer «You're now entering the EU» (Está usted entrando en la Unión Europea), ya que los habitantes de Christiania no se consideran pertenecientes a la Unión Europea.
En septiembre de 1971 la historia de Christiania comienza con el derribo de una valla en un terreno militar abandonado por el ejército danés en 1971, por parte de unos padres que querían terrenos donde sus hijos pudiesen jugar. Luego de ese evento se plantea un debate en la comunidad gracias a un artículo en un periódico subcultural que plantea los diferentes usos que se podían dar al cuartel abandonado. El movimiento cultural y político incita a que el sitio debe ser el espacio para realizar las aspiraciones de vida comunal de su movimiento, logrando que un grupo de personas ocupen ilegalmente los terrenos y funden Christiania. El gobierno lo toleró, aunque ha intentado expulsarles de allí en numerosas ocasiones. En 1989 se promulgó la Ley de Christiania que transfiere parte de la supervisión del área de la municipalidad de Copenhague al estado danés, y que aceptó conservar el asentamiento supeditado a una futura legalización y normalización. Desde 2004 se dieron una serie de conflictos con el gobierno danés respecto a la propiedad de los terrenos y al mercado de drogas. En 2012 los habitantes de Christiania han reconsiderado su posición de ocupantes ilegales y han comprado gran parte de los terrenos del barrio con el propósito de mantenerlo comunal. La propiedad de estos terrenos no pertenece a personas individuales, sino al colectivo de Christiania, y no pueden venderse de manera individual. En caso de venta de casas o terrenos, las cláusulas estipulan obligaciones específicas entre el colectivo y el gobierno danés. Las personas que habitan las zonas que se han comprado pagan un alquiler comunitario que se estipula en función de las dimensiones de la casa. También pagan las facturas del agua y de la electricidad.
90x300s
WO71-II, Optolong L-Extreme, ASI071MC, AVX
HOO normalization script applied followed by some color tweaks.
The Rocky, Cascade, and Coast Mountain Ranges dominate the landscape of the Pacific Northwest in this image created June 11-17, 2012 from the Visible-Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership or Suomi NPP satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
Potato and other agriculture can be seen in the bottom center of the image, as the Rockies transition to the plains of Idaho. High values of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, represent dense green functioning vegetation and low NDVI values represent sparse green vegetation or vegetation under stress from limiting conditions, such as drought.
Credit: NASA/NOAA
To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/vegetation.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Find us on Instagram
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.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to Boston Peter for this graphic that captures my sentiments on this day after the worst of all possible election days.
I am not going to apoligize for being a liberal democrat.
I am not going to normalize Don Trump by trying to fool myself or you into believing that the narcissistic compulisive liar we saw during the campaign will blossom overnight into a seasoned, polished politician and statesman.
I am not going to shrug my shoulders and say that if the US survived Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, we'll survive Don Trump. The Reagan and Bush years were fuckin' horrible and what Don Trump, the Republican Congress and the Republican Supreme Court have in store for us will be fuckin' horrible too.
If you don't believe it now, wait until Duck Dynasty gets front row seats as the Inauguration.
Saint-Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint-Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents.
The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world, the Lakhta Center, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020.
The name day of Peter I falls on 29 June, when the Orthodox Church observes the memory of apostles Peter and Paul. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began at the same time as the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, while Saint Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city. When in June 1703 Peter the Great renamed the site after Saint Peter, he did not issue a naming act that established an official spelling; even in his own letters he used diverse spellings, such as Санктьпетерсьбурк (Sanktpetersburk), emulating German Sankt Petersburg, and Сантпитербурх (Santpiterburkh), emulating Dutch Sint-Pietersburgh, as Peter was multilingual and a Hollandophile. The name was later normalized and russified to Санкт-Петербург (Saint-Petersburg).
The historic architecture of Saint-Petersburg's city centre, mostly Baroque and Neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the Siege of Leningrad and in recent years. The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Known as 44th president of the U.S.A.
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He represented the 13th district for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004 when he ran for the U.S. Senate. He received national attention in 2004 with his March primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, he was nominated for president a year after his campaign began and after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. He was elected over Republican John McCain and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Regarded as a centrist New Democrat, Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in office. The main reforms that were passed include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (often referred to as "Obamacare", shortened as the "Affordable Care Act"), the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 served as economic stimulus amidst the Great Recession. After a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, he signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, he increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the United States–Russia New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi; Gaddafi was killed by NATO-assisted forces. He also ordered the military operations that resulted in the deaths of Osama bin Laden and suspected Yemeni Al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki.
