View allAll Photos Tagged Probability
Alien Art
Thinking...
Are we alone in space? It’s really very tough to answer. The probability is very high that aliens might exist if we consider billions of galaxies, stars, planets, and suitable places within the planets. And also consider how reactive atoms are. Another question is “could they have developed a brain like us or better than us”? With this question, the probability drops for the aliens like us or better than us. Another question is that “is the universe of matter the only suitable ground for the existing of things”? We don’t know.
There is a lot of unknown when we think of endless space, anything is possible. We might not have enough brain power to get to the bottom.
If you want, you can look at the beautiful pictures in the group Very Arty. www.flickr.com/groups/14847479@N25/
I guess no one told him he is not a leopard :-)
We really paid our dues for this sighting. The previous day our ranger Amy and tracker Sifiso spent the whole afternoon with us (with our encouragement) driving around and around looking for cheetah. Their tracks indicated that they had not left the area, but they were not to be seen. Knowing how invisible they become when they lie down amidst the tall grass, that was not surprising. We all kept our eyes peeled for cheetah stretching their necks up above the grass, but nope - it was not to be.
The following morning, we were richly rewarded. All the rangers spread out in different directions. Amy and Sifiso decided to try a block which everybody else thought was a low probability area (only a single male, whereas other areas had a mother with two sub-adult cubs, etc).
And there he was. I reckon Sifiso damn near fell out of his tracker's seat in front when he spotted this guy up in the tree, he was so excited. He was out of the front and up in the back seat (to keep all photographic lines of sight clear for us) in a flash, even as he was going "Cheetah! Cheetah!".
And here he is in all his glory. We took shots from several different angles - driving this way and that. He sat up there unconcernedly, looking for all the world like a leopard, totally relaxed in his perch. Unfortunately for the other rangers, he decided to come down just before the next game vehicle arrived. Plopping down amidst the grass, all we could do was to helplessly point at "the" spot and say "He's there! He's there". They had to take our word for it because you just cannot see a cheetah that's lying down until you are just about right on top of it I reckon.
So all praise to Amy, but I guess with an Attenborough for our ranger, we couldn't miss could we? Yup, Amy Attenborough was our ranger. Her dad David encouraged her to get into the business seeing as how she enjoyed nature so. Must be in the DNA.
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
Sighted at -27.89192,32.24072 (27°53'30.9"S 032°14'26.6"E)
9 April 2012 7:00am
Nikkor 400/2.8 VR
PhindaRock_D3S_20120409-070006_D3S_1904
pssst - Amy grew up in Durban
Phinda Rock Lodge, Maputaland, KwaZulu Natal, S.Africa
-27.87931,32.27902 (27°52'45.5"S 032°16'44.5"E)
Role: Long Range Patrol, Attack & Defence Platform
Armament: sHV17 Goalkeeper 30x155mm CIWS (x2), Raytheon KP22[hm] Pilum Block V (x8), Lockheed Martin Peregrine MR Tactical Nuclear Missile (x2) (optional)
Despite smaller and more advanced defence platforms such as the Tursiops and Delphinapterus being developed, the decades old Orcinus gunboats remain the primary long range patrol and attack craft within IBN fleets.
Two pilots are able to go out on extended patrols for up to two weeks. The cramped accommodation within the rear cabin provide only the most basic amenities, and as a result, Orcinus pilots are colloquially referred to as "Gemini Jockeys". But the two pilots are able to rotate piloting shifts and when in battle, the secondary pilot can act as gunner and sensor officer from the rear terminal.
Most targeting, sensor and jamming systems have been upgraded over time leaving the exterior of most of the frontline units a hodge-podge of sensor blisters and radomes. So although most ships are a good decade older than their pilots, they are still highly capable to take on more advanced enemy craft.
Robust and reliable 2nd generation fusion reactors power the dual main engine nozzles and multiple reaction control thrusters. More efficient power and propulsion systems have since been developed, but the tried and tested technology allows for easy field maintainability in remote forward operating bases.
The dual sHV17 Goalkeepers function adequately in both anti-missile defence, as well as, close quarters ship-to-ship combat. Veteran pilots like nothing more than to hide close to abandoned station complexes when on anti-piracy patrol and surprising enemy ships while they are busy with docking procedures. The Pilum armament is a rudimentary kinetic penetrator, powered by a high maneuverability rocket engine. However, the Block V systems feature the added benefit of the 'Maelstrom' secondary attack function. If the projectile is estimated to miss the target, or there is a a high probability of intercept by CIWS it will take a more erratic flight path to confuse the targeting systems and then the outer shroud will detonate sending a barrage of high velocity small projectiles towards the target. It certainly does not do as much damage as the full penetrator, but it typically is enough to disrupt and disable sensor and defensive systems allowing for further Pilums to be launched in order to eliminate the target...also useful when only wanting to disable an enemy ship to allow for boarding. The Peregrine missile is typically only outfitted when units are likely to meet capital ships, or when operating in a station assault role.
On this late May evening I had a great street portrait walk through London. The man in the portrait wanted to be known as Ali Ali. He works at Imperial College here in London, and we had an interesting chat about dark matter, quantum entanglement and probabilities
The Grand Canyon NP & Grand Escalante Staircase! 45Epic Dr. Elliot McGucken ! Point Imperial! Fine Landscape and Nature Photography. 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!
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia about this behavior: "Many species of harvestmen easily tolerate members of their own species, with aggregations of many individuals often found at protected sites near water. These aggregations may number 200 individuals in the Laniatores, and more than 70,000 in certain Eupnoi. Gregarious behavior is likely a strategy against climatic odds, but also against predators, combining the effect of scent secretions, and reducing the probability of any particular individual being eaten."
Arduino can control devices with a humble 40 mA current, Motors need quite a lot more. Special motor boards ('shields' in Arduino) have been developed to solve the connectivity problem.
This shield has been designed for four motors. Additional small driver boards must be added. The driver chip must be kept in reasonable temperature range by adding an aluminum cooling 'comb'.
This is a very typical Arduino compatible product from China - no documentation included. Any newbie can wonder why one socket is red, three are yellow. Furthermore (s)he has 50% probability to connect the little driver boards in wrong direction (like in this photo).
See: blog.protoneer.co.nz/arduino-cnc-shield-v3-00-assembly-gu...
Enjoy my new fine art landscapes & ballet video!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1df46oKw
Let me know what you think! :)
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!
Enjoy my new fine art landscapes & ballet video!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1df46oKw
Let me know what you think! :)
Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape and Nature Photography
Without consciousness, “matter” dwells in an undetermined state of probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability state.
The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus Neophron. It is widely distributed; the Egyptian vulture is found from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day. Egyptian vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them.
The use of tools is rare in birds and apart from the use of a pebble as a hammer, Egyptian vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest. Egyptian vultures that breed in the temperate regions migrate south in winter while tropical populations are relatively sedentary. Populations of this species declined in the 20th century and some island populations are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, and collision with power lines.
Egyptian vultures are widely distributed across the Old World with their breeding range from southern Europe to northern Africa east to western and southern Asia. They are rare vagrants in Sri Lanka. They occur mainly on the dry plains and lower hills. In the Himalayas, they go up to about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) in summer. In Armenia, breeding pairs have been found up to 2,300 meters a.s.l.
Most Egyptian vultures in the subtropical zone of Europe migrate south to Africa in winter. Vagrants may occur as far south as in South Africa although they bred in the Transkei region prior to 1923. They nest mainly on rocky cliffs, sometimes adopting ledges on tall buildings in cities and on large trees. Like many other large soaring migrants, they avoid making long crossings over water. Italian birds cross over through Sicily and into Tunisia making short sea crossings by passing through the islands of Marettimo and Pantelleria. Those that migrate through the Iberian Peninsula cross into Africa over the Strait of Gibraltar while others cross further east through the Levant. In summer, some African birds fly further north into Europe and vagrants have been recorded in England and southern Sweden.
Migrating birds can sometimes cover 500 kilometers (310 mi) in a single day until they reach the southern edge of the Sahara, 3,500 to 5,500 kilometers (2,200 to 3,400 mi) from their summer home. Young birds that have not reached breeding age may overwinter in the grassland and semi-desert regions of the Sahel.
