Mono Lake, California. This is a strangely beautiful land populated by "tufa towers" - calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. These have been formed over centuries, some reaching heights of 30 feet.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake_Tufa_State_Natural_Reserve

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My Autumn Gallery is open at Kreative People: Highlight Gallery

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The Spotlight Your Best October Contest is now accepting entries: Antiques & Treasures

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A night flight over a populated area reveals two extremes: While the artifically lit landscape below is zipping by, the gem filled sky radiates eternal calmness.

For me this image feels like an alegory of our uncertain times. While we realize how shortlived and fleeting our human achievments and lifes really are, looking at the beauty of the night sky helps to soothe our worried minds.

EXIF

Canon EOS 6D astro modified

Samyang 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2

Mount: Boeing 777-300ER

Stack of 5 x 5s @ ISO12800

"Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., and, with roughly 35,000 people in just under 2 square miles (5 km2), it is also one of the most densely populated.

As a geographic feature, Capitol Hill rises near the center of the District of Columbia and extends eastward. Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant, as he began to develop his plan for the new federal capital city in 1791, chose to locate the "Congress House" (the Capitol building) on the crest of the hill at a site that he characterized as a "pedestal waiting for a monument." The Capitol building has been the home of the Congress of the United States and the workplace of many residents of the Capitol Hill neighborhood since 1800.

The Capitol Hill neighborhood today straddles two quadrants of the city, Southeast and Northeast. A large portion of the neighborhood is now designated as the Capitol Hill Historic District.

The name Capitol Hill is often used to refer to both the historic district and to the larger neighborhood around it. To the east of Capitol Hill lies the Anacostia River, to the north is the H Street corridor, to the south are the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and the Washington Navy Yard, and to the west are the National Mall and the city's central business district.

The Capitol building is surrounded by the Capitol Hill Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The Capitol Hill Historic District was expanded in 2015 to the north to include the blocks bordered by 2nd Street, F Street, 4th Street, and just south of H Street, NE, collectively known as the Swampoodle Addition.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, also known as just Washington or simply D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. It is located on the east bank of the Potomac River, which forms its southwestern and southern border with the U.S. state of Virginia, and it shares a land border with the U.S. state of Maryland on its other sides. The city was named for George Washington, a Founding Father and the first president of the United States, and the federal district is named after Columbia, the female personification of the nation. As the seat of the U.S. federal government and several international organizations, the city is an important world political capital. It is one of the most visited cities in the U.S. with over 20 million annual visitors as of 2016.

The U.S. Constitution provides for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress; the district is not a part of any U.S. state (nor is it one itself). The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district located along the Potomac River near the country's East Coast. The City of Washington was founded in 1791, and Congress held its first session there in 1800. In 1801, the territory, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia (including the settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria), officially became recognized as the federal district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the district. There have been efforts to make the city into a state since the 1880s, a movement that has gained momentum in recent years, and a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021.

The city is divided into quadrants centered on the Capitol, and there are as many as 131 neighborhoods. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 689,545, which makes it the 23rd most populous city in the U.S. as of 2020, the third most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and gives it a population larger than that of two U.S. states: Wyoming and Vermont. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. Washington's metropolitan area, the country's sixth largest (including parts of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia), had a 2020 estimated population of 6.3 million residents; and over 54 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the District.

The three branches of the U.S. federal government are centered in the district: Congress (legislative), the president (executive), and the Supreme Court (judicial). Washington is home to many national monuments and museums, primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 177 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profits, lobbying groups, and professional associations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, AARP, the National Geographic Society, the American Red Cross, and others.

A locally elected mayor and a 13-member council have governed the district since 1973. Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. The District of Columbia does not have representation in Congress, although D.C. residents elect a single at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives who has no vote. District voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961." - 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.

Centennial mills populate the cliffs of Castilla La Mancha. Mills that Don Quixote de la Mancha considered giants he had to fight against, despite the warnings of his faithful squire Sancho Panza. Unforgettable moments are the spectacular sunsets and / or sunrises between these mills, with the sun bathing the horizon with warm colors.

Stagno's was for generations a fixture in the neighborhood of Larimer, which for many years was heavily populated by Italian immigrants. The neighborhood changed and is now one of Pittsburgh's most blighted areas. The bakery closed about 10-12 years ago, I think.

I go by here periodically to visit. For me it is sort of like a shrine, although I have no personal history with the bakery while it was open; never once went there or even heard of it. I love the old beat-up storefront and the partially exposed earlier sign. I also experience the place as a memento mori, because an employee was shot and killed leaving his shift, just down the street on the left. Why this murder, of all the murders in the city over the years, sticks in my mind, I cannot say. Perhaps it is the association with the place, which is no doubt doomed to be removed or at least have all traces of its bakery past obliterated. When I come here I always wind up meditating on the passage of time and impermanence and loss and the fragility of memory; I think most Pittsburghers, like me, would have trouble imagining the bustling business that once took place here, when it was probably in 24/7 operation and you could buy Stagnos bread--the best you could buy, some have said--at most grocery stores, and no one imagined it would not just go on like that forever. I can picture similar scenes in the distant future, in which perhaps instead of a bakery, it is a crumbling shell of a Starbucks cafe, or something like that, something that we cannot imagine is anything but permanent and could never be forgotten.

In contrast to the previous three icons from Halychyna, this one was painted in Slobozhanshchyna — a sparsely populated region on the Left Bank (of the Dnipro river) of Ukraine, to which many Ukrainian families relocated at the time, fleeing the endless and devastating wars that had begun with Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648.

This period in Ukrainian historiography is known as the 'Ruin' (Ukr. Ruyina), as after Khmelnytsky’s death, the Cossack elite split into rival factions and soon began fighting one another. The ethnically Ukrainian lands on the Right Bank were ravaged and depopulated, while Ukraine itself was divided among the Ottoman Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Moskovia (under the Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667, and later the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1686).

Nevertheless, on the Left Bank, its own style of icon painting began to develop at monasteries in cities such as Valky, Izium, Okhtyrka, and Kharkiv. This style borrowed traditions from the Baroque style as well as local color. In general, in the art and architecture of the late 16th century on the Left Bank of Ukraine, a distinctive authentic style emerged — the so-called 'Ukrainian Baroque".

Saint Anne — the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the Orthodox tradition is often depicted as a symbol of family holiness, maternal love, and intercession.

The icon is executed in the traditional style of Ukrainian Baroque icon painting. This period is characterized by bright colors, delicate linearity, decorative elements, and attempts to give the figure more volume and expressiveness than in earlier icons.

Usually, such icons were painted on wooden panels using egg tempera and gilding to highlight the holiness of the image.

Icons of Saint Anne were often commissioned for use in the private homes of wealthy Ukrainians; most likely, this was one of them.

The ferns which populate the area so extensively in all their varieties have finally exploded in an outburst of green, signaling the long-delayed start of the spring season. There is nothing quite as fresh and vibrant...and to my way of thinking, nothing which signifies rebirth as much as these plants arising majestically from the bare ground, each frond clean and perfect in its dramatic unfolding.

I thought this might be an interesting title, we'll see where the comments go from here.

In 1688 French Huguenot refugees began populating the valley establishing farms and businesses bringing with them their experience in agriculture. The name of the area soon changed to le Coin Français ("the French Corner"), and later to Franschhoek (Dutch for "French Corner"), with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, Champagne, La Cotte, Cabrière, La Provence, Bourgogne, La Terra de Luc and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original Cape Dutch farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned wineries. Many of the surnames in the area are of French origin, e.g. Du Toit, Marais, Du Plessis, Malan, Malherbe, and Joubert.

This heritage is shown today by the Huguenot Monument which stands at the end of the town. The museum nearby chronicles the history of the first settlers, with each of the original Huguenot farms having its own fascinating story to tell. The Cape Dutch architecture in much of the village is unspoiled, as restrictions have been placed on the extent of renovations and new construction in order to preserve the spirit of the original settlers to the area.

PS: Im back after a few weeks away after a horrid illness. Catching up with a vengeance. Thanks my friends..

"The distant paradisiacal island walks in the magic of the sea, built on the pillars by the deeply abandoned"."

i took this picture years ago ,long before the corona pandemic.this place was out of this world, really, an island in the pacific, in the still sea.on the border with papua new guinea.... These islands were so sparsely populated that one got a little scared and uneasy.

Almost just the eternal sea,

here and there manta rays, breaking all the chains of this world.

Remote islands scattered in the immense ocean, overgrown and covered with impenetrable jungle and coral reefs that were magically untouched and mystical.

I am deeply happy to have experienced a dream of freedom and happiness, even if only for a short time.

This Shot was super difficult to master, have taken maybe about 200..ultimately I could use one which became my favorite .I also wrote a poem about it which express my feelings ,when I look at it.All the best to you!

"Die ferne paradiesische Insel wandelt im Zauber des Meeres, erbaut auf den Säulen von den tief Verlassenen".

Du heimatloser Wanderer,

wie du entrückt und starr Dich stemmst,

gegen eine Welt deren Dunkel und Rätsel

für immer bleiben Dir fremd.

geplagt von Zweifeln

der sehnsuchtsvolle Blick gerichtet zum Himmel,

der unerreichbar und kalt.,

die finsteren Wolken,

weit an ihm vorüberziehen.

