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Proposed but not adopted Northern liveried 156464 at Kirkham & Wesham on the 16:09 Blackpool North - Buxton on 29/08/05.
24 heures du Mans 2009 :
Concept Citroen GT lors de la parade des pilotes.
Concept Citroen GT during the drivers parade.
The project proposes to reestablish the rivers course on the surface by the symbolic creation of two riparian forest on the edges of the park. The presence of a long stone ribbon, which runs from the theater to the beach, evokes the flow of the forgotten river. This constitutes the main promenade, longitudinally bisecting the park. The central part has a wide green carpet on which rectangular mineral spaces are arranged delineating recreational activities areas for children. A large mirror of water and an array of misting fountains take place on either side of the Place Massena [landezine.com]
Early in 1938, Martin-Myles proposed a design for a (relatively) light weight fighter to the Achtfadische Government. It was to be powered by two 1,200 hp engines, with propellers geared to rotate in opposite directions to cancel out the effects of each engine's torque, promising high-speed, and an outstanding rate of climb.
The prototype first flew in June 1938, and fulfilled all of the above promises, before entering a flat spin and crashing. The pilot escaped, only suffering minor injuries. Further testing and tweaking resulted in the adoption of the production model, now named Tempest.
Although handling was as expected, it proved to be quite a handful, and pilot ergonomics left much to be desired. It was accepted into service, despite its shortcomings, mainly because of its impressive armament, consisting of one 20mm autocannon and four 13mm machine guns, and also because of its performance.
When the first examples appeared in the hands of the pilots, lots of them had nose art applied by the local artistic mechanic. This, combined with the bright markings that were briefly adopted by the high-altitude fighters/interceptors, made them quite popular with both the flying and non-flying audience.
Inspired by the Grumman XF5F and subsequent XP-50
The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. These objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. It came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: a "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the arts, such as Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, Charles Alphand, and it was published by Le Temps on 14 February 1887.
" We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal."
Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?" These criticisms were also dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, ironically saying, "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and he explained that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before, and construction on the tower was already under way."
Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel was similarly unworried, pointing out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A design livery for Mersan, link below shows other option that they can choose from. I have also added logo and typeface design for rebranding...
www.flickr.com/photos/44887141@N03/6132269043/in/photostream
www.flickr.com/photos/44887141@N03/6132268517/in/photostream
www.flickr.com/photos/44887141@N03/6132268067/in/photostream
Take a glimpse on my ACTUAL WORK
Transport for London has launched a far reaching consultation that proposes to amend many central London bus routes to reflect the change in demand that The Elizabeth Line will bring.
My favourite change that is suggested is the one for this route. I have always thought that an obvious link missing in London is a route that runs along Park Lane and Piccadilly, bearing in mind there are so many that use Oxford Street and Regent Street. The proposal for route 6 diverts it in central London to use those roads. It will also sort this route out for when Oxford Street is inevitably pedestrianised at some time in the (likely) not too distant future.
consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/bus-routes-6-15-and-n15/
In this photo, VWH2120 is seen at Marble Arch back in July.
Young and Mackenzie architectural plan of Townhall Ramelton, County Donegal (proposed)
Front and Side Elevation
Date: c.1890-1900
PRONI Ref: D2194/2018EX_006
FACT.
ALL atheistic, natural origin of the universe scenarios are false. The conclusive proof is presented here.
The proof is categorised as follows:
1. Contingent
2. Temporal
3. Temporary
The fact that EVERY natural entity or event is all three
(contingent, temporal and temporary) definitively rules out a natural entity as the origin or first cause of the universe.
The universe cannot possibly be the result of purely natural processes as atheism requires.
_________________________________________
Contingent.
All, natural entities/events are contingent.
They all require causes, and the scope, extent and potential of their properties/abilities relies entirely on their cause/s.
Their effects/properties are limited to the adequacy of their cause/s. They cannot exceed, in any respect, the abilities or properties of that which causes them.
This is supported by the Law of Cause and Effect.
'Every natural effect requires a cause' AND ‘An effect cannot be greater than its cause/s’.
A first cause of everything cannot be contingent, it must be entirely autonomous and non-contingent. Not reliant on, nor limited by, any preceding cause or causes. It cannot be inferior, in any respect, to anything else that ultimately exists (entirely self-sufficient & self-reliant).
Therefore, the first cause of everything cannot be a natural entity or event. This rules out every, proposed, natural origin of the universe scenario as a possible, first cause.
Logically, by virtue of the first cause being FIRST, it had to be uncaused (non-contingent). If it was caused it couldn't be FIRST, as it would be preceded by another cause..