The breeding season is in spring. During the beginning of the breeding season, courting pairs soar high together and one or both may make steep spiraling or swooping dives. The birds are monogamous and pair bonds may be maintained for more than one breeding season and the same nest sites may be reused each year. The nest is an untidy platform of twigs lined with rags and placed on a cliff ledge, building, or the fork of a large tree. Old nest platforms of eagles may also be taken over. Nests placed on the ground are rare but have been recorded in subspecies N. p. ginginianus and N. p. majorensis.
Extra-pair copulation with neighboring birds has been recorded and may be a reason for adult males to stay close to the female before and during the egg laying period.
Females may sometimes associate with two males and all three help in raising the brood. The typical clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated in turns by both parents. The eggs are brick red with the broad end covered more densely with blotches of red, brown, and black. The parents begin incubating soon after the first egg is laid leading to asynchronous hatching. The first egg hatches after about 42 days. The second chick may hatch three to five days later and a longer delay increases the likelihood that it will die of starvation. In cliffs where the nests are located close to each other, young birds have been known to clamber over to neighboring nests to obtain food. In the Spanish population, young fledge and leave the nest after 90 to 110 days. Fledged birds continue to remain dependent on their parents for at least a month.
Once the birds begin to forage on their own, they move away from their parents' territory; young birds have been found nearly 500 km away from their nest site. One-year-old European birds migrate to Africa and stay there for at least one year. A vulture that fledged in France stayed in Africa for three years before migrating north in spring. After migrating back to their breeding areas, young birds move widely in search of good feeding territories and mates. The full adult plumage is attained in the fourth or fifth year. Egyptian vultures have been known to live for up to 37 years in captivity and at least 21 years in the wild. The probability of survival in the wild varies with age, increasing till the age of 2 and then falling at the age of 5. Older birds have an annual survival probability varying from 0.75 for non-breeders to 0.83 for breeding birds.
The nominate population, especially in Africa, is known for its use of stones as tools. When a large egg, such as that of an ostrich or bustard, is located, the bird walks up to it with a large pebble held in its bill and tosses the pebble by swinging the neck down over the egg. The operation is repeated until the egg cracks from the blows. They prefer using rounded pebbles to jagged rocks. This behavior, although it was believed that it was first reported by Jane Goodall in 1966, it was actually already known to Africans and was first reported by J. G. Wood in 1877. However, this has only been reported in Africa and has not been recorded in N. p. ginginianus. Tests with both hand-reared and wild birds suggest that the behavior is innate, not learnt by observing other birds, and displayed once they associate eggs with food and have access to pebbles. Another case of tool-use described from Bulgaria involves the use of a twig as a tool to roll up and gather strands of wool to use for lining the nest.
For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_vulture
The probability of a juvenile surviving its first year is 34%, with 69% of adults surviving from one year to the next. Mortality in young males is greater than that of young females and the typical lifespan is four years. This species is now one of the most common birds of prey in Europe, although the population crashed after the Second World War. Organochlorine insecticides used to treat seeds before sowing built up in the bird population, and the concentrations in Eurasian sparrowhawks were enough to kill some outright and incapacitate others; affected birds laid eggs with fragile shells which broke during incubation. However, its population recovered after the chemicals were banned, and it is now relatively common, classified as being of Least Concern by BirdLife International.
The Eurasian sparrowhawk's hunting behaviour has brought it into conflict with humans for hundreds of years, particularly racing pigeon owners and people rearing poultry and gamebirds. It has also been blamed for decreases in passerine populations. The increase in population of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk coincides with the decline in House Sparrows in Britain.[2] Studies of racing pigeon deaths found that Eurasian sparrowhawks were responsible for less than 1%. Falconers have utilised the Eurasian sparrowhawk since at least the 16th century; although the species has a reputation for being difficult to train, it is also praised for its courage.
What I’ve learned through the years is that in life, there are not too many years when you want time to rewind, and unfortunately, we usually are not aware of that time while we are present in that moment. Not too many people cross our path, and we really click. But I do believe in the probability of increasing one’s chance of rewinding that best year (maybe in a different way) with just enough effort to improve the opportunity to meet. Otherwise, life would be too sad, and it’s too beautiful to be painful.
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850620012011 [A SOOC Shot ]
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The photo represent a part of River Bonshi AT Village Sailan of DHAMRAI Upozilla, Under BANGLADESH and a rural area with lot of heritage and resources,
I took this photo on 19th jan 2011 while my short visit to this village [SAILAN] It was a winter morning and before sunrise, The photo has a reflection of boat unused and some fishing net still not used as the river dry up and probability of fishing is at very low , and both the boat and the fishing net shown here resting
and main subject here is Rest shown at Reflection , And in our day too we have rest and this life rest is shown by the reflection of boat and fishing nets,
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,For Other Photos of this set visit SAILAN Here
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Thanks In Advance for not Inviting me to any Group and Attaching Graphics to this picture as a part of your comments, I appreciate you to view my photo , click Faves and write your comments instead you copy pest your comment to me.
Press F to Faves This Photo
-Please don't use or alter this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved,
One of the simplest explanations I can offer for why I'm here is these guys: North Ronaldsay Sheep. Sure it could have been because it's there or any of the other simplistic things about remoteness, a quite life, adventure, Louise's fabulous platter of smoked fish at the one person café in the shadow of the lighthouse or Alison's roast mutton at the Bird Observatory. Honestly? It was all that and more.
Who's this then? They're an odd bunch, the North Ronaldsay Sheep. As members of the group known as Northern European short-tailed sheep and isolated on a tiny island they are not your everyday woolly — coarse haired, horned, not strongly flocking — there's a lot of goat character about them. Yet sheep they are — independent, strong willed and special little sheep.
Typical of sheep they exhibit sexual dimorphism. The rams are larger, heavier set, horned. Ewes are small, finer boned and statistically eighty per cent of them are naturally polled — hornless.
I cannot tell you the sex or gender of this fine specimen expect to say, probably, with what I know, without a close look at well hidden or perhaps removed bits and pieces there is more boy than girl in this picture. And what does it matter? Well of course it doesn't. I'll just enjoy their company and leave it to them to manage such things.
With the opening of the ring gates and the ratcheting up of tensions throughout the solar system, the MCRN quickly determined that they needed a replacement for the Morrigan-class patrol destroyer with greater range/endurance and enhanced self-defense capabilities.
Classified as a scout destroyer, the Samar-class is 40 m long and has a crew of 9 on a standard 3 shift rotation with a pilot, engineer, and a weapon/electronic systems officer on duty at all times. Up to 2 additional specialists may be added to the crew for unique missions.
It is equipped with 6 Nariman Dynamics 40 mm point defense cannons, providing overlapping defense coverage across 4pi steradians, rectifying one of the key deficiencies of the Morrigan-class.
The standard Samar-class vessel carries a modest 8 torpedos, loaded into an 8-cell vertical launcher (VLS). Simulations have shown that firing all 8 torpedos in a single salvo generates a higher probability of hit against large combatants than firing each individually.
The ship’s propulsion system consists of a single Epstein drive and attitude control system (ACS) thrusters in banks at the fore and mid-body.
The class is named for the Battle Off Samar, a WWII naval engagement in which a small task force of US Navy destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers prevailed over a much larger Japanese armada in one of the greatest last stands in naval history.
Credit to Mark Gagliano for the clean engine section on his Rocinante model that I borrowed here.
See my albums list for some of my best work: www.flickr.com/photos/200044612@N04/albums/
See my main account for my photography, videos, fractal images and more here: www.flickr.com/photos/josh-rokman/
Made with Image Creator from Microsoft Designer, formerly known as 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. I think that DALL-E 3 is by far the most powerful AI image generation tool currently available.
- Josh
The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus Neophron. It is widely distributed; the Egyptian vulture is found from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day. Egyptian vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them.
The use of tools is rare in birds and apart from the use of a pebble as a hammer, Egyptian vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest. Egyptian vultures that breed in the temperate regions migrate south in winter while tropical populations are relatively sedentary. Populations of this species declined in the 20th century and some island populations are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, and collision with power lines.
Egyptian vultures are widely distributed across the Old World with their breeding range from southern Europe to northern Africa east to western and southern Asia. They are rare vagrants in Sri Lanka. They occur mainly on the dry plains and lower hills. In the Himalayas, they go up to about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) in summer. In Armenia, breeding pairs have been found up to 2,300 meters a.s.l.