Doch nur die Kraft der Liebe,

die unendlich blühen kann im Herzen,

kann besiegen dien Tod und die Angst,

die seit Anbeginn auf unseren Schultern,

lastet so schwer.

Es ist allein die Seele, die unsterblich,

weder Anfang, noch Ende sie kennt

Längst vergangener kindlicher Zauber ,

durchstreift voller Sanftmut das Herz

Hörst Du nicht die flüsternde Melodie des Meeres

Sie singt von Hoffnung, von Ewigkeit und Heimkehr.

frei ganz dem Adler gleich,

blickst nimmerfort zurück, erhobenen Geists,

siehst nach dem Morgen Stern,

wie er sich funkelnd und tanzend. aus der Dunkelheit befreit,

Die Stunden des Tages nur Täuschung und Trug,

doch Weisheit erblüht in der Tiefe der Nacht,

ein Traum von verwehtem Glück,

in der dämmrigen Seele des Einsamen

leise erwacht.

Sag, fern vom Tal der Menschen, ,

vernimmst Du das unheimliche Schweigen noch immer,

wenn es grauenhaft dämmert in der Ferne?

Schwermut legt sich auf das stumme Land,

nur raten kann man,

welche grausam Schicksal dir gegeben,

leise verstummt des Abgrunds Gesang

es beugt sich der Einsame der Vergänglichkeit,

beständig scheint und unendlich

nur der Weltschmerz, eine glühende Sehnsucht

und das unfassbar Göttliche zu sein

"Gedicht erfasst von mir (Markus Weingärtner")

"The distant paradisiacal island walks in the magic of the sea, built on the pillars by the deeply forsaken".

You homeless wanderer,

how you stand rapt and rigid,

against a world whose darkness and riddles

forever remain strange to you.

plagued by doubts

the longing look directed to the sky,

unreachable and cold..,

The gloomy clouds..,

passing far away from him.

.but only the power of love,

which blossoms infinitely in the heart

can conquer the fear

that weighs so heavily on our shoulders from the beginning

It is the soul alone that is immortal,

Neither beginning nor end it knows

Childlike magic long gone ,

full of gentleness roams the heart

Can't you hear the whispering melody of the sea

It sings of hope, of eternity and homecoming.

free like the eagle,

you never look back, uplifted spirit,

Seeing only the morning star

how it sparkles and dances,

out of the darkness.

The hours of the day only deceit and deception,

but wisdom blossoms in the depth of night,

a dream of blown away happiness,

in the dim soul of the lonely one

quietly awakes

Say, far from the valley of men, ,

do you still hear the eerie silence,

when it horribly dawns in the distance?

Gloom settles on the silent land,

only you can guess,

what cruel fate has given you,

Silent falls the abyss's song.

the lonely one bows to transience,

seems constant and infinite

only the world-weariness, an ardent longing

and the inconceivable divine to be

"Poem written by me (Markus Weingärtner")

All my photographs are © Copyrighted and All Rights Reserved.

Manhattan is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coextensive with New York County, the smallest county by geographical area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan serves as New York City's economic and administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world.

Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonists in 1624 on southern Manhattan Island; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The territory and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York, based in present-day Lower Manhattan, served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of arriving immigrants in the late 19th century and is a world symbol of the United States and its ideals. Manhattan became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898, and houses New York City Hall, the seat of the city's government. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, part of the Stonewall National Monument, is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, cementing Manhattan's central role in LGBT culture. It was also the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, the borough is bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers and includes several small adjacent islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, and Randalls and Wards Islands. It also includes the small neighborhood of Marble Hill now on the U.S. mainland. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan. Manhattan is one of the most densely populated locations in the world, with a 2020 census population of 1,694,250 living in a land area of 22.66 square miles, or 72,918 residents per square mile (28,154 residents/km2), and coextensive with New York County, its residential property has the highest sale price per square foot in the United States. Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.

Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial and fintech center of the world, and Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in Manhattan, as are numerous colleges and universities, such as Columbia University and New York University; the headquarters of the United Nations is also located in the borough. Manhattan hosts three of the world's most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, and Grand Central Terminal. Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. The borough hosts many prominent bridges and tunnels, and skyscrapers including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and One World Trade Center. It is also home to the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks and the National Hockey League's New York Rangers.

Looking in the opposite direction to my previous post, this is what you see when you stand in the middle of the beach and face south south west (ish).

The land in the distance is the Hartland North Devon heritage coast and, on a clear day, with 20/20 vision, you might be able to see Clovelly.

With less than 20/20 vision you may not be able to discern Clovelly, and you might even begin to suspect that the area is populated with ichthyosaurs, or giant brachiopods…

…err, what?

—

Usual caveats etc.

View from Turkey.

As the town of Istanbul is highly populated and today with 20mio population imagine how would be the light pollution. The nearest forest with no human activity is 2 hours drive. So I took this chance to see while it is nearest to the earth.

To be honest it is really hard to spot. Without having support from the written sources almost I see no chance to detect. BTW thanks to NASA sources.

First of all I tried automatically with wide angled lenses. But the Neowise is in fact extremely small and in the fist look almost the same size as the other stars. But after having detected, then I tested tele-objective lense with 700mm to narrow the angle to enlarge. But unfortunately all the well known settings and calculations in the wide angle shooting principles did not work. You can not leave the shutter long time open as the narrower angle reflects the speed in the same range calculation. Then I need to use the highest possible ISO with the widest open aperture.

In the darkness of the night, after the moon set to see the output within thousands of stars, I was shocked to see the difference in between the other stars and Neowise.

It was extremely fascinating and so impressive.

Thanks for visiting, commenting.

Please do not use without my consent.

Aruba, a small island in the Dutch Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, has a dry climate, sunny beaches and gentle waves. Constant winds produce a cool breeze and tilt trees (like the famous divi-divi) to the southwest. The European influence appears in the architecture, characterized by the Dutch gables painted in tropical pastel tones. This is also evident in the coexistence of the local language, Papiamento, with English, Dutch and Spanish. The country does not have fresh water but it has desalinated water of excellent quality and you can safely drink tap water. The small country is a major producer and exporter of aloe vera (aloe vera) and is strong in the financial and fishing sectors, in addition to logistical services in the oil sector. It is a small island with a lot of sun and wind all the time, which favors the country's main economic activity, tourism. Its area is 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) and is densely populated by approximately 110,000 inhabitants (2020 Census) and has a per capita income of just over US$25,000 p.a. The country's capital is Oranjestad.

Aruba, pequena ilha do Caribe holandês ao largo da costa da Venezuela, tem clima seco, praias ensolaradas e ondas suaves. Ventos constantes produzem uma brisa fresca e inclinam as árvores (como a famosa divi-divi) para o sudoeste. A influência europeia aparece na arquitetura, caracterizada pelas empenas holandesas pintadas em tons pastel tropicais. Isso também fica evidente na convivência do idioma local, o papiamento, com o inglês, o holandês e o espanhol. O país não tem água doce mas tem água dessalinizada de ótima qualidade e vc pode tomar agua da torneira com segurança. O pequeno país é um grande produtor e exportador de aloé vera (babosa) e é forte no setor financeiro e de pesca além de serviços logísticos na área petroleira. É uma pequena ilha com muito sol e vento o ano todo o que favorece a principal atividade econômica do país, o turismo. Sua área é de 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) e é densamente povoada por aproximadamente 110.000 habitantes (Censo de 2020) e tem uma renda per capita de pouco mais de US$ 25,000 a.a. A capital do país é Oranjestad.

Aruba, een klein eiland in de Nederlandse Caraïben voor de kust van Venezuela, heeft een droog klimaat, zonnige stranden en zachte golven. Constante winden produceren een koel briesje en kantelen bomen (zoals de beroemde divi-divi) naar het zuidwesten. De Europese invloed komt terug in de architectuur, gekenmerkt door de Hollandse gevels geschilderd in tropische pasteltinten. Dit blijkt ook uit het naast elkaar bestaan van de lokale taal, Papiamento, met Engels, Nederlands en Spaans. Het land heeft geen zoet water maar wel ontzilt water van uitstekende kwaliteit en je kunt er veilig kraanwater drinken. Het kleine land is een belangrijke producent en exporteur van aloë vera (aloë vera) en is sterk in de financiële en visserijsector, naast de logistieke dienstverlening in de oliesector. Het is een klein eiland met de hele tijd veel zon en wind, wat de belangrijkste economische activiteit van het land, het toerisme, bevordert. Het gebied is 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) en is dichtbevolkt met ongeveer 110.000 inwoners (telling van 2020) en heeft een inkomen per hoofd van de bevolking van iets meer dan 25.000 dollar per jaar. De hoofdstad van het land is Oranjestad.

