View allAll Photos Tagged Probability
Squeaky Beach in Wilsons Prom National Park in Victoria, Australia - when I went to this beach, I was full of anticipation of hearing a squeaking sound as we walked. Unfortunately nothing happened on that day
and googling gave us the info that on dry days you have more probability of hearing that sound. The day we went was very very wet. Yet the disappointment did not engulf me.
In fact, the white quartz sand, the turquoise blue water meeting further away a contour of wavy hills and the red lichen-splattered huge granite boulders creating an adventurous maze
-- all these made our day. We would love to go back there soon in the future.
Family group, taken earlier this week at Ballinasloe horse fair. In all probability being there was keeping up a family tradition that could well go back several generations. Traditionally Irish traveller families have attended this fair, not only to buy and sell horses, but also, to socialise with fellow travellers from all over the country.
When animals are faced with extraordinary energy-consuming events, like hibernation, finding abundant, energy-rich food resources becomes particularly important. The profitability of food resources can vary spatially, depending on occurrence, quality, and local abundance. Here, we used the brown bear as a model species to quantify selective foraging on berries in different habitats during hyperphagia in autumn prior to hibernation. During the peak berry season in August and September, we sampled berry occurrence, abundance, and sugar content, a proxy for quality, at locations selected by bears for foraging and at random locations in the landscape. The factors determining selection of berries were species specific across the different habitats. Compared to random locations, bears selected locations with a higher probability of occurrence and higher abundance of bilberries and a higher probability of occurrence, but not abundance, of lingonberries. Crowberries were least available and least used. Sugar content affected the selection of lingonberries, but not of bilberries. Abundance of bilberries at random locations decreased and abundance of lingonberries increased during fall, but bears did not adjust their foraging strategy by increasing selection for lingonberries. Forestry practices had a large effect on berry occurrence and abundance, and brown bears responded by foraging most selectively in mature forests and on clear cuts. This study shows that bears are successful in navigating human-shaped forest landscapes by using areas of higher than average berry abundance in a period when abundant food intake is particularly important to increase body mass prior to hibernation.
Holga 120 wide pinhole camera
Kodak Portra 400 @200 ASA
"In conclusion our model shows that a catastrophic collapse in human population, due to resource consumption, is the most likely scenario of the dynamical evolution based on current parameters. Adopting a combined deterministic and stochastic model we conclude from a statistical point of view that the probability that our civilisation survives itself is less than 10% in the most optimistic scenario. Calculations show that, maintaining the actual rate of population growth and resource consumption, in particular forest consumption, we have a few decades left before an irreversible collapse of our civilisation (see Fig. 5)."
12540 Lucknow-Yesvantpur Express skips Baiyyappanahalli with Howrah WAP-4 22291 which is in all probability an offlink, since the closest the train gets to Howrah is Allahabad!
Alien Art
Please zoom in to see details!
Some thoughts...
We have billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy (our galaxy), likely over 100 billions. In our solar system, there are eight planets and five dwarf planets. Each of them is very different. Saturn looks very beautiful with its rings so that we can expect some planets are very beautiful in our universe.
Some of them might harbour aliens. When we look at the elements of the periodic table, there are a limited number of elements. When we look at the number of planets in our universe, it will show almost an unlimited number. It is logical to conclude that the limited number of the elements can easily come together on some of the planets to create chemical reactions. Not all the elements of the periodic table take part to create a life form, participating just a few elements.
There is a very high probability that the needed elements (just a limited number) could come together to build a life form on some of the planets (almost an unlimited number). If the number of the needed elements were very high and the number of planets very low, we would say that it would be not possible these elements come together again to form a life form as they did before to create us.
The first 94 elements of the periodic table are found in the nature. There are 119 elements on the table. The building blocks of life are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulphur. These elements are common in the universe.
Well, there is a very high probability that the aliens exist. Why don’t we see them? One answer would be that we are not enough developed, we can't control our feelings and emotions and kill each other. If they can come to us, it might mean that they are very advanced in compare to us, and they should be smart enough not to land on earth.
If you want, you can look at the beautiful pictures in the group Very Arty. www.flickr.com/groups/14847479@N25/
Found myself yesterday playing that optical illusion game while riding in a pickup truck. The one where you look forward and it feels as if you're going 20 mph, then look directly out the side window and it looks like 200 mph. The landscape hurtles past in a dizzying bur. The effect is enhanced on narrow country roads where you can practically reach out and touch whatever it is your driving past. Moving a mile a minute, you can only take in your surroundings in broad strokes: building, tree, corn, etc. It's not possible to scrutinize and absorb details the way I'm accustomed to. I thought about what it would be like to create a freeze frame, to lockup not just the landscape, but how it looked at the exact moment of my passage, the light, the shadow, the way the wind was blowing the leaves, the shape of clouds...every single detail, not simply preserved, but all that nuance extracted from a fleeting glimpse. I pulled out the smartphone and began snapping photos expecting the same blur that was greeting my own eyes. Instead I captured a series of mostly sharply focused stills with an eerie sort of quality, fueled in part knowing how they were captured. In reality I saw this scene as I passed, but really didn't see it at all. There was a trail-camera feeling not really knowing what would turn up. How cool if I had captured a scarecrow, wild animal, or perhaps a figure lurking between the corn rows. I absolutely love the spontaneity of things like this. I tend to shoot rather deliberately at times, and I found it very exciting to leave the composition up to utter chance. Processing the image as a distressed texture felt to me like taking the idea one step further; I love the concept of lending a painterly quality to the image, as if an old master spent a hours capturing every detail when the underlying image was frozen in a micro second.
T-100 Ogre MBT
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A high tech medium-heavy tank.
A menacing, destructive heavy weapons platform.
It boasts twin AA 25mm autocannons, ATGM, and coaxial/turret-top machineguns. Seen from the front, the chassis looks like an Ogre, giving it the name it has.
The ATGM is able to target low flying air targets along with armour.
There are two variants: G and K. G employs a normal 125mm heavy tank cannon, while K is equipped with a lower range, high calibre 148mm gun. Both are capable of supermassive destruction.
As with most UT tanks, it features a three-tier protection system.
The first tier is the composite armour. It consists of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It severely reduces the blow from kinetic projectiles. They are in the form of blocks on the turret and body or as ERA plates underneath steel outer covering. It results in much better protection than simple steel armour as featured on many other non-UT tanks.
The third tier is a Shtora countermeasures suite. This system includes two IR "dazzlers" on the front of the turret in the shape of blocks, four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and automatically activates the aerosol grenade launchers, effectively jamming the incoming missile. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.
For passive guidance rocket systems, IR dazzlers create a blinding field of infrared light, "blinding" the rocket as it's IR isn't visible anymore.
The Arena active countermeasures suite consist of a computer, incoming projectile warning sensors, and shrapnel launchers all around the tank hull. It detects an incoming projectile, and sends out a stream of shrapnel to meet the incoming projectile. It destroys the projectile while leaving the armour intact.
Powered by a hybrid diesel/electric engine. Fast, has good suspension, and is able to submerge completely into water without leaks. Employs an autoloader.
It has it's own air search radar, allowing it to use autocannons by themselves without external assistance. Range up to 3 kilometer radius.
The tanks are also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection equipment. It includes a mine disabling kit. The EMT-7 electromagnetic-counter mine system is installed: the EMT-7 emits an electromagnetic pulse to disable magnetic mines and disrupt electronics before the tank reaches them. The Nakidka signature reduction suite is also equipped. Nakidka is designed to reduce the probabilities of an object to be detected by Infrared, Thermal, Radar-Thermal, and Radar bands.
