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CHAKAI

The Japanese tea ceremony (茶の湯, cha-no-yū) is the ceremonial preparation and presentation of the powdered green tea known as matcha. The tea ceremony is highly ritualized and the manner in which it is performed or the art of its performance is known as sadō (茶道, also read as chadō). Zen Buddhism was integral to the ceremony's development, and its influence pervades many aspects of its performance.

Tea gatherings are known as chakai (茶会) or chaji (茶事). Chakai generally refers to a relatively simple course of hospitality that includes the service of confections, mild tea (薄茶, usucha), and perhaps a light meal (点心, tenshin), whereas chaji refers to a more formal gathering usually including a full-course meal called kaiseki, followed by confections, strong tea (濃茶, koicha), and mild tea.

Japanese tea ceremony

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The galaxy JW100 features prominently in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, with streams of star-forming gas dripping from the disc of the galaxy like streaks of fresh paint. These tendrils of bright gas are formed by a process called ram pressure stripping, and their resemblance to dangling tentacles has led astronomers to refer to JW100 as a ‘jellyfish’ galaxy. It is located in the constellation Pegasus, over 800 million light-years away.

Ram pressure stripping occurs when galaxies encounter the diffuse gas that pervades galaxy clusters. As galaxies plough through this tenuous gas it acts like a headwind, stripping gas and dust from the galaxy and creating the trailing streamers that prominently adorn JW100. The bright elliptical patches in the image are other galaxies in the cluster that hosts JW100.

As well as JW100’s bright tendrils, this image also contains a remarkably bright area of diffuse light towards the top of this image which contains two bright blotches at its core. This is the core of IC 5338, the brightest galaxy in the galaxy cluster, known as a cD galaxy. It’s not unusual for cD galaxies to exhibit multiple nuclei, as they are thought to grow by consuming smaller galaxies, the nuclei of which can take a long time to be absorbed. The bright points of light studding its outer fringes are a rich population of globular clusters.

This observation took advantage of the capabilities of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, and is part of a sequence of observations designed to explore star formation in the tendrils of jellyfish galaxies. These tendrils represent star formation under extreme conditions, and could help astronomers understand the process of star formation elsewhere in the universe.

[Image description: A thin spiral galaxy is seen edge-on in the lower right. Its bulge and arms are very bright, mixing reddish and bluish light. Patchy blue trails extend below it, resembling tentacles, made from star-forming regions. Six small, reddish elliptical galaxies are scattered around. A very large elliptical galaxy with two cores sits by the top of the frame.]

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team; CC BY 4.0

an overwhelming perfume of orange & lemon pervades this beautiful garden inside the Mosque at Cordoba. Exquisite

late at night a somewhat sinister atmosphere pervades the site.

There are places during the afternoon Cusco heat and city madness that quite and cool pervades. One has to explore to find the gems.

The jellyfish galaxy JO206 trails across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing a colourful star-forming disc surrounded by a pale, luminous cloud of dust. A handful of bright stars with criss-cross diffraction spikes stand out against an inky black backdrop at the bottom of the image. JO206 lies over 700 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius, and this image of the galaxy is the sixth and final instalment in a series of observations of jellyfish galaxies. Some of Hubble's other observations of these peculiar galaxies — which range from grandiose to ghostly — are available here.

Jellyfish galaxies are so-called because of their resemblance to their aquatic namesakes. In this image, the disc of JO206 is trailed by long tendrils of bright star formation that stretch towards the bottom right of this image, just as jellyfish trail tentacles behind them. The tendrils of jellyfish galaxies are formed by the interaction between galaxies and the intra-cluster medium, a tenuous superheated plasma that pervades galaxy clusters. As galaxies move through galaxy clusters they ram into the intracluster medium, which strips gas from the galaxies and draws it into the long tendrils of star formation.

The tentacles of jellyfish galaxies give astronomers a unique opportunity to study star formation under extreme conditions, far from the influence of the main disc of the galaxy. Surprisingly, Hubble revealed that there are no striking differences between star formation in the discs of jellyfish galaxies and star formation in their tentacles, which suggests the environment of newly-formed stars has only a minor influence on their formation.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy that is tilted partially toward us. Its inner disc is bright and colourful, with bluish and reddish spots of star formation throughout the arms. An outer disc of pale, dim dust surrounds it. It has many arms, which are being pulled away from the disc, down and to the right. They stretch into long, faint trails that cross the image. The background is dark and mostly empty, with three bright stars.]

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team; CC BY 4.0

Sunrise

Brilliant rays of sunshine

Filtering through thick, dark clouds

Edged with light

The light pervades the Darkness

and the golden orb

we call the Sun

Rises above the clouds

and spread Light on the world

Pure Beauty

K.Bruce Lane

Best seen in a desktop /laptop screen. Some cellphones alter tones which are the gist of the picture because a lousy colorspace conversion. / Observar preferentemente en la pantalla de un computador de sobremesa o portátil. Algunos móviles alteran tonos que constituyen la clave de esta fotografía por una deficiente conversión del espacio de color.

[Eng. /Esp.]