After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013. During this term, he promoted inclusiveness for LGBT Americans. His administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional (United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges); same-sex marriage was fully legalized in 2015 after the Court ruled that a same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional in Obergefell. He advocated for gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, indicating support for a ban on assault weapons, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy, he ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, continued the process of ending U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan in 2016, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, initiated sanctions against Russia following the invasion in Ukraine and again after Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, brokered a nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized U.S. relations with Cuba. Obama nominated three justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were confirmed as justices, while Merrick Garland faced unprecedented partisan obstruction and was ultimately not confirmed. During his term in office, America's reputation in global polling significantly improved. Evaluations of his presidency among historians, political scientists, and the general public place him among the upper tier of American presidents. Obama left office and retired in January 2017 and currently resides in Washington, D.C. A December 2018 Gallup poll found Obama to be the most admired man in America for an unprecedented 11th consecutive year, although Dwight D. Eisenhower was selected most admired in twelve non-consecutive years.
Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii
Orginal photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Artwork by TudioJepegii
Making my way through the prickly field I sneaked up on these hard-working people in the packing station in the middle of this Nopal growing orchard.
Well....... they must have known we were coming, seing their Patron (their Boss) and a group of buyers approaching in the field way behind me (((:
.
.
.
.
.
.
===================
History of Nopal:
Archaeological evidence shows Nopal as a staple and medicine for the cultures which have thrived in Meso Americ (Mexico) dating back at least 12,000 years including the Olmec, Toltec and most recently Aztec. Indeed Aztec folklore describes a prophetic vision of an eagle holding a serpent in its talons while perched on a Nopal cactus plant, where providence dictated they build their city. The Aztec’s referred to Nopal as “Nochtli” in their native Nahuatl language, thus naming their divinely inspired city Tenochtitlan, or City of the Nopal; today’s location of Mexico City. Explorers visiting that area in the 15th Century were fascinated by Nopal’s shelf life and ability to protect against scurvy, which we now know is due to its high Vitamin C content. Thus Nopal became a popular seafaring food and eventually made its way around the globe.
INFO on the HEALTH BENEFITS OF NOPAL cactus - taken from the Chosen Foods - Ancient Nutrition website:
What is Nopal?
Nopal is a cactus native to Mexico, botanically classified as Opuntia ficus-indica. The Genus Opuntia describes over 200 cactus species growing worldwide, all of which share the common Mexican ancestor O. ficus-indica The success of Nopal as a food and medicine has kept it an icon of health food in Mexico where more than 700,000 metric tons are consumed annually.
More recently clinical research has found Nopal to be an ancient nutrition for modern illness because of its unique ability to normalize blood sugar, improve digestive health, and protect against inflammation and oxidative stress.
I was out with some friends last week on Santa Margarita Lake to photograph birds. These two Common Mergansers were very close to the boat and virtually impossible to get both in focus at the same time. However, I had two consecutive shots, one with the male in focus and the other with the female. Post included normalizing the exposure differences between the two images in Lightroom and stacking in Photoshop, bringing out the sharpest bird from each photo.
Messier 45, also known as the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades is an Open Cluster located in Taurus. It can easyly be seen in a starry autumn or winter night as a constellation of approx. five stars even with the naked eye.
Object: M 45 (Pleiades)
Optics: William Megrez 72ED F6 + Long Perng 0,6x Reducer
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R
Camera: ZWO ASI 183MM Pro @-20°C, Gain=53, Offset=10
Filter: ZWO EFW 7x36mm, ZWO 36mm Filters
Exposure: total ~7h, R 87x60sec, G 90x60sec, B 106x60sec, L 65x120sec, L (mixed from RGB), 200 Bias, 40 Darks, 60 Flats per channel
Date: 2018-11-16, 2018-11-17
Location: Schwaig
Capture: Sequence Generator Pro
Guiding: APM50 Image Master, ASI120MM, PHD2
Image Acquisition: Stephan Schurig
Image Processing: Stephan Schurig
AstroPixelProcessor 1.070: Calibration, Registration, Normalization, Integration, Channel Combination, Background Flattening & Calibration, Star Colors Correction, Auto Digital Development
Photoshop 20.0.1: Levels, Curves, Exposure (Offset, Exposure), Masked Nik Dfine 2 Denoise, Masked Dynamic (Dynamic, Saturation), Star Shrink, Masked Unsharp Masking, Masked HighPass Sharpening, Camera Raw Lens Correction (Distorsion, Chromatic Abberation), Cosmetic Background Repair
"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.