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Temporal.
All, natural entities/events are temporal. They all have a beginning within a physical, time frame. They all begin to exist at some point in time. That which is temporal requires a cause. Therefore, a first cause of everything cannot be a natural entity of event.
A first cause of everything cannot be temporal, it cannot have had a beginning and cannot be subject to time. If any proposed, first cause began to exist at some time in the past, it would have required a preceding cause for its own existence, and therefore could not be the 'FIRST' cause. This rules out all natural scenarios, such as as a Big Bang explosion or a singularity, as possible, first causes. They are all temporal, and that is a fact.
The first cause has to be eternally and infinitely, self-existent, not temporal.
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Temporary.
All, natural entities/events are temporary.
As well as having a beginning within a physical time frame, they also face an eventual demise at some point in time.
This is enshrined in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, or more specifically, the law of entropy.
All, natural things deteriorate, and will ultimately come to an end.
Therefore, the first cause of everything cannot be a natural, entity or event. That is a fact.
The first cause of everything cannot be temporary, it cannot be subject to entropy and deterioration through the passage of time, because its powers and potential would have diminished and ultimately ceased to exist at some point in an eternal past. It could not have survived, or have had the sustained power, to be the first cause.
And an infinitely, long chain of natural causes and effects is impossible. Because, as each cause in the chain is subject to entropy, the chain as a whole would also be subject to entropy, thus deteriorating and diminishing in potential, over time.
_________________________________________
Conclusion:
Logic, supported by science, reveals that the first cause of everything cannot possibly be a natural entity or event. Therefore, ALL atheistic, natural origin of the universe scenarios are patently false. That is a fact.
The first cause of everything HAD to be a supernatural entity (a Creator God). There is no other logical or credible option.
The Biblical claim; the fool hath said in his heart “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1) is wholly justified and true.
Only a fool would attempt to claim otherwise.
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The implications of the Law of Cause and Effect clarified.
Consider this short chain of causes and effects:
A causes B, - B causes C, - C causes D, - D causes E.
'A, B, C & D' are all causes and may all look similar, but they are not, there is an enormous and crucial difference between them.
Causes B, C & D are fundamentally different from cause A.
Why?
Because A is the very first cause and thus had no previous cause. It exists without a cause. It doesn’t rely on anything else for its existence, it is completely independent of causes - while B, C, D & E would not exist without A. They are entirely dependent on A.
Causes; B, C & D are also effects, whereas A is not an effect, only a cause.
So we can say that the first cause ‘A’ is both self-existent and necessary. It is necessary because the rest of the chain of causes and effects could not exist without it. We also have to say that the subsequent causes and effects B, C, D and E are all contingent. That is; they are not self-existent they all depend entirely on other causes to exist.
We can also say that A is eternally self-existent, i.e. it has always existed, it had no beginning. Why? Because if A came into being at some point, there must have been something other than itself that brought it into being … which would mean A was not the first cause (A could not create A) … the something that brought A into being would be the first cause. In which case, A would be contingent and no different from B, C, D & E.
We can also say that A is adequate to produce all the properties of B, C, D & E.
Why?
Well in the case of E we can see that it relies entirely on D for its existence, E can in no way be superior to D because D had to contain within it everything necessary to produce E. The same applies to D it cannot be superior to C, but furthermore neither E or D can be superior to C, because both rely on C for their existence, and C had to contain everything necessary to produce D & E.
Likewise with B, which is responsible for the existence of C, D & E.
As they all depend on A for their existence and all their properties, abilities and potentials, none can be superior to A whether singly or combined. A had to contain everything necessary to produce B, C, D & E including all their properties, abilities and potentials.
Thus we deduce that; nothing in the universe can be superior in any way to the very first cause of the universe, because the whole universe, and all material things that exist, depend entirely on the abilities and properties of the first cause to produce them.
So to sum up … a first cause must be uncaused, must have always existed, without any deterioration, and cannot be in any way inferior to all subsequent causes and effects. In other words, the first cause of the universe must be eternally, self-sufficient, self-existent and omnipotent (greater than everything that exists).
It must be non-contingent, non-temporal and non-temporary. No natural entity can have those attributes, that is why a Supernatural, Creator God MUST exist.
_________________________________________
Polytheism? Why only one God?
What about polytheism, can there be more than one God or Creator.
It is obvious there can only be one, supernatural, first cause.
The first cause is infinite - and logically, there cannot be more than one infinite entity.
If there were two infinite entities, for example, A and B. The qualities and perfections that are the property of B would be a limitation on the qualities and perfections of A. and vice versa, so neither would be infinite.
