Dinamarca - Copenhague - Ciudad libre de Christiania

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now on Instagram.

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

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.

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.

O Ativismo Digital Da Extrema Direita Em Portugal - Estratégias de Manipulação e Táticas De Infiltração do Partido CHEGA por Daniel Arrhakis (2026)

O Ativismo Digital Da Extrema Direita Em Portugal - Estratégias de Manipulação e Táticas De Infiltração do CHEGA

O fenómeno do ativismo digital da extrema-direita em Portugal e do partido Chega em particular, baseia-se numa estratégia tridimensional altamente profissionalizada, sustentada por relatórios de centros de investigação mediática. Esta máquina assenta na segmentação algorítmica de públicos, na normalização de narrativas de desinformação e na criação de ecossistemas económicos digitais lucrativos.

Redes de Apoio Digital da Extrema-Direita em Portugal

Investigadores de redes sociais e fenómenos políticos (e eu a titulo pessoal) têm analisado em detalhe a segmentação das redes de apoio digital associadas à extrema-direita portuguesa e ao Chega.

Estas dinâmicas refletem estratégias integradas de militância online, desinformação e radicalização.

Estratégias de Manipulação e Astroturfing

Para simular um apoio popular orgânico — uma técnica conhecida como astroturfing — estas redes recorrem a um ecossistema técnico avançado:

Uso coordenado de bots: Automação para replicar mensagens em massa.

Inteligência Artificial: Criação de contas geradas por IA e conteúdos falsos (deepfakes).

Gestão centralizada: Operadores individuais controlam múltiplos perfis falsos em simultâneo.

Impacto no Debate Público e Táticas de Disseminação

Além de amplificarem teorias da conspiração e promoverem a radicalização, estas redes boicotam o debate público tradicional. Devido à dificuldade em fazer chegar o discurso de extrema-direita aos canais tradicionais e a audiências mais alargadas, o grupo adota táticas de infiltração direta através de :

1 - Invasão de Órgãos de Comunicação Social

Objetivo: Criar uma falsa sensação de consenso ou de revolta popular generalizada.

Mecanismo: Utilização de redes de contas falsas (bots) e militantes coordenados para inundar as caixas de comentários de jornais e televisões.

Impacto: O leitor comum fica com a perceção de que a opinião pública mudou, enviesando o debate e silenciando vozes moderadas por exaustão.

2 - Ataques a Partidos Oponentes

Objetivo: Desgastar a imagem pública dos rivais e desviar o foco das propostas políticas deles.

Mecanismo: Inundação das páginas oficiais da oposição com insultos, memes difamatórios e acusações sem provas.

Impacto: Força as equipas de comunicação dos partidos a gastar tempo a moderar comentários e altera o foco das discussões para narrativas falsas.

3 - Alvo em Figuras Políticas

Objetivo: Intimidar decisores públicos e influenciar a agenda política pelo medo.

Mecanismo: Envio em massa de mensagens privadas ou tweets com ameaças veladas, ataques pessoais e exposição de dados privados (doxing).

Impacto: Provoca o afastamento de líderes do debate digital e condiciona as suas tomadas de posição públicas para evitar represálias.

4 - Infiltração em Grupos de Facebook Locais

Objetivo: Radicalização gradual através da exploração de dinâmicas de proximidade e confiança.

Mecanismo: Entrada em grupos comunitários (ex: "Vizinhos ou Amigos de [Cidade]") onde fingem ser residentes preocupados com a criminalidade ou problemas locais.

Impacto: Introdução progressiva de conteúdos xenófobos e racistas mascarados de "preocupação legítima", radicalizando cidadãos que não consomem canais de extrema-direita diretos.

Conclusão

Segundo esta análise, o ecossistema ativista da extrema direita, envolve a invasão de meios de comunicação social, meios oficiais de comunicação partidária e ligados a figuras publicas, a infiltração em grupos locais e a colonização de plataformas visuais, convertendo a polarização em retorno económico.

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The Digital Activism of the Far Right in Portugal - Manipulation Strategies and Infiltration Tactics of CHEGA by Daniel Arrhakis (2026)

The phenomenon of digital activism by the far right in Portugal, and the Chega party in particular, is based on a highly professionalized three-dimensional strategy, supported by reports from media research centers. This machine relies on the algorithmic segmentation of audiences, the normalization of disinformation narratives, and the creation of lucrative digital economic ecosystems.

Digital Support Networks of the Far Right in Portugal

Researchers of social networks and political phenomena (and myself personally) have analyzed in detail the segmentation of digital support networks associated with the Portuguese far right and Chega.

These dynamics reflect integrated strategies of online militancy, disinformation, and radicalization.

Manipulation Strategies and Astroturfing

To simulate organic popular support—a technique known as astroturfing—these networks resort to an advanced technical ecosystem:

Coordinated use of bots: Automation to replicate messages en masse.

Artificial Intelligence: Creation of AI-generated accounts and false content (deepfakes).

Centralized management: Individual operators control multiple fake profiles simultaneously.

Impact on Public Debate and Dissemination Tactics

In addition to amplifying conspiracy theories and promoting radicalization, these networks boycott traditional public debate. Due to the difficulty in bringing far-right discourse to traditional channels and wider audiences, the group adopts tactics of direct infiltration through:

1 - Invasion of Social Communication Bodies

Objective: To create a false sense of consensus or widespread popular revolt.

Mechanism: Use of networks of fake accounts (bots) and coordinated militants to flood the comment sections of newspapers and television. 1. Impact: The average reader gets the perception that public opinion has shifted, skewing the debate and silencing moderate voices through exhaustion.

2. Attacks on Opposing Parties

Objective: To damage the public image of rivals and divert attention from their political proposals.

Mechanism: Flooding the official pages of the opposition with insults, defamatory memes, and unsubstantiated accusations.

Impact: Forces party communication teams to spend time moderating comments and shifts the focus of discussions to false narratives.

3. Targeting Political Figures

Objective: To intimidate public decision-makers and influence the political agenda through fear.

Mechanism: Mass sending of private messages or tweets with veiled threats, personal attacks, and exposure of private data (doxing).

Impact: Causes leaders to withdraw from the digital debate and conditions their public positions to avoid reprisals.

4 - Infiltration of Local Facebook Groups

Objective: Gradual radicalization through the exploitation of proximity and trust dynamics.

Mechanism: Entry into community groups (e.g., "Neighbors or Friends of [City]") where they pretend to be residents concerned about crime or local problems.

Impact: Progressive introduction of xenophobic and racist content masked as "legitimate concern," radicalizing citizens who do not consume direct far-right channels.

Conclusion

According to this analysis, the far-right activist ecosystem involves the invasion of social media, official party media outlets and those linked to public figures, infiltration of local groups, and the colonization of visual platforms, converting polarization into economic gain.

Mais uma tentativa para céu profundo, desta vez a Nébula Trífida (Messier 20).