A mineplow is attached to the front of the tank, making sure mines aren't a problem.
All tanks are installed with night vision and infrared cameras, with direct feed into screens inside the tank.
The tank fires anti-tank rounds with tungsten cores.
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Cost: 6,000 GC Credits (7,200 GC Credits - Tier 1)
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Inspiration from Endwar. Spetsnaz Brigade T-100 Ogre Main Battle Tank.
A hand painted memorial for people killed in motorcycle accidents. There are stickers on it that say Ride in Paradise. This would imply that there are motorcycles in the afterlife.
I come across death markers occasionally. This one is elaborate, most are simple. Flowers. Pictures. Crosses.
All involve vehicles which isn't surprising as I'm on the street.
It's a shitstorm of carnage on the street. I'm very wary of cars. There is a high probability I will be killed by a vehicle. The same probably applies to you.
IMGP9611
The Black Swan Theory or "Theory of Black Swan Events" was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain: 1) the disproportionate role of high-impact, hard to predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance and technology, 2) the non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to their very nature of small probabilities) and 3) the psychological biases that make people individually and collectively blind to uncertainty and unaware of the massive role of the rare event in historical affairs. Unlike the earlier philosophical "black swan problem", the "Black Swan Theory" (capitalized) refers only to unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence and their dominant role in history. Such events, considered extreme outliers, collectively play vastly larger roles than regular occurrences.
This creation is a tribute to Julian Assange from Wikileaks. Activist, Fighter for the Truth, warrior against the establishment. He is the Black Swan.
Julian Assange has placed a small encrypted file entitled Insurance History on the Swedish Server of Pirate Bay (specialist in the illegal download of music and film music). On Twitter, he recommends that his followers download the file and await his instructions…
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon – and these pictures show a surprisingly complex and violent history.
At half the diameter of Pluto, Charon is the largest satellite relative to its planet in the solar system. Many New Horizons scientists expected Charon to be a monotonous, crater-battered world; instead, they’re finding a landscape covered with mountains, canyons, landslides, surface-color variations and more.
“We thought the probability of seeing such interesting features on this satellite of a world at the far edge of our solar system was low,” said Ross Beyer, an affiliate of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team from the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, “but I couldn't be more delighted with what we see."
High-resolution images of the Pluto-facing hemisphere of Charon, taken by New Horizons as the spacecraft sped through the Pluto system on July 14 and transmitted to Earth on Sept. 21, reveal details of a belt of fractures and canyons just north of the moon’s equator. This great canyon system stretches more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across the entire face of Charon and likely around onto Charon’s far side. Four times as long as the Grand Canyon, and twice as deep in places, these faults and canyons indicate a titanic geological upheaval in Charon’s past.
“It looks like the entire crust of Charon has been split open,” said John Spencer, deputy lead for GGI at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “With respect to its size relative to Charon, this feature is much like the vast Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars.”
The team has also discovered that the plains south of the Charon’s canyon -- informally referred to as Vulcan Planum -- have fewer large craters than the regions to the north, indicating that they are noticeably younger. The smoothness of the plains, as well as their grooves and faint ridges, are clear signs of wide-scale resurfacing.
One possibility for the smooth surface is a kind of cold volcanic activity, called cryovolcanism. “The team is discussing the possibility that an internal water ocean could have frozen long ago, and the resulting volume change could have led to Charon cracking open, allowing water-based lavas to reach the surface at that time,” said Paul Schenk, a New Horizons team member from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
Image Credit: NASA
________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
PMP-PT - Bronnevaya Machina Pehoti - Protevo Tankaya (IFV-AT)
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A light tank with transport ability.
Designed to replace the very old, never used Zverh transport.
It is armed with a 50mm main cannon, twin side mounted 20mm AA/Anti-personnel autocannons, ATGM, and a coaxial MG. Also, it has it's own air search radar, so the tank can venture on it's own and still use it's autocannons accurately up to a 3 kilometer radius.
It's ATGM is effective up to 1 km, and is used on both enemy armoured vehicles and low flying targets such as helicopters.
As with most UT tanks, it features a three-tier protection system.
The first tier is the composite armour. It consists of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It severely reduces the blow from kinetic projectiles. They are in the form of blocks on the turret and body or as ERA plates underneath steel outer covering. It results in much better protection than simple steel armour as featured on many other non-UT tanks.
The third tier is a Shtora countermeasures suite. This system includes two IR "dazzlers" on the front of the turret in the shape of blocks, four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and automatically activates the aerosol grenade launchers, effectively jamming the incoming missile. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.
For passive guidance rocket systems, IR dazzlers create a blinding field of infrared light, "blinding" the rocket as it's IR isn't visible anymore.
The Arena active countermeasures suite consist of a computer, incoming projectile warning sensors, and shrapnel launchers all around the tank hull. It detects an incoming projectile, and sends out a stream of shrapnel to meet the incoming projectile. It destroys the projectile while leaving the armour intact.
Powered by a hybrid diesel/electric engine. Fast, has good suspension, and is able to submerge completely into water without leaks.
The tanks are also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection equipment. It includes a mine disabling kit. The EMT-7 electromagnetic-counter mine system is installed: the EMT-7 emits an electromagnetic pulse to disable magnetic mines and disrupt electronics before the tank reaches them. The Nakidka signature reduction suite is also equipped. Nakidka is designed to reduce the probabilities of an object to be detected by Infrared, Thermal, Radar-Thermal, and Radar bands.
All tanks are installed with night vision and infrared cameras, with direct feed into screens inside the tank.
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Cost: 4,000 GC Credits
As every intelligent person knows, Pop Art accounts for three distinct periods.
1. Starving Time. The interesting and fruitful period when a young but already genial artist makes his or her first paintings - the gratest masterpieces of all time. Everything is good but no money to buy some food.
2. Soup Era. This is when a young but already genial artist sells his first piece of great art, or robs a bank (I'm not sure which event has a greater mathematical probability), or just borrows some bucks from a mediocre and worthless person and buys some cans of soup. Of course, the artist documents such a great and rare event (of having canned soup). Many hungry artists follows the father-founder of Pop Art and document their food, drinks, whatever eatable, and personal effects too.
3. After The Lunch. A sated, full-bellied artist doesn't need soup cans for the time being, so he entertains himself right after the lunch, for instance, the way this photo shows. Finally the artist becomes, out of the blue, famous. He has a lot of social commitments now, so he has no free time to make good art. But he is rich now, and that is the Happy End of the story. I wonder if this photo can repeat the success of the artist? What do you think? Feel free to express your opinion in comments.
"I saw it first!"
Familiar words to pass across a child's lips when the gaze falls to some intriguing artifact discovered during one's meanderings.
Well, on Saturday morning I could say with some confidence I was one of possibly a handful of individuals to first view the sunrise from North American soil. I really want to say that I saw it first. but probability is against me.
However, the fact that I was standing at an elevation of approximately 175 feet at the most easterly point in North America, to say I was the first is not a great stretch.
I can say that on this particular morning this sight was shared with but a handful of individuals and at least two of those were looking for Snowy Owls.
Taken in Leicestershire, I was visiting because a ♂ Common Scoter was seen the day before, I knew it was a longshot has Scoters migrate at night so the probability of it still being there was quite small, but there was a long stay bird that I could spend my time with.
We didn't find the Scoter but the Ring-necked duck was very obliging and the closest that I had seen it.
The light was very variable as you can tell by the differences in the water colour, but a very enjoyable couple of hours.
It's an entrancing morning here in Portland. Pitch black, misty and cold, but crisp and beautiful. It's completely quiet downtown, with only the occasional car going by. I wonder what they're doing up at 4:30am.