For the first four centuries, Christians celebrated Christ's resurrection, never his passion and death, and Jesus was always represented by symbols of life. Apparently, the Cross was never used as a symbol: only non-Christian resorted to it to make fun of Christians (Alexamenos Graffito, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito 1sr. Century). The Cross became a Christian symbol in the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), after the Constantine Emperor declared Christianism as the official religion of his empire in the 4th Century. However, just the bare cross was represented. The cross with the figure of Christ did not appear until the 5th Century, rising considerable controversy.

The cult of the Cross and the relevance of Jesus' Passion developed along the following centuries, fostered by the apocalyptic feelings around the end of the first Millenium, because of the plagues, wars, and famine, which made processions of brotherhoods picking up corpses and calling for penance a commonplace. In other words, it took Christianism one thousand years to weight the balance towards the Passion at the expense of the relevance of the Resurrection of Jesus, with art representations exacerbated by the Catholic Reformation in the case of the Catholic tradition, strongly biased by contemporary styles (Renaissance and Baroque) and dovetailed with native cultures worldwide.

Resurrection is the key point of Christian's faith (1 Cor 15, 14: "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. "). It pervades Christian life and liturgy, with modern theology suggesting that Resurrection is the visualization of an intense inner -and collective- experience (a statement which makes many people frown, especially in the Catholic environment). However, our Catholic tradition devotes one week to remember the Passion and Death of Jesus, and just one day to celebrate his Resurrection. It may be argued that we Christians celebrate Resurrection every day in our life and that both Jesus' death and resurrection are liturgically present at every Mass. And also that the Holy Week brings up the suffering of the poor, the prosecuted, the sick, anyone close to death, providing hope and spiritual strength. However, all that is deeply buried under medieval semiotics. Thus, the outside perception of Christian faith is mostly tied to the Cross since medieval ages, well against the practice and usage of the first Christians, and far from the luminous, positive message of Jesus of Nazareth, which is worth considering irrespective your faith or lack thereof.

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Durante los primeros cuatro siglos, los cristianos celebraron la resurrección de Cristo, nunca su pasión y muerte, y Jesús fue siempre representado mediante símbolos de vida. Según parece, la Cruz no se utilizó nunca como símbolo: sólo los no cristianos recurrieron a ella para mofarse de los cristianos (Grafito del Palatino, s. I vid. es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafito_de_Alex%C3%A1menos). La Cruz se convirtió en símbolo cristiano en el Concilio de Nicea (año 325), después de que el Emperador Constantino declarara el Cristianismo como religión oficial de su imperio en el s. IV. Sin embargo, sólo se representaba la cruz desnuda. La cruz con la figura de Cristo no apareción hasta el s. V, provocando una considerable controversia.

El culto de la Cruz y la relevancia de la Pasión de Jesús se desarrolló a lo largo de los siglos siguientes, impulsada por los sentimientos apocalípticos en torno al fin del primer milenio, debido a las plagas, guerras y el hambre, que convirtieron en corrientes las procesiones de hermandades que recogían cadáveres y llamaban a la penitencia. En otras palabras, al Cristianismo le costó mil años modificar la balanza a favor de la Pasión y en perjuicio de la relevancia de la Resurrección de Jesús, con representaciones artísticas exacerbadas por la Contrareforma en el caso de la tradición Católica, fuertemente influidas por los estilos de la época (Renacimiento y Barroco) y encajadas en culturas nativas en todo el mundo.

La Resurrección es el punto clave de la fe Cristiana (1 Cor 15, 14: "Y si Cristo no ha resucitado, vana es nuestra fe."). Atraviesa toda la vida y liturgia cristianas, con la teología moderna sugiriendo que la Resurrección es la visualización de una experiencia interior -y colectiva- intensa, afirmación que hace fruncir el ceño a muchas personas, en especial en el ámbito católico. Sin embargo, la tradición católica dedica una semana a rememorar la Pasión y Muerte de Jesús, y sólo un día a celebrar su Resurrección. Se puede argüir que los cristianos celebramos la Resurrección cada día de nuestra vida y que tanto la muerte como la resurrección de Jesús están litúrgicamente presentes en cada Misa. Y también que la Semana Santa saca a luz el sufrimiento de los pobres, los perseguidos, los enfermos, los que están cerca de la muerte, proporcionando esperanza y fuerza espiritual. Sin embargo, todo esto está profundamente enterrado en una semiótica medieval. Así, la percepción externa de la fe cristiana está principalmente ligada a la Cruz desde la época medieval, en contra de la práctica y uso de los primeros cristianos, y lejos del mensaje luminoso y positivo de Jesús de Nazareth, que merece la pensa considerar con independencia de la fe o ausencia de fe de cada cual.

www.joseluisbriz.com

The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices and is one of several jellyfish galaxies Hubble has been studying over the past two years.

Despite this jellyfish galaxy’s serene appearance, it is adrift in a ferociously hostile environment: a galaxy cluster. Compared to their more isolated counterparts, the galaxies in galaxy clusters are often distorted by the gravitational pull of larger neighbors, which can twist galaxies into a variety of shapes. If that was not enough, the space between galaxies in a cluster is also pervaded with a searingly hot plasma known as the intracluster medium. While this plasma is extremely tenuous, galaxies moving through it experience it almost like swimmers fighting against a current, and this interaction can strip galaxies of their star-forming gas.