Aruba, una piccola isola dei Caraibi olandesi al largo della costa del Venezuela, ha un clima secco, spiagge assolate e onde dolci. I venti costanti producono una brezza fresca e inclinano gli alberi (come i famosi divi-divi) a sud-ovest. L'influenza europea appare nell'architettura, caratterizzata dai timpani olandesi dipinti in toni pastello tropicali. Ciò è evidente anche nella coesistenza della lingua locale, il papiamento, con l'inglese, l'olandese e lo spagnolo. Il paese non ha acqua dolce ma ha acqua desalinizzata di ottima qualità e si può bere tranquillamente l'acqua del rubinetto. Il piccolo paese è un importante produttore ed esportatore di aloe vera (aloe vera) ed è forte nei settori finanziario e della pesca, oltre ai servizi logistici nel settore petrolifero. È una piccola isola con tanto sole e vento tutto il tempo, il che favorisce la principale attività economica del paese, il turismo. La sua area è di 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) ed è densamente popolata da circa 110.000 abitanti (censimento 2020) e ha un reddito pro capite di poco superiore a US $ 25.000 all'anno. La capitale del paese è Oranjestad.

Aruba, una pequeña isla en el Caribe holandés frente a la costa de Venezuela, tiene un clima seco, playas soleadas y olas suaves. Los vientos constantes producen una brisa fresca e inclinan los árboles (como el famoso divi-divi) hacia el suroeste. La influencia europea aparece en la arquitectura, caracterizada por los frontones holandeses pintados en tonos pastel tropicales. Esto también es evidente en la coexistencia del idioma local, el papiamento, con el inglés, el holandés y el español. El país no tiene agua dulce pero tiene agua desalada de excelente calidad y se puede beber agua del grifo sin peligro. El pequeño país es un importante productor y exportador de aloe vera (sábila) y es fuerte en los sectores financiero y pesquero, además de los servicios logísticos en el sector petrolero. Es una isla pequeña con mucho sol y viento todo el tiempo, lo que favorece la principal actividad económica del país, el turismo. Su área es de 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) y está densamente poblada por aproximadamente 110,000 habitantes (Censo 2020) y tiene un ingreso per cápita de poco más de US$25,000 p.a. La capital del país es Oranjestad.

Aruba, eine kleine Insel in der niederländischen Karibik vor der Küste Venezuelas, hat ein trockenes Klima, sonnige Strände und sanfte Wellen. Konstante Winde erzeugen eine kühle Brise und neigen Bäume (wie das berühmte Divi-Divi) nach Südwesten. Der europäische Einfluss zeigt sich in der Architektur, die durch die in tropischen Pastelltönen gestrichenen holländischen Giebel gekennzeichnet ist. Dies zeigt sich auch in der Koexistenz der lokalen Sprache Papiamento mit Englisch, Niederländisch und Spanisch. Das Land hat kein Süßwasser, aber entsalztes Wasser von ausgezeichneter Qualität und Leitungswasser kann bedenkenlos getrunken werden. Das kleine Land ist ein bedeutender Produzent und Exporteur von Aloe Vera (Aloe Vera) und ist neben logistischen Dienstleistungen im Ölsektor stark im Finanz- und Fischereisektor. Es ist eine kleine Insel mit viel Sonne und Wind, was die wichtigste wirtschaftliche Aktivität des Landes, den Tourismus, begünstigt. Seine Fläche beträgt 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) und ist mit etwa 110.000 Einwohnern (Volkszählung 2020) dicht besiedelt und hat ein Pro-Kopf-Einkommen von knapp über 25.000 US-Dollar pro Jahr. Die Hauptstadt des Landes ist Oranjestad.

Aruba, une petite île des Caraïbes néerlandaises au large des côtes du Venezuela, a un climat sec, des plages ensoleillées et des vagues douces. Des vents constants produisent une brise fraîche et inclinent les arbres (comme le fameux divi-divi) vers le sud-ouest. L'influence européenne apparaît dans l'architecture, caractérisée par les pignons hollandais peints dans des tons pastel tropicaux. Cela est également évident dans la coexistence de la langue locale, le papiamento, avec l'anglais, le néerlandais et l'espagnol. Le pays ne dispose pas d'eau douce mais il dispose d'une eau dessalée d'excellente qualité et vous pouvez boire l'eau du robinet en toute sécurité. Le petit pays est un important producteur et exportateur d'aloe vera (aloe vera) et est fort dans les secteurs financier et de la pêche, en plus des services logistiques dans le secteur pétrolier. C'est une petite île avec beaucoup de soleil et de vent tout le temps, ce qui favorise la principale activité économique du pays, le tourisme. Sa superficie est de 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) et est densément peuplée d'environ 110 000 habitants (recensement de 2020) et a un revenu par habitant d'un peu plus de 25 000 $ US par an. La capitale du pays est Oranjestad.

تتمتع أروبا ، وهي جزيرة صغيرة في منطقة البحر الكاريبي الهولندية قبالة سواحل فنزويلا ، بمناخ جاف وشواطئ مشمسة وأمواج لطيفة. تنتج الرياح المستمرة نسيمًا باردًا وتميل الأشجار (مثل ديفي ديفي الشهير) إلى الجنوب الغربي. يظهر التأثير الأوروبي في العمارة التي تتميز بالجملونات الهولندية المطلية بدرجات ألوان الباستيل الاستوائية. وهذا واضح أيضًا في تعايش اللغة المحلية ، البابيامينتو ، مع الإنجليزية والهولندية والإسبانية. لا يوجد في البلاد مياه عذبة ولكنها تحتوي على مياه محلاة بجودة ممتازة ويمكنك شرب مياه الصنبور بأمان. تعد الدولة الصغيرة منتجًا ومصدرًا رئيسيًا للصبار (الألوة فيرا) وهي قوية في قطاعي المال وصيد الأسماك ، بالإضافة إلى الخدمات اللوجستية في قطاع النفط. إنها جزيرة صغيرة بها الكثير من الشمس والرياح طوال الوقت ، مما يفضل النشاط الاقتصادي الرئيسي للبلاد ، وهو السياحة. تبلغ مساحتها 179 كيلومترًا مربعًا (69.1 ميل 2) وهي مكتظة بالسكان بحوالي 110.000 نسمة (تعداد 2020) ويبلغ دخل الفرد فيها أكثر من 25000 دولار أمريكي بقليل. عاصمة البلاد هي أورانجيستاد.

ベネズエラ沖のオランダのカリブ海にある小さな島、アルバは、乾燥した気候、太陽が降り注ぐビーチ、穏やかな波に恵まれています。絶え間ない風が涼しい風を生み出し、木々を（有名なディビディビのように）南西に傾けます。ヨーロッパの影響は、熱帯のパステル トーンで描かれたオランダの切妻を特徴とする建築に現れます。これは、地元の言語であるパピアメント語と、英語、オランダ語、スペイン語が共存していることにも明らかです。この国には真水はありませんが、優れた品質の淡水化された水があり、水道水を安全に飲むことができます。この小さな国は、アロエベラ (アロエベラ) の主要な生産国および輸出国であり、石油部門の物流サービスに加えて、金融および漁業部門に強みを持っています。それは国の主要な経済活動である観光に有利な、常に太陽と風がたくさんある小さな島です。その面積は 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) で、約 110,000 人の住民 (2020 年の国勢調査) が密集しており、1 人あたりの収入は年間 25,000 米ドル強です。国の首都はオラニエスタッドです。kkkk um

Sydney the highest populated city in Australia.

It is named after Lord Sydney, who was British home secretary when Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived in January 1788. In a letter, Phillip described the colony in Sydney Cove as having “the finest harbour in the world” in which “a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security”.

Aboriginal people have a much longer connection with the harbour, dating back at least 50,000 years before Phillip chose Sydney Cove as the site of Australia’s first penal colony. At the time more than 1,500 Aborigines were living on the foreshore.

The colony’s early years were harsh. After four governors and a military revolt, known as the Rum Rebellion, Governor Lachlan Macquarie was put in charge. He restored order and charted a new course for NSW, Australia’s first state, as a free society.

Macquarie was a great builder and visionary. Rivers and lakes, a bank, a university, even a dictionary, are named after him. By the 1830s, Sydney was a busy commercial seaport exporting wool to Europe.

Transportation of convicts from Britain ended in 1840. Gold fever struck in the 1850s; Edward Hammond Hargraves is credited with finding the first payable goldfields near Bathurst, in Country NSW, in February 1851. By the 1870s, Australia’s population had trebled.

Immigration has transformed Sydney into one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities. More than 180 nationalities call it home.

Information Source:

int.sydney.com/things-to-do/arts-and-culture/history-of-s...

A slice of the Big Apple.

This would be a fun puzzle.

NYC

Star trails in the Pilliga, north-western New South Wales, Australia. Sixty-eight fifteen sec exposures merged in Photoshop. I have not tried to edit out the plane or comet trails. The lighter areas are where there are high densities of stars in the Milky Way and where the Magellanic clouds are located.

The Pilliga is the largest inland forest in Australia. It is quite sparsely populated so star viewing is wonderful. Nearby is the world renowned Siding Spring astronomical observatory.

Taken at Pilliga Pottery, a working farm with a pottery studio and accommodation for tourists.