Starless of flic.kr/p/2nGTZbs
-Equipment-
Scope: TS-Optics 94/414 EPDH (414mm focal)
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5°C gain 101 offset 49
Guiding: ZWO OAG
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI 120MM
Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6
Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme
-Acquisition-
Light : 128x300s
Total integration time 10,6h
Dark: 100x300s Flat-50 Bias-100
Date : 20,21,23,24,25 August 2022
Location : France-Alsace Bortle 4/5
-Software-
Carte du Ciel, N.I.N.A, Phd2 , PoleMaster and PixInsight
Ez Processing Suite from darkarcon
darkarcon website : darkarchon.internet-box.ch:8443/
-Pre Processing in PixInsight-
Image Calibration
Cosmetic Correction
Debayer
Subframe Selector
Star Alignement
Local Normalization
Image Integration
Drizzle x2
Dynamic crop
-Processing
DBE MasterLRGB
___RGB layer___HOO
Split RGB channels to build Ha and Oiii
Ha=R Oiii= B*0.3+G*0.7
EZ_Soft Stretch
HOO combination with Foraxx formula
R=Ha
G=((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Ha + ~((Oiii*Ha)^~(Oiii*Ha))*Oiii
B=Oiii
___L layer___
Ez_Deconvolution
Ez_Soft Stretch
Local Histogram Equalization with nebula mask
UnsharpedMask with nebula mask
___LRGB___
Ez_Denoise
Curve Transformation
StarNet2
Save as PNG
Clear skies !
Comet Leonard increased in brightness by more than 2 magnitudes and within a day faded and then faded further in the next day.
COBS (Comet OBSveration database) contributions indicates that C/2021 Leonard had a significant outburst just prior to its recovery in the evening sky on December 15/16 2021. The comet flared to mag 3.5 and then quickly subsided to mag 5 by December 18. These three images were captured with a Vixen VSD 100 mm telescope and a Nikon Z7II camera mounted on a Vixen SXP. About 2.5 minutes of images were acquired with subs and stacked with AstroPixelProcessor and finished with Photoshop. With clouds and haze in Tucson and Comet Leonard gaining altitude each day the differences shown are not normalized and are a qualitative product of the captures. On December 17 there was considerable haze that like reddened the coma shown.
The photos were converted to BW, stretched, and then a inverted to show the coma stretched greatly to show the faint coma. The outburst on Dec 15/16 ejected much coma material. This then appears to be observed as an extended coma trail 24 h later in the middle image on December 17, and without the continuing outburst on December 18th the coma is much smaller and compact in the faded comet.
'the nopalera couple'
... the second last upload in my Nopal Orchard series -
and it's one of my favorites (((:
just love the movement, the interaction, working hand in hand (((:
note the already wrapped packages...for local- and export markets on the very right.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Copyright© Ute Hagen - All my photos and art images are protected under International Copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my explit permission. If you want to use any of my images please contact me here through flickr mail or at: uteart@gmail.com
-------------
INFO on the HEALTH BENEFITS OF NOPAL cactus - taken from the Chosen Foods - Ancient Nutrition website:
What is Nopal?
Nopal is a cactus native to Mexico, botanically classified as Opuntia ficus-indica. The Genus Opuntia describes over 200 cactus species growing worldwide, all of which share the common Mexican ancestor O. ficus-indica The success of Nopal as a food and medicine has kept it an icon of health food in Mexico where more than 700,000 metric tons are consumed annually.
More recently clinical research has found Nopal to be an ancient nutrition for modern illness because of its unique ability to normalize blood sugar, improve digestive health, and protect against inflammation and oxidative stress.
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.
Mosaic done by USGS : see details on these links :
astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/cerberus_hemisphere_unen...
astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/schiaparelli_hemisphere_...
Cerberus : Mosaic of the Cerberus hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. This mosaic is composed of 104 Viking Orbiter images acquired on February 11, 1980. At that time, it was early northern summer on Mars. The center of the image is at latitude 3 degrees, longitude 185 degrees.
Schiaparelli: Mosaic of the Schiaparelli hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The images were acquired in 1980 during early northern summer on Mars. The center of this image is near the impact crater Schiaparelli (latitude -3, longitude 343) The limits of this mosaic are approximately latitude -60 to 60 and longitude 260 to 30. The color variations have been enhanced by a factor of two, and the large-scale brightness normalized by large-scale filtering.
I processed unenhanced images to enhance it.
Credit : NASA/USGS
Enhancement : Thomas Thomopoulos
Dinamarca - Copenhague - Ciudad libre de Christiania
***
ENGLISH
www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/culture/alternative-ch...
Freetown Christiania, also known as Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous anarchist district of about 850 to 1,000 residents, covering 34 hectares (84 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen. It was temporarily closed to residents in April 2011 by the Danish government, but later re-opened.
Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. In the years following 2004, measures for normalizing the legal status of the community led to conflicts, police raids and negotiations.
Meditation and yoga have always been popular among the Christianites, and for many years Christiania had a theatrical group Solvognen, who, beyond their theatre performances, also staged many happenings in Copenhagen and throughout Sweden. Ludvigsen had always talked of the acceptance of drug-addicts who could no longer cope with regular society, and the spirit of that belief has still not diminished, even though many problems sprouted due to drug traffic and use (mostly of 'hard drugs', however, which are not tolerated in Christiania). These addicts enter and remain in Christiania and are considered just as integral to the Freetown ethics as the entrepreneurs. For this reason many Danes have seen Christiania as a successful social experiment. However, for years the legal status of the region has been in a limbo due to different Danish governments attempting to remove the Christianites. Such attempts at removal have all been unsuccessful so far.