If A & B had identical qualities and perfections they would not be two different entities, they would be identical and therefore the same entity, i.e. a single, infinite, first cause. So there can be only one infinite being or entity, only one supernatural, first cause and creator of the universe.
So when atheists keep repeating the claim - that there is no reason to believe the monotheistic, Christian God is any different from the multiple, gods of pagan religions, it simply displays their ignorance and lack of reasoning.
For this reason the Christian Trinity is not 3 gods, but rather 3 aspects or facets of the same, single God:
"I am in the Father and the Father is in me" John:14-20
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Supernaturalism, naturalism or magic?
Does the first cause of everything have to be a supernatural one? Or is this idea (as atheists claim) just a desperate attempt by ignorant people to fill a gap in scientific knowledge, by saying - God did it?
What does 'supernatural' mean? It means something outside of nature. Something which cannot be explained by science or by natural processes.
The origin of the Universe must be a supernatural event.
The origin of the universe cannot be explained by genuine science, natural laws or by natural processes. And that is an undeniable FACT.
Why?
Because EVERY possible explanation by natural processes (naturalism) violates both the fundamental principle of the scientific method - the Law of Cause and Effect - and other natural laws.
Hence, the first cause, by virtue of the fact that it cannot be explained by science or natural processes, automatically qualifies as a supernatural entity/event (supernaturalism).
To insist that the first cause must be a natural entity or event is to invoke a magical explanation, not a scientific one. The only choice, therefore is between a supernatural first cause or a magical one? A natural event that is purported to defy natural laws and scientific principles can only be described as MAGIC. And that is exactly what atheists propose. They cynically dress up their belief - that nature can evade natural laws - as science, but genuine science certainly cannot contemplate a causeless, natural event or entity, genuine scientists do not look for non-causes.
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Is atheist naturalism science or just paganism naturalism re-invented?
No one has ever proposed a natural explanation for the origin of the universe that does not violate the law of cause and effect and other natural laws. But, whenever atheists are challenged about this fact, they always make the excuse that the laws of nature/physics somehow DID NOT APPLY to their proposed, natural origin scenario.
The most, well known case of this excuse is the alleged 'Singularity' which, it has been claimed, preceded the Big Bang. Remember, it is claimed to be a "one-off event where the laws of physics did not apply." A natural event that defied natural laws! - That used to be called 'magic', before atheist, so-called 'scientists' hi-jacked science with their religion of naturalism - the worship of an All Powerful, autonomous, Mother Nature.
Excuses aren't science. A natural event that violates natural laws is by definition, not possible. There are no ifs, buts or maybes, natural things are bound by natural laws, without question.
Natural laws describe the inherent properties of natural entities and how they react according to those properties. They cannot exceed, in any way, the scope of behaviour dictated and limited by their properties. The whole basis of science is that every natural entity/event is contingent - has to have an ADEQUATE CAUSE.
The idea of 'laws not applying' to a natural event, is not science. It is just fantasy.
The Law of Cause and Effect is more than just an ordinary law, it is an overriding, fundamental principle of existence, not just a property of matter/energy like the Law of Gravity. It has been called the law of laws, because it applies to everything temporal; i.e. everything which begins to exist. Which means it applies to everything, except the single, first cause of everything.
If the origin of the universe is inexplicable to science, within the accepted framework of normal, natural processes and natural laws, then it is a supernatural event.
You cannot claim something as a natural event that violates natural laws, (i.e. exceeds the scope of its potential based on its own intrinsic properties). For that reason it is inexplicable to science.
In fact. to claim that something natural can defy natural laws is anti-science.
Those who promote such nonsense are enemies of science.
ALL NATURAL explanations for the origin of the universe violate the Law of Cause and Effect and other natural laws.
Conclusion: the atheist belief in a natural explanation for the origin of the universe (i.e. that Mother Nature did it) is impossible - according to science.
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Did natural laws exist at the beginning?
An argument, often used by atheists, that we don’t know what natural laws existed at the beginning of the universe is a desperate attempt to evade the fact that natural laws are fatal to a natural origin (or natural, first cause) of the universe.
It is a nonsensical argument because, as I have already stated, natural laws describe the operation/behaviour of natural entities, according to their inherent properties, those properties don’t change.
The Law of Cause and Effect is exceptional. Nothing can evade the law of cause and effect.
Even if we accept the bizarre possibility that some natural laws could have been different at (or prior to) the beginning of the universe, it is irrelevant to the Law of Cause and Effect. That law is an exception.
Why?