As I went out to my car to grab my sweatshirt, I encountered the mist, grinned broadly and went upstairs to grab my tripod and camera. I'd never be able to get this shot during an un-outrageous hour of the morning. Standing on the MAX tracks at any hour with a long exposure just doesn't tend to be a good idea.
The outrageous hour is explained by me having been at work since 9:00am yesterday. With the probability of being here for at least another five hours, taking photos as a break sounded pretty fabulous. I really, really like how this turned out, and it's certainly brightened my morning. :-)
As i mentioned earlier in my previous post, they are parts of the wooden planks pathway where water flows underneath it. At certain sections, the water level rose higher till you can see the water coming through the gaps.
The above shot is part of the route in the Plitvice National Park in Croatia - one of the first registered natural sites of the UNESCO World Heritage. Also famous for its green and turqoise crystal clear waters and its 16 cascading lakes.
Taking pictures, especially long exposure shots, was quite a challenge. First of all, there were a lot of people walking on these pathways. It took quite some time till the pathways were clear from walking tourists. Even after they walked past you, the vibration of the planks created while they were walking away will surely contribute to a shaky image. That means i had to wait a long time till the path was clear and at the same time had ample time to take long exposures without any vibrations interference coming from the people walking behind me. STAY AWAY from big school trip groups. They will purposely stomp while walking on the planks and sometimes deliberately make themselves to be in the frame of the shot. It can be annoying at times. The second problem was, the pathway was quite narrow. Once i set up the tripod, it was quite hard for people to get through and if they do, the probability of them accidentally hitting one of tripod's legs is very likely, which will then result, also, in blurry images. And if they were people coming, long exposure shots will definitely cause some traffic holdup. But they were a couple of tourist who waited patiently while i was taking pictures. My deepest gratitude for your patience and kindness to those who had visited Plitvice Lakes on the 1st of June and had waited for a photographer to take his long exposure shots.
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Shot with Tokina 11-16 mm @11.5 mm
Aperture f/8 | 17 sec. | ISO 200
C5A2 "Chernobyl" Mk2 Heavy Tank
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"The Apocalypse Begins With ME!"
The C5A2 "Chernobyl" is a massive beast. It empolys twin heavy calibre cannons and twin AP/AT missile pods, along with a 20mm autocannon and twin ATGMs.
It is extremely heavy and employs a quad track configuration for rough terrain and absolute awesomeness.
It's known to be almost indestructible by ground forces, earning the nickname "Kaschei Besmertniy", a character from a Russian folk tale.
It employs the same armour as any other UT tank, it just has two times more of it.
The first tier is the composite armour. It consists of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It severely reduces the blow from kinetic projectiles. They are in the form of blocks on the turret and body or as ERA plates underneath steel outer covering. It results in much better protection than simple steel armour as featured on many other non-UT tanks.
The third tier is a Shtora countermeasures suite. This system includes two IR "dazzlers" on the front/top of the turret in the shape of blocks, four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and automatically activates the aerosol grenade launchers, effectively jamming the incoming missile. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.
For passive guidance rocket systems, IR dazzlers create a blinding field of infrared light, "blinding" the rocket as it's IR isn't visible anymore.
The Arena active countermeasures suite consist of a computer, incoming projectile warning sensors, and shrapnel launchers all around the tank hull. It detects an incoming projectile, and sends out a stream of shrapnel to meet the incoming projectile. It destroys the projectile while leaving the armour intact.
Powered by a hybrid diesel/electric engine. Fast, has good suspension, and is able to submerge completely into water without leaks. Employs an autoloader.
It has it's own air search radar, allowing it to use SAMs standalone. 3 kilometer range.
The tanks are also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection equipment. It includes a mine disabling kit. The EMT-7 electromagnetic-counter mine system is installed: the EMT-7 emits an electromagnetic pulse to disable magnetic mines and disrupt electronics before the tank reaches them. The Nakidka signature reduction suite is also equipped. Nakidka is designed to reduce the probabilities of an object to be detected by Infrared, Thermal, Radar-Thermal, and Radar bands.
All tanks are installed with night vision and infrared cameras, with direct feed into screens inside the tank.
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GC Cost: 9600 Credits (Tier 1)
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Inspiration from Command and Conquer 1 Mammoth Mk1 Heavy Tank
BTR-90 Bronnetransportyor "Ubiitsa" (Bronnetransportyor - Armoured Transporter) (Ubiitsa - Assassin)
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A heavy APC, with tank features.
It is armed with a 50mm main cannon, twin side mounted 20mm AA/Anti-personnel autocannons, ATGM, and a coaxial MG. Also, it has it's own air search radar, so the tank can venture on it's own and still use it's autocannons accurately up to a 3 kilometer radius.
It's ATGM is effective up to 1 km, and is used on both enemy armoured vehicles and low flying targets such as helicopters.
As with most UT tanks (and some APCs), it features a three-tier protection system.
The first tier is the composite armour. It consists of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It severely reduces the blow from kinetic projectiles. They are in the form of blocks on the turret and body or as ERA plates underneath steel outer covering. It results in much better protection than simple steel armour as featured on many other non-UT tanks.
The third tier is a Shtora countermeasures suite. This system includes two IR "dazzlers" on the front of the turret in the shape of blocks, four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and automatically activates the aerosol grenade launchers, effectively jamming the incoming missile. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.
For passive guidance rocket systems, IR dazzlers create a blinding field of infrared light, "blinding" the rocket as it's IR isn't visible anymore.
Powered by a hybrid diesel/electric engine. Fast, has good suspension, and is amphibious. Total speed of 60 km/h on land, 10 km/h in water.
The APCs are also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection equipment. It includes a mine disabling kit. The EMT-7 electromagnetic-counter mine system is installed: the EMT-7 emits an electromagnetic pulse to disable magnetic mines and disrupt electronics before the tank reaches them. The Nakidka signature reduction suite is also equipped. Nakidka is designed to reduce the probabilities of an object to be detected by Infrared, Thermal, Radar-Thermal, and Radar bands.
All APCs are installed with night vision and infrared cameras, with direct feed into screens inside the APC.
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Cost: 2,000 GC Credits
La Galassia di Andromeda, una grande galassia a spirale barrata che dista circa 2,54 milioni di anni luce dalla Terra, si trova nella costellazione di Andromeda, da cui prende il nome. È una galassia di grandi dimensioni ed è la più vicina alla nostra, la Via Lattea.
La Galassia di Andromeda, con la sua magnitudine apparente pari a +3,4 e la dimensione apparente pari a 190’ + 60’ è visibile anche a occhio nudo ed è tra gli oggetti più lontani visibili senza l'ausilio di strumenti.
Curiosità: La Galassia di Andromeda è in avvicinamento alla Via Lattea alla velocità di circa 400.000 km/h (100–140 km/s). Le due galassie potrebbero così collidere e in quel caso probabilmente si fonderanno dando origine ad una galassia ellittica di grandi proporzioni. Scontri di questo tipo sono frequenti nei gruppi di galassie.
La velocità tangenziale di M31 rispetto alla Via Lattea non è però ben conosciuta, creando così incertezza sul quando la collisione avverrà e sul come essa procederà. Uno studio del 2025 indica che la probabilità di collisione tra le due galassie nei prossimi 10 miliardi sia solo del 50%.
Dati di scatto:
Questa immagine è il risultato dell’integrazione di 25 frames 60" ripresi la notte del 23 Agosto durante l’osservazione pubblica presso il Santuario dedicato a Sant’Ignazio di Loyola situato nel comune di Pessinetto (TO), a 931 metri sul livello del mare. Da notare che non ho avuto modo di fare i Flat.