Telescope: TSED70Q

Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ5

Camera: Sony A7II

17 images at 180s, ISO 800

10 darks, 10 bias, 10 flats

Processing: Nebulosity for frame calibration, debayering, normalizing, aligment and integration.

First venture to the outer solar system after a long break and what a show on the giant planet! GRS is trailed by a chain of eddies!

Aquisition time: 25.03.2016 22:45 MSK

Equipment:

QHY5L-IIm CMOS camera via good old 5x Barlow lens on Celestron Omni XLT 150 mm Newtonian riding Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro.

Aperture 150 mm

Focal length 3750 mm

Tv = 35 msec

Av = f/25

ISO N/A

Exposures: 200 out of 1000

Processing: the dataset was stacked in AS!2, the white border was added to resulted image in PS to serve as normalization trap.

Image was deconvolved (Richardson-Lucy aggressive, Cauchy type PSF, size 2,1, 10 iterations) in AstraImage 3.0 Pro. Finishing touches were added in PS.

Note: I had to set the frame size to 320x240 to get 30 fps out of my QHY5L-II. Jupiter barely fits in such a small area of interest and tends to escape.

*Mundus Jovialis - latin "World of Jupiter".

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.

Even though this bumble is fading into the bokeh-blur, I kind of like the shot, because the flower and a portion of the bee's proboscis are in focus. Due to the weird lighting, the colors are unusual, too. I normalized them somewhat, but left it a little surreal.

Common name: Dandelion • Bengali: Pitachumki • Hindi: Dudhi, Baran, dudal, Dudh-batthal, Dudhal • Kannada: Kaadu shaavanthi • Malayalam: Dugddhapheni • Sanskrit: Dugdhapheni, Lootari, Payasvini • Telugu: Patri • Urdu: Bathur

Botanical name: Taraxacum officinale Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Dandelion is a perennial plant growing almost everywhere, which can reach 38 cm in height. This plant has only basal leaves. Each leaf is toothed or lobed. The flower-heads are up to 4.5 cm wide, yellow. The florets number 40 to over 100 per head, that are yellow or orange-yellow in color. Blooms first appear in mid spring and continue into early winter. Seeds are enclosed singly within fruiting bodies and are attached to a long slender stalk that terminates in a parachute-like structure called a pappus. Seeds are transported in the wind. Euell Gibbons in his classic book Stalking the Wild Asparagus devotes over four pages to the many tasty dishes that can be made from this common plant while homeowners and greens keepers spend millions of dollars on toxins to eliminate Dandelions from their lawns. Dandelion has enormous medicinal value.

Medicinal uses

Dandelions, flowers, roots and leaves, have been used for centuries in traditional medicine & medicinal teas, most notably for liver detoxification, as a natural diuretic and for inflammation reduction[citation needed]. Unlike other diuretics, dandelion leaves contain potassium, a mineral that is often lost during increased urination. There is also evidence that this property of dandelion leaves may normalize blood sugar.

Dandelion leaves are believed to have a diuretic effect as they increase salt and water excretion from the kidneys

is the miracle fruit...!

professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression 'going bananas' is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on:

This is interesting.

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking.. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal..

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels.. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack..

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A banana a day keeps the doctor away!'

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

Yup, I fucked up. Should have closed this lens down to f2.8 at least, and should have taken far more care with the processing - unholy frequency separation HDR methods live and die on the quality of the masking you use, and I was sloppy. However, I can now see the molecular clouds cobwebbing the more visible nebulas, and I'm happy about it. Next time I'll be in good focus and won't mess up the masks either :)

2 stacks of 30 images, slightly out of focus, Canon 800D at ISO 800, Canon 50mm f1.8 lens at f2.2, 1 minute exposures, Omegon Lx2 tracking mount. 30 darks, 120 biases. Processed in PixInsight as below

*****Linear processing

* integrate per lightvortexastronomy tutorial (www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-pre-processing-cali...), image ref 711 (highest quality one in the stack with the better framing)

* rotate

* crop

* DBE substract, tolerance = 1.2

* background neutralization

* color calibration

*** Deconvolution

* create star mask, noise threshhold 0.01 scale 7 structure growth large 2 small 1 compensation 2

* deconvolution Richardson-Lucy, external PSF, using global dark 0.02, global bright 0.005, local deringing with above star mask, amount 0.9, 70 iterations

*****Nonlinear processing

*** Initial stretch

* histogram transformation shadows 0.03 highlights 1 mids 0.22

* removed m42 core from the star mask

* HDR transform, 8 layers, B3 spline, star mask applied inverted, preserve hue, lightness mask

*** Multiscale transformation (small bright nebulae)

www.stelleelettroniche.it/en/2014/09/astrophoto/m42-ngc19...

* created a new multiscale linear transform, kept 4 lauyers using linear interpolation

* diffed from original image to create a "blurred" version of original image

* extracted luminance from original, used as mask on blurred version

* used curves to create s shape in luminance and saturation, inflection 3/4 up

* pixelmath sum the 3, rescaled, back to original image

* SNCR green

* new multiscale linear transform, keep 5 layers

* diff from original

* extract luminance from blurred image, to use as a mask

* masked blurred image with its own luminance, gave it s-shaped RGB curve, slight boost in luminosity, big boost in saturation

* pixelmath sum the 3, rescaled, back to original image

www.deepskycolors.com/archive/2011/09/08/star-size-reduct...

*** Creating a star mask for star reduction:

* extracted luminance

* applied to it HDRMultiscaleTransform, 3 layers, 2 iterations, all protections off

* histogram stretched it to shadows 0.19 mids 0.44

* created star mask from it: noise treshhold 0.12, scale 6, growth 2/1/2, smoothness 5, midtones 24, highs 90

* histogram stretched it to midtones 0.19

* apply mask to main image, morphological transformation - selection 0.10, 5-element circle

*** Multiscale linear transform, large clouds

* repeat process above up until we create the star mask

* substract star mask from luminance, exagerrate curves to get a nebula and bright stars mask (here I messed up by having a far smaller mask than I should have had, bloated my nebulas)

* rescale add star mask to nebula and bright star mask to get stars and nebula mask

* multiscale linear transform, keep 5 layers as small scale

* substract small scale from full image to get large scale

* apply star and nebula mask to large scale

* local histogram equalization, kernel 350 contrast 1.5

* curves, pump saturation, increase luminosity a bit as well

* pixelmath add back, normalized

*** Darken

* DarkStructureEnhancer, 8 layers, 0.7, 3x3

* curved lightness darker in the bottom 1/4 of the curve

*** Noise reduction and sharpening

* Create luminance mask: extract luma, cut shadows quite a bit (we want to protect stars and bright nebulas so 0.25)

* TGVDenoise CieLAB mode

- chroma: 7 str 3e-3 edge protection 2 smoothness 1k iterations autoconvergence, using luminance mask as local support

- luma: 3 str 3e-3 edge protection 2 smoothness 200 iterations, using luminance mask as local support

* Sharpen with multiscale linear transform, bias layers 2-6 (0.1, 0.1, 0.05, 0.025, 0.012)

* Rescale back to normal

* sharpened with multiscale linear transform, no NR, detail layer schema 0, 0.025, 0.025, 0.012

Taken 13 Apr 12.