Because, as previously explained, the Law of Cause and Effect is in a different category from all other laws, which are based solely on the inherent properties of natural things.
It would be better described as an eternal truth and fundamental principle, rather than just a law.
It is a unique and overriding principle of existence, different from other physical laws which are just pertinent to, and properties of, natural entities. It has rightly been called the ‘law of laws’.
Science (which deals exclusively with natural things), quite rightly, accepts the principle of causality as a natural law, and the scientific method itself is dependent on it being true.
We know the Law of Cause and Effect cannot be different, or non-operational, under any circumstances. That is a fact, because it necessarily applies to ALL temporal things.
Unlike other laws, it is not based on any particular, physical properties of nature, it is based only on the temporal character of nature.
Natural things are all temporal and nothing that is temporal can ever escape from that overriding principle. That would also include any temporal, spiritual entities, such as angels or demons.
Everything with a temporal character, wherever and whenever it exists, is subject to the Law of Cause and Effect, . There cannot be any exception to this, and that is why we can rely 100% on the scientific method, which depends on seeking and exploring causes.
Everything that has a beginning is subject to the Law of Cause and Effect.
So, even if the argument that "we don't know what laws existed at the beginning of the universe" is correct, it cannot apply to the principle of causality.
The principle of causality had to exist at the beginning. It is an eternal principle and truth, which can never be different, under any circumstances.
FACT: To reiterate; if something is temporal, then it is subject to the Law of Cause and Effect.
So, it is not possible to propose a natural, origin scenario that can escape the Law of Cause and Effect. All natural entities and occurrences are temporal and, therefore, are all subject to cause and effect.
The only thing not subject to causality is the first cause, because the first cause is not temporal, it has to be non-contingent, that is - infinite and eternally self-existent.
The first cause is the ONLY exception to causality, nothing else can be an exception, everything else (including other supernatural entities, such as angels) is contingent and owes its existence to a cause, which ultimately originates with the uncaused, first cause (God).
Conclusion: A Creator God MUST exist. It is not sensible, and certainly not scientific, to deny that fact.
The poison in our midst - progressive politics.
www.flickr.com/photos/truth-in-science/47971464278/in/pho...
Dr James Tour - 'The Origin of Life' - Abiogenesis decisively refuted.
youtu.be/B1E4QMn2mxk
"Proposed Legislation Would Add New Scrutiny of Wall Street Regulators" by VICTORIA FINKLE via NYT t.co/PwVqwDFsoT (via Twitter twitter.com/felipemassone/status/689574683155566593)
Doomed because of development- proposed for removal for better car access and a new carpark beyond..
.
The National Trust citation says:.
`Contribution to landscape- Outstanding aesthetic significance.
.
These two rows and two stands of 33 European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) treesare significant for aesthetic and historic reasons at Regional level. After these Beeches were planted in 1935, by gardener Joseph Wilson, the trees rapidly became an integral part of the Burnham Beeches estate and provide a fundamental contribution to the landscape design of that grand property. This planting of Beech trees has become a landmark in the Dandenong Ranges and along Sherbrooke Road, which is a key tourist route for local and international visitors. This is the only known large planting of European Beech trees in Victoria and complements Beech tree planting in the adjacent Burnham Beeches and Alfred Nicholas Gardens. Only four other individual Beech specimens are classified in Victoria...'
State Library of Queensland
Creator: Saunders, Edward Lieutenant-Colonel architect.
Location: Brisbane, Queensland.
Description: The collection includes six architectural drawings for the proposed Salvation Army's People's Palace, Brisbane, 1910; four architectural drawings relating to proposed additions to the People's Palace ranging from 1912 to 1915; and one undated plan showing basement and ground floor details. All plans were drawn by Lieutenant-Colonel Saunders, the Salvation Army's architect and secretary for property affairs.
View the original image at the State Library of Queensland: collections.slq.qld.gov.au/viewer/IE3004228.
Date: 1910-1915.
More Information in our blog: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/peoples-palace
Copyright status: Out of copyright.
Conditions of use: You are free to use without permission. Please attribute the State Library of Queensland.
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, officially known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King and locally nicknamed "Paddy's Wigwam", is the seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool in Liverpool, England.The Grade II* Metropolitan Cathedral is one of Liverpool's many listed buildings.
The cathedral's architect, Frederick Gibberd, was the winner of a worldwide design competition. Construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1967. Earlier designs for a cathedral were proposed in 1933 and 1953, but none were completed.
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral is located on Mount Pleasant, L35TQ. Located next to the University of Liverpool which is also known for its architecture.