Telescopio newton GSO 154/600, Camera di ripresa ASI 294 MC Pro con filtro Optolong L-Pro
Telescopio guida 60/240, Camera ASI 120 mini
Montatura Skywatcher HEQ5 Synscan Pro
Acquisizione Asiair Pro, Elaborazione in RGB con Pixinsight.
The Andromeda Galaxy, a large barred spiral galaxy approximately 2.54 million light-years from Earth, is located in the constellation Andromeda, from which it takes its name. It is a large galaxy and the closest to our own, the Milky Way.
The Andromeda Galaxy, with its apparent magnitude of +3.4 and apparent size of 190' + 60', is visible to the naked eye and is among the most distant objects visible without the aid of instruments.
Interesting fact: The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at a speed of approximately 400,000 km/h (100–140 km/s). The two galaxies could collide, and in that case they will likely merge, giving rise to a large elliptical galaxy. Collisions of this type are frequent in galaxy groups.
However, the tangential velocity of M31 with respect to the Milky Way is not well known, thus creating uncertainty about when the collision will occur and how it will proceed. A 2025 study indicates that the probability of a collision between the two galaxies in the next 10 billion years is only 50%. Shooting data:
This image is the result of integrating 25 60" frames taken on the night of August 23rd during the public observation at the Sanctuary dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, located in the municipality of Pessinetto (TO), 931 meters above sea level. Please note that I did not have the opportunity to take flat-field images.
GSO 154/600 Newtonian telescope, ASI 294 MC Pro camera with Optolong L-Pro filter
60/240 guide scope, ASI 120 mini camera
Skywatcher HEQ5 Synscan Pro mount
Asiair Pro acquisition, RGB processing with Pixinsight.
Greetings mate! I love voyaging forth to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park to contemplate poetry, physics, the golden ratio, and the Tao te Ching! What's your favorite epic poetry reflecting epic landscapes? I recently finished a book titled Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photographers:
www.facebook.com/Epic-Poetry-for-Epic-Landscape-Photograp...
Did you know that John Muir, Thoreau, and Emerson all loved epic poetry and poets including Shakespeare, Milton, Homer, and Robert Burns?
I recently finished my fourth book on Light Time Dimension Theory, much of which was inspired by an autumn trip to Zion!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Via its simple principle of a ofurth expanding dimension, LTD Theory provides a unifying, foundational *physical* model underlying relativity, quantum mechanics, time and all its arrows and asymmetries, and the second law of thermodynamics. The detailed diagrams demonstrate that the great mysteries of quantum mechanical nonlocality, entanglement, and probability naturally arise from the very same principle that fosters relativity alongside light's constant velocity, the equivalence of mass and energy, and time dilation.
Follow me on intsagram!
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
Fresh snow! More on my golden ratio musings: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography facebook.com/goldennumberratio
Best wishes on your epic hero's odyssey!:)
Bryce Canyon National Park Autumn Colors & Winter Snow Fine Art Photography 45EPIC Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape and Nature Photography: Nikon D810
Love shooting with both the sony A7RII and the Nikon D810! :)
Taken in Leicestershire, I was visiting because a ♂ Common Scoter was seen the day before, I knew it was a longshot has Scoters migrate at night so the probability of it still being there was quite small, but there was a long stay bird that I could spend my time with.
We didn't find the Scoter but the Ring-necked duck was very obliging and the closest that I had seen it.
The light was very variable as you can tell by the differences in the water colour, but a very enjoyable couple of hours.
When the R-nD was diving this came into view.
A solitary Southern Rockhopper Penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) comes hopping over a ridge as it makes its way from rookery to the sea. In all probability there was a change of the guard at this penguin's nest and now it is going out to sea to feed. Image taken on Pebble Island in the Falkland Islands.
During the winter season, we enjoy sunny days with a high probability like this picture.
We can find Mt.Fuji clearly even from Tokyo and the view of it makes us relaxed.
But it's cold …
Now, flowers and myself are waiting for warm season…;)
Rolleiflex 2.8F xenotar
Kodak PORTRA
Chiba, Japan
T-120 "Moskva" (Moscow) MBT
-------------------
The T-120 Moskva MBT is a state of the art tank equipped with the latest gadgets the world can provide in 2020.
Armed with a large calibre main gun and guided ATGMs on either side. Employs a SAM if air units are too pesky, and the newest AI controlled 20mm autocannon and machinegun turret mounted on top of the tank.
As with most UT tanks, it features a three-tier protection system.
The first tier is the composite armour. It consists of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It severely reduces the blow from kinetic projectiles. They are in the form of blocks on the turret and body or as ERA plates underneath steel outer covering. It results in much better protection than simple steel armour as featured on many other non-UT tanks.
The third tier is a Shtora countermeasures suite. This system includes two IR "dazzlers" on the front/top of the turret in the shape of blocks, four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and automatically activates the aerosol grenade launchers, effectively jamming the incoming missile. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.
For passive guidance rocket systems, IR dazzlers create a blinding field of infrared light, "blinding" the rocket as it's IR isn't visible anymore.
The Arena active countermeasures suite consist of a computer, incoming projectile warning sensors, and shrapnel launchers all around the tank hull. It detects an incoming projectile, and sends out a stream of shrapnel to meet the incoming projectile. It destroys the projectile while leaving the armour intact.
Powered by a hybrid diesel/electric engine. Fast, has good suspension, and is able to submerge completely into water without leaks. Employs an autoloader.
It has it's own air search radar, allowing it to use SAMs standalone. 3 kilometer range.
The tanks are also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection equipment. It includes a mine disabling kit. The EMT-7 electromagnetic-counter mine system is installed: the EMT-7 emits an electromagnetic pulse to disable magnetic mines and disrupt electronics before the tank reaches them. The Nakidka signature reduction suite is also equipped. Nakidka is designed to reduce the probabilities of an object to be detected by Infrared, Thermal, Radar-Thermal, and Radar bands.
All tanks are installed with night vision and infrared cameras, with direct feed into screens inside the tank.
-------------------
Cost: 6,000 GC Credits (7,200 GC Credits - Tier 1)
The somewhat unprepossessing small town of Coldstream in Scotland lies on the north bank of the River Tweed in Berwickshire, while Northumberland (and England) lies on the south bank. In all probability very few would have heard of this town were it not the home of the Coldstream Guards, which dates back to 1650 when it was founded by General George Monck. It is the oldest regiment in continuous active service in Britain's Regular Army.
For further details see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldstream_Guards
Bryce Canyon National Park Winter Snow-Covered Hoodoos Fine Art Photography 45EPIC Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape and Nature Photography! High Res Bryce Canyon NP Winter Snow Fine Art!
Greetings mate! I love voyaging forth to the likes of Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park to contemplate poetry, physics, the golden ratio, and the Tao te Ching! What's your favorite epic poetry reflecting epic landscapes? I recently finished a book titled Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photographers:
www.facebook.com/Epic-Poetry-for-Epic-Landscape-Photograp...
Did you know that John Muir, Thoreau, and Emerson all loved epic poetry and poets including Shakespeare, Milton, Homer, and Robert Burns?
I recently finished my fourth book on Light Time Dimension Theory, much of which was inspired by an autumn trip to Zion!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Via its simple principle of a fourth expanding dimension, LTD Theory provides a unifying, foundational *physical* model underlying relativity, quantum mechanics, time and all its arrows and asymmetries, and the second law of thermodynamics. The detailed diagrams demonstrate that the great mysteries of quantum mechanical nonlocality, entanglement, and probability naturally arise from the very same principle that fosters relativity alongside light's constant velocity, the equivalence of mass and energy, and time dilation.