Christiania is considered to be the fourth largest tourist attraction in Copenhagen (and it has half a million visitors annually)] and abroad it is a well-known "brand" for the supposedly progressive and liberated Danish lifestyle. Many Danish businesses and organizations also use Christiania as a show place for their foreign friends and guests. The purpose is to show something Danish that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Famous for its main drag, known as Pusher Street, where hash and skunk weed were sold openly from permanent stands until 2004, it nevertheless does have rules forbidding 'hard drugs', such as cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. The hash commerce is controversial, but since the rules require a consensus they cannot be removed unless everybody agrees. Legalization of cannabis is one of the ideas of many of the citizens in Christiania. The region negotiated an arrangement with the Danish defense ministry (which still owns the land) in 1995. Since 1994, residents have paid taxes and fees for water, electricity, trash disposal, etc.
After bitter negotiations that temporarily resulted in the area being sealed off to the public, in June 2011, the residents of Christiania agreed to collectively set up a fund to formally purchase the land at below market prices. The community made its first payment in July 2012, officially becoming legal landowners.
***
ESPAÑOL
www.copenhague.es/que-ver/christiania/
La Ciudad libre de Christiania (Danés: Fristaden Christiania) es un barrio parcialmente autogobernado de unos 1000 residentes. Cubre un área de 34 hectáreas en el barrio de Christianshavn (puerto de Christian), en la capital de Dinamarca, Copenhague. Christiania se estableció con un estatus semilegal de comunidad de vecinos que se autoproclama independiente del Estado danés.
Christiania está organizada en torno a Pusher Street (La calle del Vendedor de Estupefacientes), calle, a tramos de asfalto, a tramos de adoquines, y a tramos sencillamente de tierra, en la que se encuentran algunos bares, tiendas, souvenires y centros culturales. Al salir de Pusher Street nos encontramos en un camino alrededor de un canal. Este caminito de tierra discurre entre las casas de los "christianitas", muchas de ellas personalizadas. Hay guarderías, puentes, y esculturas en el agua. Christiania es famosa porque en ella se permite el consumo y venta de drogas blandas. Por ello recibe el apelativo de "distrito verde" (green district). No obstante, desde 2004 el gobierno ha radicalizado su postura y se producen más redadas en la zona. Esto no impide que diariamente turistas y gente local transiten la zona para comprar marihuana o hachís, y que en los bares, terrazas y bancos se congregue la gente a fumar.1
El barrio de Christiania se ha convertido en interés turístico por el precio de las bebidas y alimentos (casi un 50% más baratos que en otras partes de la ciudad debido a que no hay impuestos), de sus tiendas de ropa, artesanía y recuerdos. En el pasado se podían contratar visitas guiadas por el barrio de Christiania, pero desde hace unos pocos años la comunidad decidió prohibirlas ya que se quejaban de que fueran expuestos o mostrados como si fueran animales en un zoológico. Igualmente puedes entrar al área sin problema por tu cuenta.
Al salir por la entrada principal de la ciudad de Christiania se puede leer «You're now entering the EU» (Está usted entrando en la Unión Europea), ya que los habitantes de Christiania no se consideran pertenecientes a la Unión Europea.
En septiembre de 1971 la historia de Christiania comienza con el derribo de una valla en un terreno militar abandonado por el ejército danés en 1971, por parte de unos padres que querían terrenos donde sus hijos pudiesen jugar. Luego de ese evento se plantea un debate en la comunidad gracias a un artículo en un periódico subcultural que plantea los diferentes usos que se podían dar al cuartel abandonado. El movimiento cultural y político incita a que el sitio debe ser el espacio para realizar las aspiraciones de vida comunal de su movimiento, logrando que un grupo de personas ocupen ilegalmente los terrenos y funden Christiania. El gobierno lo toleró, aunque ha intentado expulsarles de allí en numerosas ocasiones. En 1989 se promulgó la Ley de Christiania que transfiere parte de la supervisión del área de la municipalidad de Copenhague al estado danés, y que aceptó conservar el asentamiento supeditado a una futura legalización y normalización. Desde 2004 se dieron una serie de conflictos con el gobierno danés respecto a la propiedad de los terrenos y al mercado de drogas. En 2012 los habitantes de Christiania han reconsiderado su posición de ocupantes ilegales y han comprado gran parte de los terrenos del barrio con el propósito de mantenerlo comunal. La propiedad de estos terrenos no pertenece a personas individuales, sino al colectivo de Christiania, y no pueden venderse de manera individual. En caso de venta de casas o terrenos, las cláusulas estipulan obligaciones específicas entre el colectivo y el gobierno danés. Las personas que habitan las zonas que se han comprado pagan un alquiler comunitario que se estipula en función de las dimensiones de la casa. También pagan las facturas del agua y de la electricidad.
The State of Israel is still fighting for its existence.