This interaction between the intracluster medium and the galaxies is called ram-pressure stripping and is the process responsible for the trailing tendrils of this jellyfish galaxy. As JW39 moved through the cluster, the pressure of the intracluster medium stripped away gas and dust into long trailing ribbons of star formation that now stretch away from the disk of the galaxy.

Astronomers using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 studied these trailing tendrils in detail, as they are a particularly extreme environment for star formation. Surprisingly, they found that star formation in the ‘tentacles’ of jellyfish galaxies was not noticeably different from star formation in the galaxy disk.

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team

#NASA #NASAMarshall #NASAGoddard #ESA #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astrophysics #galaxy #galaxycluster

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I stood at the view point „Reinehalsen“ for two hours while rain, snow and sleet showers kept pervading. My goal was to capture Mount Olstinden with some sun and a reflection in the Gravdalsbukta. It was not that easy, because every shower brought wind and the water rippled. Then fishing boats drove through the bay again and again. Even the sun appeared only occasionally in a cloud gap. The cendeavour seemed impossible. But then, for a few brief moments, things didn't look too bad...

While the pastel tones and fine texture of this image may bring to mind brush strokes on an artist’s canvas, they are in fact a visualisation of data from ESA’s Planck satellite. The image portrays the interaction between interstellar dust in the Milky Way and the structure of our Galaxy’s magnetic field.

Between 2009 and 2013, Planck scanned the sky to detect the most ancient light in the history of the Universe – the cosmic microwave background. It also detected significant foreground emission from diffuse material in our Galaxy which, although a nuisance for cosmological studies, is extremely important for studying the birth of stars and other phenomena in the Milky Way.

Among the foreground sources at the wavelengths probed by Planck is cosmic dust, a minor but crucial component of the interstellar medium that pervades the Galaxy. Mainly gas, it is the raw material for stars to form.

Interstellar clouds of gas and dust are also threaded by the Galaxy’s magnetic field, and dust grains tend to align their longest axis at right angles to the direction of the field. As a result, the light emitted by dust grains is partly ‘polarised’ – it vibrates in a preferred direction – and, as such, could be caught by the polarisation-sensitive detectors on Planck.

Scientists in the Planck collaboration are using the polarised emission of interstellar dust to reconstruct the Galaxy’s magnetic field and study its role in the build-up of structure in the Milky Way, leading to star formation.

In this image, the colour scale represents the total intensity of dust emission, revealing the structure of interstellar clouds in the Milky Way. The texture is based on measurements of the direction of the polarised light emitted by the dust, which in turn indicates the orientation of the magnetic field.

This image shows the intricate link between the magnetic field and the structure of the interstellar medium along the plane of the Milky Way. In particular, the arrangement of the magnetic field is more ordered along the Galactic plane, where it follows the spiral structure of the Milky Way. Small clouds are seen just above and below the plane, where the magnetic field structure becomes less regular.

From these and other similar observations, Planck scientists found that filamentary interstellar clouds are preferentially aligned with the direction of the ambient magnetic field, highlighting the strong role played by magnetism in galaxy evolution.

The emission from dust is computed from a combination of Planck observations at 353, 545 and 857 GHz, whereas the direction of the magnetic field is based on Planck polarisation data at 353 GHz.

Credit: ESA/Planck Collaboration. Acknowledgment: M.-A. Miville-Deschênes, CNRS – Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-XI, Orsay, France

I wouldn't normally be keen to have a major road in any of my photos, but in this one, the A83 runs alongside Loch Restil, giving some badly needed scale to this stretch of water. The east wall of Beinn an Lochain is so vast that it has the effect of reducing the loch to a mere puddle. In fact, it is over 1km in length (bottom to top, in the photo) & 200m wide. You'll have to '+' it to get a better idea.

Loch Restil has a brief but memorable moment in the film, 'Under the Skin'. I'll not describe why, in case you've not seen it, suffice to say that the sequence is weather related & compliments the weird creepiness that pervades this work of genius from start to finish.

(I should say that this film won't be everybody's cup of tea; it's about as far removed from 'conventional' as you'll get in cinema.)

MY FRIENDS,WISH YOU A PEACEFUL WEEK!

Hugs AM:=)

Darchor (vertical) prayer flags are usually large single rectangles attached to poles along their vertical edge. Darchor are commonly planted in the ground, mountains, cairns, and on rooftops.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. Its believed the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space.

Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.

By hanging flags in high places they will carry the blessings depicted on the flags to all beings. As wind passes over the surface of the flags which are sensitive to the slightest movement of the wind, the air is purified and sanctified by the Mantras.

The prayers of a flag become a permanent part of the universe as the images fade from exposure to the elements. Just as life moves on and is replaced by new life, Tibetans renew their hopes for the world by continually mounting new flags alongside the old. This act symbolizes a welcoming of life's changes and an acknowledgment that all beings are part of a greater ongoing cycle.

Because the symbols and mantras on prayer flags are sacred, they should be treated with respect. They should not be placed on the ground or used in clothing. Old prayer flags should be burned.

牆裡鞦韆牆外道。牆外行人，牆裡佳人笑。

In the old days:

Inside the wall danced back and forth the swing

to its extreme of joy;

Outside the wall dusts pervaded the roads.