Follow me on intsagram!
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
The Nazca Lines, often also spelled Nasca Lines, are over 1500 huge scratches (geoglyphs) in the desert near Nazca and Palpa in Peru, only visible and recognizable from the air. The lines, the desert and the culture are named after the city of Nazca, which is not far from the plain. The Paracas culture and the Nazca culture are considered to be the originators of the lines. The Nazca plain shows dead straight lines, triangles and trapezoidal areas as well as figures with a size of about ten to several hundred meters, z. B. Images of people, monkeys, birds and whales. Often the figure-forming lines are only a few centimeters deep. Due to their enormous size, they can only be seen from a great distance, from the surrounding hills or from airplanes.
A systematic exploration and surveying together with archaeological excavations between 2004 and 2009 in the area and partly in the lines could clarify their origin and their purpose with high probability. BC and AD 600 and caused by periodic climatic fluctuations. Modern archeology assumes that the Nazca Lines were action areas for rituals related to water and fertility.
The pictures were created by removing the upper layer of rock, which is covered by desert varnish (negative relief). This desert varnish consists of a rust-red mixture of iron and manganese oxides. This brings out the lighter sediment mixture and forms beige-yellow lines.
The Nazca Lines became known worldwide through the passionate work of the German mathematician and physicist Maria Reiche. Until the end of her life in 1998 she worked tirelessly for the protection and preservation of these desert figures and tried to interpret them. Many of the figures were destroyed by footprints and car tracks. Through the initiative of the Reiche, the Peruvian government took measures to prevent further destruction. At Maria Reiches instigation, the geoglyphs were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994 as "Lines and floor drawings of Nasca and Pampa de Jumana".
So that was a little bit of prose now - more of it in many books or on the internet ... my experience with the Nazca geoglyphs was a little different ...
... we went to look for these figures in a small plane - it was wonderful weather, but the flight was anything but calm and was more like a rollercoaster ride - and it was good that I hadn't eaten much for breakfast ...
These figures are spread over a huge area and we all had to approach them twice from different directions so that everyone on the plane could see them - not that easy with some. To do this, the plane leaned sharply to one side so that you could also look down. I had the "couch" or a continuous bench at the very back of the plane ... that was ok, but I could just look out with my chin at the lower edge of the window. In addition, the windows were a little scratched and had green sun protection - I already knew that from a helicopter flight in the Grand Canyon - that means, without the appropriate white balance and color corrections, the images were unusable ... that was the photographic challenge. This was made more difficult by slight nausea in me and by the sometimes severe nausea in my fellow travelers ... :-) You can be amused by the photos of the corpse-pale passengers today ... not back then :-)
I have marked some figures in the photos (Astronaut, Lizard, tree and biddy...)
Die Nazca-Linien, oft auch Nasca-Linien geschrieben, sind über 1500 riesige, nur aus der Luft sicht- und erkennbare Scharrbilder (Geoglyphen) in der Wüste bei Nazca und Palpa in Peru. Benannt sind die Linien, die Wüste und die Kultur nach der unweit der Ebene liegenden Stadt Nazca. Als Urheber der Linien gelten die Paracas-Kultur und die Nazca-Kultur. Die Nazca-Ebene zeigt auf einer Fläche von 500 km² schnurgerade, bis zu 20 km lange Linien, Dreiecke und trapezförmige Flächen sowie Figuren mit einer Größe von etwa zehn bis mehreren hundert Metern, z. B. Abbilder von Menschen, Affen, Vögeln und Walen. Oft sind die figurbildenden Linien nur wenige Zentimeter tief. Durch die enorme Größe sind sie nur aus großer Entfernung zu erkennen, von den Hügeln in der Umgebung oder aus Flugzeugen.
Eine systematische Erkundung und Vermessung zusammen mit archäologischen Grabungen zwischen 2004 und 2009 im Umfeld und zum Teil in den Linien konnte ihre Entstehung und ihren Zweck mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit klären: Es handelt sich demnach um Gestaltungen im Rahmen von Fruchtbarkeitsritualen, die zwischen 800 v. Chr. und 600 n. Chr. angelegt und durch periodische Klimaschwankungen veranlasst wurden. Die moderne Archäologie geht davon aus, dass die Nazca-Linien Aktionsflächen für Rituale in Hinblick auf Wasser und Fruchtbarkeit gewesen sind.
Entstanden sind die Bilder durch Entfernung der oberen Gesteinsschicht, die von Wüstenlack überzogen ist (negatives Relief). Dieser Wüstenlack besteht aus einem rostroten Gemisch aus Eisen- und Manganoxiden. Dadurch kommt das hellere Sedimentgemisch zum Vorschein und bildet beigegelbe Linien.
Durch die leidenschaftliche Arbeit der deutschen Mathematikerin und Physikerin Maria Reiche wurden die Nazca-Linien weltweit bekannt. Sie setzte sich bis zu ihrem Lebensende 1998 unermüdlich für den Schutz und Erhalt dieser Wüstenfiguren ein und bemühte sich um deren Interpretation. Viele der Figuren wurden durch Fuß- und Autospuren zerstört. Durch die Initiative Reiches ergriff die peruanische Regierung Maßnahmen, um eine weitere Zerstörung zu verhindern. Auf Maria Reiches Betreiben hin wurden die Geoglyphen 1994 von der UNESCO als „Linien und Bodenzeichnungen von Nasca und Pampa de Jumana“ zum Weltkulturerbe erklärt.
So, das war jetzt ein wenig Prosa - mehr davon in vielen Büchern oder im Internet...meine Erfahrung mit den Nazca Geoglyphen war ein wenig anders...
...mit einem kleinen Flugzeug ging es auf die Suche nach diesen Figuren - es war ein herrliches Wetter, aber der Flug war alles andere als ruhig und glich eher einer Achterbahnfahrt - und gut, dass ich zum Frühstück nicht viel gegessen hatte...
Diese Figuren sind ja über eine riesige Fläche verteilt und wir mussten sie ja alle zweimal aus unterschiedlicher Richtung anfliegen, damit jeder im Flugzeug sie auch sehen konnte - bei manchen gar nicht so leicht. Dazu neigte sich der Flieger stark zur Seite, damit man dann auch nach unten sehen konnte. Ich hatte die "Couch" oder eine durchgängige Bank ganz hinten im Flieger...das war ok, ich konnte aber so gerade mit dem Kinn an der Unterkante des Fensters rausschauen. Dazu waren die Fenster ein wenig verkratzt und hatten einen grünen Sonnenschutz - das kannte ich schon von einem Helikopterflug im Grand Canyon - heißt, ohne entsprechenden Weißabgleich und Farbkorrekturen waren die Bilder unbrauchbar...das war die fotografische Herausforderung. Diese wurde dann noch durch leichte Übelkeit bei mir und durch zum Teil heftigste Übelkeit bei meinen Mitreisenden erschwert...:-) Über die Fotos der leichenblassen Passagiere kann man sich heute amüsieren...damals eher nicht :-)
Ich habe ein paar Figuren (Astronaut, Küken, Baum und Eidechse in den Fotos markiert...)
Monument Valley! The Great American West Desert! Epic Spring Clouds over East & West Mittens Buttes! The Epic Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape and Nature Photography: Utah!
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
facebook.com/mcgucken
Working on a couple photography books! 45EPIC GODDESS PHOTOGRAPHY: A classic guide to exalting the archetypal woman. And 45EPIC Fine Art Landscape Photography!