Most Egyptian vultures in the subtropical zone of Europe migrate south to Africa in winter. Vagrants may occur as far south as in South Africa although they bred in the Transkei region prior to 1923. They nest mainly on rocky cliffs, sometimes adopting ledges on tall buildings in cities and on large trees. Like many other large soaring migrants, they avoid making long crossings over water. Italian birds cross over through Sicily and into Tunisia making short sea crossings by passing through the islands of Marettimo and Pantelleria. Those that migrate through the Iberian Peninsula cross into Africa over the Strait of Gibraltar while others cross further east through the Levant. In summer, some African birds fly further north into Europe and vagrants have been recorded in England and southern Sweden.
Migrating birds can sometimes cover 500 kilometers (310 mi) in a single day until they reach the southern edge of the Sahara, 3,500 to 5,500 kilometers (2,200 to 3,400 mi) from their summer home. Young birds that have not reached breeding age may overwinter in the grassland and semi-desert regions of the Sahel.
The breeding season is in spring. During the beginning of the breeding season, courting pairs soar high together and one or both may make steep spiraling or swooping dives. The birds are monogamous and pair bonds may be maintained for more than one breeding season and the same nest sites may be reused each year. The nest is an untidy platform of twigs lined with rags and placed on a cliff ledge, building, or the fork of a large tree. Old nest platforms of eagles may also be taken over. Nests placed on the ground are rare but have been recorded in subspecies N. p. ginginianus and N. p. majorensis.
Extra-pair copulation with neighboring birds has been recorded and may be a reason for adult males to stay close to the female before and during the egg laying period.
Females may sometimes associate with two males and all three help in raising the brood. The typical clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated in turns by both parents. The eggs are brick red with the broad end covered more densely with blotches of red, brown, and black. The parents begin incubating soon after the first egg is laid leading to asynchronous hatching. The first egg hatches after about 42 days. The second chick may hatch three to five days later and a longer delay increases the likelihood that it will die of starvation. In cliffs where the nests are located close to each other, young birds have been known to clamber over to neighboring nests to obtain food. In the Spanish population, young fledge and leave the nest after 90 to 110 days. Fledged birds continue to remain dependent on their parents for at least a month.
Once the birds begin to forage on their own, they move away from their parents' territory; young birds have been found nearly 500 km away from their nest site. One-year-old European birds migrate to Africa and stay there for at least one year. A vulture that fledged in France stayed in Africa for three years before migrating north in spring. After migrating back to their breeding areas, young birds move widely in search of good feeding territories and mates. The full adult plumage is attained in the fourth or fifth year. Egyptian vultures have been known to live for up to 37 years in captivity and at least 21 years in the wild. The probability of survival in the wild varies with age, increasing till the age of 2 and then falling at the age of 5. Older birds have an annual survival probability varying from 0.75 for non-breeders to 0.83 for breeding birds.
The nominate population, especially in Africa, is known for its use of stones as tools. When a large egg, such as that of an ostrich or bustard, is located, the bird walks up to it with a large pebble held in its bill and tosses the pebble by swinging the neck down over the egg. The operation is repeated until the egg cracks from the blows. They prefer using rounded pebbles to jagged rocks. This behavior, although it was believed that it was first reported by Jane Goodall in 1966, it was actually already known to Africans and was first reported by J. G. Wood in 1877. However, this has only been reported in Africa and has not been recorded in N. p. ginginianus. Tests with both hand-reared and wild birds suggest that the behavior is innate, not learnt by observing other birds, and displayed once they associate eggs with food and have access to pebbles. Another case of tool-use described from Bulgaria involves the use of a twig as a tool to roll up and gather strands of wool to use for lining the nest.
For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_vulture
I don't know what the secret to happiness is, but the probability of discovering it is higher at the dawn of a new day.
Enjoy my new fine art landscapes & ballet video!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1df46oKw
Let me know what you think! :)
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!
Enjoy my new fine art landscapes & ballet video!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1df46oKw
Let me know what you think! :)
Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape and Nature Photography
(Grallaria gigantea)
Paz de Las Aves
Equador
Another species that doesn't came without a story.
After an early morning visit to a place to see (and try to photograph) the cock-of-the-rocks, along with a group of 10 or more birders who joined us in the morning, Angel came up to me and said: Now for the Giant Pitta your wife cannot go. The trail is very demanding. There are two ladies in the group who are also unable to go.
Well if she doesn't go I won't either, I protested. I was just trying to put pressure on, but my wife didn't get it that way and started complaining that if I didn't go too, I'd make her feel bad.
Now I had to argue with Angel in one way and with my wife in the opposite way at same time.
Fortunately, Angel must have understood our Portuguese and saw that he was causing a marital conflict and thought better of it and proposed that due to the difficult terrain and the probability of the bird not being in the place (it was in breeding season and in the previous days it didn't show up) he would go down alone and then call us if the bird was around.
So it was, but after half an hour there were no signs of birds or signs of the Angel. I was already thinking about giving up, count the day as lost and going to another place. But finally Angel appeared and told us to go down the steepy and slippery trail that in the end we would find Rodrigo who would point us to where the bird appeared from time to time.
When we were about to arrive we came across some guys who had rushed down the trail and had already seen it, record it in a photo (I suppose) and are already return back.
Unlike usual, I was extremely resigned to the high probability of not arriving in time to see/shoot it and (as I found later) that contributed positively to the stability I managed to have in my arms to hold the camera and shoot at speeds of 1/50s without a tripod and in a litle patch of solid ground.
Maybe because I was the last one to arrive, I soon found space to hunker down in order to get a low angle to the bird. I was surprised by the size of the bird that was eating the worms Rodrigo gave her just a few meters away. I found my self in need to zoom out after some shots with cutoff feet.
However the main difficulty now was the lack of light that forced very high ISOs and very low shutter speeds for shots without a tripod. This 3 extra feet would not have been helpful. The terrain barely supports our natural feet (there was mud everywhere). With 3 more envolved it would be very complicated to manage.
The solution is to stay stable and try various combinations of aperture, speed and ISO, and take a lot of shots. At the end with some luck we may have something.
I made 139 photos of which 3 are showable. This is one of those. I hope you enjoy it too. After all the doubts and upsets I had, I was delighted. My wife was delighted and one of the lady in the group came to us and say she start crying when was told she coudn't go. Everybody were happy at the end.
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Outra espécie que não vem sem uma história.
Depois de uma visita matinal a um lugar para ver (e tentar fotografar) o Galo-das-rochas, junto com um grupo de 10 ou mais observadores que se juntaram a nós pela manhã, o Angel veio ter comigo e disse-me: agora para Giant Antpitta, a tua mulher não pode ir. A trilha é muito difícil. Há duas senhoras no grupo que também não podem ir.
Bom, se ela não vai, eu também não vou. Só estava a tentar colocar pressão, mas a minha mulher não entendeu assim e começou a reclamar que se eu não fosse, iria fazê-la sentir-se mal.
Estava tramado. Agora tinha que discutir com Angel num sentido e com a minha esposa em sentido oposto.
Felizmente, o Angel deve ter entendido o nosso português, viu que estava a causar um conflito conjugal, pensou melhor e propôs que, devido ao terreno difícil e à probabilidade do pássaro não estar no local (era época de reprodução e nos dias anteriores não apareceu), ele ia descer sozinho e depois chamava-nos se a ave estivesse por perto.
Assim foi, mas depois de meia hora à espera não havia sinais da ave nem sinais do Angel. Já estava a pensar em desistir, dar o dia como perdido e ir para outro lugar. Mas finalmente o Angel lá apareceu e disse-nos para descermos pela trilha íngreme, e escorregadia, que no final encontraríamos o Rodrigo que nos indicaria onde a Pitta aparecia de vez em quando.
Quando estávamos a chegar cruzamo-nos com uns fulanos que haviam-se precipitado pela trilha abaixo, já a tinham visto, registaram-na em foto (suponho) e já estavam de regresso.