Passengers passed by from outside,

indifferent to the laughter of infantas,

hovering among the flowers.

Nowadays, the garden remains the same

antique and romantic,

whereas the life of the world outside,

remains the same hustles and bustles.

A senior couple was waiting for a bus,

the same indifferent to the royal life,

behind the historical high wall.

View On White

Pervading the majority of my life, like a bright line of color stitched through the tapestry of my own personal history... is photography.

On rare occasions I find it frustrating that, when faced with a beautiful scene, I can't seem to merely sit and breathe and enjoy it... instead, an almost obsessive part of me insists on surveying and cataloging and documenting the light, camera in hand.

But for the most part, I am exceptionally grateful for this... drive to photograph. It makes me a better human being. I see more, create more, love more.

You know that runner's high? Or at least the concept of it? There's a photographer's high, too. It happens when you stumble into a scene that makes your breath catch and your heart pound and the corners of your lips tug up in a smile. There's a moment of pause there, perched at the edge of wonder, in which you become aware of this fact: that you're about to lose yourself in the art of making photographs, and that it's going to be fantastic.

Or maybe, to wax philosophical, you're about to find yourself? To pull forth an effort of yourself that is uniquely you?

And then you're pitched forward from the precipice, diving away from that moment of awareness, feet moving and camera up and eyes roaming.

Image made with my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

Amidst the fragments of what was once whole, a sense of being wrecked pervades the landscape of emotions. It's as if the world has tilted, leaving us unmoored and adrift amidst the debris of heartache and loss. The echoes of memories reverberate, haunting the spaces between shattered dreams. But within this wreckage lies the potential for renewal, a chance to rebuild amidst the ruins. Just as the phoenix rises from its ashes, the journey from being wrecked to finding strength is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, a reminder that even in the midst of despair, there's a flicker of hope waiting to be ignited.

Day 45, Christchurch, New Zealand:

Christchurch is the largest city on South Island New Zealand. During the period from September 2010 to January 2012, a series of earthquakes rocked the city. Two shakes measuring magnitude 7.1 and 6.3 devastated the city. 185 people died in the second quake that shook the city. By September 2013 over 1500 buildings in the city had been demolished or partly demolished.

While we were away we also heard the news of a terrorist attack with 51 people killed.

Unlike some places the quakes where considered to be natural events and not the act of a deity due to being unhappy.

There where little or no reprisal headlines after the terror attack, just a series of supporting messages and practical implementations.

I can say that during my visit this city has to be one of the most civilised and happy places. Art pervades the city. Not the informal graffiti that adorns many cities, but official artworks. The city was a blaze of colour.

“To hear never-heard sounds,

To see never-seen colors and shapes,

To try to understand the imperceptible

Power pervading the world;

To fly and find pure ethereal substances

That are not of matter

But of that invisible soul pervading reality.

To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;

To be a lantern in the darkness

Or an umbrella in a stormy day;

To feel much more than know.

To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;

To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;

To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;

To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets

Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.

To be a smile on the face of a woman

And shine in her memory

As a moment saved without planning.”

― Dejan Stojanovic

PleaseView On Black

The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always secondary and intermediate in character.

We believed that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself.

The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence.

The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child.

He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.

The bright variable star V 372 Orionis takes centre stage in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which has also captured a smaller companion star in the upper left of this image. Both stars lie in the Orion Nebula, a colossal region of star formation roughly 1450 light years from Earth.

V 372 Orionis is a particular type of variable star known as an Orion Variable. These young stars experience some tempestuous moods and growing pains, which are visible to astronomers as irregular variations in luminosity. Orion Variables are often associated with diffuse nebulae, and V 372 Orionis is no exception; the patchy gas and dust of the Orion Nebula pervade this scene.

This image overlays data from two of Hubble’s instruments. Data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 at infrared and visible wavelengths were layered to reveal rich details of this corner of the Orion Nebula. Hubble also left its own subtle signature on this astronomical portrait in the form of the diffraction spikes surrounding the bright stars. These prominent artefacts are created by starlight interacting with Hubble’s inner workings, and as a result they reveal hints of Hubble’s structure. The four spikes surrounding the stars in this image are created by four vanes inside Hubble supporting the telescope’s secondary mirror. The diffraction spikes of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, on the other hand, are six-pointed as a result of Webb’s hexagonal mirror segments and 3-legged support structure for the secondary mirror.

[Image description: Two very bright stars with cross-shaped diffraction spikes are prominent: the larger is slightly lower-right of centre, the smaller lies towards the upper-left corner. Small red stars with short diffraction spikes are scattered around them. The background is covered nearly completely by gas: smoky, bright blue gas around the larger star in the centre and lower-right, and wispier red gas elsewhere.]

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Bally, M. Robberto; CC BY 4.0

A Modern Tribute to Pulp Fiction's Iconic Moment

This captivating photograph captures the essence of Quentin Tarantino's legendary film, "Pulp Fiction," through a modern tribute. The focal point of the image is a young lady confidently holding a cigarette, flawlessly imitating Uma Thurman's iconic pose from the movie. Her poise and demeanor echo the charismatic presence of Thurman's character, Mia Wallace.