Fresh snow! More on my golden ratio musings: facebook.com/goldennumberratio
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Greetings all! I have been busy finishing a few books on photography, while traveling all over--to Zion and the Sierras--shooting fall colors. Please see some here: facebook.com/mcgucken
Let me know in the comments if you would like a free review copy of one of my photography books! :)
Titles include:
The Tao of Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art with the Yin-Yang Wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching!
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography
facebook.com/goldennumberratio
And I am also working on a book on photographing the goddesses! :) More goddesses soon!
Best wishes on your epic hero's odyssey!:)
I love voyaging forth into nature to contemplate poetry, physics, the golden ratio, and the Tao te Ching! What's your favorite epic poetry reflecting epic landscapes? I recently finished a book titled Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photographers:
www.facebook.com/Epic-Poetry-for-Epic-Landscape-Photograp...
Did you know that John Muir, Thoreau, and Emerson all loved epic poetry and poets including Shakespeare, Milton, Homer, and Robert Burns?
I recently finished my fourth book on Light Time Dimension Theory, much of which was inspired by an autumn trip to Zion!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Via its simple principle of a fourth expanding dimension, LTD Theory provides a unifying, foundational *physical* model underlying relativity, quantum mechanics, time and all its arrows and asymmetries, and the second law of thermodynamics. The detailed diagrams demonstrate that the great mysteries of quantum mechanical nonlocality, entanglement, and probability naturally arise from the very same principle that fosters relativity alongside light's constant velocity, the equivalence of mass and energy, and time dilation.
Follow me on instagram!
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
This is the way it goes when things are put in the way of moving water. It get splashy, water breaks into smallest droplets and keeps on moving, pressing into smallest spaces while carrying its load of salt and stickiness. Water may simply follows the rules of nature but the onus is on you to learn how it works to foresee what may happen next.
By the law of probabilities, somewhere out there is a rogue
wave coming your way.
Picture - outing in Marbella, Spain.
I've been coveting the duffle coat with the Bay's iconic colours for years. I've never tried it on because its too expensive and there is a good probability that I will look like a large walking Bay blanket :) seen four years ago today on Granville Street.
Less than five kilometers upstream from the important clapper bridge of Fariza (a granite bridge with an array of cups that can help provide a neolithic date) and on the outer flood pane of the same seasonal river known as the "Arroyo del Pisón", can be found a second monolith with a similar array of cups aside a make-do basin.
This up stream station of cups has a set of dramatic steps carved into its gradient and was obviously a loci of some local significance.
Cutting cups into a hard rock like granite is not done for fay whimsey and takes time, reason and determination. The above station is known by the name "Santuario de la Peña del Gato" just outside of Argañín in the Spanish Sayago and the village up river from Fariza.
Taking stock of data from related posts:
1/ A clapper bridge with a station of cups on the upper surface of a massive and uniform granite foundation stone.
2/ 222km to the south, the Los Barruecos site including similar sized cups in excellent condition within a site known to be of neolithic occupation.
3/ A station of similar cups just over 4km upstream of the clapper bridge on the summit of a carved monolith, discovered around 1995 and described as 'prehistoric'. To be clear - on the flood banks of the same river.
4/ An large array of cups in the "santuaro de Valdecadiella" 15-20km away and described as 'prehistoric' (I was unable to find this station).
5/ The cups appear to have been added to the foundation stone of the bridge after the bridge was constructed allowing it to be said that it looks as if the clapper bridge of Fariza in the Sayago region of Spain can be dated into the late ages of prehistory allowing it to be said that the clapper bridge as a form of architectural solution to a landscape problem has megalithic roots and that at least one of the forms of megalithic expression continued from prehistory into the ages of history.
6/ Understanding that innovations, styles, materials and cultural idioms inducted over vast distances during the prehistoric ages, the fact that one example of clapper bridge with a coherent prehistoric attribution exists may give people in other regions and nations the confidence to look at details of remaining clapper bridges to ascertain the probabilities of date range. Most will be medieval, some may be far younger and some rare examples may be megalithic.
For the record: ideas that a historical fisherman may have cut cups into the surface of a stone for stability are fanciful: granite often has surface grip and when it doesn't, a simply basket or rug would provide grip at far less cost - with the introduction of cups probably simply removing grip and adding permanent damp.
AJM 03.09.20
Niagara Falls' afternoon road switcher L035 performs an interplant move at Van De Mark Chemical in Lockport, NY shuffling the order of tank cars inside as requested by the customer.
Things are not the same as when I first started shooting this place four years ago. In this shot, the crew is swapping the order of cars to set themselves up for success on their next trip out. The car they are handling was spotted as a fresh load the previous week, and the car to the left has been in-plant for many weeks already, partially empty but not yet ready to pull. Making this move facilitates an easy pull for the crew once the outer car is finally released. Makes for good shots in and and around the plant, but that's about it. The two mile journey to switch the customer off of the mainline is otherwise light power both directions on days like these. It didn't used to be this way...
Van De Mark is arguably my most shot customer in Western New York. It's a place I simply never tire of shooting for whatever reason. Over the last four years, just when I think I've run out I find new angles to try, and get a little bit ballsier with each one. Thankfully the workers here are friendly people, they've certainly seen a lot of me in that time. Located on a switchback coming off of the now mostly abandoned Somerset Railroad, I consider this region the most scenic 2.6 miles of railroad this state has to offer. There's plenty of other overlooks in the state which would easily win that title, but for my money this area is it. With the shutdown of the coal-fired Kintigh Generating Station in Somerset, NY in 2019, the majority of the branch which starts in Lockport at CP PORT was filed for abandonment in 2020, finally ripped out privately in 2022 following a limited number of scrap runs up to Somerset on the part of CSX in 2021. The line now ends at QDK 2.6, four tenths of a mile north of the switchback switch, known as Mill St, at QDK 2.2. On the suggestion of one of my CSX friends, the private holding company who owns the right of way left in the extra stretch after the switch, in case of switching maneuvers requiring a gravity drop. The first couple miles of the Somerset features turned New York Central searchlights at PORT, an S curve, a road crossing in a valley, more curves, the Gulf Bridge above the valley floor, a downhill slope through the man-made rock cut where track was laid in the 1980s, and the switchback itself which climbs the hillside before descending back down grade to Mill St. The industry is merely the cherry on top, with its pseudo street running leading into the plant. Next door to Van De Mark another chemical customer Twin Lakes used to take cars, but has not been a CSX customer for what I've been told is a couple decades. Prior to the Somerset and switchback being installed on the west side of Mill St, Lowertown Lockport as it's referred to was accessed via real street running from the east side down Mill St, dating back into the New York Central and early Conrail days. This method was abandoned with the advent of Somerset. If any of this is hard to visualize, just go look at it on Google Maps, it'll make a lot more sense. Eventually I'll upload more shots of every nook and cranny I've shot. Until then, the rest of the story goes like this.