Ao contrário do habitual, fiquei completamente resignado com a elevada probabilidade de não chegar a tempo de ver/fotografar e (como descobri mais tarde) isso contribuiu positivamente para a estabilidade que consegui ter nos braços para segurar a câmara e fotografar a velocidades de 1/50 sem tripé num diminuto pedaço de terra firme.
Talvez por ter sido o último a chegar, encontrei logo espaço para me acocorar a fim de conseguir um ângulo baixo para a ave. Fiquei surpreso com o tamanho da Pitta que vi. Estava a comer minhocas que o Rodrigo dava e a poucos metros de distância. Descobri (a tempo) que precisava diminuir o zoom depois de algumas fotos com pés cortados.
No entanto, a principal dificuldade agora era a falta de luz que obrigava a ISOs muito altos e velocidades de obturador muito baixas para fotos sem tripé. Os 3 pés extras do tripé não teriam sido úteis. O terreno mal suporta os nossos pés naturais (havia lama por todo o lado). Com mais 3 pés envolvidos seria muito complicado de gerir.
A solução é ficar estável, tentar várias combinações de abertura, velocidade e ISO, e tirar muitas fotos. No final, com um pouco de sorte, deveremos ter alguma coisa.
Fiz 139 fotos, das quais 3 são mostráveis. Esta é uma delas. Espero que também gostem. Depois de todas as dúvidas e contrariedades que tive, fiquei satisfeito. A minha mulher ficou encantada e uma das senhoras do grupo veio ter connosco e disse que começou a chorar quando lhe disseram que não poderia ir. No final todos ficaram felizes.
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All my photos are now organized into sets by the country where they were taken, by taxonomic order, by family, by species (often with just one photo for the rarer ones), and by the date they were taken.
So, you may find:
- All the photos for this trip Equador (2021) (328)
- All the photos for this order PASSERIFORMES (3553)
- All the photos for this family Grallariidae (Gralariídeos) (14)
- All the photos for this species Grallaria gigantea (3)
- All the photos taken this day 2021/11/17 (17)
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An unspecified date but probably around the early 50s According to the GW archive No 5524 was allocated to Pwllheli at the time of nationalisation. However, cross-referencing with Shed Bash Uk the only dates are 21st August 1951 and 13th May 1953 recorded at Machynlleth on both occasions. In this splendid shot which has been restored to some sort of presentability 4575 class, 2-6-2T No 5524 still in Great Western Railway lined green livery hauls what is in all probability a Barmouth Junction to Machynlleth pick-up freight at Towyn. Former LMS cattle wagon Diagram D1661 No M13987 can be seen in the cattle dock siding
A sparking clear morning suddenly becomes a low overcast, as a pair of 400-ton, Lima Berkshire Locomotives charge through the Michigan farmland creating a billowing cloud deck of steam and smoke. Fortunately, the probability of precipitation (of the burning hot kind) is relatively low at this distance.
This image was created in Henderson, MI, on a farm off Chipman Road, during an August 2009 Lerro Photography Charter, which featured the only two operating examples of Lima-built, 2-8-4s, those being the Nickel Plate #765 (in the lead) and the Pere Marquette #1225 (the road engine). Putting an event like this together clearly required a lot of work by a lot of people, including the Ft. Wayne Railroad Historical Society, the Steam Railroading Institute and the Great Lakes Central Railroad, not to mention Pete Lerro, for all of the coordination required to bring all of those organizations together. Last but not least, a shout-out is also due for the landowner, who was gracious enough to allow a small army of photographers to be on his property, while there were clearly crops still in the field. Years later, this still stands as probably the most impressive photo freight I've ever witnessed.
Photographed at San Antonio Open Space Preserve, California, U.S.A.
=> Please click on the image to see the largest size. <=
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From Wikipedia: The western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) is a small North American thrush.
Description:
The western bluebird is a small stocky bird with a length of 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in). The adult male is bright blue on top and on the throat with an orange breast and sides, a brownish patch on back, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. The adult female has a duller blue body, wings, and tail, a gray throat, a dull orange breast, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. Both sexes have a thin straight bill with a fairly short tail. Immature birds have duller colors than the adults, and have spots on their chest and back.
Their calling consists of the mating songs which sound like "cheer," "chur-chur," and "chup." This helps male western bluebirds find the females easily in condensed forest. The males use these calls to tell competing males that the territory belongs to them.
The western bluebird can be readily distinguished from the two other species in the bluebird genus. The western bluebird has a blue (male) or gray (female) throat, the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) has an orange throat, and the mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) lacks orange color anywhere on its body.
Distribution and habitat:
The western bluebird has been displaced from its natural habitat by the felling of trees; however it has adapted to coniferous forests, farmlands, semi-open terrain, and desert to survive. The year-round range includes California, the southern Rocky Mountains, Arizona, and New Mexico in the United States, and as far south as the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz in Mexico. The summer breeding range extends as far north as the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Montana. Northern birds can migrate to the southern parts of the range; southern birds are often permanent residents.
Breeding:
The western bluebird nests in cavities or in nest boxes, competing with tree swallows, house sparrows, and European starlings for natural nesting locations. Because of the high level of competition, house sparrows often attack western bluebirds for their nests. The attacks are made both in groups or alone. Attacks by starlings can be reduced if the nesting box opening is kept to 1.5 in (38 mm) diameter to avoid takeover. Nest boxes come into effect when the species is limited and dying out due to the following predators: cats, raccoons, possums, and select birds of prey such as the Cooper's hawk. Ants, bees, earwigs, and wasps can crawl into the nesting boxes and damage the newborns. Western bluebirds are among the birds that nest in cavities, or holes in trees, or nest boxes. Their beaks are too weak and small to dig out their own holes, so they rely on woodpeckers to make their nest sites for them.
In restored forests, western bluebirds have a higher probability of successfully fledging young than in untreated forests, but they are at greater risk of parasitic infestations. The effects on post-fledging survival are unknown. They have been found to enjoy more success with nest boxes than in natural cavities. They started egg-laying earlier, had higher nesting success and lower predation rates, and fledged more young in boxes than in cavities, but they did not have larger clutches of eggs. The eggs are commonly two to eight per clutch and are oval in shape with a smooth and glossy shell. They are pale blue to bluish-white and sometimes white in color. Nestlings remain in a nest about 19 to 22 days before fledging. In a good year, the parents can rear two broods, with four to six eggs per clutch. According to genetic studies, 45% of western bluebirds' nests carried young that were not offspring of the male partner. In addition, they help their parents raise a new brood after their own nest fails.
Food and feeding:
The western bluebird pounces on the ground when looking for food, such as worms and berries. It also flies to catch aerial prey, like insects, when available. The western bluebird consumes water from nearby streams and commonly used bird baths. These birds wait on a perch and fly down to catch insects, sometimes catching them in midair. They mainly eat insects and berries.
_MG_3227fFlkr
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!
This dark group of photos taken at the Oxygen sim (which I heard is closing at the end of August) just sort of happened very late one night. I stopped by the sim on the recommendation of a friend. I was also messing about with DoF, and changing colors of an EEP Polyhistor gave me. The result was this dark, just-before-twilight lighting. It may have been because it was late at night, but the combination of the setting and the lighting brought back memories of summer vacations at the beach from many years ago. Perhaps it's just me, but the evening before it's time to head home after vacation - back to the life I've been granted - I've often found myself quietly recounting the previous days. I suppose it's a bit of a melancholic nostalgia. For instance, there is one photo with bikes and beach chairs leaning against the old, dark vacation house. I envisioned that just hours ago, the kids would have been playing and laughing. And just like the sleepy, sun-drenched kids are tucked away after a day of fun, so are the chairs and the bike. Tomorrow we will head home and a new family will be staying here, beginning their own vacation and probably playing with that bike. I feel a bit jealous. I would love to go back to our first day, when the week was full of possibility - with the probability of fun. But today - our last day - our time here slows to an dimly lit end. For a moment, I let my mind wonder... when we are gone, might the house remember us? Do the memories we create here stay and echo in the old gray wooden planks somehow? Is the house as sad to see us go as I am to leave? If I come back again someday, will the sea know it's me? Oh, how I long to imagine it's so. But for now, for this last twilight -- the last sunset I may ever see on this shore -- I sit and snap photos in the dark of details to help me remember. Like the rock we climbed on and played "giants and monsters." The bench where we sat and had ice cream. A cluster of the many cattails that covered the yard. The old blue rocking chair inside the window where I rocked my giggly baby to sleep. The dim, white kitchen light, hanging in the dark air like fog, that we trusted as our night light. The shadowy cabin filled with stories, and sleep, and hope, and dreams and regrets and memories and days that go by too, too fast. I won't remember everything. But I believe this house will. And I hope that, if I ever come back, this house will remember how happy we are, and... that somehow the people I love will be here with me still. With tears in my eyes, I want to forget that the sun will be setting soon. And so, I take another picture.