Thanks for visiting. I am very grateful for the kind comments and faves.

f/3.5 15 secs ISO 800 15 mm Pentax DFA 15-30mm Pentax K-! MkII

Built in 1900 according to Realtor.

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˌsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is the only city in, and county seat of, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 14,144 at the 2010 census, it is the second-most populated city in the Upper Peninsula after Marquette. It is the central city of the Sault Ste. Marie, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Chippewa County and had a population of 38,520 at the 2010 census.

Sault Ste. Marie was settled as early as 1668, which makes it Michigan's oldest city and among the oldest cities in the United States. Located at the northeastern edge of the Upper Peninsula, it is separated by the St. Marys River from the much-larger city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The two are connected by the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, which represents the northern terminus of Interstate 75. This portion of the river also contains the Soo Locks, as well as a swinging railroad bridge. The city is also home to Lake Superior State University.

For centuries Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native Americans had lived in the area, which they referred to as Baawitigong ("at the cascading rapids"), after the rapids of St. Marys River. French colonists renamed the region Saulteaux ("rapids" in French).

In 1668, French missionaries Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette founded a Jesuit mission at this site. Sault Ste. Marie developed as the fourth-oldest European city in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains, and the oldest permanent settlement in contemporary Michigan state. On June 4, 1671, Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson, a colonial agent, was dispatched from Quebec to the distant tribes, proposing a congress of Indian nations at the Falls of St. Mary between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. Trader Nicolas Perrot helped attract the principal chiefs, and representatives of 14 Indigenous nations were invited for the elaborate ceremony. The French officials proclaimed France's appropriation of the immense territory surrounding Lake Superior in the name of King Louis XIV.

In the 18th century, the settlement became an important center of the fur trade, when it was a post for the British-owned North West Company, based in Montreal. The fur trader John Johnston, a Scots-Irish immigrant from Belfast, was considered the first European settler in 1790. He married a high-ranking Ojibwe woman named Ozhaguscodaywayquay, the daughter of a prominent chief, Waubojeeg. She also became known as Susan Johnston. Their marriage was one of many alliances in the northern areas between high-ranking European traders and Ojibwe. The family was prominent among Native Americans, First Nations, and Europeans from both Canada and the United States. They had eight children who learned fluent Ojibwe, English and French. The Johnstons entertained a variety of trappers, explorers, traders, and government officials, especially during the years before the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.

For more than 140 years, the settlement was a single community under French colonial, and later, British colonial rule. After the War of 1812, a US–UK Joint Boundary Commission finally fixed the border in 1817 between the Michigan Territory of the US and the British Province of Upper Canada to follow the river in this area. Whereas traders had formerly moved freely through the whole area, the United States forbade Canadian traders from operating in the United States, which reduced their trade and disrupted the area's economy. The American and Canadian communities of Sault Ste. Marie were each incorporated as independent municipalities toward the end of the 19th century.

As a result of the fur trade, the settlement attracted Ojibwe and Ottawa, Métis, and ethnic Europeans of various nationalities. It was a two-tiered society, with fur traders (who had capital) and their families and upper-class Ojibwe in the upper echelon. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, however, the community's society changed markedly.

The U.S. built Fort Brady near the settlement, introducing new troops and settlers, mostly Anglo-American. The UK and the US settled on a new northern boundary in 1817, dividing the US and Canada along St. Mary's River. The US prohibited British fur traders from operating in the United States. After completion of the Erie Canal in New York State in 1825 (expanded in 1832), the number of settlers migrating to Ohio and Michigan increased dramatically from New York and New England, bringing with them the Yankee culture of the Northern Tier. Their numbers overwhelmed the cosmopolitan culture of the earlier settlers. They practiced more discrimination against Native Americans and Métis.

The falls proved a choke point for shipping between the Great Lakes. Early ships traveling to and from Lake Superior were portaged around the rapids in a lengthy process (much like moving a house) that could take weeks. Later, only the cargoes were unloaded, hauled around the rapids, and then loaded onto other ships waiting below the rapids. The first American lock, the State Lock, was built in 1855; it was instrumental in improving shipping. The lock has been expanded and improved over the years.

In 1900, Northwestern Leather Company opened a tannery in Sault Ste. Marie. The tannery was founded to process leather for the upper parts of shoes, which was finer than that for soles. After the factory closed in 1958, the property was sold to Filborn Limestone, a subsidiary of Algoma Steel Corporation.

In March 1938 during the Great Depression, Sophia Nolte Pullar bequeathed $70,000 for construction of the Pullar Community Building, which opened in 1939. This building held an indoor ice rink composed of artificial ice, then a revolutionary concept. The ice rink is still owned by the city." - info from Wikipedia.

Now on Instagram.

Manhattan is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by geographical area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan serves as New York City's economic and administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world.

Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonists in 1624 on southern Manhattan Island; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The territory and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York, based in present-day Lower Manhattan, served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of arriving immigrants in the late 19th century and is a world symbol of the United States and its ideals. Manhattan became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898, and houses New York City Hall, the seat of the city's government. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, part of the Stonewall National Monument, is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, cementing Manhattan's central role in LGBT culture. It was also the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, the borough is bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers and includes several small adjacent islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, and Randalls and Wards Islands. It also includes the small neighborhood of Marble Hill now on the U.S. mainland. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan. Manhattan is one of the most densely populated locations in the world, with a 2020 census population of 1,694,250 living in a land area of 22.66 square miles or 72,918 residents per square mile, and coextensive with New York County, its residential property has the highest sale price per square foot in the United States.

Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in Manhattan, as are numerous colleges and universities, such as Columbia University and New York University. The headquarters of the United Nations is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan. Manhattan hosts three of the world's top 10 most-visited tourist attractions: Times Square, Central Park, and Grand Central Terminal. Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in the world.The borough hosts many prominent bridges and tunnels, and skyscrapers including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and One World Trade Center. It is also home to the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks and the National Hockey League's New York Rangers.

Click here for large version

Namibia is not only the least densily populated country of the world, it is also one of the driest. The clear desert air is perfect for shooting stars and star trails, so that's one of the things we always try on each year's Namibia workshop.

I had planned the trip to coincide with new moon, so that we would have pitch dark nights with lots of stars. By the end of the tour we had managed to try it at three different locations. And even if you don't like star trails (you know who your are, it's still a lot of fun to try - being out there in the darkness, fiddling around with your buttons and settings, and not to forget the excitement a few hours later, or sometimes even the next morning: did it all work? Or: ehm, where was it that I put my camera last night? :-)

Last year the only star trail that had ever been shot there before, was done by Art Wolfe (as far as my research could tell me), and I was then the only person who wanted to double that and dared to leave his whole setup in Deadvlei during the night, 60km away from camp. 😄 This time there were more dare devils in our group.

When we returned the next morning, everything worked out, and we spent our time in the bus stack the whole lot in PS to see the results. If you're interested, please have a look on my blog to see the images from the rest of our group.

For this shot of a dead camelthorn tree I made a 58 second exposure for the master image, during which I painted the tree and the foreground with a small torch and a warm-up gel. There was still some afterglow on the dunes in the background. During the night the camera took little over 80 shots, each four minutes long.

I would have liked the center of the star trails to be more to the left, but to get this view of the tree, with all the branches perfectly separated, this was the only position that worked - and believe me, I tried. :-)

As I was shooting with a D3X, I converted the star shots to jpeg after raw conversion before stacking them in PS, to keep the file size manageable.

Your comments are appreciated as always.

[Nikon D3X, AF-S 14-24/2.8 @ 14mm, 58s @ f/5.6, 80x4min @ f/5.6, ISO 100, tripod, programmable cable release]

Check out my website if you would like to join me on one of our photo tours and workshops

>>cont.d from previous>>

Wyoming is a vast area in wilderness and least populated of all the 50 states. You can find no gas stations, no restaurants and no people for hundreds of miles.

60 miles left in the tank, Devils tower is another 15 from here. Take a chance (lets see if we can make it and then return the same way next morning to nearest gas station in Sundance 25 miles in the opposite direction)....but wait somebody is coming this way.

Highway 14, on the way to Devils Tower, Wyoming. July 5, 2008. View Map.

Vilhelm Hammershoi ranks among the pre-eminent Scandinavian artists from the turn of the twentieth century. At once traditional and avant-garde - maintaining a self-conscious dialogue with the artistic traditions of his homeland while being thoroughly conversant with contemporary European trends

- Hammershoi helped redefine modernism, both in terms of its aesthetic quality and geographic range.

He was first and foremost a painter of interiors - of hushed, near-deserted spaces populated by a solitary, seemingly spellbound figure. Contemplative and hauntingly still, these scenes comprise the majority of his oeuvre and are the works for which the artist is best known.

Landscapes, however, also played a central role in Hammershoi's art. This sheet is a magnificent example of the artist's unique approach to the genre, where strangeness and silence prevail, and space and line defy all expectations. The work is a precise preparatory study for the central

portion of a large-scale painting. . . .Hammershoi worked meticulously on

each individual tree, deftly defining the structure of the trunk and crown, establishing its precise position in relation to the road and imbuing it with a particular personality.