Proposed engineering works at Liverpool South Parkway Interchange along with major roadworks at Smithdown Place meant that the 2016 Merseyside Transport Trust Classic Liverpool Bus Running Day could not follow its usual format and instead it was centred on Liverpool’s Pier Head. It was from here that buses from the Trust’s collection, assisted by Ribble, Crosville and MPTE buses provided by our friends operated free services over a wide range of routes, some of which have not been covered on previous Running Days.
Over the years since the Number 1 bus route was introduced to replace the Liverpool Overhead Railway’s service, there have been numerous variations & deviations of the route from Seaforth to Dingle however it was not until 1983 that it was extended to Aigburth which was where our 1957 AEC Regent V is seen heading on Mill Street.
Behind the Regent is The Florence Institute for Boys, dating back to 1889, The Florrie was built by local philanthropist Bernard Hall a former Magistrate and Mayor of Liverpool, Bernard Hall as “an acceptable place of recreation and instruction for the poor and working boys of this district of the city” a role it carried out for generations until its closure in the 1980s. Following many years of dereliction and near destruction by a fire this fine building has recently been restored and is now a community heritage venue.
lpfw.org/forest-service-to-expedite-logging-and-habitat-c...
filmed back in summer of 2016
Day 25 of 40
Morning was still and silent. After photographing sunrise, I made myself breakfast. As I was eating, the click-clack of carbide tipped hiking poles and boots upon rocks broke the silence mingled with the sound of breathing. Looking up I saw a lone backpacker pass by my campsite from a distance, he rounded the lake and continued over the horizon. He never saw me and not a word was spoken. Then the silence returned.
After packing up I took one last picture of Cotton Lake, one that surpassed the photos I got of the alpine glow. flic.kr/p/SV5TK3
Then, I began hiking, I rounded the lake following the route the other backpacker had taken. The meadowlands became lightly forested. The few trees then dissolved into glacier polished, slab covered mountainside. Dark clouds moved in and filled the bowl of the sky; a gentle breeze rose up and the scent of rain danced upon the air. In the valley below me lay a meadow (named Horse Heaven, 9680, on my map) surrounded by thick forest, hewn in two by Fish Creek snaking through the middle, glinting in rays of sun that spilled though a hole in the clouds. flic.kr/p/SRPBgL
The glacial polished slabs were smooth and slippery, even when dry. I tried to find a route down the slabs that mostly avoided the smooth, shiny sections where a slip was guaranteed. The clouds were struggling to rain, and I got a few brief moments of sprinkles, but none of it lasted. Then off in the distance, a faint, low rumble of thunder resonated, fully and deeply within the granite landscape.
As I navigated the slabs, forest once again closed in, this time thicker than before. The slabs became steeper and more broken, until the slabs ended and soil and pine needles took their place with a few boulders strewn about.
I then reached a gorge with a babbling creek flowing through it. I walked along the edge looking for a way down to the bottom. Upstream from me, a waterfall cascaded down over multiple levels. I worked my way towards it, still looking for a way down to the creek. I finally found a place that provided an easy, safe climb down, but I still had to use all four limbs.
Once at the bottom, I crossed the creek and followed it downstream towards the meadow. I wove my way between trees, through ferns and flowers and around thorny goose berry bushes, snacking on their berries as I went. The pine trees gathered thicker the further downstream I traveled. Then out of the random chaos of trees appeared order; the trees grew up arranged in a circle, the ground cleared of all vegetation in the middle.
Here I stopped, I dropped my pack, sat down in the middle of the circle and took a moment to meditate. Time slowed down and a deeper peace fell over me. The nearby creek murmured, a breeze whispered through the branches, a few more brief moments of rain fell gently upon my skin and a second distant low rumble of thunder rolled.
Then in that moment inspiration struck, I pulled out my notebook and wrote:
...
The Sacred Grove
The ancient elders gather
Encircled in a sacred grove
Rain falls entwined with thunder
Roots below, branches above
The murmuring creek, the whispering wind
Ancient wisdom spoken
For those who know how to listen
...
After writing that down I took a little more time to sit and take in the energy of the place. Then I stood back up, put my pack back on, thanked the trees and continued on my way.
Not long after leaving the "sacred" grove behind, the gorge opened and the trees spilled out into a flat open area, then they suddenly ended. I crossed the tree line and entered into the meadow called Horse Heaven. The creek I was following slowed down and spread out into many rivulets, lazily drifting their way over to merged with Fish Creek. Wild onions lined the creek, their wonderful sent wafting to my nose. I pick some to munch on now and tie a bundle to my pack for later. I also refilled my water bottles.