Deimos is a rare Lati doll. Only 30 were made for this release. Usually Lati dolls are limited by the ordering period, not by the number of dolls in a particular release.
Candy is a rather rare Domo, too. His kind had the probability of 1/30 in the series 2 blind boxes. The more common ones had probability of 2/15. Candy is my lucky Domo besides being my first one. I just ordered one blind box without caring very much which color I would get. I was surprised to find the candy striped one in stead of one of the more common ones.
(Toy Sunday: rare)
Camera Model Name: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/500
Av (Aperture Value): 11.0
Metering: Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed: 200
Focal Length: 400.0 mm
Flash: Off
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DAY 16
Distance & Time: By car - 86 km / 3 hrs.
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“…The nature of a man who has realized Mahamudra is cool, tranquil, and serene. Whatever he does walking, sitting, standing or lying, he always acts in accordance with the Dharma – leading a life of humility, cultivating total awareness and ever aspiring to – final release. He stays in wilderness of rock and snow, in the seclusion of forests or cemeteries eradicating his ego – clinging once and for all. Wishlessness has arisen in his heart; no vestige of attachment can be traced. Entanglements are cut off, illusions gone by themselves, worldly dharmas becoming meaningless. He is more concerned with the welfare of others than his own and is thus able to exchange his own happiness for the suffering of others. As the unity of Samsara (the eternal cycle of birth, death, rebirth and suffering) and Nirvana (attainment of indescribable ultimate wisdom and compassion) itself to him, he fully realizes that all phenomena are nothing but the manifestations of his own mind.
Mind itself, luminous and void, is the realm of the absolute. Compassion as means and wisdom are intrinsically one. The yogi continually abiding at this level of reality has accomplished the essence of meditation. Unperturbed and preserving, he experiences without interruption the Clear Light in the oneness of Emptiness and Compassion. He has made his Samadhi (higher level of concentrated meditation) become Omnipresent.”
- Drubchen Ngawang Tsering
It gives me goose bumps to think about the yogins of this land, the mystics who were known to meditate alone in the caves with very little or no food, who were not afraid of dying alone and no one knowing about it or even their name. Who were able to regulate the body temperatures at will (with the help of yoga) and thus survive in extreme climates without any aides and some were said to posses powers of flying (which might be an allegory)!
As monasticism grew within Buddhism in the early formation days, many still remained wanderers. They were free from the tighter rules of the community, open to forest, sky, gorge, and valleys and to interact with people. It was from within this lineage of wanderers, practitioners of Buddhist yoga, strongly influenced by grass root tendencies towards devotion of personalized deities, emotional expression and catharsis through chant and dance that the tantric yogin emerged upon the scene.
Yogic practices were already developed in Dravidian India before the Aryan invasion and were probably used by shamans to produce their tasks as seers and healers. With the emergence of the caste system, yoga became the means of both self-transcendence and social emancipation.
In 11th century an ascetic from south India, Phadampahad Sangyé (also known as Dampa Sangye or Pha Dhampa Sangye) traveled to Dingri in Tibet, where along with his disciple and consort Yogini Machig Labdron jointly created a practice, wherein the yogin dances in cemetery or wild place and donates his body to the spirits and other denizens of place to learn the nature of mental emptiness. This practice is known as ‘Chöd’, which means ‘to cut’, the central focus of practicing detachment of mind and body. It is carried out at night in the cemeteries in order to maximize the potential for working with fear and self-protection centered on the body. It also creates an extreme situation survival of which will ensure competence in other environments.
Yogins such as these were distinct in appearance from the monastic faction by sporting long hair in pigtails and beard, danced around the fire in the dark of the night with their sexual consorts, surrounded by demons of mind, which they had power to transform into their personal protectors were the ancestors of the yogins of Ladakh. They are also known as mahasiddha, ‘maha’ meaning great and ‘siddha’ is the one who posses psychic and spiritual powers.
Snap out of my thought on hearing the voice of Ankur and a little monk coming up, when he was busy looking around in the dukhang (assembly hall), had made my way on to the terrace. The concept of ‘sunyata’ or emptiness of Buddhism is well reflected in the landscape around us, a vast barrenness. However, the effect is calming even encouraging a brief sense of mind and body detachment.
We witness the magic mysticism of nature in the far off mountains and the tiny village at its foot; the shadow of the clouds caressing all that is on the way of its sail.
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Please note:
* We did not meet any 'Yogin' or 'Yogini' during our travel in Ladakh, because apart from their secret and reclusive nature, in all probability none exists anymore.
* Drubchen Ngawang Tsering was a great mahasiddha born in 1717 in a poor family in the village of Ating in Ladakh.
* Those who might be interested in further read about the Siddha tradition and Mahamudra may refer to the books mentioned below. However, they are result of research work meant as reference for higher education, rather than for entertainment or light read.
1. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India by David Gordon White
2. Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-four Buddhist Siddhas by Keith Dowman
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© 2008. All rights reserved. All photographs appearing under this profile are the property of Vijay Pandey, are protected by copyright law, and are not to be reproduced in any way without written permission. Please do not copy, distribute, display or perform your derivative works based upon it. Offenders will face severe legal consequences.
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I have been saving money for almost an year. Why did I purchase this camera? Here's why -
1) I could wrap an extra lens - 55-200 VR within my budget because it happens to be the cheapest camera around
2) It uses the same image processor as D50 and D80. A lower cost doesn't necessarily translate into inferior image quality.
3) Very very user friendly. I didn't have to look at the manuals despite the fact that I come from a P&S background & this is my first DSLR.
What I didn't care for -
1) It only focuses with new AF - S motor/ HSM(Sigma terminology) lenses which typically means that your old lenses are of no good (of course they will work in the manual mode but won't autofocus). I didn't mind this at all, as I have no legacy lenses and no plans to invest immediately in lenses either.
2) The 6.1 megapixel serves me just fine.It is good enough to give me a 12'' x 8'' inch (30 cm x 20 cm) pics and that is good enough to be framed and hanging in the wall .I wonder why people fall for the Megapixel Myth.This is nothing but a marketing gimmick employed by all camera manufacturers. I ,in all probability , would never require a 10 MP pic and certainly do not want to pay $150 for something I will never need .Being a database administrator , I hate to see big file size ;-)
Conclusion
Friends, this was a quick review. I got a better product than what I had anticipated. The low light image quality and speed just blew me off . Consider taking 3 shots in a second in low light ( I am used to P & S, hence I am delighted). Anybody who wants to switch over to their first DSLR and is low on budget, I recommend NIKON D40 to them. Period.
My suggestion is that you should take the reviews in the websites with a pinch of salt. More than being of any help, they confuse. I would be testing the NIKON D40 outdoors over the weekend and I am very excited about that!
UPDATE - Dec 11 - Guys Nikkor 50mm/1.8 and 50mm/1.4 works like a gem with manual focus . Thanks to Bala for such a great link .Check out this resourceful gp -
La abadía cisterciense del monasterio de Santa María la Real de la Oliva, a veces llamado también de Nuestra Señora de la Oliva, es un gran conjunto de arquitectura monacal románica y destacado ejemplo de arte cisterciense navarro, situada en la localidad de la Navarra meridional de Carcastillo (España) y colindante con la vecina Aragón sobre la cual también ejerció su influencia. Es considerado el monasterio más antiguo de España. La Abadía fue fundada, con bastante probabilidad, el año 1145 por el rey de Pamplona García Ramírez llamado el Restaurador. Obtuvo el favor y apoyo del papado, la nobleza y monarquía, (tanto navarra como aragonesa, primero, y española, después), llegando a ser, a mitades del siglo XII, uno de los centros monásticos más poderosos e influyentes de Navarra gracias a su extenso patrimonio y su gran biblioteca. Más adelante llegaron los problemas políticos y la desamortización de 1835 sumió al monasterio en la ruina y el abandono. Fue declarado Monumento histórico nacional el 24 de abril de 1880. Hasta 1927 no volvió a ser habitado y reconstruido.