In the current war, the "Iron Swords" war, I maintain restraint for various personal reasons.
Sometimes I wonder why there is a need for wars or terrorism, as opposed to peace and prosperity.
It turns out that this need has existed since the dawn of humanity, only that the abilities and powers have changed significantly.
Have the understandings changed as well?
If we could imagine for ourselves from all sides, what peace could bring to the citizens of the world..
Or maybe we will make a comparison in our minds between the days of peace and the days of war.
Like quiet vs. noise.. Like calm vs. tension, like health vs. sick, like good vs. evil, like hate and revenge vs. love.. like destruction vs. building momentum, like killing vs. creation, like horrors vs. wonders. Like darkness instead of light.
What and why is the war actually about?
On the principle of revenge or abysmal hatred that cannot be reconciled.
Is it about territory, power or control... maybe money, the caprice of one leader or another. Is it about the domination of this religion or another...
In essential inflexibility, or on the contrary... protection, existence of human justice, or actually the essence of existence.
Is there justice in war? No and yes .. if there is no choice left.
Is there a wise and strong over the weak and defenseless?
Can the problems of war and terrorism be solved in different ways?
Like, agreements and absolute adherence to agreements, or not. Depends on who the parties involved are.
Can a constant education of hatred and revenge, evil from the age of 0, help bring future peace to his generations.
Knowing many years of wars and terrorism on the side of peace, what actually happens to some of the fighters. or from the different wars.
As long as there is no mutual desire for permanent peace, how can peace come?
Theoretically, I would suggest to the people who work for the wars and their creation, to give consideration and thought, if there is even a chance for real, sustainable and permanent peace.
What can such peace bring to each of the parties, what profit can each party derive from peace?
You can check the quality of life in countries where peace prevails.
And I will ask.. What kind of god, and of what religion is really interested in bloodshed, or cruelty, especially on the weak and the helpless?
What reward, or reward, what joy, will follow cruelty and warlike tyranny, even to the cruel?
Why does fate bring peace in the short term, or in the long term?
There is no justice in wars, and how can abysmal gaps in perception be bridged?
What achievements do wars ultimately bring... compared to the possibility of peace...
With the understanding of the doubts, which are probably... in vain.
Live and let live.. because there is such an important value to life. And man and woman in their faith shall live.
I end with prayers for peace and love, oh I wish.
Thank you for the support.
Copyrights (c) Nira Dabush.
April 2015:...
processing method: using gimp,qtpfsgui,windows microsoft visual studio 2010.
I Opened gimp 2.8, ,used the rotate tool to straighten up the horizon, then used the crop tool next from the colour tool i clicked normalize to stretch the light levels equally over the image next i used the "soft focus" tool from the fx foundry within the gimp tools, then exported and saved 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 0.5 to make the image "Underexposed". next, opened 3rd image used levels tool & adjusted from the middle again to the right of the graph to 5.0 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.
I hate it when somebody give me something unnecessary as a present. There is a big difference between unnecessary things, which clutter up the apartment by my own free will, and those that I have to take, because it is not customary to refuse gifts. And then I feel too sorry to throw it out, because the person kind of tried, and it just lies around, and I quietly hate the gift, the giver, and myself. :(
Personally, I think it's time to introduce and normalize a culture of gift decline. Because, you know, you are not another person, so you can't be 100% sure that they need this thing, if you not ask them directly. As for me, if it's not something Lego, then 80% of the probability is miss, and 10% that I don't need this thing, but it's cool enough (the remaining 10% that I need this thing at least a bit). With Lego it's harder to miss, but it happens, though rarely (Belville horse, are you kidding me?!). In general, I am in favor of gifts evoking only sincere emotions - and for this you need to give what a person really needs, and not what they need in your opinion. :) No more fake joy out of courtesy, no more unnecessary stuff in a room - everybody wins!
Actually I've never received such a giant stuffed animal, which is good, because rubbish of this size can definitely awaken my Aries anger, and most likely I would suffocate the giver with the same rubbish. xD But when I see such things in gift shops, I am wondered every time - why are they made at all, and for whom? Does anyone really need them? Like, really? :|
Out-of-contest MOC for "Gift ribbon, scissors, gift wrapping paper" contest on Phantoms Brick (phantoms.su, previously known as RFFL).
Here is the first photo set for the Babes & Boobs project, a pro-public breastfeeding photo essay I wanted to personally start up in hopes of persuading society to normalize and not criticize breast feeding, as well as hoping to change the future for expecting moms.
Jennifer is a strong woman with a heart of gold, who was kind enough to be my first volunteer (and I’m sure Addisyn didn’t mind either!)
Me: “What do you hope for, or what is your vision at the end of the project?”
Jennifer: “The more normal we can make it, the better. It’s not right to be rude to people, but especially when I’m only just trying to feed my child.”
See more at www.babesandboobsblog.tumblr.com/
Lazy Sun of 19.07.2014 was dreaming of trees (on the left) and of clouds (on the right).