ES 127ED

CGEM

Mini Borg 50

QSI 583wsg

L: 10x600sec Binned 1x1

R,G,B: 6x300sec each, Binned 2x2

Acquisition with Nebulosity/PHD

Cal, registered, normalized, data reject, stacking with CCDStack 2

Color combined, final processing with CS5

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.

The End !

of my Nopal Orchard series.

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

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.

www.chosen-foods.com/aztecnopal_about.asp

CONTACT...is Toronto's annual month long celebration of the art of photography, the biggest free photography festival in the world. This year features over 1000 local, national & international photographers in 200 venues, including galleries, atriums, universities, billboards, parking lots, walls, nooks & crannies across the city. Also available to the public : artist talks, film screenings, workshops & symposiums....and an excellent series of documentary films on photography broadcasting through the month of May on TVO. This post includes two CONTACT exhibits.

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Above : one of 4 billboards & 12 portrait panels that make up the exhibit "Permanent Error" by Pieter Hugo, installed in the parking lot at the NE corner of Front & Spadina. The text, below, displayed at the exhibit, clarifies the powerful message of Hugo's images. Will you ever again be able to discard your old computer or monitor with a light heart ?

Sigma 10-20mm

Canon T2i / 550D

handheld

3 shots

HDR tonemapping + NoiseWare + Unsharp Mask + B&W conversion tool in PS + the resulting b&w layer was added as a luminance layer in PS.

I added the original shot (unprocessed) on top of all layers to 'normalize' the whole thing.. it was looking excessively sharp and over-saturated.. it's still overprocessed but that's why experiments are for..

.. a never ending learning curve ..

Locked into a decollation of vision

Somewhere between dystopia and utopia

Of daunting scale and empowered ownership

For the futures of all inhabitants

For those who are unable to prophetize

Through compassion and in hatred, paths are layed

Through rhetoric and within reality gaps, plans are devised

Crossroads are manufactured to include outputs of macabre scenarios

And these vivid horrors repetitively weave throughout our histories

Nothingness as sacred, nothingness as incidental

Our fabricated artilleries are lavished with discord

Of senseless killing and normalized clarification

These roadkills are cleansed though legitimate action

And our carnage is visualised through predictable datasets

Grieve is pushed aside

Knowing that the odds against are in favour

Contained within the numbers

That is digestible

To those in pain, those who ignore and those who can exploit

Read more: www.jjfbbennett.com/2018/12/head-on.html

Patreon JJFBbennett: www.patreon.com/JJFBbennett

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

Anna and Djinn are starting to be comfortable in their new home.

President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff members, delivers a statement announcing the agreement of full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

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").

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

Ariana & Harper

Maryland

September 2016

The Aluminaire House is on display at the Palm Springs Museum of Art. The guide sign says it was first unveiled on 1931 and was billed as the first all metal house. I hear exterminators don't like 'em.

"Companies like PodShare in LA have already introduced 'co-living' models where adults pay premium prices to sleep in glorified bunk beds. They call it 'community living' and 'resource sharing,' but lets call it what it is: the normalization of adult dormitories because nobody can afford actual housing anymore. When Miami drowns and Phoenix becomes an uninhabitable heat dome, where do you think those millions of Americans will go? They'll crowd into the remaining habitable zones, creating population pressures that make today's housing crisis look like a minor inconvenience."

－ Ryan St. Blaise

Journalism grade image.

Please do not copy this photo for any reason.

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).

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

Place: Nangan, Matsu Islands

The Matsu islands are a minor archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea and administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Matsu islands together form the county of Lienchiang, but most of Liangjiang County (same name, different spelling) is under control of the People's Republic of China. Linear distance from mainland China is less than 20 km.

Mainlanders from Fujian and Zhejiang started migrating to the islands during the Yuan Dynasty. The popular net fishing industry had established the base for development of Fuao settlement and industrial development of the region over several hundred years.

During the early Qing Dynasty, pirates gathered here and the residents left temporarily. In contrast with Taiwan and Penghu, the Matsu Islands were not ceded to the Japanese Empire via the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Neither were they occupied by Japanese troops during World War II because they were not important militarily. Due to its strategic location for the only route for spice road, the British established the Dongyong Lighthouse in Dongyin Island in 1912 to facilitate ships navigation.

In 1911, the Qing Dynasty was toppled after the Xinhai Revolution on 10 October 1911 and the Republic of China (ROC) was established on 1 January 1912. Matsu Islands was subsequently governed under the administration of Fukien Province of the ROC. On 1 August 1927, the Nanchang Uprising broke out between the ruling Nationalist Party of China (KMT) and Communist Party of China (CPC) which marked the beginning of Chinese Civil War. After years of war, the CPC finally managed to take over mainland China from KMT and established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949 which also covers the Lianjiang County of Fujian. The KMT subsequently retreated from mainland China to Taiwan in end of 1949.

After their retreat, the KMT retained the offshore part from the original Lianjiang County located on Matsu Islands, and also all of Kinmen County. In July 1958 the PRC began massing forces opposite the two islands and began bombarding them on 23 August, triggering the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. On 4 September 1958, the PRC announced the extension of its territorial waters by 20 kilometres (12 mi) to include the two islands. However, after talks were held between the USA and PRC in Warsaw, Poland later that month, a ceasefire was agreed and the status quo reaffirmed.

The phrase "Quemoy and Matsu" became part of American political language in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. During the debates, both candidates, Vice-President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, pledged to use American forces if necessary to protect Taiwan from invasion by the PRC, which the United States did not recognize as a legitimate government. But the two candidates had different opinions about whether to use American forces to protect Taiwan's forward positions, Quemoy and Matsu, also. In fact, Senator Kennedy stated that these islands - as little as 9 kilometres (5.5 mi) off the coast of China and as much as 170 kilometres (106 mi) from Taiwan - were strategically indefensible and were not essential to the defense of Taiwan. On the contrary, Vice-President Nixon maintained that since Quemoy and Matsu were in the "area of freedom," they should not be surrendered to the Communists as a matter of "principle."

Self governance of the county resumed in 1992 after the normalization of the political warfare with the mainland and the abolishment of Battle Field Administration on 7 November 1992. Afterwards, the local constructions progressed tremendously. In 1999, the islands were designated under Matsu National Scenic Area Administration. In January 2001, direct cargo and passenger shipping started between Matsu and Fujian Province of the PRC. Since 1 January 2015, tourists from mainland China could directly apply the Exit and Entry Permit upon arrival in Matsu Islands. This privilege also applies to Penghu and Kinmen as means to boost tourism in the outlying islands of Taiwan.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsu_Islands

In 2013 I had the opportunity to visit the largest of the Matsu islands, Nangan, as a friend of mine is a teacher at a primary school on the island.