Navigating my way across the many rivulets while trying to keep my shoes dry was nearly impossible, so I decided to just take them off and path-find barefoot. The soft, cushiony grass and cool flowing water felt refreshing on my feet. Once I reach the far side of the meadow and crossed Fish Creek a trail appeared. Here I put my shoes back on and followed the trail on a northwesterly route back into the forest on the opposite side from where I entered the meadow.
A bit later I reached a camping area and a group of people. They had entered at McGee Creek trailhead a few days ago, and had just come over McGee Pass. They asked me about the onions tied to my pack and I offered them some, but only one of them was adventurous enough to try one. After saying goodbye and happy trails I continued on.
A short distance later another meadow opened up on the right side of the trail, this one is called Tully Hole. On the far end of Tully Hole this trail merged with the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails (9520). From here I took the right fork and began climbing long switchbacks up towards Lake Virginia. As I climbed higher the gentle breeze grew stronger, gusting fiercely, becoming a rushing, roaring wind, that with each breath whipped the grasses bordering the trail and the branches of the trees that lined a creek that tumbled down from above. The clouds began to break, and where now rolling across the sky with their shadows chasing after them. This section of trail was heavily traveled and I came across many interesting people.
(I can now retire my Mono Divide map and begin using my Ansel Adams Wilderness map.)
Once I reached the top of the switchbacks the terrain leveled out and the trail took a pretty direct route to Lake Virginia (10338). The gusting wind was now blowing steadily and the large lake was covered in white caps, with foamy waves lapping the shore. After crossing a creek that flowed into the northeastern end of the lake I turned right, leaving the trail behind. I was once again cross-countying. I made my way between two mountains navigating through the hilly terrain between them. I passed a few small lakes and then pasted through an area littered with obsidian flakes, the shiny, black volcanic glass glinting in the sun, a remnant of ancient Paiute or Mono peoples that frequented this area, either as a seasonal home or as hunting grounds. Then I reach the first of the Glennette Lakes. Here I rested, and ate my last spoonful of peanut butter.
There is a mountain rising to my south whose summit is not on the Ansel Adams Wilderness map nor the Mono Pass map. I can see a patch of snow beneath its peak, half hidden behind a glacial bowl. It appears that there might be some interesting photo opportunities up there, so I have decided to climb up and see.
I left my pack where I rested and made my way towards the peak. The climb started on talus, then turned to slabs, then went back to talus. flic.kr/p/SXhNdS I could hear a stream of melt water flowing beneath the large jagged blocks. Hearing it made me hopeful that when I reached the bowl there would be a pond beneath a large snow patch or glacier with the towering peak looming over it. That would make an excellent photo, especially during alpine glow. When I reached the rim of the glacial bowl and gazed down into its heart, I was disappointed to see just more talus.
For whatever reason going down made the talus blocks way more unstable. There was one block, the size of a large tractor tire, that I gently touched with my foot to test its stability and it gave way; slowly at first as it slid over the polished block beneath it, then as it cleared that one it picked up speed as it started tumbling downhill, dislodging others as it went. The sound of granite on granite reverberated and a large cloud of dust billowed up. It was now a full-fledged rock slide. The rock that started it all hit another large, immovable boulder and with a loud distinct crack, split in two. Finally, they all came to rest upon the slabs below, but the echoes continued to bounce around for a few more seconds. I’m so glad I tested it first before putting all my weight on it. Now I’m not sure I want to continue down, I think I’ll just stay here... Carefully and slowly, I worked my way down, testing the stability of each boulder before I put weight on it. After the first one I caused a few more rock slides until I eventually reached the slabs. Beautiful stable slabs. I climb the rest of the way down following the sound of the water trickling beneath the talus until it broke through onto the surface. I followed the creek the rest of the way back to my gear.
I continued on my way to where I was going to spend the night and as I occasionally do while hiking I turned around to look back at where I had just been to see things from a different perspective and to see if there might be a good photo. This time as I turned around I saw a shadowy figure peering out from behind a rock watching me. It was not a backpacker because there were no features on it as it was only a dark, black mass and it was not an animal because it had a humanoid shape. As soon as I saw it, the spirit ducked back behind the rock. At this point a shiver ran down my spine and all my hairs stood on end.
I then said to the spirit, “I'm here, I mean no offense. What do you want?”
Then a wind picked up and on the breath of breeze I heard a word whispered in my ear, “Aho.”
It was spoken in an airy, wispy voice as wind would speak it but I heard it as clearly as though a person where standing next to me.
I was not sure what to make of it and I still had that uneasy feeling of being watched, so I quickly continued onward in the direction of Ram Lake.