"Exotic star" is a term for the star remnant made of matter in uncommon state, like that of quark or electro-weak star (both hypothetical). Here it's just an exotic colorarion :)
WARNING! Sun is dangerous, use proper filters for observing and imaging!
Aquisition time (start of the session) : JD2456858,079433 (19.07.2014 17:54:23 MSK).
Image orientation: N/A
Equipment:
Canon EOS 60D (unmoded, but should be otherwise :) via Baader Planetarium Hyperion Zoom 24-8 mm MkIII eye-piece on Coronado PST on photo tripod.
Aperture 40 mm
Native focal length 400 mm
Effective focal length ~600-700 mm
Tv = 1/40 s
Av = N/A
ISO 500
Software: N/A
Exposures: 28
Processing: my usual approach to DSLR Solar footage includes conversion to monochrome in Canon DPP, pre-cropping images to 1:1 1800x1800 pix, painfully long export as 8-bit .TIFFs, assemblage to into stacks in ImageJ, stacking in Autistakkert!2 and deconvolution in AstraImage 3 PRO (deconvolution settings lost in time :( ). But! I have made three images from the stacking result - one unaltered, one with normalized (If = (I-Imin)/(Imax-Imin)) histogramm and one software overexposure. These three were somehow blended together through excessive processing in Photoshop in the end :)
Discarded drug paraphernalia like this is common on the streets in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES).
Oh no, Ted is going to rant, again, with help from Vancouver Sun newspaper columnist Daphne Bramham.
Vancouver Sun, 29 January 2021:
Vancouver is a city on the edge. The edge of what is an open question.
It seems politicians and the police are unable, unwilling or incapable of stopping what has turned into a version of Dante’s Hell on the Downtown Eastside — illicit drug sales, open drug use, the stolen property bazaar, garbage, weapons, assaults, rape.
On the sidewalks and in the back alleys, there is truly human waste with people lying catatonic or twitching.
Chaos and disorder are so normalized that most Vancouverites have abandoned the neighbourhood, given it up to the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill, and the people who prey on them.
But if it’s bad on the edges, the Downtown Eastside is rougher than it has ever been.
Citywide in 2020, assaults were up 14 per cent and break-ins rose 18 per cent. Assaults on police officers increased by 47 per cent. Needless to say, residents are concerned and upset.
Vancouver no longer has a public health crisis that can be solved by needle exchanges, supervised injection sites, a naloxone-carting population, and pharmaceuticals substituted for illicit drugs.
It is going to take more to solve the housing crisis by repurposing older hotels and simply putting roofs over people’s heads — a lot more.
This is humanitarian crisis that is seeping into every part of the city.
Solving it requires bold leadership and a willingness to go beyond what has been done in the past, using evidence-based solutions that are in the best interests of all residents.
Everyone deserves better that what’s happening now.
dbramham@postmedia.com
Twitter: @bramham_daphne
Here is the fourth photo set for the Babes & Boobs project, a pro-public breastfeeding photo essay I wanted to personally start up in hopes of persuading society to normalize and not criticize breast feeding, as well as hoping to change the future for expecting moms.
As soon as I met this fun loving duo, I could tell Hollis was definitely a momma’s boy. He may like to fix things up around the house like his daddy, but every time he looked at his mother, Olivia, his face lit up like a light bulb. Both were just glowing with energy, and it was obvious that breastfeeding has helped Hollis grow to be a strong toddler. He ran all around the park, hopping from one 3-wheeler bike to the next, teetering through tree trunks, and not once did he fall! If any pro PBF mom wants to enjoy a fun day with their baby, the toy park in Decatur is perfect! It was PACKED but not one person gave a dirty look! Olivia even had a group of friends there so it’s a very safe and comfortable environment for everyone!
Me: So what made you want to participate in the project?
Olivia: People are always telling me to cover-up and that it’s not proper, especially because my boobs are larger so when I am breastfeeding they’re OUT. I’m not showing anymore of my breasts while breastfeeding than I am while in a bathing suit, and yet that’s accepted.
Me: It is weird how a bathing suit is acceptable in photos or in public, but bras and panties aren’t. Our society just seems to be attacking the wrong things, and that’s part of the reason I wanted to start this project up!
Olivia: It surprises me that you’re not a mom, and yet you’re doing this. I think it’s awesome.
More can be found on: www.sarahshootspeople.com
As noted in the title, this is a pic resized to 4K (4096 x 2256). It was also made using layers - one that is Diffuse, another that is Normal, and still another that is Specular. What's the difference?
Well, the Diffuse layer is your regular pic as it was captured using the Singularity viewer's basic snapshot function. Albeit, this image was cropped a bit before being resized. The high quality snapshot mainly captures up to the size of your screen resolution, unless you modify the settings for standard and customized photo settings and ratios. I generally prefer capturing the full scene on the screen and later doing the cropping, resizing, and any additional edits in Paint . NET.