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

Throughout our lives, certain archetypes shape our sense of self, the world, the road we’re on, and the goals we seek. Our idea of good and evil, male and female, leaders, parents, mentors, friends, and more are framed in the stories of the Bible. The picture’s not always pleasant, but it never fails to be instructive and is sometimes downright revelatory. Mirror, mirror on the wall: what’s the purpose of us all?

Topics of the Day:

Sunday, Day 1: “Introduction” and “Your Life as Revelatory Source. How did you get to be who you are? Your life is a sacred text read by all.

Monday, Day 2: “The Character of God” and “The Male/Female Thing” You and I meet God in sacramental and sacred encounters. But in Scripture, we meet the God who is one character among many in the remarkable story of faith. And our second topic — Gender is complicated. Adam and Eve were just the beginning of the conflict. Gender issues remain with us in secular and sacred realms.

Tuesday, Day 3: “Follow the Leader” and “The Parent Trap”

Leadership styles come and go. From biblical patriarchs and kings to modern-day presidents and celebrities, we follow the leaders we invent and choose. And our 2nd topic – The Ten Commandments bid us to honor our father and our mother. Jesus says we should hate our parents. Please explain!

Wednesday, Day 4:“The Guiding Light” & “You’ve Got a Friend” Elisha had Elijah. Timothy and Titus had Paul. Thank God for mentors: those significant folks along the way who show us how life works. Our second topic — It’s not good for us to be alone, as Genesis attests. Famous friendships help us explore the role of holy companioning.

Thursday, Day 5: “Who’s Your Devil?” and “What a Wonderful World” Everyone fears the Dark Side. Who’s the enemy, and where does it reside? And our second topic — The universe is beautiful. Earth is our home. The Bible and science agree it will come to an end one day. What’s our relationship to a fragile planet?

Friday, Day 6: “And the Purpose of It All Is” We’re born, we live, and we die. For most of us, that’s a pretty full plate of responsibilities. What should we do with this “one wild and precious life?”What qualities are we looking for in the aspirants at Saint-Sulpice? Parish Experience - Before an aspirant joins the Society, Sulpicians want to ensure that an aspirant has completed at least two years of parish work, which will have allowed him/her to develop a strong sense of belonging to the diocese and an attachment to the parish ministry. Indeed, they need priests who live and love their priesthood and who wish to assist the bishops in the service of seminarians and diocesan priests. Ability to work in a team - Sulpicians are looking for candidates who are able to work in a community environment and are able to work collegially on a mission in consultation with fellow priests as well as with lay people or religious. To know how to share one's faith through a life of prayer that nourishes a true enthusiasm for Christ and his Gospel, for the Church and the priesthood. The Apostolic Spirit who animated their founder, Jean-Jacques Olier, is the source of this sharing. Special gifts that open the way to a quality intellectual and professional preparation in several fields: spiritual accompaniment, teaching of philosophy or theology, pastoral animation. This presupposes the openness to learning of a constantly renewed Sulpician pedagogy. How can a priest become a Sulpician? Prerequisites - To be a diocesan priest incardinated in a diocese, to have completed at least two years of parish ministry in the diocese of origin and to be available for service in the Canadian Priests of St. Sulpice Province. Initial recognition - If a priest meets these prerequisites, he or she can contact the Sulpician Vocations Officer for his or her region (see list below). He will inform him about the regular meetings organized for the aspirants to the Society and he will be in charge of this first experience with Saint-Sulpice until the Provincial Council accepts him as a candidate. His participation in these meetings will give him sufficient information about the Company and the demands of Sulpician life. This priest will also be accompanied spiritually in discerning his possible Sulpician vocation. Candidature - After this time of discernment, with the support of the Sulpician Vocations Officer in his region, he asked his bishop for written authorization to make an experience in Saint-Sulpice. The aspirant then applies by contacting the provincial superior or the provincial delegate in writing. First experience in Saint-Sulpice - If formally accepted and admitted as a candidate, the Provincial Council becomes directly responsible for his experience with the Priests of Saint-Sulpice. He then took over his duties and gave him a first appointment to a team in the Canadian Province from the moment his bishop relieved him of his duties. Usually, this first experience in the Company lasts at least two years.The expression "art Saint-Sulpice" is misleading, because it encompasses very different periods and artists in the same name and in the same discredit, because it confuses art of reproduction and wide circulation with the search for an authentic sacred art which has been continuous for nearly two centuries.

In the proper sense, Sulpician art refers to the objects that are sold in the specialized shops that surround the church of the same name in Paris: industrial and economic art, of poor quality, where the mimicry and the fading of style reassure and somehow carry the seal of an official art, orthodox and without excess. Thus understood, Sulpician art is of all times and every effort to renew religious art naturally secretes its counterfeiting. The virgins and saints, with their white eyes and pale air, coming from Ary Scheffer and his raphaelism, the statues of the Virgin of Lourdes, poor translation of the mediocre model of the pious sculptor Cabuchet, the overly sensitive effigies of Thérèse de Lisieux or Saint Anthony of Padua, even the neo-byzantine works, pale reflection. In fact, the interest of Sulpician art is not only sociological; it is also, as in countertype, the revealing of the interest that religious art has never ceased to arouse, against all appearances. Holy Mirror! The creatures on the reverse will be merged in the reflected image but probably not in a laplacian way - just as concentric circles. If anyone has a magic mirrorWe first address the problem of simultaneous image segmentation and smoothing by approaching the paradigm from a curve evolution perspective. In particular, we let a set of deformable contours define the boundaries between regions in an image where we model the data via piecewise smooth functions

www.vallombrosa.org/the-holy-mirror-discovering-ourselves...

Origin of the Holy Mirrors!