The sun was sinking lower in the sky and sunset was drawing nearer. I worked my way through rolling meadows and meandering creeks and around the multiple Glen and Glennette Lakes. Finally, the sun sank behind the saw-toothed ridge that separated this basin from Duck and Pika Lake. I picked a spot on soft grass near a small "U" shaped pond with fish jumping, to set up camp. I never made it to Ram Lake but I really liked this spot. While I still had some time before the cloak of night descended I tried fishing, but once again I had no luck. I had one more night after this on trail before my next and final resupply and I had some extra meals so I decided to eat one instead of my usual Cliff Bar for dinner.
As I ate the sky darkened and the stars came out. The temperature was dropping quickly so I layered up. After eating I took a quick photo of the peak I climbed earlier when I caused the rock slide, as it still glowed in a faint pale light. Then, I crawled into my sleeping bag, beneath a million stars.
...
A year after I had finished this journey I went to the town of Bishop, California to visit the Paiute reservation's museum and visitor center to see if there was someone I could talk to about the encounter I had had at the Glennette Lakes. I was directed to Qwina who owns the only martial art studio in town and his wife, Irma, who runs a healing center out of the same building. I arrived there after the sun had set and while a Kenpo Karate class was going on in the background I spoke to him about what I had seen and heard while we sipped some home grown rose hip and elder berry herbal tea.
Qwina told me it was not uncommon for wilderness travelers to see spirits up in the high mountains, but most of the encounters were usually negative ones because the human would take an artifact that they had found. He told me of one particular time his wife, Irma, the Healer, had met with this one guy who had a large artifact sitting on his desk that he was very proud of. The guy had a broken leg and was experiencing a series of unfortunate events.
The first question that Irma asked him was, “Well, when did you break your leg?”
“The same day I found this.” He said pointing to the artifact on his desk.
She recommended that he return the artifact.
The first question he asked me was, what was I doing before I saw the spirit. I told him that I had just passed through the obsidian field and had climbed up the mountain and about the rock slides I had created on my way down.
He asked me again what word I had heard and I said, “Aho.”
“Aho” he repeated mulling over it. “Aho means a few things. First it means, 'Hey Man, Alright.' As in being accomplished in something. Second, its used when meeting a stranger, as in 'Oh, there you are.' So taking into context what you had been doing before you saw it, the spirit was either saying, 'Hey man, alright you made it down safe.' The other thing is that it might have been lonely because not many people go through that area and those that do probably never respond to it like you did by speaking to it, so it was basically saying, 'Oh, there you are' which is the same as saying, 'hey whats up'. But in this instance it could mean both.”
I thanked Qwina for the translation and Irma for the tea, then I headed to Keough Hot Springs for a soak before going to sleep in my car.
the song at the beginning and once i reached safety is from a band called Earth youtu.be/GbPeZMpdSjE
the "horror movie-ish" sounds from climbing down the unstable talus is from the soundtrack to The Dark Knight by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard youtu.be/5wjYL0FwpPg
The other song was performed by a street artist at a street fair in my home town, I picked up his CD for 5$. No contact info came with it and no track titles either.
A photographic visualisation /:montage, looking north from just before the valley that descends to the Paleolithic caves of 'Ekainberri' - a cave famous for its multitude of outstanding Magdalénien horse paintings. For the image, buildings, pylons and roads have been removed to help simplify the task for the viewers imagination. Vegetation is not true to the paleolithic or other later ages of prehistory. All geographical elements are unaltered. The small pyramidal hill is typical of this local area. The proposed venus hill is to its right. A horizontal paleolithic venus has been overlayed onto the hill. Arguments for a horizontal venus appear elsewhere on my photostream. The main view of this 'venus hill' is from the Biscay coast, which is just to the left (see below montage).
The Basque Biscay was a key turning point between Spanish and French rock art communities, and a natural pole of liminality. Whilst the specific hill's 'mother earth' qualities are less obvious from this side, it is still vivid enough to hold the narrative. With a natural junction of geographies, a sea shore to accelerate movement, and well placed landscape elements that lended themselves to myths of genesis and protection, the Basque region is, and was, in a position to retain archaic forms of language, as passing peoples evolved regional differences : an administrative language that fixed as others floated.