Normal, which one might consider ought to be the what is called the 'normal' picture, is actually named that regarding the notion of normalized shading. This effect has been a part of 3D modeling and layered digital image editing for quite some time. Some of the earlier SL clothes and skin artists from nearly a decade ago used to also call this baking. The idea was to give the character (or scene in this case) more realistic shading, and done in a more subtle way than bitmapping. It's probably a bit redundant nowadays, since a lot of this type of effect is done by the grid server software or game engine. However, it is a fun digital enhancement that still adds a certain amount of artistic detail to your pics. Also, with 64 bit viewers, like Singularity, you can add normal maps to your avatar and objects to get enhanced in-world effects. So, though it may not be as necessary to use normal layers and maps as it used to be, they can be fun to use and provide further aesthetics and detail.
Specular is similar to normal layering in as much as it is an additional artistic enhancement. Where it differs is in being the exact opposite effect from the normal. That is, specular layers are intended to highlight the lighting. Blending the two layers with the original diffuse layer helps enhance the shading and lighting of your picture, or how your object or avatar's surface skins interact with the virtual world's lighting and shading effects. So again, while there is somewhat of a redundancy in using normal and specular layers with all the bells and whistles in modern virtual world grids and game engines, people that use these layers absolutely love them for the artistic enhancements they provide. Thus, while unnecessary for average use, both specular and normal maps and layers are still fun to play with, especially for the 3D virtual world and digital artists. And, who knows? Some 'real world' photographers have probably caught on to their use in editing their photos, or they just have different jargon to explain similar lighting and shading enhancements they do in their editing process.
However it be, the point is the added aesthetics and, above all, fun and love that goes into the creative excellence that is at the core of all forms of artistry. After all, if you don't love the creative process that goes into any form of artwork, be it writing, drawing, photography, sculpting, and the like, then you are truly wasting your time. Yet, if you love what you're doing, it may still be seen as wasting time, but it is doing so in a good way. That is, 'wasting time' working on the excellence of good artistry can be seen in a similar light as what Fr. John Riccardo talks about with regards to 'wasting time' with God. Some of you may not understand what that means, and many of us have been ruled by the clock of industrialized civilization for so long that we are little less than cogs to the clock that we have hovering over the system of our modern society. That is, many of us don't bother to make time for moments of timelessness for 'wasting time' on positive things like prayer and meditation, let alone spending time with our families, regarding such things as yet one more thing to micromanage under the bottom line of "time is money."
Anyways, didn't really mean to get preachy, but I suppose it goes with the theme of 'thinking'. At any rate, here's the credits for the effects used to create the pic:
Normal Map Renderer - by Sam Sartor. (Note: No longer being developed by the developer, but still a nice plugin!)
Invert Colors - built in adjustment tool used to flip the normal to make the specular layer
And that's pretty much it for this pic. =~.^=
"Mosaic of the Schiaparelli hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The images were acquired in 1980 during early northern summer on Mars. The center of this image is near the impact crater Schiaparelli (latitude -3, longitude 343) The limits of this mosaic are approximately latitude -60 to 60 and longitude 260 to 30. The color variations have been enhanced by a factor of two, and the large-scale brightness normalized by large-scale filtering."
Above (and image) per/at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center Astropedia Web Portal:
astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mars/Viking/schiaparelli...
Pure palladium print. Pretrattamento (pretreatment) con Fumed Silica -
A destra senza, a sinistra con pretrattamento (Right without, Left with pretreatment)
DMax in Green 1.20 vs 1.54
Entrambe le stampe sono state realizzate dallo stesso negativo, con la stessa chimica (Pd 1ml + Fe(III)Ox 1 ml + Na2 0,3 ml; sviluppo potassio Ossalato 50°C, tre bagni chiarificatori: EDTAII - Sodio Solfito - EDTA IV), sulla stessa carta (Arches Platine 300 g/mq) con la stessa esposizione (20 min), nelle stesse condizioni di HR (37%) e di temperatura.
La scansione è stata effettuata in 16bit, salvata in RAW e sviluppata in Camera Raw™ con gli stessi parametri di correzione nella visione intera e “normalizzata” nell’analisi dei dettagli.
La stampa pretrattata con la Fumed Silica ha più densità, scala tonale più ampia con dettagli nelle ombre miglior risoluzione delle luci.
Anche l’acutanza è migliore (vedi i dettagli) e la texture delle fibre è meno evidente, a favore di una morbidezza maggiore dell’immagine.
Both prints have been made from the same negative, with the same chemistry (Pd 1ml + Fe(III)Ox 1 ml + Na2 0,3 ml; development potassium Oxalate 50°C, three Clearing bath: EDTAII - NaSulphite - EDTA IV), on the same paper (Arches Platine 300 g/mq) with the same exposure (20 min), in the same condition of RH (37%) and temperature (16°C).