Mirrors have been regarded as sacred at least since the Han Dynasty in China. Many of these mirrors and from the subsequent Wei dynasty have been found in Japan. They bore images of gods and sacred animals particularly the Chinese dragon (1,2) . They were very popular, and possibly later manufactured, in Japan. The bronze mirrors are found in great number in ancient (kofun period) burial mounds in Japan. In the biggest archeological find of 33 mirrors, the mirrors were placed surrounding the coffin such that their reflective surface faced the deceased. The Han mirrors were "magic" in that while they reflected they were also able to project an image usually of the deities and animals on the back and refered to as "light passing mirrors" (透明鑑） (Needham, 1965, p.xlic; Needham & Wang, 1977, pp. 96-97).This magic property is due to the their method of construction. When polishing the reflective face of the mirror, the patter on the back influences the pressure brought to bear on the reflective surface and change the extent to which it is concave. Muraoka also claims that Differences in the (slight) "inequality of curvature" (Ayrton & Perry, 1878, p 139; see also Thompson, 1897, and Needham & Wang, 1977, p96 for a diagram) of the mirror result in the mirror reflecting light bearing the pattern shown on the reverse. More recent research has elucidated the precise mathematical model describing the optics of these mirrors as a laplacian image (Berry, 2006), a type of spatial filter today used for edge detection and to blend two images together. It is not known whether the mirrors popular in ancient Japan were also able to project, but later during the Nara period mirrors were found to concel magic Buddhist images, and during the Edo period, concealed Christians (Kurishitan) concealed images of the cross or of the Holy Mary within their bronze "magic" mirrors. Mirrors in Japan contined to be made of brass, until the arrival of Western glass mirrors, and were "magic" in that they displayed the patter on their reverse when reflecting sunlight or other powerful light source (Thompson, 1897). Ayrton (Ayrton & Perry, 1878; Ayrton & Pollock, 1879) claims that in Japan mirror vendors were unaware of the "light passing" quality, and that there is no mention of this 'magical' quality known to Han Chinese in Japanese texts. Even a Japanese mirror maker was unaware of how to make magic mirrors though had inadvertently made one himself by extensive polishing a mirror with a design on its back (Ayrton & Perry, 1878, p135). Unlike the ancient Korean mirror top right (3), the ancient Han and Japanese mirrors were made to be rotated, displaying images in the four directions of the compas. The reason for the holes in the central "breast" (or nipple) is unclear but it is found to be pierced with a hole (of varying shape depending upon the manufacturer) from which the mirror was suspended by a rope. Bearing in mind that the images on the mirrors required that the mirrors be rotated, the central nodule might also have enabled the mirrors to be spun like a top. I am not sure why someone would want to spin a mirror but my son does (see the toy explained later). I would very much like to see what the reflected "magic" image becomes when spun. The creatures on the reverse will be merged in the reflected image but probably not in a laplacian way - just as concentric circles. If anyone has a magic mirror I would like them to try spinning it to see. Skipping the holy mirrors in shrines, mirror rice cakes, and the mirror held by the Japanese version of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, King Enma, which holds a record of ones life, and, jumping to the present day... Mirrors are popular in the transformational items used by Japanese superheros. The early 1970's Mirror Man transformed using a Shinto amulet infront of any mirror or reflecting surface. Shinkenja, a group of Super Sentai or Power Rangers, that transforms thanks to their ability to write and then spin Chinese characters in the air, also transforms with the aid of an Inro Maru (4) upon which is affixed a inscribed disk. When the disk is attactched to the mirror the super hero inside the mirror is displayed. Transformation (henshin) by means of a mirror is popular too among Japanese femail super heros notably Himitsu no Akko Chan (Secret Akko), who could change into many things that were displayed in her mirror, sailor moon, and OshareMajo (6). The female super heroes mirrors usually make noises rather than contain inscriptions. The latest greatest Kamen Rider OOO sometimes transforms by means of his Taja-Spina which spins three of his totem-badge "coins" inside a mirror (video). In this ancient tradition we see recurrence of the following themes 1) Mirrors being of great benefit to the bearer enabling him to transform. 2) Mirrors containing hidden deities 3) Mirrors being associated with symbols: iconic marks, and incantations. 4) Mirrors being made to be rotated or spun. Thanks to James Ewing for the Mirror Man (Mira-man) reference and to Tomomi Noguchi for the Ojamajo Doremi reference, and to Taku Shimonuri and my son Ray for getting me interested in Japanese superheros. Addendum One of My students (A Ms. Tanaka, and a book about the cute in Japan) pointed out that the Japanese are into round things, and it seems to me that this Japanese preference for the round may originate in the mirror. Anpanman and Doraemon and many "characters" have round faces The Japanese Flag features a circle representing the sun and the mirror Japanese coats of arms (kamon) Japanese holy mirrors are round "Mirror rice cakes", and many other kinds of rice cake, are round The Sumo ring is round Pictures of the floating world (Ukiyoe) often portray the sitter in a round background Japanese groups always have to end up by standing in a round The Japanese are fond of domes and have many of the biggest The Japanese are fond of seals (inkan), which are round Japanese groups just can't help standing in a round The taiko drum is round The mitsudomoe is round Mount Fuji is round But then there are probably round things in every culture?

Cast and polished bronze mirrors, made in China and Japan for several thousand years, exhibit a curious property [1–4], long regarded as magical. A pattern embossed on the back

is visible in the patch of light projected onto a screen from the reflecting face when this is illuminated by a small source, even though no trace of the pattern can be discerned

by direct visual inspection of the reflecting face. The pattern on the screen is not the result of the focusing responsible for conventional image formation, because its sharpness is independent of distance, and also because the magic mirrors are slightly convex. It was established long ago that the effect results from the deviation of rays by weak undulations on the reflecting surface, introduced during the manufacturing process and too weak to see directly, that reproduce the much stronger relief embossed on the back. Such ‘Makyoh imaging’ (from the Japanese for ‘wonder mirror’) has been applied to detect small asperities on nominally flat semiconductor surfaces [5–8]. My aim here is to draw attention (section 2) to a simple and beautiful fact, central to

the optics of magic mirrors, that has not been emphasized—either in the qualitative accounts or in an extensive geometrical-optics analysis : in the optical regime relevant to

magic mirrors, the image intensity is given, in terms of the height function h(r) of the relief.on the reflecting surface, by the Laplacian ∇2 h(r) (here r denotes position in the mirror plane: r = {x, y}). The Laplacian image predicts striking effects for patterns, such as those on magic mirrors, that consist of steps ; these predictions are supported by experiment

The detailed study of reflection from steps throws up an unresolved problem concerning the relation between the pattern embossed on the back and the relief on the reflecting surface. The Laplacian image is an approximation to geometrical optics, which is itself an approximation to physical optics. The appendix contains a discussion of the Laplacian image starting from the wave integral representing Fresnel diffraction from the mirror surface. Geometrical optics and the Laplacian image If we measure the height h(r) from the convex surface of the mirror (figure 3), assumed to

have radius of curvature R0, then the deviation of the surface undulations from a reference plane (figure 3) is η(r) = − r22R0+ h(r. The specularly reflected rays of geometrical optics are determined by the stationary value(s) of

the optical path length L from the source (distance H from the reference plane) to the position

R on the screen (distance D from the reference plane) via the point r on the mirror. This is L = (H − η(r))2 + r2 +(D − η(r

))2 + (R − r)2≈ H + D + (r, R), (2)where in the second line we have employed the paraxial approximation (all ray angles small), with (r, R) = r2 2H+(R − r)2 2D+ r2 R0− 2h(r). In applying the stationarity condition ∇r(r, R) = 0, it is convenient to define the magnification M, the reduced distance Z, and the ;demagnified observation position r referred to the mirror surface: M ≡ 1 +D H+2D R0, Z ≡ 2D M , r ≡ R M . We note an effect of the convexity that will be important later: as the source and screen distance increase, Z approaches the finite asymptotic value R0. With these variables, the position r

(r,Z), on the mirror, of rays reaching the screen position r, is the solution of r = r − Z∇h(r). The focusing and defocusing responsible for the varying light intensity at r involves the