La majestuosa fachada principal nos abre las puertas a un lugar mágico. La iglesia de Santa María, con una parte gótica y otra románica, fue sufragada por Sancho VI el Sabio y su hijo Sancho VII el Fuerte. Fue construida en piedra sillar entre los siglos XII y XIII. Consta de tres naves. La austeridad cisterciense se aprecia en la sencilla decoración del templo, que apenas se ciñe a motivos vegetales, animales y fantásticos y algunas claves en las bóvedas. Cuenta con una sala capitular que integraba el primitivo claustro del siglo XII y que es una bonita expresión de obra progótica. Desde la iglesia, podemos acceder a un hermoso claustro gótico del siglo XIV.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_Santa_María_la_Real_...
The Cistercian abbey of the monastery of Santa María la Real de la Oliva, sometimes also called Nuestra Señora de la Oliva, is a large ensemble of Romanesque monastic architecture and an outstanding example of Cistercian Navarrese art, located in the southern Navarra town of Carcastillo (Spain) and adjacent to neighboring Aragon on which it also exerted its influence. It is considered the oldest monastery in Spain. The Abbey was founded, with enough probability, in the year 1145 by the King of Pamplona García Ramírez called the Restaurador. It obtained the favor and support of the papacy, the nobility and monarchy, (both Navarre and Aragonese, first, and Spanish, later), becoming, in the mid-12th century, one of the most powerful and influential monastic centers in Navarre thanks to its extensive heritage and its great library. Later came the political problems and the confiscation of 1835 plunged the monastery into ruin and abandonment. It was declared a National Historic Monument on April 24, 1880. It was not inhabited and rebuilt until 1927.
The majestic main facade opens the doors to a magical place. The church of Santa María, with a Gothic and Romanesque part, was paid for by Sancho VI the Wise and his son Sancho VII the Strong. It was built in ashlar stone between the 12th and 13th centuries. It consists of three naves. Cistercian austerity can be seen in the simple decoration of the temple, which barely adheres to plant, animal and fantastic motifs and some keys in the vaults. It has a chapter house that was part of the primitive 12th century cloister and is a beautiful expression of pro-Gothic work. From the church, we can access a beautiful 14th century Gothic cloister.
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.
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A bifurcated Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) glows in the morning light. Saguaro cacti are renowned for their longevity, living up to and possibly exceeding 200 years, and their size, achieving heights of 40 to 60 feet (12-18 m). They are native to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. Their northern geographic range correlates with the probability of having more than two straight days of sub-freezing temperatures. Saguaros are one of the classic symbols of the American west, such that movie directors will use plastic models on locations outside of their normal geographic range. A pink Saguaro-like alien was used in an episode of Star Trek during the Capt Kirk era.
A Happy New Year to everyone in Flickr-land; hope you have great light and photographic opportunities in 2015
The genus empidonax has about a half-dozen species that are very similar. I generally just go with the genus, but based on location and probability, this is likely an Empidonax minimus. Only in Central Oklahoma during migration. A cool and unexpected find. Our beautiful world, pass it on.
During my trip to California earlier this year, on the way back to the hotel after shooting in Oakland and travelling across the Bay Bridge, I made a snap decision to try a shot I've wanted to take before, even though it was getting late and blue hour was long over. This meant once again heading onto the section of Yerba Buena island owned by the US Coastguard, ignoring quite a few signs, and hoping that I'd go unnoticed!
This view, looking east towards Oakland and Berkeley, is accessed via a single-track road that circumnavigates the coastguard station, which is on the very peak of the hill. Parking the car in the only available location, under some trees a few hundred metres further along, and walking back, the spinning radar antenna towering above me in the pitch dark gave the place a definite sense of foreboding! As I would have to shoot from the road, hoping that nobody came along while I was doing so, I knew I wouldn't be staying for long!
There is a small section where the road runs right along the edge of a cliff, right above the tunnel that the bridge passes through. A chain-link fence at the edge of the road, far too high to see over with my tripod, proved an additional challenge, but after a minute or two of searching I discovered that a handy lens-shaped hole had been cut in the fence. Although it wasn't quite big enough for my lens, it did allow me to get a mostly-unobstructed view down onto the bridge.
This photo shows the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. This section of the bridge is undergoing replacement due to the original bridge being prone to earthquake damage, as seen in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when a section of the original double-deck bridge partially collapsed, with one fatality. With the high probability of a larger earthquake striking the area at some point in the future, the replacement bridge project began construction in 2002, and was scheduled to be completed in 2007, but only opened to traffic last year after numerous delays. The bridge is designed to withstand an 8.5 magnitude earthquake, the largest expected in the next 1,500 years.
The new bridge (lit up) is the widest bridge in the world, carrying five lanes of traffic in each direction, with room for emergency vehicles on both sides. Unlike the old bridge, for most of the distance it is a single-deck bridge, but as it approaches the tunnel through Yerba Buena island, and the double-deck bridge on the other side, the two lanes split, with the westbound lane on top of the eastbound lane. On the right hand side, the old bridge can be seen, partially disassembled and in darkness.
Despite being well after blue hour, the heavy haze in the air picked up the light from Oakland and Berkeley and gave a strong orange glow above the cities in the distance. The bright LED lighting illuminating the new tower, which is 525 feet high, can also be seen lighting up the air above it. In the distance between the two towers of the old bridge, you can just make out the Sather Tower at the University of California, Berkeley, the third tallest clock tower in the world.
Hellnar is an ancient fishing village, a cluster of old houses and buildings situated close to Arnarstapi on the westernmost part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, Iceland.
Although Hellnar village used to be a major port of call for fishing vessels and the largest and busiest centre of fishing and fishing vessels in Snæfellsnes, there were also a few farms in and around Hellnar village along with quite a few semi-permanent and short-stay living quarters for seamen and the migrating workforce. Hellnar village can in all probability trace its function as a major port of call back to the Middle Ages, and the oldest written source of it being describes as a fishing port dates back to 1560.
In earlier times, Hellnar would have been in relatively large part fisheries-related farms and buildings, and in the national census of 1703, some 194 individuals were registered as being inhabitants of Hellnar. This same year the buildings and farms of Hellnar are listed as numbering 38 altogether, of which 7 farms are listed as agricultural farms, 11 as having fisheries and fisheries-related functions, and 20 as listed as being semi-permanent or short-stay lodgings for the migrating work force and displaced persons.
On the beach some spectacular rock formations are to be seen, one of which is a protruding cliff called Valasnös, which reaches across the ocean front and into the sea. Tunneling into this cliff there is a cave known for colorful changes of lighting and shades that vary in tune with the natural light and the movements of the sea.
High diving is the act of diving into water from relatively great heights. Initially, diving as a sport began by jumping from "great heights". Then it was exclusively practiced by gymnasts as they found it exciting with a low probability of injury. It then evolved into "diving in the air" with water as the safety landing base. Efforts by Thomas Ralph to name the sport "springing" were not realized, as the term "diving" was by then firmly rooted.
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.
...I only had an iphone at the ready for this shot.
My sister found this lucky four leaf clover while walking her german shepherd one morning.
Ok, so how the heck does one just happen to look down in a sea of green and spot this tiny little stem amongst all the other 3 leaf ones, at the same time as controlling the unbelievable strength of her dog, And then reach down to pluck this mutation?
She is AmazeBalls!
according to Wiki:
"The four-leaf clover is an uncommon variation of the common, three-leaved clover. According to tradition, such leaves bring good luck to their finders, especially if found accidentally. In addition, each leaf is believed to represent something: the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck.
It has been estimated that there are approximately 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover;even so, this probability has not deterred collectors who have reached records as high as 160,000 four-leaf clovers."
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One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Psalms :
Psalm 91
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
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* "Last Exit Before Babylon" Beautiful warning message to Americans and everyone who are watching prophetic events unfold.
* Prophecy Update - November 11th, 2012
* Economic Collapse, Foreign Troops & Marshall Law with Steve Quayle
* Paul Begley New Jersey Awards Contract For RFID "666 Mark" To Radiant! ~ You can believe this or not .