The careful arrangement of lighting adds an intriguing dimension to the composition, amplifying the film noir atmosphere that pervades the scene. The Kinoklub Split, a renowned venue for artistic endeavors, serves as the backdrop for this meticulously crafted photograph. The setting contributes an authentic cinematic ambiance, enhancing the overall homage to Tarantino's masterpiece.

The photograph was taken with meticulous attention to detail, as it was a part of a lighting workshop organized by the Kinoklub Split. The workshop aimed to explore the artistry of lighting in visual storytelling, allowing participants to experiment and refine their skills. This particular image stands as a testament to the photographer's artistry and their ability to recreate iconic cinematic moments with finesse.

Through this thoughtfully executed composition, the viewer is transported to the world of "Pulp Fiction" and invited to reminisce about the unforgettable characters and captivating narrative that have made the film an enduring classic.

Due to the time constraints we faced, we had a limited window to meticulously set up the lighting and scene. Nonetheless, we put our utmost effort into ensuring that every aspect was meticulously arranged, and we are hopeful that the end result has successfully captured the essence we intended to portray.

Nina's insta: www.instagram.com/ninasodan/

At the moment in Queensland, it's the sugar cane crushing season and one year ago this mill would have been a 24/7 day hive of activity. Plumes of steam would have been billowing out of it's stack, and delivery trucks & trains would be arriving by the hour along with the constant sickly sweet smell of boiling sugar syrup that would have pervaded the air.

Now with some overseas governments subsidizing their cane growers, a number of the local mills like this one at Maryborough have been closed down for not being financially viable. This leaves the local growers having to ship their cane to more distant mills along with the increased haulage costs.

An industrial landscape that almost feels Victorian in era and operation, what you don't get from the pictures is the smell that pervades the area, for a solid distance all around.

[Whyalla in the morning_5of5_steel works + air pollution_IMG_8980]

Kamera: Nikon FE2

Linse: Nikkor-O Auto 35mm f2 (1970)

Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 250

Kjemi: Rodinal (1:50 / 9 min. @ 20°C)

Wikipedia: Gaza genocide

20.6.1931

Today is one of those days when the monotony of everything closes about me as if I had just entered a prison. That monotony, however, is just the monotony of being me. Each face, even if it belongs to someone we saw only yesterday, is different today simply because today is not yesterday. Each day is the day it is, and there will never be another like it in the world. Only in the soul is there the absolute identity (albeit a false identity) in which everything resembles everything else and everything is simplified. The world is made up of promontories and peaks but all our myopic vision allows us to see is a thin all-pervading mist.

Everything that surrounds us becomes part of us, it seeps into us with every experience of the flesh and of life and, like the web of the great Spider, binds us subtly to what is near, ensnares us in a fragile cradle of slow death, where we lie rocking in the wind. Everything is us and we are everything, but what is the point if everything is nothing? A ray of sun, a cloud whose own sudden shadow warns of its coming, a breeze getting up, the silence that follows when it drops, certain faces, some voices, the easy smiles as they talk, and then the night into which emerge, meaningless, the broken hieroglyphs of the stars.

- Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935)

GLIMPSES OF THE SUMMER PASSED — XVI

ꒌ Још девет минута до заласка сунца. Али проређени гости на горњој палуби крузера више га не виде – заклоњено је обалом, растињем и насипом – иако има још девет минута до астрономског заласка. ЛЕЈДИ ДИЛЕТА је речни путнички крузер. Газ јој је 1,7 m. Као и већина других из ове категорије у средишњој Европи, и она плови под заставом Швајцарске. Велики део посаде и особља на овим крузерима је из ”јефтинијих” земаља. Порез плаћају и својој матичној земљи и Швајцарској, у којој добијају плату од швајцарске фирме која их запошљава.

► █░▓ ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ Inland passenger cruise ship, sailing under the flag of Switzerland, enters pervading dusk. Her draught is 1,7 m. Just a few meters from where a stand, the river bottom plunges abruptly to 7-8 meters depth, with a treacherous whirlpool caused by the goyne. Trifle for the boats, life-threatening for the swimmers. The last rays of the Sun, still 9 minutes before its setting, are being blocked by the riverbank, its trees and a levee. Some brave passengers remain on the upper deck, understanding that this is a magical moment par excellence before the dark sets in. Sailing downstream they are nearing the magical Y-branching, actually bifurcation where Boven Merwede splits into Beneden Merwede (leading northwest to Rotterdam) and Nieuwe Merwede (leading southwest to the magisterial works at the North Sea inflowing). 'Nieuwe' means 'New'. That major branch, starting off two-three miles down from here, was literally made by St. Elizabeth's flood in 1421. So you get the idea - the 'new' in Europe begins somewhere in XIV century :)) . The flood mentioned was the 7th worst in the long drenched history of the Lowlands and ranks 20th on the list of deadliest floods in history.

Back to our day and age. This is the spot from which I take most of my river photographs. The riverbank lies some 30 meters behind my back, giving impression that you stand in the midst of the river. There are times when the spot I stand on gets flooded. Also times when I couldn't get closer than 900 m to the shore (from where the levee stands, every some years the flood reaches the levee).