While "Group of Trees" depicts a deserted-looking thoroughfare flanked by trees, the Royal Road was in actual fact one of Copenhagen's busiest arterial roads. Unlike his Nordic contemporaries Hammershoi eschewed Romantic notions of pure nature untouched by civilization and instead transformed populated areas into desolate, barren landscapes seemingly abandoned by humanity. A sense of alienation and disquiet pervades his work.

Despite the low horizon and resulting high sky in this drawing, there seems to be a total absence of air or atmosphere - an emptiness all around. The grouping of trees, suspended in time, is a microcosm of the world, their seriality suggesting infinite expansion. And yet there is a claustrophobic quality to the scene.

Equally unconventional in "Group of Trees" is the distance between the scene and the beholder: no one has ever perceived and painted a Danish landscape that way before. The road is no longer as it traditionally was: a route into the internal space of the picture, a powerful source of connection. Here it runs parallel to the sheet - there is no way in. For Hammershoi, the work of art no longer served to mediate between humans and nature, but rather emphasized the distance between them.

-- notes from the catalogue "Gathered Leaves" --

Like many other decently populated areas in North America, the homeless situation in Moncton has grown increasingly worse in the past several years. Back in the summer of 2022, there were more trains in Atlantic Canada which necessitated schedule changes. One major change was L507 being set back several hours for the crew's departure out of Dartmouth. Having worked 123 earlier on this day, I was laying over in Moncton and went for a walk with the camera conveniently timed for this westbound. L50711 14 rolls through Moncton on September 14, 2022, only a few miles from the final destination of Gordon Yard, with no homeless in danger's way of the manifest.

Waterfowl populate this scene on a quiet Memorial Day morning as my wingman Gus snapped a few shots out his window of CHS 200 as we motored across the High Bridge.

Manhattan is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coextensive with New York County of the U.S. state of New York, the smallest county by land area in the contiguous United States. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the State of New York, Manhattan constitutes the geographical and demographic center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. Manhattan serves as New York City's economic and administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world.

The area of present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post founded by Dutch colonists in 1624 on lower Manhattan Island; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The territory and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York, based in present-day Manhattan, served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of arriving immigrants in the late 19th century and is a world symbol of the United States and its ideals. Manhattan became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898, and houses New York City Hall, the seat of the city's government. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, part of the Stonewall National Monument, is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, cementing Manhattan's central role in LGBT culture. It was also the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, the borough is mostly bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers and includes several small adjacent islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, and Randalls and Wards Islands. It also includes the small neighborhood of Marble Hill now on the U.S. mainland. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan. Manhattan is one of the most densely populated locations in the world, with a 2020 census population of 1,694,250 living in a land area of 22.83 square miles, or 72,918 residents per square mile, and its residential property has the highest sale price per square foot in the United States. Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.

Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial and fintech center of the world, and Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in Manhattan, as are numerous colleges and universities, such as Columbia University and New York University; the headquarters of the United Nations is also located in the borough. Manhattan hosts three of the world's most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, and Grand Central Terminal. Penn Station is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. The borough hosts many prominent bridges and tunnels, and skyscrapers including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and One World Trade Center. It is also home to the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers.

Shot for the Dogwood Week 11 Technical Split Tone.

That zig zag line is the actual San Andreas Fault running north & south through California. This happens to be out in the middle of no where, but the fault line runs through some of the most populated areas in the state.

Gyeltang county is a densely populated area,bounded on the west, south, and east by the bending course of the Dri chu འབྲི་ཆུ་ (Yangtze), and comprising the wide fertiel plain of the Gyeltang chu, Both the county and prefectural capitals are located at Gyeltang, Area: 11.869 sq km . www.footprinttravelguides.com/c/2848/tibet/&Action=pr...

► █░▓ ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ Desert summer beach in the densest populated country in Europe. On my walk along the left shore of the Boven Merwede river over Natuurgebied Sleeuwijkerwaard (the nature resort).

Lumix G90 / Lumix 12-35 mm f2.8. —At 13mm (26mm full frame equivalent) and f4,5 aperture priority. Shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. This is a sooc jpeg edited in Apple Photos 10.0, uncropped 4×3 format and exported as 16-bit tiff.

~SHORTCUTS~ ...→Press [F11] and [L] key to engage Full Screen (Light box) mode with black background ↔ Press the same key or [Esc] to return... →Press [F] to "Like" (Fave)... →Press [C] to comment.

File name: P1033423.tiff

photo rights reserved by B℮n

Naples is the third-largest city of Italy after Rome and Milan and one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. First settled by Greeks in the second millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the 6th century BC, it was refounded as Neápolis. Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Pizza was invented here but the restaurants in Naples have earned the most stars from the Michelin Guide of any Italian city. People awarded the honorary citizenship of Naples are: Sophia Loren & Diego Maradona. When Maradona arrived in Naples, they won the Italian and European titles for the first time. Maradona’s photo was hung next to Jesus in half of the homes of Naples. Naples is a real raw working city, a place with fascinating art and viewpoints, spontaneous conversations and unexpected, pleasant attitude. Naples has an enormous wealth of cultural treasures. You will find two royal palaces, three castles and ancient ruins with some of the oldest frescoes of Christianity. The Duomo di Napoli is very impressive located in the middle of the historic centre. The Cathedral is the heart of Napoli. This cathedral, Gothic in design and completed in the 14th century and since then restored several times over, is the home to the crypt and the chapel. Also it is where the Festival of San Gennaro, the infamous blood liquefaction ceremony takes place three times a year. It always works, otherwise Naples with face some bad doings.

Naples as many other old Italian cities are famous for their narrow streets and steep hills. Many of these cities, built centuries ago, were never constructed for the cars we build today. You must look around for a doorway or side street when you hear a car coming you way, so that the car may pass. The 'heart' of the Naples is also the Ultras territory aka the Mastiffs. You will find graffiti and slogans of the Mastiffs all over the streets and here on the Piazzetta Sedil Capuano. If you don't know the term 'ultras', they are actually football vandals. They will almost certainly not cause you any problems if you are not in Naples for football.

Napels is na Rome en Milaan de derde stad van Italië en een van de dichtstbevolkte steden van Europa. Napels, voor het eerst bewoond door Grieken in het tweede millennium voor Christus. Het historische stadscentrum van Napels is het grootste van Europa en staat op de Werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO. De pizza is uitgevonden in Napels, maar de restaurants in Napels hebben de meeste sterren verdiend in de Michelin-gids van elke Italiaanse stad. Mensen die het ereburgerschap van Napels hebben toegekend zijn: Sophia Loren & Diego Maradona. Toen Maradona in Napels aankwam, wonnen ze voor het eerst de Italiaanse en Europese titels. De foto van Maradona hing naast Jezus in de helft van de huizen in Napels. Het hart van de Napels is ook het Ultras grondgebied aka de Mastiffs. Je vindt er graffiti en slogans van de Mastiffs overal in de straten en ook hierboven op de Piazzetta Sedil Capuano. Als je de term 'ultras' niet kent, zijn het eigenlijk voetbalvandalen. Ze zullen je vrijwel zeker geen problemen bezorgen als u niet in Napels bent voor voetbal. Napels is een echte rauwe werkstad, een plek met fascinerende kunst en uitzichtpunten, spontane gesprekken en onverwachte, prettige instelling. De Duomo di Napoli is zeer indrukwekkend gelegen in het midden van het historische centrum. De kathedraal is het hart van Napels. Napels zoals vele andere oude Italiaanse steden staan ​​bekend om hun smalle straatjes en steile heuvels. Veel van deze steden, eeuwen geleden gebouwd, zijn nooit gebouwd voor de auto's die we vandaag bouwen. Je moet rondkijken naar een deuropening of zijstraat wanneer je een auto je kant op hoort komen, zodat de auto kan passeren.

After a couple days of minimal company traveling through less populated areas, I had almost forgotten how miserable it was to be in a crowd.

“I’ll see you both in one hour.”

<Previous Next>

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First of all, credit for the shopping cart design goes to the brilliant Michael Jasper (mijasper). There really isn't any better option for shopping carts since his is so perfect :P

Second of all, happy Thanksgiving to you guys! Hope you all have a nice day :)

The final images for my upcoming Liken' Lichen book. Wasatch Mountains, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah.

Stuck back in a grove surrounded by overgrown grass populating a once trimmed cow pasture, a wonderfully built barn and small covered silo long discarded by a small dairy farmer sits with no prospects for the future. With the benefit of hindsight, those of us who see a set-up like this realize the farmer was in a losing battle from the beginning.

Small farming operations once supported rural families from one end of our country to the other but as times changed the need to become larger in scale dictated the success or failure of countless family farms. Once proud, strong barns across our rural areas were discarded as they no longer could meet the new and diverse needs of farmers. Many of these barns quietly outlasted the very farmers who turned away from using them.

There are a lot of similarities to once useful barns with us older folks who have lived through many transitions from our youth. Some older ones can look back and clearly see the time when they had to choose to change or they would face a dim future.

But no matter what we chose years ago, the world around us moves on relentlessly and today older folks often fight the sense of being discarded even though inwardly they feel they still have a lot to offer.