Jacobian determinant of the transformation from r to r, giving,after a short calculation,Igeom(r,Z) = constant × ∂x ∂x

∂y ∂y − ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x−1 r→r (r,Z)= 1 − Z∇2 h(r) + Z2

∂h(r) ∂x2 ∂h(r) ∂y2 − ∂h(r) ∂x ∂y2−1r→r(r,Z), ().where the result has been normalized to Igeom = 1 for the convex mirror without surface relief (i.e. h(r) = 0). So far, this is standard geometrical optics. In general, more than one ray can reach r—that is, can have several solutions r—and the boundaries of regions reached by different numbers of rays are caustics. In magic mirrors, however, we are concerned with a

limiting regime satisfying Z Rmin 1, where Rmin is the smallest radius of curvature of the surface irregularities. Then there is only one ray, simplifies to r ≈ r, (9) and the intensity simplifies to ILaplacian(r,Z) = 1 + Z∇2 h(r). This is the Laplacian image. Changing Z affects only the contrast of the image and not its form, so explains why the sharpness of the image is independent of screen position, provided holds. The intensity is a linear function of the surface irregularities h, which

is not the case in general geometrical optics (i.e. when is violated), where, as has been emphasized the relation is nonlinear. And, as already noted, for a distant source and

screen Z approaches the value R0, implying that (8) holds for any distance of the screen if R0 Rmin, that is, provided the irregularities are sufficiently gentle or the mirror is sufficiently

convex. Alternatively stated, the convexity of the mirror can compensate any concavity of the irregularity h, in which case there are no caustics for any screen position.The theory based on the Laplacian image accords well with observation, at least for the mirror studied here. The key insight is that the image of a step is neither a dark line nor a bright line,

as sometimes reported , but is bright on one side and dark on the other. It is possible that there are different types of magic mirror, where for example the relief is etched directly onto

the reflecting surface and protected by a transparent film , but these do not seem to be common. Sometimes, the pattern reflected onto a screen is different from that on the back, but

this is probably a trick, achieved by attaching a second layer of bronze, differently embossed, to the back of the mirror.

Pre-focal ray concentrations leading to Laplacian images are familiar in other contexts, though they are not always recognized as such. An example based on refraction occurs in old windows, where a combination of age and poor manufacture has distorted the glass. The distortion is not evident in views seen through the window when standing close to it. However,when woken by the low morning sun shining through a gap in the curtains onto an opposite

wall, one often sees the distortions magnified as a pattern of irregular bright and dark lines. If the equivalent of is satisfied, that is if the distortions and propagation distance are not too

large, the intensity is the Laplacian image of the window surface. (When the condition is not satisfied, the distortions can generate caustics.) Only the optics of the mirror has been studied here. The manner in which the pattern embossed on the back gets reproduced on the front has not been considered. Referring to ,this involves the sign of the coefficient a in the relation between hback and h. There have been several speculations about the formation of the relief. One is that the relief is generated while the mirror is cooling, by unequal contraction of the thick and thin parts of the pattern ; it is not clear what sign of a this leads to. Another is that cooling generates stresses, and that during vigorous grinding and polishing the thin parts yield more than the thick parts, leading to the thick parts being worn down more; this leads to a 0: bright (dark) lines on the image, indicating low (high) sides of the steps on the reflecting face, are associated with the low (high) sides of the

steps on the back , not the reverse (figure 7(b)). This suggests two avenues for further research. First, the sign of a should be determined by direct measurement of the profile of the reflecting surface; I predict a > 0. Second, whatever the result, the mechanism should be investigated by which the process of manufacture reproduces onto the reflecting surface the

pattern on the back. The fact that h0 = 378 nm is smaller than the wavelengths in visible light does not imply that the Laplacian image is the small-κ limit of (A.3), namely the perturbation limit corresponding to infinitely weak relief. Indeed it is not: the perturbation limit, obtained by

expanding the exponential in (A.3) and evaluating the integral over τ , with a renormalized denominator to incorporate the known limit I = 1 for ξ = ±∞, isψpert(ξ , ζ, κ) = 1 − iκ erf(ξ/√1+iζ /κ)

√ 1 + κ2 . For the gentlest steps, this predicts low-contrast oscillatory images, very different from the Laplacian images of geometrical optics; this is illustrated in figure 8(b), calculated for k =0.05, corresponding to h0 = 5.2 nm.

European journal of physics, 27, 109. Retrieved from www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/Berry_mv/the_papers/berry383.pdf Spatial Filters - Laplacian/Laplacian of Gaussian. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2012, from homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/log.htm Thompson, S. P. (1897). Light Visible and Invisible: A Series of Lectures at Royal Institution of Great Britain. Macmillan. Retrieved from www.archive.org/stream/lightvisibleinvi00thomuoft#page/50...

In the industrial and materialist period that began in the 19th century, Catholicism, even though it had to give in to its official positions, underwent glorious revival. In the years 1830-1880, an attempt was made to revive an authentic religious art, in the image of restored faith, through examples of medieval art. The Gothic cathedral, in its 13th century purity, Fra Angelico, the painter who paints on his knees, will be the models unceasingly questioned and translated through the teaching of Ingres.

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.

Place: Nangan, Matsu Islands

The Matsu islands are a minor archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea and administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Matsu islands together form the county of Lienchiang, but most of Liangjiang County (same name, different spelling) is under control of the People's Republic of China. Linear distance from mainland China is less than 20 km.

Mainlanders from Fujian and Zhejiang started migrating to the islands during the Yuan Dynasty. The popular net fishing industry had established the base for development of Fuao settlement and industrial development of the region over several hundred years.

During the early Qing Dynasty, pirates gathered here and the residents left temporarily. In contrast with Taiwan and Penghu, the Matsu Islands were not ceded to the Japanese Empire via the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Neither were they occupied by Japanese troops during World War II because they were not important militarily. Due to its strategic location for the only route for spice road, the British established the Dongyong Lighthouse in Dongyin Island in 1912 to facilitate ships navigation.

In 1911, the Qing Dynasty was toppled after the Xinhai Revolution on 10 October 1911 and the Republic of China (ROC) was established on 1 January 1912. Matsu Islands was subsequently governed under the administration of Fukien Province of the ROC. On 1 August 1927, the Nanchang Uprising broke out between the ruling Nationalist Party of China (KMT) and Communist Party of China (CPC) which marked the beginning of Chinese Civil War. After years of war, the CPC finally managed to take over mainland China from KMT and established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949 which also covers the Lianjiang County of Fujian. The KMT subsequently retreated from mainland China to Taiwan in end of 1949.

After their retreat, the KMT retained the offshore part from the original Lianjiang County located on Matsu Islands, and also all of Kinmen County. In July 1958 the PRC began massing forces opposite the two islands and began bombarding them on 23 August, triggering the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. On 4 September 1958, the PRC announced the extension of its territorial waters by 20 kilometres (12 mi) to include the two islands. However, after talks were held between the USA and PRC in Warsaw, Poland later that month, a ceasefire was agreed and the status quo reaffirmed.