At the moment of publishing Lady Diletta is pushing southwards (upstream) over Rhine, halfway between the Dutch/German border and Düsseldorf. This was captured exactly four months ago. If you take a closer look (larger screen), you'll see 15 passengers populating the upper deck and three watching the sunset from their cabins. Two or three are filming. Above the bridge is a crane from Werken Shipyards on the other side of the river.

Lumix G90 / Lumix 12-35 mm f/2.8. —At 35mm (70mm full frame equivalent) and resulting f/2.8 aperture. Shutter speed priority at 1/320 sec. Overexposed ⅓ of a stop. ISO 250. White balance set manually to "shade". Handheld with support. This is a sooc jpeg edited in Apple Photos 10.0, cropped to 16×9 format; exported as jpeg. I tried to recreate the scene as I remember it. Using 'Keen' Legacy filter (~40%) in Flickr's online photo editor.

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The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always secondary and intermediate in character. We believed that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself. The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such an object of reverence.

The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.

Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Green airglow on the horizon, just above the orange/yellow glow (which I'm sure is light pollution from Madison County). There is also a reddish glow present in the far left horizon (but I'm not certain what that is - seems too low to be a red layer of airglow). Any insight is welcome.

Airglow is visible on dark nights everywhere on Earth, and pervades the night sky from equator to pole. It sometimes shows up in long exposure photographs as ghostly ripples of aurora-like light about 10-15 degrees above the horizon.

Airglow’s subtle radiance arises from excitation of oxygen atoms. Ultraviolet light from the daytime sun ionizes or knocks electrons off of oxygen and nitrogen atoms and molecules; at night the electrons recombine with their host atoms, releasing energy as light of different colors including green, red, yellow and blue.

4:11 am - 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8, Bower 14mm super-wide angle lens.

THANKS FOR VIEWING!

The spring leaves have yet to arrive, but the anticipation for them breaks as nightfall colours pervade the sky.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. You can see them all across the Himalays and beyond, and it never hurts.

On the contrary : the flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space.

So what you see here, on the way to Pangong Tso, Ladakh, India, is a hugely efficient good vibrations and thoughts dispenser for all.

And graphic too.

Near Tibet, this breathtaking Himalayan town MUKTINATH is a sacred place in the Mustang valley at an altitude of 3,710 meters (12,171 feet), in the Thorong La mountain pass.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The Tibetans believe the prayers & mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space.

--from Wikipedia

Whenever I get around the sites and artifacts of ancient peoples, I'm conflicted with both wonder and rue. Aztalan State Park encompasses the ruins of a native American culture. Based on the Wikipediea accounts, some of the village's wooden stockades were still standing when the first white people turn up. Likewise, the mounds and other structures were visible and in place.

You can fill in the blanks after that. A few people fought to save what they could. Other people leveled off mounds for farming and carted away the materials there for filling road potholes and the like. Much of the place is preserved and replicated somewhat offsetting the overall loss.

A sense of wonder and mystery pervades the site. The "Princess Burial" is one of the most high profile mysteries at Aztalan. Native Americans still protest that the remains be returned.

School kids visit Aztalan by the busload and people from all over the world with interest in ancient people find their way to the site. It's a small place; perhaps 20 acres. Aztalan makes for a mystical stroll. Informational kiosks placed along the trails are helpful if somewhat intrusive. And, of course, like all state resources, the site is under constant budget assault.

Overlooking the main square in Uzupis is the famous sight of the angel.

Back in the 1970's a group of artists setup Uzupis as an independent state, separate from Lithuania. Although not recognised internationally, it was recognised by the Lithuanian government, and although more of a tourist attraction now, their original sentiment pervades.

Golden hues of autumn pervade the common.

The Door to Hell is a natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan. The Door to Hell is noted for its natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971. The fire is fed by the rich natural gas deposits in the area. The pungent smell of burning sulfur pervades the area for some distance.

The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, and is one of several jellyfish galaxies that Hubble has been studying over the past two years.

Despite this jellyfish galaxy’s serene appearance, it is adrift in a ferociously hostile environment; a galaxy cluster. Compared to their more isolated counterparts, the galaxies in galaxy clusters are often distorted by the gravitational pull of larger neighbours, which can twist galaxies into a variety of weird and wonderful shapes. If that was not enough, the space between galaxies in a cluster is also pervaded with a searingly hot plasma known as the intracluster medium. While this plasma is extremely tenuous, galaxies moving through it experience it almost like swimmers fighting against a current, and this interaction can strip galaxies of their star-forming gas.

This interaction between the intracluster medium and the galaxies is called ram-pressure stripping, and is the process responsible for the trailing tendrils of this jellyfish galaxy. As JW39 has moved through the cluster the pressure of the intracluster medium has stripped away gas and dust into long trailing ribbons of star formation that now stretch away from the disc of the galaxy.

Astronomers using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 studied these trailing tendrils in detail, as they are a particularly extreme environment for star formation. Surprisingly, they found that star formation in the ‘tentacles’ of jellyfish galaxies was not noticeably different from star formation in the galaxy disc.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It is large in the centre with a lot of detail visible. The core glows brightly and is surrounded by concentric rings of dark and light dust. The spiral arms are thick and puffy with grey dust and glowing blue areas of star formation. They wrap around the galaxy to form a ring. Part of the arm is drawn out into a dark thread above the galaxy, and dust from the arm trails off to the right.]