Castle abandoned and populated by plants

Amazing optical sculptured marble fountain laying down the floor basement of an entire square of the Danish village Slagelse, which, for Denmark, is considered a town. It's a province capital Municipality of Zealand, it has about 34K inhabitants, but it actually is more similar to a village if compared with the more populated towns of Mittel & Southern Europe.

©WhiteAngel Photography. All rights reserved.

EXPLORE 27.12.2023: selected and manually explored from the Flickr Social TakeOver, entry www.flickr.com/groups/2684497@N24/discuss/721577219198679... on the theme #Patterns. # 362 ==> 355

The area surrounding Èze was first populated around 2000 BC as a commune situated near Mount Bastide. The earliest occurrence of the name "Èze" can be found in the maritime books of Antonin as a bay called the St. Laurent of Èze. A hoard of ancient Greek silver phialae dating from the 3rd century BC was found in Èze in the late nineteenth century and is now part of the British Museum's collection.The area was subsequently occupied by not only the Romans but also the Moors, who held the area for approximately 80 years until they were driven out by William of Provence in 973.

By 1388 Èze fell under the jurisdiction of the House of Savoy, who built up the town as a fortified stronghold because of its proximity to Nice. The history of Èze became turbulent several times in the next few centuries as French and Turkish troops seized the village under orders from Hayreddin Barbarossa in 1543, and Louis XIV destroyed the walls surrounding the city in 1706 in the war of the Spanish succession. Finally in April 1860, Èze was designated as part of France by unanimous decision by the people of Èze.

Èze has been described as an “eagle's nest” because of its location overlooking a high cliff 427 metres (1,401 ft) above sea level on the French Mediterranean. It is so high that the light ochre church within (Notre Dame de l’Assomption built in 1764) can be seen from afar. An Egyptian cross inside the church suggests the village's ancient roots, when the Phoenicians erected a temple there to honour the goddess Isis.

Traditionally, the territory of the Principality of Monaco was considered to begin in the Èze village (outskirts of Nice), running along the Mediterranean coast to Menton, on the present Italian border.

El Salvador (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally meaning "Republic of the Savior"; original name in Nahuatl was Cōzcatlān) is the smallest and also the most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as do Honduras and Nicaragua further south.

It has a population of approximately 7.2 million people as of 2009. The capital city of San Salvador is, by some distance, the largest city of the republic. In 2001 El Salvador dropped its own currency, the colón, and adopted the U.S. dollar instead.

History

Before Spanish conquest

Before the Spanish conquest, the area that now is El Salvador was composed of three great indigenous states and several principalities. The indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils, a tribe of the nomadic people of Nahua settled down for a long time in central Mexico. The region of the east was populated and governed by the Lencas. The North zone of the Lempa Hi River was populated and governed by the Chortis, a Mayan people.

Early in their history, the Pipil became one of the few Mesoamerican indigenous groups to abolish human sacrifice. Otherwise, their culture was similar to that of their Aztec and Maya neighbors. Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near Chalchuapa), San Andrés, and Joya de Cerén (north of Colón).

Spanish conquest

The first Spanish attempt to subjugate this area failed in 1524, when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors. In 1525, he returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which retained its authority until 1821, despite an abortive revolution in 1811. It was Alvarado who named the district for El Salvador ("The Savior.")

Independece

The first "shout of independence" in El Salvador came in 1811, at the hands of criollo elite. Many intellectuals and merchants had grown tired of the overpowering control that Spain still had in the American colonies, and were interested in expanding their export markets to Britain and the United States. The Indigenous uprisings aimed at Spanish subjugation plagued the territory at this time, and they were re-interpreted by the Republicans to serve their purpose and show popular support for independence. Thus a movement grew amongst the middle class criollo and mestizo classes. Ultimately, the 1811 declaration of independence failed when the vice royalty of Guatemala sent troops to San Salvador in order to crush the movement. However, the momentum was not lost and many of the people involved in the 1811 movement became involved in the 1821 movement.

In 1821, El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared their independence from Spain. When these provinces were joined with Mexico in early 1822, El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. Guatemalan troops sent to enforce the union were driven out of El Salvador in June 1822. El Salvador, fearing incorporation into Mexico, petitioned the United States Government for statehood. But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide, and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American provinces to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel José Arce.

In 1832, Anastasio Aquino led an indigenous revolt against creoles and mestizos in Santiago Nonualco, a small town in the province of San Vicente. The source of the discontent of the indigenous people was lack of land to cultivate. The problem of land distribution has been the source of many political conflicts in Salvadoran history.

The Central American federation was dissolved in 1838 and El Salvador became an independent republic.

Geography

El Salvador is located in Central America. It has a total area of 8,123 square miles (21,040 km²) (about the size of New Jersey). It is the smallest country in continental America and is affectionately called the "Tom Thumb of the Americas" ("Pulgarcito de America"). It has 123.6 square miles (320 km²) of water within its borders.

Several small rivers flow through El Salvador into the Pacific Ocean, including the Goascorán, Jiboa, Torola, Paz and the Río Grande de San Miguel. Only the largest river, the Lempa River, flowing from Guatemala and Honduras across El Salvador to the ocean, is navigatable for commercial traffic.

Volcanic craters enclose lakes, the most important of which are Lake Ilopango (70 km²/27 sq mi) and Lake Coatepeque (26 km²/10 sq mi). Lake Güija is El Salvador's largest natural lake (44 km²/17 sq mi). Several artificial lakes were created by the damming of the Lempa, the largest of which is Embalse Cerrón Grande (135 km²).

El Salvador shares borders with Guatemala and Honduras. It is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline. The highest point in the country is Cerro El Pital at 8,957 feet (2,730 m), which shares a border with Honduras.

Other info

Oficial Name:

Républica de El Salvador

Independence:

From Spain September 15, 1821

- from the UPCA 1842

Area:

21.041 km2

Inhabitants:

6.810.000

Languages:

Kekchí [kek] 12,286 in El Salvador. Alternate names: Quecchí, Cacché. Classification: Mayan, Quichean-Mamean, Greater Quichean, Kekchi

More information.

Lenca [len] Ethnic population: 36,858 in El Salvador (1987). Town of Chilango. Classification: Unclassified Nearly extinct.

More information.

Pipil [ppl] 20 (1987). Ethnic population: 196,576 (1987). Municipio of Dolores, Ocotepeque Department, near the El Salvador border. Extinct in Honduras. Alternate names: Nahuat, Nawat. Dialects: Not intelligible with Isthmus Nahuatl of Mexico. Classification: Uto-Aztecan, Southern Uto-Aztecan, Aztecan, General Aztec, Pipil Nearly extinct.

More information.

Salvadoran Sign Language [esn] Alternate names: El Salvadoran Sign Language. Classification: Deaf sign language

More information.

Spanish [spa] 5,900,000 in El Salvador (1995). Alternate names: Español, Castellano. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian

More information.

Extinct languages

Cacaopera [ccr] Extinct. Department of Morazán. Dialects: Close to Matagalpa. Classification: Misumalpan

Capital city:

San Salvador

Meaning country name:

Its national name is the Republic of El Salvador. In Spanish, it is "República de El Salvador". The country was named after the Spanish word for "The Savior", in honor of Jesus Christ.

The Pipels, who arrived from central Mexico, most famous one known as "Atlacatl" renamed the area Cuscatlán", because of the lush fertility of the land. Cuscatlán translates as "Land of Precious Jewels" in the native indigenous tongue known as Pipil-Nahuat (Nahuatl in central Mexico).

"The saviour" in Spanish, named after Jesus.

Description Flag:

The flag of El Salvador was adopted on September 27, 1972. It is based on the flag of the United Provinces of Central America and was initially adopted in 1822, abandoned in 1865, reinstated in 1912, and last confirmed in 1972.

The two blue stripes represent the oceans that bathe the Central American coasts: the Pacific and the Atlantic. The white stripe represents peace.

There are two versions of the flag, one containing the National Coat of Arms and the other the words "DIOS UNION LIBERTAD" (Spanish: God, Union, Liberty). The one bearing the Coat of Arms is used by the government or state organizations. The other version is used for civil purposes. Both flags have a 3:5 aspect ratio.

From 1865 to 1912, a different flag was in use, based on the flag of the United States, with a field of alternating blue and white stripes and a red canton containing white stars.

Coat of arms:

The coat of arms of El Salvador has been in use in its current form since 15 September 1912. Its center consists of a triangle, in which five volcanoes rise out of the sea. They symbolize the five member states of the United Provinces of Central America. Above the volcanoes is a red Phrygian cap on a staff before a golden sun and the date 15 September, 1821, Independence Day of El Salvador. Over it is a rainbow. Behind the coat of arms there are five flags representing the flags of the Federal Republic of Central America raised. Under it, there is a scroll which states the national motto of El Salvador: Dios, Unión, Libertad (Span., "God, Union, Liberty"). All of this is surrounded by a laurel garland, which is tied together under the national flag. The garland is divided into 14 different parts, which symbolize the 14 Departaments, the Salvadorian subnational administrative units. All this is surrounded by golden letters, which form the Spanish words REPÚBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMÉRICA CENTRAL (English: Republic of El Salvador in Central America).