The phrase "Quemoy and Matsu" became part of American political language in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. During the debates, both candidates, Vice-President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, pledged to use American forces if necessary to protect Taiwan from invasion by the PRC, which the United States did not recognize as a legitimate government. But the two candidates had different opinions about whether to use American forces to protect Taiwan's forward positions, Quemoy and Matsu, also. In fact, Senator Kennedy stated that these islands - as little as 9 kilometres (5.5 mi) off the coast of China and as much as 170 kilometres (106 mi) from Taiwan - were strategically indefensible and were not essential to the defense of Taiwan. On the contrary, Vice-President Nixon maintained that since Quemoy and Matsu were in the "area of freedom," they should not be surrendered to the Communists as a matter of "principle."

Self governance of the county resumed in 1992 after the normalization of the political warfare with the mainland and the abolishment of Battle Field Administration on 7 November 1992. Afterwards, the local constructions progressed tremendously. In 1999, the islands were designated under Matsu National Scenic Area Administration. In January 2001, direct cargo and passenger shipping started between Matsu and Fujian Province of the PRC. Since 1 January 2015, tourists from mainland China could directly apply the Exit and Entry Permit upon arrival in Matsu Islands. This privilege also applies to Penghu and Kinmen as means to boost tourism in the outlying islands of Taiwan.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsu_Islands

In 2013 I had the opportunity to visit the largest of the Matsu islands, Nangan, as a friend of mine is a teacher at a primary school on the island.

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.

These men are harvesting Nopal. This is a three year old orchard and here they are cutting off only the fresh, new growth and placing the petals into a wheel barrel parked in the middle path of this densly grown orchard.

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

Here is some 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.

www.chosen-foods.com/aztecnopal_about.asp

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.

"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...

Using a TVlogic VFM-056W external broadcast monitor makes such a difference in shooting anamorphic with the GH2 and lenses such as the 2x Sankor 16C. The monitor can be setup to de-squeeze the signal so that it looks like finished footage on screen.

Here are some mathematics behind the scenes:

The Sankor 16C lens is a 2x anamorphic lens, which means basically that it appears like a 2x wide angle adaptor for horizontal field of view (H-FOV) but in the vertical field (V-FOV) it maintains 1x field of view of the lens (no change). In other words it squeezes in double the amount of detail in the horizontal axis of the image, whilst the vertical stays intact.

So to de-squeeze the image when mounted on a camera shooting 1920 x 1080 HD 16:9, keeping the 1080 vertical pixels intact while doubling the horizontal 1920 x 2 = 3840 pixels will give you a normalized image again, but with twice the widescreen effect! Panoramic view. The aspect ratio is then 3840/1080=3.55:1. If you used a 50mm as the taking lens, the lens combo will appear like a 25mm wide angle for the horizontal axis and like a regular 50mm vertically. Got it?

OK, moving on... First off, how to setup the HDMI monitor properly. The display panel of the TVlogic is 1280x800 pixels. The squeeze works like you're entering new X/Y resolution that maps to the input signal. So instead of entering 1280x720 (16:9) for this setup it should be displaying 1280x360 pixels (3.55:1 aspect ratio) mapped to the 16:9 HDMI signal from the GH2.

For most footage though, the 3.55:1 aspect ratio could be a little over the top, so creating a 2.66:1 or 2.35:1 marker would ease a lot in framing the shot for your post production workflow if you intend to crop. In order not to loose too much horizontal resolution, I would go for a 2.66:1 aspect ratio and put it on a on/off switchable marker/matte shown in the image above. You can set the display to just darken the matte area slightly so you can frame your shot in both aspect ratios, and still see all the camera OSD controls etc. Handy!

Editing workflow in FCPX:

Ingest the footage like usual AVCHD from camera. Then create a 4K (4096x2304) timeline onto which you put the anamorphic clips. When the 1920x1080 squeezed material from the GH2 enters the timeline, it'll be upscaled to 4K by FCPX. Now select the clip and change the horizontal scale to 50% by using the 'Transform' section of inspector. Now the footage has regained its original proportions 3.55:1. Using a 4K timeline will ensure that you won't lose any detail in the stretch. Now you're free to edit your story and when it comes to finalize, create some Compressor templates that output your story in either full 3.55:1 4K or downscaled to 2K, cropped to 2.66:1 or anything else! I also created an overlay which would letterbox your footage to 2.66:1 directly on the timeline, in case you like to crop your output it's so much easier if you can see the effect directly in the editing. By using the TVlogic monitor and the crop marks, I will get the exact same results in post as expected in the field.

Excellent!

Nopal planters

This is the beginning of a set I wil post over a few days - a series of photos I took recently at a Huerta de Nopal in Jalisco, Mexico...... an Nopal Orchard during the planting of new nopal growing fields. Just watching rgese men mt back was hurting - wow, this surely is back breaking work!!!

These Nopal cactus are an eadible plant, part of the Mexican Cuisine, very healthy, helps Diabetics tremendously!!! I will write more about it as I upload more photos from this awesome visit and opportunity to shoot the planting and harvesting at this Nopal orchard!

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

Here is some 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.

www.chosen-foods.com/aztecnopal_about.asp

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.

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...

Place: Nangan, Matsu Islands

The Matsu islands are a minor archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea and administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Matsu islands together form the county of Lienchiang, but most of Liangjiang County (same name, different spelling) is under control of the People's Republic of China. Linear distance from mainland China is less than 20 km.

Mainlanders from Fujian and Zhejiang started migrating to the islands during the Yuan Dynasty. The popular net fishing industry had established the base for development of Fuao settlement and industrial development of the region over several hundred years.

During the early Qing Dynasty, pirates gathered here and the residents left temporarily. In contrast with Taiwan and Penghu, the Matsu Islands were not ceded to the Japanese Empire via the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Neither were they occupied by Japanese troops during World War II because they were not important militarily. Due to its strategic location for the only route for spice road, the British established the Dongyong Lighthouse in Dongyin Island in 1912 to facilitate ships navigation.

In 1911, the Qing Dynasty was toppled after the Xinhai Revolution on 10 October 1911 and the Republic of China (ROC) was established on 1 January 1912. Matsu Islands was subsequently governed under the administration of Fukien Province of the ROC. On 1 August 1927, the Nanchang Uprising broke out between the ruling Nationalist Party of China (KMT) and Communist Party of China (CPC) which marked the beginning of Chinese Civil War. After years of war, the CPC finally managed to take over mainland China from KMT and established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949 which also covers the Lianjiang County of Fujian. The KMT subsequently retreated from mainland China to Taiwan in end of 1949.