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team CC BY 4.0

*

"Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space.(..)

The prayers of a flag become a permanent part of the universe as the images fade from exposure to the elements. Just as life moves on and is replaced by new life, Tibetans renew their hopes for the world by continually mounting new flags alongside the old. This act symbolizes a welcoming of life's changes and an acknowledgment that all beings are part of a greater ongoing cycle."

(Source: Wikipedia)

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"Sur les cols, les éperons rocheux, les maisons, les temples, etc., il est de tradition chez les adeptes du bouddhisme tibétain, de hisser et d'arrimer des cordelettes munies de drapeaux de prières tout neufs. Le vent qui caresse au passage les formules sacrées imprimées sur les drapeaux et les disperse dans l’espace, est censé leur donner vie et les transmettre ainsi aux dieux et à tous ceux qu'il touche dans sa course"

/ flickriver / neteasy / 4ormat / lofter / black-station / gettyimages /

Soy and eggs

AI creation with Bing Co-Pilot Image Creator (DALL-E3)

re-done in landscape format.

I used the same prompt as on Nightcafe, which was a enhanced prompt put together with 2 separate prompts.

PROMPT:

Surreal bio-mechanical digital painting. Medium shot. Cthulhu-human hybrid creature stands amidst a dystopian, post-apocalyptic wonderland. Sharp focus. Intricately detailed, hyper-realistic, with imperial colors and Art Nouveau patterns. Golden hour lighting casts long shadows across the creature's organic, biomechanical body. Iridescent, mother-of-pearl colors shimmer on its skin, reminiscent of Gustav Klimt's style. Otto Rapp's dark, mystical atmosphere pervades the scene.

Taken from somewhere near the top of Swirl How.

It was around this time that the crowds that had noisily pervaded the ridges up to this point suddenly disappeared. It's a curious trait of Lakeland in particular that most parties seem to be on a strict schedule & will be safely back down in the valleys well before sundown. The high areas are blessedly left to the solitude lovers & those partial to being amongst the hills during the gloaming.

“To hear never-heard sounds,

To see never-seen colors and shapes,

To try to understand the imperceptible

Power pervading the world;

To fly and find pure ethereal substances

That are not of matter

But of that invisible soul pervading reality.

To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;

To be a lantern in the darkness

Or an umbrella in a stormy day;

To feel much more than know.

To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon...”

― Dejan Stojanovic

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The blue berries that you see this composition are palm tree berries.

Thanks a lot for visits and comments, everyone...! Have a magic Sunday...!

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without

my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

BEATAMENTE IN AMMOLLO

Non fatevi fuorviare da questa idilliaca immagine....attualmente sono a casa pervaso dal caldo afoso dei primi giorni d'estate ma c'è stato un periodo in cui mi sollazzavo in piscina circondato dai colli marchigiani.

Il mio augurio è che quel periodo spensierato, privo delle angoscie covidiane, guerresche ed energetiche, possa tornare quanto prima. Chi vivrà vedrà !!!

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

BLISSFULLY IN SOAKING

Do not be misled by this idyllic image .... currently I am at home pervaded by the sultry heat of the first days of summer but there was a period in which I enjoyed myself in the pool surrounded by the hills of the Marche.

My wish is that that carefree period, devoid of Covidian, warlike and energetic anxieties, can return as soon as possible. Time will tell !!!

Immagine realizzata con lo smartphone SAMSUNG NOTE4

This 2005 Chandra image shows two vast cavities - each 600,000 light years in diameter - in the hot, X-ray emitting gas that pervades the galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 (MS 0735 for short). Although the cavities contain very little hot gas, they are filled with a two-sided, elongated, magnetized bubble of extremely high-energy electrons that emit radio waves.

The cavities appear on opposite sides of a large galaxy at the center of the cluster, which indicates that a gigantic eruption produced by the galaxy's supermassive black hole created the structures. The magnitude of the eruption suggests that as a large amount of gas swirled rapidly toward the central black hole, it generated intense electromagnetic fields that ejected a fraction of the gas in the form of powerful jets of high-energy particles.

As these jets blasted through the galaxy into the surrounding multimillion degree intergalactic gas, they pushed the hot gas aside to create the cavities. The mass of the displaced gas equals about a trillion Suns, more than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way.

Chandra has discovered evidence of similar outbursts in the form of other X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters, but the cavities in MS 0735 are easily the largest and most powerful. To create such an enormous eruption, the supermassive black hole must have swallowed about 300 million solar masses of gas over the last hundred million years.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/Ohio U./B.McNamara

#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #ChandraXrayObservatory #cxo #supernova #supernovaremnant #galaxy #blackhole

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I paid another visit to the weaver time capsule on the site of pimblotts boatyard , near northwich Cheshire , to find that for the first time in 10 years, the wreck of the tug proceed has been moved although only

a few feet along the riverbank , and now stands higher out of the water than it has done for many years----perhaps someone is going to do something with it after all these years, or are they finally planning to dismantle it ?

who knows?

as the picture shows , the old fire engine is still in place on the riverbank and the atmosphere of decay and neglect still pervades the site

Taken by WR

PP: S-ca10

’Okrąglak’ (Round House)

Designed by Marek Leykam [1948], Poznan, Poland.