Motto:

"God, Union, Liberty"

National Anthem: Himno Nacional de El Salvador

CHORUS

Saludemos la patria orgullosos

de hijos suyos podernos llamar;

y juremos la vida animosos,

sin descanso a su bien consagrar.

FIRST VERSE

De la paz en la dicha suprema,

siempre noble soñó El Salvador;

fue obtenerla su eterno problema,

conservarla es su gloria mayor.

Y con fe inquebrantable el camino

del progreso se afana en seguir,

por llenar su grandioso destino,

conquistarse un feliz porvenir.

Le protege una ferrea barrera

contra el choque de ruin deslealtad,

desde el día que en su alta bandera

con su sangre escribió: ¡LIBERTAD!

CHORUS

SECOND VERSE

Libertad es su dogma, es su guía

que mil veces logró defender;

y otras tantas, de audaz tiranía

rechazar el odioso poder.

Dolorosa y sangrienta es su historia,

pero excelsa y brillante a la vez;

manantial de legitima gloria,

gran lección de espartana altivez.

No desmaya en su innata bravura,

en cada hombre hay un héroe inmortal

que sabrá mantenerse a la altura

de su antiguo valor proverbial.

THIRD VERSE

Todos son abnegados, y fieles

al prestigio del bélico ardor

con que siempre segaron laureles

de la patria salvando el honor.

Respetar los derechos extraños

y apoyarse en la recta razón

es para ella, sin torpes ámanos

su invariable, mas firme ambición.

Y en seguir esta línea se aferra

dedicando su esfuerzo tenaz,

en hacer cruda guerra a la guerra;

su ventura se encuentra en la paz.

CHORUS

English translation

CHORUS

Let us salute the motherland,

Proud to be called her children.

To her well-being let us swear

Boldly and unceasingly to devote our lives.

(repeat)

Devote our lives! (repeat 4 times)

FIRST VERSE

Of peace enjoyed in perfect happiness,

El Salvador has always nobly dreamed.

To achieve this has been her eternal proposition,

To keep it, her greatest glory.

With inviolable faith, she eagerly follows

The way of progress

In order to fulfil her high destiny

And achieve a happy future.

A stern barrier protects her

Against the clash of vile disloyalty,

Ever since the day when her lofty banner,

In letters of blood, wrote "Freedom",

Wrote "Freedom", wrote "Freedom".

CHORUS

SECOND VERSE

Freedom is her dogma and her guide;

A thousand times she has defended it,

And as many times has she repelled

The hateful power of atrocious tyranny.

Her history has been bloody and sad,

Yet at the same time sublime and brilliant,

A source of legitimate glory

And a great lesson in Spartan pride.

Her innate bravery shall not waver:

In every man there is an immortal hero

Who knows how to maintain the level

Of the proverbial valour of old.

CHORUS

THIRD VERSE

All are self-denying and faithful

To the tradition of warlike ardour

With which they have always reaped fame

By saving the motherland's honour.

To respect the rights of others

And base her actions on right and justice

Is for her, without infamous intrigue,

The constant and most firm ambition.

And in following this line she persists,

Dedicating her tenacious efforts

In giving hard battle for battle;

Her happiness is found in peace.

CHORUS

Internet Page: www.elsalvador.com

www.elsalvadorturismo.gob.sv

E.Salvador in diferent languages

eng | ast | cat | cor | cym | dan | dsb | est | eus | fao | fin | fry | hsb | ina | isl | ita | jav | jnf | lin | lld | mlt | nld | nor | que | roh | ron | rup | scn | sme | spa | swa | swe | vor | wln | zza: El Salvador

bre | ces | frp | hrv | hun | slv: Salvador

afr | fra | por | tur: Salvador; El Salvador

deu | ltz | nds: El Salvador / El Salvador

aze | bos: Salvador / Салвадор

ind | msa: El Salvador / السالۏادور

kaa | uzb: Salvador / Сальвадор

kin | run: Ele Salvadore

lav | mlg: Salvadora

pol | szl: Salwador

arg: El Salvador; O Salbador

bam: Ɛlisaliwadɔri

crh: El Salvador / Эль Сальвадор

epo: Salvadoro

fur: Il Salvadôr

gla: El Salbhador

gle: An tSalvadóir / An tSalvadóir

glg: O Salvador

glv: Yn Salvador

hat: Salvadò

ibo: El Salvadọ

kmr: Salvador / Салвадор / سالڤادۆر

kur: Salvador / سالڤادۆر

lat: Salvatoria

lit: Salvadoras

mol: El Salvador / Ел Салвадор

nrm: Saint-Sâoveu

oci: Lo Salvador

rmy: El Salvador / एल साल्वादोर

slk: Salvádor

slo: Elsalvador / Елсалвадор

smg: Salvaduors

sqi: Salvadori

srd: El Salvadòr

tet: Salvadór

tgl: Salbador

tuk: Salwador / Сальвадор

vie: En-san-va-đo

vol: Salvadorän

wol: Salbadoor

alt | che | chm | chv | kbd | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | mon | oss | rus | tyv | udm | ukr: Сальвадор (Sal'vador)

bak | bel | tat: Сальвадор / Salvador

bul | mkd: Ел Салвадор (El Salvador)

abq: Сальвадор (Salvador)

kaz: Сальвадор / Salvador / سالۆادور

srp: Ел Салвадор / El Salvador

tgk: Салвадор / سلودار / Salvador

ara: السلفادور (as-Salfādūr); إلسلفادور (Ilsalfādūr)

fas: السالوادور (Elsālvādor)

prs: السلوادور (Elsalvādōr)

pus: السلوادور (Ilsalwādor); اېلسلوادور (Elsalvādor)

uig: سالۋادور / Salwador / Сальвадор

urd: ال سلواڈور (Al Salvāḋor); ایل سلواڈور (Æl Salvāḋor); ایل سالواڈور (Æl Sālvāḋor)

div: އެލް ސަލްވަޑޯ (El Salvaḋō)

heb: אל-סלודור / אל-סלוודור (El-Salvadôr); אל-סאלוואדור (El-Sâlvâdôr); אל-סלואדור (El-Salvâdôr); אל-סלבדור (El-Salṿadôr); אל-סאלבאדור (El-Sâlṿâdôr)

lad: איל סאלב'אדור / El Salvador

yid: על סאַלװאַדאָר (El Salvador)

amh: ኤል ሳልቫዶር (El Salvador); ሳልቨዶር (Salvädor)

ell-dhi: Ελ Σαλβαδόρ (El Salvadór); Σαλβαντόρ (Salvantór)

ell-kat: Σαλβαδώρ (Salvadṓr); Σαλβαδόρ (Salvadór); Σαλβαντόρ (Salvantór)

hye: Սալվադոր (Salvador); Էլ Սալվադոր (Ēl Salvador)

kat: სალვადორი (Salvadori)

hin: एल-साल्वाडोर (El-Sālvāḍor); एल-साल्वेडोर (El-Sālveḍor); सलवाडोर (Salvāḍor); सैल्वैडोर (Sælvæḍor); अल साल्वाडोर (Al Sālvāḍor)

ben: এল সালভাডোর (El Sālbʰādor); এল সালভাদর (El Sālbʰādôr); সালভেডর (Sālbʰeḍôr)

pan: ਈਲ ਸਾਲਵੇਡੋਰ (Īl Sālveḍor)

kan: ಎಲ್ ಸಾಲ್ವಡಾರ್ (El Sālvaḍār)

mal: എല് സാല്വഡോര് (El Sālvaḍōr)

tam: எல் சல்வடோர் (El Čalvaṭōr); எல் சால்வடார் (El Čālvaṭār)

tel: ఎల్ సాల్వడోర్ (El Sālvaḍār); ఎల్ సాల్వడర్ (El Sālvaḍar)

zho: 薩爾瓦多/萨尔瓦多 (Sà'ěrwǎduō)

jpn: エル・サルヴァドル (Eru Saruvadoru); エルサルバドル (Erusarubadoru)

kor: 엘살바도르 (Elsalbadoreu)

bod: སར་ཝ་དོར་ (Sar.wa.dor.)

mya: အယ္ဆာဗေဒုိ (Ɛsʰabedo)

tha: เอลซัลวาดอร์ (Ēnsânwādɔ̄[r])

khm: អែលសាល់វ៉ាឌ័រ (Ælsalvādŏr); អែលសាវាឌ័រ (Ælsāvādŏr); អែលសាលវ៉ាឌ័រ (Ælsālvādŏr)

Bavona Valley, which branches off from the Maggia Valley, is characterized by its wilderness. To this day it is deprived of electricity (except in San Carlo) and populated only during the summer. The magic of nature combined with the work of mankind has bestowed peace and harmony to this valley, one of Ticino’s most beautiful. Consisting of extremely high cliffs and remains of colossal landslides it is also one of the steepest and rockiest valleys of the entire Alpine region. An enchanting walk that goes through twelve villages, including Foroglio with its spectacular waterfall, allows the visitor to appreciate its charm.