After their retreat, the KMT retained the offshore part from the original Lianjiang County located on Matsu Islands, and also all of Kinmen County. In July 1958 the PRC began massing forces opposite the two islands and began bombarding them on 23 August, triggering the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. On 4 September 1958, the PRC announced the extension of its territorial waters by 20 kilometres (12 mi) to include the two islands. However, after talks were held between the USA and PRC in Warsaw, Poland later that month, a ceasefire was agreed and the status quo reaffirmed.

The phrase "Quemoy and Matsu" became part of American political language in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. During the debates, both candidates, Vice-President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, pledged to use American forces if necessary to protect Taiwan from invasion by the PRC, which the United States did not recognize as a legitimate government. But the two candidates had different opinions about whether to use American forces to protect Taiwan's forward positions, Quemoy and Matsu, also. In fact, Senator Kennedy stated that these islands - as little as 9 kilometres (5.5 mi) off the coast of China and as much as 170 kilometres (106 mi) from Taiwan - were strategically indefensible and were not essential to the defense of Taiwan. On the contrary, Vice-President Nixon maintained that since Quemoy and Matsu were in the "area of freedom," they should not be surrendered to the Communists as a matter of "principle."

Self governance of the county resumed in 1992 after the normalization of the political warfare with the mainland and the abolishment of Battle Field Administration on 7 November 1992. Afterwards, the local constructions progressed tremendously. In 1999, the islands were designated under Matsu National Scenic Area Administration. In January 2001, direct cargo and passenger shipping started between Matsu and Fujian Province of the PRC. Since 1 January 2015, tourists from mainland China could directly apply the Exit and Entry Permit upon arrival in Matsu Islands. This privilege also applies to Penghu and Kinmen as means to boost tourism in the outlying islands of Taiwan.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsu_Islands

In 2013 I had the opportunity to visit the largest of the Matsu islands, Nangan, as a friend of mine is a teacher at a primary school on the island.

Photo 4/4

Bokeh (out-of-focus blur) and Effective Aperture of smaller sensors

Last photo of the series demonstrating the relationships between Bokeh, background blur at a given subject to background distance between Nikon 35mm Full France, APS-C and CX (1 inch) sensors.

Sensor size: Nikon D90: APS-C, DX, FX (1.5x crop factor)

Lens: 50mm F/1.4G @F1.8 (equivalent to 50x1.5=75mm and F2.8 aperture in FF, FX.

Picture size normalized to 2400 x1800 pixel.

Result: Bokeh of APS-C sensor is very similar and comparable to FX lens, nice and smooth.

So I'm thinkin' of kicking off a new design label, separate from Eloise Baker. I haven't decided what to call it yet, but it will be featuring items, like this dress, which do not fit into the literal 1920s/1930s stuff I usually do.

I made this dress, named and styled it the way I did because I see many parallels between alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, and cannabis prohibition now. Funny enough, Reefer Madness was actually released in 1936, and many of the mistruths in it still circulate today, particularly from the mouths of those responsible for making political decisions in our states and country. The main difference of course between alcohol and cannabis, being that cannabis is not anywhere near as harmful or addictive as alcohol (though is not without its side effects), and is actually medicinally beneficial to a great many people, myself included. Not to mention, it's fun, and can be a great way to unwind, if you so choose.

I support the impending end of cannabis prohibition in my country, and will personally have a hand in its inevitable freedom, by continuing to volunteer with cannabis advocacy groups. If you'd like to help to normalize cannabis too, I suggest you check out the national NORML page, and perhaps find your state's chapter:

norml.org/

Okay okay, enough Jj, what the hell are you wearing and where the hell are you? I know, I know. Here's the only slightly less important details:

Head: Lelutka

Make-up: Eloise Baker - flapper lips, and flapper eyes

Body: Maitreya Lara

Hat: Eloise Baker - eloise baker - jeweled velvet cloche [tinatable light] (now available as a free gift in the in-world shop!)

Necklace 1: (Kunglers) Adele necklace - Golden pearl

Necklace 2: Eclat - Choker Kush

Rings: (Yummy) Bohemia Ring Set - Maitreya

Bracelet: *AvaWay* Nikki_Bracelet

Dress: ???? - prohibition dress [purple]

Stockings: No.9 Nylons Vintage (4straps) 15den *chocolate*

Shoes - A N E Shoes - Marmont Pumps - Coffee (Maitreya)

Joint: [Pure Rawk] - Joint V2

Location - Luane's World:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Slice%20of%20Heaven/232/24...

I share my photos in groups so more people can see them, but I do not appreciate copied & pasted, pre-made comments with ad images for said groups. It comes off as spammy advertisement, to me. If you found my image and you like it, please make your own original comment. Otherwise, it will be removed. I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but I also don't think it's a compliment to spam someone with group ad images.

President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff, speaks on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates about their agreement to establish full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

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.

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                  Yellow Green (96 pictures)

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I'm always a little ambivalent about colored light on colorful suits. The mixing of light with a limited spectrum (=colored) on a fabric with a specific absorption spectrum (=colored) often looks weird. The white light from the front normalizes the overall impression somewhat, but the odd effect on the blending areas is usually intensified significantly by my image processing (color, saturation, contrast, ect.). On the other hand, the color contrast is great to look at and small shades through the body shapes are especially emphasized. In addition, the colored light is very easy to set up and allows many combinations. So I really love it :-)

Err, yes... I have not found a good name for the gallery.

Stay safe and healthy!

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you really should see the bigger image on flickr... and the whole set at my free website! :-) 

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Bookmark the URL to my website: llb1983.bplaced.net

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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.

A short history of Wenceslas Square

In 1348, Bohemian King Charles IV founded the New Town of Prague. The plan included several open areas for markets, of which the second largest was the Koňský trh, or Horse Market (the largest was the Charles Square[2]). At the southeastern end of the market was the Horse Gate, one of the gates in the walls of the New Town. During the Czech national revival movement in the 19th century, a more noble name for the street was requested. At this time the statue was built, and the square was renamed.

On 28 October 1918, Alois Jirásek read the proclamation of independence of Czechoslovakia in front of the Saint Wenceslas statue.The Nazis used the street for mass demonstrations. During the Prague Uprising in 1945, a few buildings near the National Museum were destroyed. They were later replaced by department stores.

On 16 January 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968.

On 28 March 1969, the Czechoslovakian national ice hockey team defeated the USSR team for the second time in that year's Ice Hockey World Championships. As the country was still under Soviet occupation, the victory induced great celebrations. Perhaps 150,000 people gathered on Wenceslas Square, and skirmishes with police developed. A group of agents provocateurs provoked an attack on the Prague office of the Soviet airline Aeroflot, located on the street. The vandalism served as a pretext for reprisals and the period of so-called normalization. In 1989, during the Velvet Revolution, large demonstrations (with hundreds of thousands of people or more) were held here.

Wenceslas Square is lined by hotels, offices, retail stores, currency exchange booths and fast-food joints. To the dismay of locals and city officials, the street is also a popular location for prostitutes to ply their trade late at night. Many strip clubs exist on and around Wenceslas Square, making Prague a popular location for stag parties.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslas_Square