オクロングラク（丸ビル）

マレク・レイカン設計 [1948]、ポーランド、ポズナン市。

"[...]

A symbol of Poznan's modernism - 'Okraglak', a building designed by a renowned architect Marek Leykam. This is one of the most famous buildings in more than 1000 years of the city's history. Although it was created in the era pervaded by socialist realism (1949-1954), it represents all of the standard modernist features.

[...] there is few Poznaners that are not impressed by the two separate staircases winding up the walls inside the cylinder.

[...]"

See: www.poznan.pl/mim/turystyka/en/-,poi,3391/-,51457.html [2018.12.30].

27 Grudnia [12月27日]通りのクリスマスデコレーションとオクロングラクの夜景です。

These candles have been lit by people visiting the ancient crypt in St Mary's Church. Lastingham.

There is a candle there for all my Flickr friends where ever you are with my wish that you all find a little light in your lives

This is the crypt in St Mary's Church Lastingham on the North Yorkshire Moors.

The village of Lastingham lies amid the soft hills that fringe the southern edge of the North York Moors. Around AD 654 St Cedd founded a monastery here, in a place described by The Venerable Bede as 'where once dragons lay'

Around AD 725 the first stone church was built, and Cedd's remains were reburied beside the altar.

On entering the church you notice the unusual vaulted roof which dates from 1879 but the crypt is down below

It is amazing how simply descending the steep stairs to the crypt brings with it an air of stillness and calm. This is a place for hushed voices, for sitting quietly and absorbing the silence and the pervading aura of history. (Britain Express)

A wonderful historical church well worth visiting

Yes, but have you ever taken a selfie on Mars? The Curiosity rover on Mars has. This selfie was compiled from many smaller images -- which is why the mechanical arm holding the camera is not visible. (Although its shadow is!) Taken in mid-2015, the featured image shows not only the adventurous rover, but dark layered rocks, the light colored peak of Mount Sharp, and the rusting red sand that pervades Mars. If you look closely, you can even see that a small rock is stuck into one of Curiosity's aging wheels. Now nearing the end of 2017, Curiosity continues to explore the layers of sedimentary rocks it has discovered on Vera Rubin Ridge in order to better understand, generally, the ancient geologic history of Mars and, specifically, why these types of rocks exist there.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates Halloween this year with a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which resembles a baleful orange eye glaring from behind a shroud of smoke.

CW Leonis glowers from deep within a thick shroud of dust in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Lying roughly 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, CW LEonis is a carbon star — a luminous type of red giant star with a carbon-rich atmosphere. The dense clouds of sooty gas and dust engulfing this dying star were created as the outer layers of CW Leonis itself were thrown out into the void.

When small to intermediate-mass stars run out of hydrogen fuel in their cores, the outwards pressure that balances the crush of gravity within their cores falls out of equilibrium, causing the star to start collapsing. As the core collapses, the shell of plasma surrounding the core becomes hot enough to begin fusing hydrogen, generating enough heat to dramatically expand the outer layers of the star and turn it into a bloated red giant. Stars in that phase of life eject huge amounts of gas and dust outwards into space, eventually jettisoning their outer layers. In the case of the carbon star CW Leonis, this process has surrounded the star with a dense pall of sooty dust.

Along with CW Leonis’s smoky veil, the vibrant orange and green tints of this image make it a fitting celebration of Halloween. Hubble has captured a ghoulish gallery of halloween images over the years — from ghostly faces and cosmic bats to a carved pumpkin formed from binary stars. This year’s image resembles a single, baleful eye of cosmic proportions glaring out from within a cloud of smoke.

While these observations make for a striking image, they were originally made to answer pressing scientific questions about CW Leonis. As the closest carbon star to Earth, CW Leonis gives astronomers the chance to understand the interaction between the star and its surrounding envelope. This is a particularly interesting object to study as the envelope of CW Leonis is relatively turbulent, with a complex inner structure that astronomers believe may be sculpted by a nearby companion star.

The bright beams of light radiating outwards from CW Leonis are one of the most intriguing parts of this image, as they've changed in brightness within a 15 year period — an incredibly short span of time in astronomical terms. Astronomers speculate that gaps in the shroud of dust surrounding CW Leonis may allow these beams of starlight to pierce through and illuminate dust further from the star. However the exact cause of the dramatic changes in their brightness is as yet unexplained.

Detailed Hubble observations of CW Leonis taken over the last two decades also show the expansion of ring-like threads of ejected material around the star — CW Leonis’s sloughed-off outer layers.

This image incorporates observations from 2011 and 2016 by one of Hubble’s workhorse instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3. CW Leonis is brightest in the red filters, R and I, and therefore the simmering orange colour pervading the centre of the image well represents the real colour of the star.

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Ueta, H. Kim; CC BY 4.0

In this painting of one of Casilear's favorite sites-Lake George,in the Adirondack Mountains-the influence of John Frederic Kensett on of the artist's sketching companion,and unmistakable in the treatment of the water and the light.Casilear's background as an engraver is reflected in the highly finished quality of the canvas and the attention to detail in the foliage and rock formations of the foreground.A sense of calm pervades the scene,there is not a single ripple on the lake.The vantage from the western shore,looking south toward Black Mountain.