When I first started shooting here, my first daylight shots coming on April Fools Day 2021, activity was a lot more lively. Well, that's because the space inside Van De Mark was shared by a second customer, fittingly also starting with the same first three letters. A company by the name of Vanchlor down in the valley underneath the Gulf Bridge received their own tank cars in the plant on Mill St, either trucking it the short distance around the corner, or to my surprise even piping through the grade separations. Walking out to the Gulf Bridge once in 2022, I found pipes embedded within the hillside. I didn't put it together at the time that that's what those were for, but it makes sense knowing what I do now. With both customers sharing space, switching here was usually once a week, rarely twice but it did happen a handful of times. A third track inside the plant housed the Vanchlor cars all on the left side, while Van De Mark has always kept their own on the far right. In summer of 2024, Vanchlor decided to exit the rail business, opting to ship their chemical over from Germany which somehow some way is saving them on costs. Perhaps in the modern tariff state of the U.S. that might not be the case anymore, but they haven't expressed any interest in returning to rail otherwise. What I never realized was that it was Vanchlor carrying the bulk of the switching here rather than Van De Mark itself. As a result, the once a week/every other at its lowest I was used to was now dropping to once or twice a month. At times during the summer of 2025, it was indeed once a month this year. Standard procedure for the crew when they have cars to deliver is to tie the inbounds down at PORT, always on the rear of the train as hazardous cars, go drop their interchange train for the Falls Raod Railroad, then either bring their outbound train back to the PORT switch to have it in place already, or leave the yard light power and return back to the inbounds for Van De Mark after locking up the PORT switch. If they came back light power, any pulls from Van De Mark would be shoved back from Mill St to the Lockport Branch main before pulling back onto the Falls Road. If they brought their outbound train up to the PORT switch already, thelat either meant no pulls at Van De Mark, or the highly sought after but almost always after dark gravity drop move, which would make a for a more desirable westbound shot on the Gulf Bridge into the evening light. Any gravity drop move I witnessed always resulted in light running out before they could get back on the move towards PORT. Alternatively and lesser, the crew could drop their whole train at PORT and head up to Mill St light power in the case of pull only, which has now become the norm two out of three times the have work there. I even had a heads up or two over the radio that they were headed straight there back in 2021. Granted they were dealing with plenty more cars at that time. Now it's two at the most. Whereas before Vanchlor left the probability of playing and pulling cars, now it's only one or the other and not both. On the bright side, a day where they have a pull or are performing an interplant, they go up to Mill St first thing upon arriving in Lockport. This is great for lighting purposes, but one out of three moves are now guaranteed to be light power both directions on the Somerset, which isn't nearly as cool as having a car with them. Placing a car is now the worst thing to shoot since they do it after dropping in the Falls Road yard, usually a half hour to 45 minute move depending on how big the inbound train is. During peak summer daylight, that's fine, but once the sunset gets too short, the light power trip up is the best case scenario.
Van De Mark locally sources their cars out of the Olin Chlor-alkali Corp in Niagara Falls, so the only heads up for days they're going to be switched is listening to the EC-1 issued to the crew when they call to depart, since the Lockport Branch and Somerset are both dark territory. The switch or switches they wish to operate must be listed on the form, making things easy so long as you're able to hear their conversation and live within 40 minutes of Lockport since that's the exact travel time from CP 25 to PORT for L035. I shot as many of these moves as I could this summer, as the idea of Van De Mark leaving CSX, or CSX abandoning them rather, is not too far fetched. Having to maintain the Gulf Bridge especially for a once a month customer is not likely in CSX's long term plan financially, which is the only reason the little stub of the Somerset Railroad still exists. If Van De Mark quits, it's game over for this trackage. Not the fate I or anyone around here wants to see, but current trends suggest it may be their fate somewhere down the road. If the day when the final pull should arrive, you can count on me to be on scene day or night.
New book! Epic Landscape Photography: The Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography!
www.facebook.com/epiclandscapephotography/
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
facebook.com/mcgucken
Working on a couple photography books! 45EPIC GODDESS PHOTOGRAPHY: A classic guide to exalting the archetypal woman. And 45EPIC Fine Art Landscape Photography!
More on my golden ratio musings: facebook.com/goldennumberratio
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
Greetings all! I have been busy finishing a few books on photography, while traveling all over--to Zion and the Sierras--shooting fall colors. Please see some here: facebook.com/mcgucken
Let me know in the comments if you would like a free review copy of one of my photography books! :)
Titles include:
The Tao of Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art with the Yin-Yang Wisdom of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching!
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography
facebook.com/goldennumberratio
And I am also working on a book on photographing the goddesses! :) More goddesses soon!
Best wishes on your epic hero's odyssey!:)
I love voyaging forth into nature to contemplate poetry, physics, the golden ratio, and the Tao te Ching! What's your favorite epic poetry reflecting epic landscapes? I recently finished a book titled Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photographers:
www.facebook.com/Epic-Poetry-for-Epic-Landscape-Photograp...
Did you know that John Muir, Thoreau, and Emerson all loved epic poetry and poets including Shakespeare, Milton, Homer, and Robert Burns?
I recently finished my fourth book on Light Time Dimension Theory, much of which was inspired by an autumn trip to Zion!
www.facebook.com/lightimedimensiontheory/
Via its simple principle of a fourth expanding dimension, LTD Theory provides a unifying, foundational *physical* model underlying relativity, quantum mechanics, time and all its arrows and asymmetries, and the second law of thermodynamics. The detailed diagrams demonstrate that the great mysteries of quantum mechanical nonlocality, entanglement, and probability naturally arise from the very same principle that fosters relativity alongside light's constant velocity, the equivalence of mass and energy, and time dilation.
Follow me on instagram!
Join my new 45EPIC fine art landscapes page on facebook!
Tangled probabilities, leaves of grass.
Langes Run Loop at Wetmore, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio.
Hugh Mercer QC and Peter Webster, instructed by Exeme Avocats, Bordeaux, represented the City of Bordeaux in the successful recovery from London of four 14th and 15th century altar panels stolen in the 1980s. The Nottinghamshire alabaster panels had probably originally arrived in Bordeaux in the Middle Ages as payment for a shipment of wine.
The renowned theft of the panels from the basilica of St Michel in Bordeaux, a UNESCO world heritage site, was discovered in the 1990s. Though three of the missing pieces were quickly recovered, four proved harder to track down. An international investigation eventually located them in London, where they had been purchased after various intermediate sales in the USA. An agreement regarding their return was concluded late last year thereby avoiding litigation and a formal ceremony marking the return of the panels was held on 21 September in Bordeaux, under the aegis of the French Minister of Culture and presided over by the Mayor of Bordeaux. The matter is reported in The Times (25 September: www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/blessed-relief-for-plunde...) and in the French press: www.bordeaux.fr/p139144/les-albatres-de-saint-michel or www.aquitaineonline.com/actualites-en-aquitaine/bordeaux-...
essexcourt.com/recovery-of-artwork-stolen-from-world-heri...
The ninth medieval alabaster from the altarpiece of Saint-Michel de Bordeaux rediscovered?
Considerations about a St. John the Evangelist from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
The Basilica of Saint-Michel in Bordeaux is home to one of the largest and best preserved English alabaster altarpieces dedicated to the Joys of the Virgin. Seven of its nine panels were stolen in 1984. After almost forty years, in 2019, the last four panels were recovered, and the ensemble is once
again complete. However, it is not entirely complete The panel at the right end, probably depicting St. Joseph, is not a medieval work but a plaster pastiche executed certainly in the 19th century. The lost original may have found its way into a Parisian collection before 1882, before ending up in the
Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore at the beginning of the 20th century. The American museum in fact possesses an English alabaster panel depicting St. John the Evangelist, which in all probability originally belonged to the Bordeaux ensemble. In addition to the matching dimensions, the very characteristic stylistic treatment of the artwork and some iconographic arguments, detailed in the article, argue in favour of this presumed identification.
www.societe-archeologique-bordeaux.fr/publications/schlic...
Everything you decide is the summary of probability.
What you dream can be or cannot be what you get.
Named for Jacques Laramee, a leading French-Canadian fur trapper, explorer and mountain man in the early days of the white presence in the west.
It was originally built as a fur-trading depot, but was eventually bought by the U.S. Army to help protect and supply the wagon trains that began to pour along the nearby Oregon Trail as of the 1840's.