Perversion and immorality abides - dark times :
* Gay Foreplay Taught In School In Maine!! video of Paul Begley
* EU budget talks for 2013 collapse
* Mass Animal Die-offs and Bible Prophecy
* BREAKING: MASSIVE RIOTS HIT MADRID, SPAIN
* ISRAEL "Hamas Leader Killed" (LIVE Video) Prophecy!
* The Anti Christ revealed - Bible Prophecy !
My personal belief ,the AntiChrist hasn't been revealed as the falling away hasn't
happened yet or the global need for peace ,perhaps a world war yet to happen.The "falling away" translated to greek means "departure" by which pre-tribulation rapture believing christians do believe it is and not alone attrbuted to people leaving the Christian faith .
Anyway , many speculations abound who the antichrist is.This video is one example ,
perhaps it holds water but AC is yet to be revealed in the future. He may not be as we thought .
I am not looking forward to see the Antichrist - Not in my dreams to be around at that time
to see him reigning in control of the global system . What Bible scholars had seen is the one world
global system as spoken in Revelations and it would not be any coincidence the world condition today
is heading to .Many world leaders are advocating for one world monetary system ,even the Vatican
calling for it.
* The Mark of the Beast ~ Today's Technology & Bible Prophecy
* Big Brother UK: 8 million children recorded on massive secret database
* UK classrooms may teach students about Internet porn - What ?!!!!
* Prophecy in the News: Cosmic Codes / Bible codes Interesting video !
* Signs of the Times with L.A. Marzulli Also talks about the BBC documentary about two strange women " Living in the fast lane ".
* "Belgium Will Become an Islamic State" and who's next ? This is truly a prophetic sign of the times coming to happen when real Christians will get more persecuted and sentenced even to death .
* New Euro Currency Shows Woman Riding the Beast
* Petitions seeking White House approval to ‘secede’ now come from 47 states
* More Layoffs at many companies : cite economy and Obama care as reasons
* We are Preparing for Massive Civil War, Says DHS Informant
* How fraudsters use your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages to build a jigsaw and steal your identity ~ This proves my point .If you ever find me on facebook , I methamorphosed into bearded man in his 60's.
* Google: Surveillance 'is on the rise'
* There Will Be War In The Middle East
* First three Gaza missiles hit Tel Aviv. Israel drafts 30,000 reservists
Israel and Hamas compete for EU sympathy ~ The Bible tells whose side the west will be on . Israel will be left alone soon , in solo to fight the war . God bless Israel and always.
* Over 1.2 million signatures/Obama Supporters call for Arrests/Deportation!!
* 2 rockets explode near Jerusalem
* "BREAKING: Jerusalem Hit By Rocket"
Of those who understand ,please pray for Israel .
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Many of us may think it would not touch us if the middleast burns ,but take note mega inflation will happen ,perhaps will trigger global economic collapse . Can you cycle 60 miles to work 5 x a week when price of oil shoot up sky high ?
You may have resources enough to feed your family but think of others who will not have enough and will starve during the crisis .Have reflection of what is going on in some countries in EU ,example is Greece ,it breaks my heart .When people don't have enough and living for survival - try to figure out great social upheaval / cause and effect , surely will create an increase in criminalities ,lootings ,robberies and all evils,"where love of many will grow cold " as spoken in the Bible . Apart from the imminent nuclear threat ,some countries so involve with middleast affair ,including the country where I live in ,probability we might burn as well .But fear not if you have Yeshua or Jesus .
Hey doom and gloom again , for those critical of my postings and who just want to hear every rosy side of things ,well you have the choice to bury your head in the sand -- but it's rather good to be aware of what is to come and waking up others and as many into awareness than having pleasure of seeing others still sleeping / being caught up by hell of surprise unprepared .If it will not happen soon then many will be relieved but if this things spoken happens sooner ,it's good to be ready at all times .The most significant point is spiritual preparedness above prepping to save our physical bodies. Submitting ones life to Jesus ( no religion involve ) ,having personal relationship with Jesus is our way to eternal salvation .It's asking Jesus to come into our hearts and true repentance of our sins, and we're save in Christ. Jesus died for humanity for everyone to be save,for those who accept Him , the only sacrificial lamb of God to die once and for all .
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Location :
Nile River
Luxor ,Egypt ( 2009 )
White - faced Scops Owl - Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, Stonham Barns, Suffolk, England - Monday April Thirteenth 2009.
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Well, for those interested I was beaten by a blinking snail in the BBC photography competition yesterday...I spend ages capturing the perfect moment when a gull is millie seconds from hitting the water, requiring awesome timing and luck as well as perfect focusing from distance....when it would appear, all I had to do was go into the garden and find a slow moving snail...Hmmmm!!!...There's noooooooo justice in the Universe, moi sour grapes...you bettcha....lol
Mind you, it's the other people who entered images I feel sorry for, because there were thousands of better shots then the one that won...I demand a recount..lol
Anyhoo, that's enough of my bitterness..lol...the sun is shining, the sky is blue...so I am going to make the most of the good weather and head off into Richmond Park today, maybe I'll see some Red Deer...who knows...wish me luck..:)
Oh..and despite the title of this image, I was told at the Raptor display, that Owls are in fact very stupid..lol...they have very small brains and can't do much more then be very good at flying and catching food...apart from that, I wouldn't recommend you getting them to do your taxes...lol
OK...I hope everybody has a wonderfully sunny weekend wherever you may be
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ~ Scops-owls are Strigidae (typical owls) belong to the genus Otus. Approximately 45 living species are known, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered every few years or so, especially in Indonesia. For most of the 20th century, this genus included the American screech-owls which are now again separated in Megascops based on a range of behavioral, biogeographical, morphological and DNA sequence data.
Scops-owls in the modern sense are restricted to the Old World, except for a single North American species - the Flammulated Owl - that is only provisionally placed here and is likely to be moved out of Otus eventually. See below for details.
As usual for owls, female scops-owls are usually larger than the males of their species, with owls of both sexes being compact in size and shape. All of the birds in this genus are small and agile. Scops-owls are colored in various brownish hues, sometimes with a lighter underside and/or face, which helps to camouflage them against the bark of trees. Some are polymorphic, occurring in a greyish- and a reddish-brown morph.
Ecology and behaviour ~ Scops-owls hunt from perches in semi-open landscapes. They prefer areas which contain old trees with hollows; these are home to their prey which includes insects, reptiles, small mammals such as bats and mice and other small birds. The owls will also eat earthworms, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. Scops-owls have a good sense of hearing which helps them locate their prey in any habitat. They also possess well-developed raptorial claws and a curved bill, both of which are used for tearing their prey into pieces small enough to swallow easily.
Scops-owls are primarily solitary birds. Most species lay and incubate their eggs in a cavity nest which was previously made by another animal. During the incubation period, the male will feed the female. These birds are monogamous, with biparental care, and only fledge one young per year. The young of most scops-owls are altricial to semialtricial.
As opposed to screech-owls, scops-owls have only a single type of call. This consists of a series of whistles or high-pitched hoots, given with a frequency of 4 calls per second or less, or of a single, drawn-out whistle. Calls differ widely between species in type and pitch, and in the field are often the first indication of these birds' presence, as well as the most reliable means to distinguish between species. Some, like the recently-described Serendib Scops-owl (Otus thilohoffmanni), were discovered because their vocalizations were unfamiliar to experts in bird-calls.
Taxonomy and systematics ~ A well-camouflaged African Scops-owl, Otus senegalensisDue to a nomenclatorial dispute, the generic name Scops is not used by either the scops- or the screech-owls (which when only a few species were known were placed together), nor by any other animal. In 1760, Mathurin Jacques Brisson had established the genus Scopus for the hammerkop, a peculiar African bird. Paul Möhring in 1758 had already used the name Scops for this bird however, and believing this name to be valid Morten Thrane Brünnich replaced Scopus with it in 1772. The scops- and screech-owls, which were placed in Otus by Thomas Pennant in 1769 (as he too believed that Moehring's Scops was valid) were moved to Scops by Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. Lorenz Oken in 1817 changed this to Scopus, also under the impression that Scops was the older name for the hammerkop, and valid.