Scanning has been made in 16bit, saved as RAW data and developed in Camera Raw™ with the same parameters in the whole picture, while has been “normalized” when showing the details.
The print pretreated with fumed silica has more density, wider tonal scale in the shadows and better resolution in the highlights.
Also, sharpness is improved (see detail) and the texture of the paper is less perceptible, allowing a greater smoothness of the image
Hello Everyone,
First of all, I would like to thank the Flickr team who quickly normalized my Free account.
This is the second time they have tried to harm my work here. The first time my account was PRO and there were a lot of old photos that I hadn't changed the security level for, ok! But I'm not so naive as to think that this is just "Flickr persecution" and I have strong reasons to say that there are "unresolved" people doing this.
People who feel inferior, narcissistic people, psychopaths, stalkers in general.
Unfortunately, these people use their precious time to dedicate to doing this and they make a point of being around to try to drain your good energy. So, (F.D.P), don't waste your time on my Flickr page, because I already have a suitable place for all my photographs, it's better to swallow your tears and "get over it" ;)
My collection of photos here is temporary, so I don't mind deleting them, because I know how to take many others in different ways and even better... that's not a problem for me. "Every restart comes more polished"
Sorry to my followers who have nothing to do with this, but I needed to do this. Thanks
And now for something completely different…
From the onset, this was clearly going to be an experimental portrait. Like my last stranger portrait (#157 – Erika), I met Rebecca at a new age art festival that was being held at night. Also like Erika, my intention was to use the available ambient lighting, which was primarily colored spot lights. Unlike the other portrait, this image was captured outdoors where the wind was literally howling. In fact, one of the main things that attracted me to Rebecca was her short hair, which I thought would make capturing an image in the wind storm a little more manageable. She was immediately game for the photoshoot stating that she was a photographer as well. I had to take several different shots of her, each time trying to adjust the camera settings and her position with regard to the light so that I could achieve reasonable focus and an even lighting of her face. On the seventh attempt, I was confident that I had achieved those two goals, so we wished each other well and went off on our separate ways.
When I got home and downloaded the files I immediately went to my final image. I hated it. Although I had achieved my two goals of focus and even lighting, the portrait did not look good at all. I quickly occurred to me that achieving a regular type portrait in these irregular conditions was a fool’s wish. The lighting (which consisted of an orange and a pink spotlight) as well as the wind resulted in an image that was entirely unflattering to my model. The sharp focus of the image only accentuated the unpleasantness. I played with the color and the white balance, and the more adjustments I made to try to make the portrait look ‘normal’, the poorer it looked. The worst thing about the portrait was despite the crazy conditions, the portrait came across as boring and uninteresting. After a while I decided to give up. This bummed me out because it has been ages since I have elected not used a stranger portrait that I I’ve obtained.
A few days later I returned to the folder to see if there was any hope for the portrait although I knew that it was a lost cause. Before I closed the folder for good, I browsed over the rest of the images from this shoot, and this image caught my eye. With the hot spots and a soft focus, it was the exact opposite of my original ‘go to’ shot, but it seemed to capture the moment so much better. More importantly, this image intrigued me and I found it interesting to look at. I started to play with the image in Lightroom, but soon realized that attempting to normalize this image was the wrong path. I re-centered everything back to original, and with the exception of a slight crop (bottom edge) and a tweak to the clarity, this is essentially the raw image that I captured with my camera.
I enjoy viewing all kinds of portraiture, and I often find myself admiring the work of photographers willing to break the rules and step out of the box for the sake of artistic expression. For a long time I’ve considered creating portraits that are more of a graphical rendering versus an accurate and technically sound representation of the subject. However, I always find that when it is time to click the shutter, letting go of the reigns of sharp focus and other photographic standards is a nearly impossible feat for me. I now find that it is Just as hard to submit such a portrait as a representation of my work. I knew that entering this particular photographic situation was a trip into uncharted waters for me. At worst I suppose that this image represents an experiment gone awry to be chalked up as a hot mess learning experience. On the other hand, at best this portrait may be a further extension of my personal artistic reach. Frankly, I am not entirely sure which it is.
Check out the rest of the stranger street portraits in my project at Paco's 100 Strangers Project and find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
A CDV by L. Szacinski, Christiania. The name of W. Jaastad is written on the back.
Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania) is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of about 850 residents, covering 34 hectares (84 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Civic authorities in Copenhagen regard Christiania as a large commune, but the area has a unique status in that it is regulated by a special law, the Christiania Law of 1989, which transfers parts of the supervision of the area from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state. It was closed by residents in April 2011, whilst discussions continued with the Danish government as to its future, but is now open again.[1]
Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. In the years following 2004, measures for normalizing the legal status of the community led to conflicts, police raids and negotiations. More recent governments have, however, been more tolerant.[citation needed]
Among many Christiania residents, the community is known as "staden" ("the town"), short for "fristaden" ("the freetown").