The route is fascinating not only from an environmental point of view but also for the testimonials of human intervention found along the way, that prove how through an adequate interpretation of the territory it is possible to turn even the most hostile of natural elements into an ally. Very interesting are the so-called splüi, buildings under the rock that have made it possible to adapt nature to the needs of humans, creating shelters, housing and stables. Also very surprising is the ingenuity behind the transformation of the upper part of massive boulders into small gardens, protected from the voracious goats that stroll about the valley.

The itinerary that runs through the entire Bavona Valley can start either in Bignasco or in Cavergno. Along the course you will encounter a number of splüi and go through woods of chestnut trees - once considered to be "the tree of life" because of its vital role for the survival of the population. In Foroglio, the best known village of the valley because of the spectacular waterfall, you can spot a few houses with a wide arcade and a number of torbe gathered around a small church. Inside the church, you can admire the interesting altar from the 16th century. Also in town, the excellent Grotto Froda (a tavern) that offers traditional Ticino dishes and is run by Martino Giovanettina, a local intellectual.

Another point of interest is the centre of Sonlerto, where to avoid taking land from the pastures the houses were built between the boulders of a prehistoric landslide. The graceful oratory of Gannariente, with precious frescoes from the 16th century, has been a destination from time immemorial of a historical procession that occurs the first Sunday of May. The excursion ends in San Carlo, the last village of the Bavona Valley and departure point of the cableway that goes up to Robiei (below the Basodino glacier). From there you may choose to return by bus to Bignasco or Cavergno.

Reyðarfjörður is a town in Iceland. It has a population of 1,102 and is one of the most populated villages that constitute the municipality of Fjarðabyggð.The town is at the bottom of the eponymous fjord, the largest on the east coast of Iceland. Like most other towns in the East Fjords, it is surrounded by mountains, of which the highest is about 972 metres (3,189 ft). Although the climate is particularly rainy and foggy, on clear summer days it often has the highest temperatures in Iceland.

From the early 20th century, Reyðarfjörður was a trading port, as well as a fishing port. Due to its strategic location and good harbour conditions, it became the second-largest of the Allied bases in Iceland during World War II. There is a World War II museum located at the old camp above the town.

Text from Wikipedia. In explore-2016-10-28.

A year of iPhone photographs - my favourite images of 2013. Read about October here.

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The Indian roller is very common in the populated plains of India and associated with Hindu legends. It is said to be sacred to Vishnu, and used to be caught and released during festivals such as Dussera or the last day of Durga Puja. A local Hindi name is neelkanth, meaning "blue throat", a name associated with the deity Shiva (who drank poison resulting in the blue throat).

A study on roosting behaviour found that immediately after waking up, the birds spend a few minutes preening followed by flying around their roosting sites. Favoured perches include electric or telegraphic wires. They have also been observed perching in trees and shrubs. Rollers tend mostly at a heights of 3–9 m height from where they forage for ground insects. They may also use taller perches and obtain insects from the upper canopy of trees.

Over 150 globular star clusters populate the Milky Way Galaxy. Many formed early in the evolution of the galaxy and are distributed in a roughly spheroidal halo extending above and below the galactic plane. The four clusters in this composite image were captured with the same telescope and camera under similar conditions and are identically scaled, allowing us to see how they compare as viewed from earth. Each photo spans just under 0.5 degrees on a side, or about the width of the full moon.

Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 8 @ f/7 (1422mm focal length)

Camera: QSI 683wsg

Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1GTO

Integration: ~10 mins per channel (10 x 1 mins subs)

Post Processing: PixInsight 1.8, Adobe Photoshop

Annabell Road

Cypress Illinois

A valley populated by structures

from a different time.

Roads are straight

and to the point.

Golden rod on one side of the road.

Corn growing in wavy rows on the other.

No center line,

No shoulder,

No quick stops either,

Noting happens in a hurry.

Osprey of the Jersey Shore | 2018

Despite New Jersey being the most densely populated state, it holds tremendous diversity in preserved open space, especially our coastal salt marshes. The preservation of these wetland areas has played a huge role in the recovery of the osprey population in New Jersey. Today, they are home to the majority of ospreys (86%) who nest along the Atlantic Coast. Osprey nests define our coast and colonies are located along the entire coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May and west on the Delaware Bayshore up the Maurice River to Salem. This year a total of 668 active nests were recorded in New Jersey, with 75 of those being new nests from various regions of the state. This is well above the historic pre-DDT estimate of 500 nesting pairs and goes to show that ospreys and humans can coexist in New Jersey as long as we continue to protect wetland areas and conserve our natural resources, like forage fish, that ospreys need to thrive. The largest population gains in the state, from 2013 to 2017, were observed in both Monmouth and Ocean Counties, from 130 in 2013 to 207 in 2017.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the Sea Hawk, Fish Eagle or Fish Hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large Raptor, reaching more than 24 inches in length and a 71 inches wingspan. It is brown on the upper parts and predominantly greyish on the head and under parts, with a black eye patch and wings. In 1994, the osprey was declared the provincial bird of Nova Scotia, Canada.

For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey

The 2017 Osprey Project in New Jersey:

www.conservewildlifenj.org/downloads/cwnj_802.pdf

Oia is a coastal town located at the northwest end of Santorini, one of the Greek Aegean Islands. Populated with whitewashed houses carved on top of steep cliffs, it overlooks a vast caldera filled with water. Occupying a 19th-century building, the Naval Museum of the Navy traces local maritime history through old figureheads, sailor's chests and models of old ships. Nearby, the remains of Oia Castle are known for offering sunset views.

You have to sneak in several hours in advance to have the chance to be well placed to shoot.

Oia est une ville côtière située à l'extrémité nord-ouest de Santorin, l'une des îles Égéennes grecques. Peuplée de maisons chaulées sculptées au sommet de falaises abruptes, elle surplombe une vaste caldeira remplie d'eau. Occupant un bâtiment du XIXe siècle, le musée naval de la Marine retrace l'histoire maritime locale à travers d'anciennes figures de proue, des coffres de marin et des maquettes d'anciens navires. À proximité, les vestiges du château d'Oia sont connus pour offrir une vue sur le coucher de soleil.

Il faut se faufiler plusieurs heures à l'avance pour avoir la chance d'être bien placé pour shooter.

© Important notice: do not use my images without my written permission, even for a non commercial use. If you're interested in any of my photos you must contact me first. All my images are under full copyright.

© All rights reserved.

Missing faces, veiled ones, obscure looks: statues and mannequins populate Second Life with their mysterious mood. Sometimes they are creepy, sometimes they are gentle, always they are silent.

They look at us, we look at them, but what they tell eachother is a mystery to us.

Melusina wants to show how a collection of photos made around SL together can form a lifeless population, which makes us wonder about human feelings and thoughts.

Opening party: Wednesday 18 October.

Time: 21.00 Amsterdam time (=12 pm SLT)

Music: by DJ Ferdy

Taxi to Nitroglobus: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/38/25...

An appropriate song (source Melu): La bambola - Patty Pravo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS1Ddp3jaIs

Tu mi fai girar, tu mi fai girar

Come fossi una bambola

Poi mi butti giù, poi mi butti giù

Come fossi una bambola

Non ti accorgi quando piango

Quando sono triste e stanca, tu pensi solo per te

No ragazzo, no, no ragazzo, no

English translation:

You make me twirl

You make me twirl

As if I were a doll

Then, you throw me down

Then, you throw me down

As if I were a doll

You don’t notice when I cry

When I’m sad and tired

You think only about yourself

No, boy, no

No, boy, no

I recently had the occasion to travel to upstate New York with my wife to visit ourt oldest grandson. He is a first-year at RIT in Rochester and I knew I might be able to work in a little RR photography as well, especially with the ALCo populated roster of the LA&L. After getting some lunch with him in between classes on 11/10/25, my wife and I started south to hopefully catch the northbound road train. The early snowfall contrasted against the waining fall colors but I lucked out finding the job switching near the Barilla plant in Avon. After adding to his train, and tieing up the town for a short time he would head north up to the Rochester area at Genesee Jct.

Driftwood and golden sedge and rush marsh grasses populate the tidal marshlands at the mouth of the Gabion river, the site of an important salmon hatchery, Hartley Bay, British Columbia. Salt marshes play a very important role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection by trapping and binding sediments. In 1982 the Gitga't (People of the Cane) band started a successful hatchery on the river to enhance the production of coho salmon fry for First Nation food fishing, recreational fishing opportunities, and indirect commercial fishing opportunities.

27/01/2019 www.allenfotowild.com

Heimaey, the main iceland (and the only populated) in Vestmannaeyjar outside Iceland "mainland". Photo is taken from the slopes of Heimaklettur, if I remember it correctly.

In the foreground is the harbour of Vestmannaeyar.

Heimaey town has a population of about 4200 (you see almost all of it here) - which actually makes in the 6th largerst city of Iceland outside the greater Reykjavik area.

In the background you see the two volcanoes. Eldfell, the one to the left, is the one that erupted in 1973 burying part of the town and threatened to block the the harbour (was stopped by an operation to cool the lava with sea water). There is a nice museum about the eruption in the town.

(explored)