However, the names established by Moehring pre-date the official start date of Linnean nomenclature in zoology as regulated by the ICZN, which is December 31, 1758 - the last day of the year in which the 10th edition of Linné's Systema Naturae was published. Hence, Scopus as established by Brisson is indeed the valid generic name of the hammerkop, and the first valid use of Scops was in 1772 by Brünnich - which according to modern rules of zoological nomenclature was unjustified however, as the name he believed to be reinstating had never been technically valid in the first place.
Evolution ~ The evolutionary relationships of the scops- and screech-owls are not entirely clear. What is certain is that they are very closely related; they may be considered sister lineages which fill essentially the same ecological niche in their allopatric ranges. A screech-owl fossil from the Late Pliocene of Kansas - which is almost identical to Eastern and Western Screech-owls - indicate a long-standing presence of these birds in the Americas, while coeval scops-owl fossils very similar to the Eurasian Scops-owl have been found at S'Onix on the Spanish island Majorca. The scops-and-screech-owl lineage probably evolved at some time during the Miocene (like most other genera of typical owls), and the three (see below) modern lineages separated perhaps roughly 5 million years ago. Note that there is no reliable estimate of divergence time, as Otus and Megascops are osteologically very similar, as is to be expected from a group that has apparently conserved its ecomorphology since before its evolutionary radiation. As almost all scops- and screech-owls today, their common ancestor was in all probability already a small owl, with ear tufts and at least the upper tarsus ("leg") feathered.
However that may be, the hypothesis that the group evolved from Old World stock[5] is tentatively supported by cytochrome b sequence data.
”E.M.M.I. stands for Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier. It can procedurally modify and enhance its own capabilities.
I estimate a 99% probability of death if an E.M.M.I. captures you.
You are faced with overwhelming power. Accept your helplessness.”
More photos in the album.
Villains of Metroid
During the 1950s farmers in the United Kingdom in need of high-power tractors had few options. Essex farmer George Pryor developed an ingenious solution to the problem by creating his own tractor. He did this by purchasing two Fordson tractors, removing the front wheels and axles and linking the two by means of a turntable which provided the steering action powered by hydraulic rams. This left him with a double-engined four-wheel—drive tractor capable of producing more power and outperforming any of the conventional tractors on the UK market at the time.
The main disadvantage with the Triple-D was the lack of suitable implements for such a powerful tractor, this meant that Ernest Doe & Sons also had to develop and build a range of implements to sell with the tractors.
Other disadvantages stemmed from the use of two engines, this made controlling the tractor more difficult because of the need for two gearboxes. There were two engines and gearboxes to maintain and repair and the probability of breakdowns was increased.
I have my Reliability Analysis and Structural Safety midterm in 5 hours. I'm sitting here in the library trying to concentrate! Haha, as you see not so successful in that. Wish me luck.
And seriously why is it that everytime that I have a test it gets sunny outside, just to make me feel more miserable?
Hey Guys!
Here is my submission for The Survivors Tournament #3, Mission on Mimban. The requirements were two air support speeds and terrain groundwork. This was an awesome challenge I truly enjoyed the building process and was able to push the limits of the style I typically produce. Thanks to all the Survivors team and a special shout out to MWBricks and Director KW. Give them a follow and feel free to comment. We love to hear from the community! God Bless!
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Planet: Mimban
Location: Near a Forgotten Imperial Base
//Log Entry\\
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The mission was simple, the objective was to destroy ground cannons, the probability of survival ...not so high.
Other Survivor groups had very successful undertakings on Coruscant and have those Imps on the run. Intel soon reached Zach, our leader.
They were fleeing to Mimban and had hidden at a forgotten Imperial base.
We didn’t think twice about it and were debriefed immediately. The mission was to take out the ground cannons while only using limited air vehicles in order to avoid too much attention. As the leader of Ryder Squadron, I called a meeting and asked who wanted to come along as we needed two members to stay back and guard the base.
“You know me Jefe, count me in,” Pancho said confidently.
“Me as well,” Banji echoed.
“Ok, that means DJ and Blue will stay back and guard,” I said while I turned around to begin and gather my stuff.
“Gear up boys we leave within the hour”
As to not bore you with the sores of details. We grabbed two air speeders and snuck aboard a transit on its way to Mimban. Once back on land we snuck off and rode towards the communicated coordinates and even before arriving we could see the aftermath of so many wars. The footprint of control and demand all over the muddy dirt.
We could now see the cannons off in the distance and slowed down our speed to stop and take.
“Pancho, you think you can stay on the ground. Take out a couple of troops and give us time to attack from above.” I asked already knowing what he would say to me.
“Danger is my middle name. These pobre troops won't know what hit’em”
I nodded as Pancho got off and began to make his way towards the machines.
“Alright Banji, that leaves you and me to deal damage from the skies”
“What is your plan?” He asked me.
I thought for a moment then looked back at him with my mind decided.
“Not die”
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Thanks for reading and stopping by! I pray that you have enjoyed this build!
Have a great day and God Bless!
47/365
Lighting:
1 Canon Speedlight 430ex
Cactus Remote flash trigger
Westcott collapsible umbrella kit
Flash placed behind subject at a 45 degree angle
These are some of the stones I collected from river bed of the Ganges and clicked there only :) In most probability because of force of the flow, all stones of Ganges are rounded and with silk like surface. The bed where I tracked down was full of different stones in colours, size.. Have brought back few of them and are now on my table permanently. Reminding me of the lovely Ganges..
I had completed my mission at the annual Twins Days Festival by successfully capturing both a female and a male set of twins (check out those two previous stranger portraits for a description of the mind blowing scene that was the Twins Days Festival). I was essentially on my way toward the exit when I passed a picnic table that caused me to do a double take….no, a triple take. There, eating their lunch, were three beautiful young ladies all donning the same dress. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that they were triplets. Although I had already put my camera away for the day, the enticement of this stranger portrait was too great to pass up. I had to get their portrait.
However, they were in the middle of their lunch, and I maintain that it is bad form to interrupt someone’s meal. Therefore I went into stalker mode and camped out a fair distance away from them patiently waiting for them to finish eating. As I was sitting there, a voice over the PA system announced that a group photo of all the twins in attendance (hundreds, if not thousands) was to take place in ten minutes. I could see the flow of the crowd shifting toward the location of the group photo and I figured my subjects may soon be headed that way as well. They continued their meal, but once the PA announcer called out the five minute warning, the girls wrapped up their lunch and I could tell they were about to be on the move. I had to act quickly because I feared that if they entered the group photo area (an area I would not be allowed in), I might lose this opportunity for good.
I approached them, gave a quick explanation of my purpose, and then requested thirty seconds to do a portrait. All three of them were very sweet and didn’t think twice (or is that thrice) about posing for me. Obviously I would have preferred to shoot them somewhere else besides a wide open area in bright midday sun, but that option was simply not in the cards for this shot. I would have to be happy with the shot that I could get…. Truth is that I am thrilled to have this shot.
Although our encounter was brief, we did have a few moments to chat. I have to say that it was quite the mind trip to be conversing with three beautiful girls that were exact replicas of one another. It was a bit disconcerting as I felt I was in some sort of Twilight Zone movie scene. I asked one of the girls (sorry, I’m not sure which one) if they were identical triplets, and she confirmed that yes, they were of the rare, identical variety of triplets. I retorted that the probability of that occurrence must be astronomical, and she replied, ”Yeah, something like one in a million. I’m not really sure.”
We parted ways, but I continued to be curious by the fact that they were unsure about the statistical probability of their birth circumstance (it seemed to me a stat they probably would have been aware of their entire lives). Therefore I did a little research once I got home. I was surprised to learn that there really is no scientific consensus on the probability of identical triplets. As far as I can tell, this occurs somewhere between 1 in every 60 thousand births and 1 in every 2 million births (quite a wide range). One statistic I am fairly sure of is that this is the first portrait of identical triplets in the 100 Strangers group, which means they are 1 of about 52 thousand portraits in our group. So yes, I am triumphantly planting my flag and staking my claim to this milestone : the first, the best, and the only portrait of identical triplets in the 100 Strangers Group. ***MAJESTIC ROAR*** Who loves yah, baby?
Check out the rest of the stranger street portraits in my project at Paco's 100 Strangers Project and find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.