It was here that two major treaties, in 1851 and in 1868, were signed with the Plains Indian tribes of the region, acknowledging their ownership of hundreds of millions of acres of the surrounding land.
Neither held up, however - especially once gold was found in the Black Hills - leading to the court action that produced the Supreme Court's 1980 ruling in favor of the Sioux (which included the statement that ''A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealings will never in all probability be found in our history''...).
The photo is taken at Central Library, University of Otago.
A few days ago, I chose to toss a coin. Strangely, four tosses all landed on the side representing "no." At that moment, loyalty triumphed over everything, but more libido triumphed over temporary loyalty a few days later. I chose to "go the old way" and tossed the coin again. The poor $2 NZ coin—I tossed it five times, even switching the representation of heads and tails, but all five times landed on "no." My goodness! I have learned about binomial distribution. Out of curiosity, I calculated the probability of these nine outcomes: 0.5^9 = 0.001953125. A 0.19% chance? Ha! So, I definitely shouldn’t do that? Clearly, my original purpose was to use this loyalty. When I tossed heads, I could gain some consolation. Who would have thought EDEN wouldn’t give me a single chance?
Returning to today, a conversation with a missionary in February suddenly came to mind. I told him I believe in my own, subjectively idealistic "god." I don’t believe in the existence of an objective God. He retorted that in terms of willpower, believers and non-believers are equally devout.
I suddenly understood—the heads and tails of the coin don’t matter, because believing heads are heads and tails are tails, their willpower is the same. This willpower is determined the moment the coin is tossed. What it brings me is this willpower, not the "superstitious" result.
Suddenly enlightened, I decided to toss the coin once more, determining heads and tails. Again, I got tails.
A pure, untainted smile filled my face, not because of the result of 0.5^10 = 0.0009765625, but because I saw the resilient continuation of this willpower, its vitality. It was so vibrant that it reversed my feelings from the past nine results. The tenth coin toss reminded me of Dostoevsky’s sunset, transforming old sorrows into serene and moving joy due to life’s great mysteries...
Will I toss the eleventh coin? Yes, because happiness is never the final destination; it’s more like the scenery along the way. Therefore, I cannot stop, wasting my life. Perhaps, I have already tossed this eleventh coin, over and over, every minute, every second.
The Slate River Gorge is between the Elk Mountains and the Ruby Mountains in Colorado.
A winter with high precipitation in the mountains has produced lush meadows, a fine crop of wildflowers, lingering snowfields and a diminished probability of forest fires.
Kuriko-Heart beat Gacha😝
♥High RARE probability♥
2019/2/16
♪ Hentai fair Event 2019.2.16 open
♪ 9 COMMON 9 Mesh piercing(can use it in you LIP and nose and eyebrow *)
♪ 1 RARE pastel heart beat make up (GENUS/OMEGA)
♪ 1 ULTRA RARE body tattoo (MAITREYA/OMEGA)
♪ 5 SPECIIAL PREIZE (who play this gacha 15 times, CAN GET IT!!)
♪ All are 100% Original Mesh
Author(s):
Yarden Livnat, Jim Agutter, Shaun Moon, Stefano Foresti
Institution:
University of Utah
Year:
2005
URL:
www.sci.utah.edu/publications/yarden05/VisAware.pdf
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Project Description:
Presented at the Infovis 2005 Conference in Minneapolis, MN (USA), VisAware reveals a novel visual correlation paradigm that takes advantage of human perceptive and cognitive facilities in order to enhance users' situational awareness and support decision-making.
The first image reflects VisAware used in a Biowatch scenario where its structure classifies agents in colored sections around a ring. It shows the different categories of biological agents and the different types of chemical agents (i.e. blistering and nerve agents). With the map in the middle, it is easy to correlate the presence of agents to the sensor that detected it. The correlating line has a variable width that shows the probability of the agent under analysis; the thicker the line the greater the probability of an actual attack.
The second image shows VisAlert, a visualization method for network intrusion detection. The authors based their approach on representing the network alerts as connections between two domains. These two domains are a one dimensional domain representing the node attribute, and a two-dimensional domain representing the time and type attributes. A network alert instance, in this scheme, is thus a straight line from a point in the type-time domain to a point in the node domain. They choose to separate the node attribute from the type and time as nodes provide a more or less static set of objects that can be used as visualization anchors for the transient alert instances.
Made with the Bing Image Creator, powered by DALL-E 3.
I think that AI image generation is similar in many ways to photography. The camera itself handles all the fine details, but the photographer is in charge of curating the types of images that will be created.
Ultimately, it is all about maximizing the probability that something good will be created.
This is very similar to AI image generation, in terms of the skills involved and what the human does vs. what the machine does.
You can't compare AI image generation to the process of actually making these images from scratch with 3D software or paint/pencils, where the human controls every detail.
However, I think the process really is very similar to that of photography, as I made the case for above.
- Josh
I'm back. I said I would be. Yes, I started writing this a day after the annual commemoration of the death of Magnus Erlandsen, St Magnus. No, I didn't miss it, nor did I forget to raise a dram distilled from Orcadian barley. What I did miss, do miss, is the magnificence of Orkney. I have my reasons for the distraction. Realistically they are other peoples' reasons because they were not my choice!
This bump in the landscape, Maeshowe, wasn't approached on my terms either. This chambered cairn, looking not dissimilar externally to Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey, is a remarkably different thing inside. You'll have to trust me. From some foible of exhuberant curation: photography forbidden!
The name is curious. Styled as M'eshoo in the 1850s the spelling has been standardised as Maeshowe with, presumably, an accompanying shift in pronunciation. Just what it was called in antiquity is a mystery. In all likelihood the etymology is from the Old Norse mað — meadow — compounded with haugr — a multipurpose word for some lump in the landscape. Vikings, it seems, got the naming rights and that places the name as quite modern given the probability that the original construction was about 5 millennia ago.
Despite the misty, mizzling blur I quite like this approach to an ancient structure through a cow paddock. It reminds me in many important ways of the archaeologist's instruction to turn left at the sheep's water trough below Stonehenge. Here on Orkney I'm approaching a raised platform of earth — bearing the mound — surrounded by a whopping ditch and with evidence of standing stones within and without that mound. There's a reminder here that all of these things are alike and the British Isles prototypes were up here in the north, not on Salisbury Plain.
Walking up this path is more satisfying than the minibus ride here from the Visitors Centre to the carpark at Tormiston Mill. Now, I'm all for inclusion so please don't misunderstand me. Tormiston Mill is on the wrong side of a busy road to the start of the path to Maeshowe. To safely guide the visitors across this road the Visitor Centre provides a monitor. The wisdom of selecting someone so profoundly deaf as to need a cochlear implant and then have them stand perpendicular to the road, and thus unable to detect traffic coming from one direction, is as enigmatic as Maeshowe itself.
This is a view of Inis Gloire, a very small uninhabited island off the Erris penninsula, near Belmullet, County Mayo, in the West of Ireland. Inis Gloire is steeped in history, having been a major monastic settlement founded by Saint Brendan The Navigator. In all probability, this is where he started his journey across the Atlantic to discover the American continent long before Christopher Columbus. It has a major place too in Irish folklore as the place where the Children of Lir eventually regained their human form. They went there as Swans aftering hearing the bells ring out signifying the fact that Ireland had converted to Christianity.
Something reflective and appropriate for Good Friday.
Conceptual art image.
go off the rails (informal)
to start behaving strangely or in a way that is not acceptable to society He went off the rails in his twenties and started living on the streets. By the law of probabilities if you have five kids, one of them's going to go off the rails.
See also: off, rail