The wanderlust of man is at the heart of prehistory, and was far 'messier' than a simple arrow on a map. Projecting to around 5,000 ybp : might some neolithic coastal boat's men have organized and ventured to see for themselves the mythical landscape of the Biscay, seemingly always known by traders, and a landscape that grew its definition from the Ice age and retained its qualities passed the Mesolithic ? A long and organized journey of many decades : a fact finding flotilla. After witness, impressed by the hold the landscape had on its passing people, their well being, their spiritual health, assimilation and drive. Returning to their flat land, might not some of this hypothetical delegation of worthy adventurers have felt the need to emulate the 'keys' and elements onto their simpler vista with its wide and fertile river? The myth of the venus hill becomes the giant curved Sarcophagus, the pyramid studded hills become the Pyramids of chiseled stone, and the caves, the subterranean passages. The fertile wealth of the river Nile might want an early 'King's' wishes to become his pride and appeasement so that all people may basque within a similar magical landscape of peace and endeavor. With this visualisation, 'pyramidal Egypt' may have started less as a model of proto-dicatorial engineering and more from admirative emulation, with ideas of Nile-ism by design to power simply being examples from the sandman's imagination.
Whilst there are pyramidal mountains everywhere, the cluster aside the Biscay have several qualities that might have favored them becoming mythical. They are very 'real' with views over the coastal 'highway'; they have views on the specific venus hill chimera, and, are small enough to parade up and down and, perhaps of great importance, decorate and structure to a point from where the original geography may have been difficult to imagine. With so many peoples and languages passing the Biscay, one pyramidal hill might be a perfect candidate for the original Babel myth. Might the same pyramidal point of Biscay have been a seed for emulation with the British Isle's Silbury hill ? Other pyramidal hills may have been decorated into iridescent form. Whilst the relentless rain and farming of the Basque region will have not helped feed archaeology with steep finds, it is perhaps worth looking with detail at these micro summits.
Egypt was between the fertile crescent and East African, (Ethiopian, agricultural innovation...) With it's great river and Mediterranean coastline, 'cornering' water in the same way as the Biscay, Egypt had the fluid geography to develop confident early boating skills. Local trade might navigate around the eastern coastline to a point from where a long coastal journey out into the iodine sea of the west and north around the Iberian peninsula might be visualized. A journey that would be anything but a straight line maybe taking the longer and safer northern littoral west, south, west, north and east. With Egyptian city states vying for gravitas, and Uruk to the east posing its own fertile image of the power of urbanisation, a fact finding mission that samples culture and skill from the two sides of their sea, all the way to the mythical venus hills of the Biscay turning point, might have derived the soft data for state dominance. Documenting finds (local Gods, trades and skills) might have asked that a tabula rasa receive simple symbols and depictions. The Nile peoples were already happy to assimilate agricultural and transformation innovations from its immediate north and south, and the confidence to lance a great 'learning curve' may have seemed like an interesting decision. On return, having witness 'heaven on Earth' the travelling 'prophets' might bring what had been a rumor and myth a little closer to home. Proto Pharaohs emulating and innovating with the assimilation of a creative cook - keen to protect local taste, and other inputs from closer to home, whilst hungry to apply new found experiences.
AJM 22.11.17
The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie (/ˈbʌdʒi/ BUJ-ee), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Budgies are the only species in the genus Melopsittacus. Naturally, the species is green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings.[5] Budgies are bred in captivity with colouring of blues, whites, yellows, greys, and even with small crests. Juveniles and chicks are monomorphic, while adults are told apart by their cere colouring, and their behaviour.
The species is the only member of the genus Melopsittacus, which is the only genus in the Melopsittacini tribe.
The origin of the budgerigar's name is unclear. First recorded in 1805, budgerigars are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. They are likely the third most popular pet in the world, after the domesticated dog and cat. Budgies are nomadic flock parakeets that have been bred in captivity since the 19th century. In both captivity and the wild, budgerigars breed opportunistically and in pairs.
They are found wild throughout the drier parts of Australia, where they have survived harsh inland conditions for over five million years. Their success can be attributed to a nomadic lifestyle and their ability to breed while on the move. The budgerigar is closely related to lories and the fig parrots.
Etymology
Pair of budgerigars
Several possible origins for the name budgerigar have been proposed. One origin could be that budgerigar may be a mispronunciation or alteration of the Gamilaraay word gidjirrigaa (Aboriginal pronunciation: [ɡ̊iɟiriɡaː]) or gijirragaa from the Yuwaalaraay. Another possible origin is that budgerigar might be a modified form of budgery or boojery (Australian English slang for "good") and gar ("cockatoo"). While many references mention "good" as part of the meaning, and a few specify "good bird", it is quite possible that reports by those local to the region are more accurate in specifying the direct translation as "good food".
Alternative spellings include budgerygah and betcherrygah, the latter used by Indigenous people of the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales.
Alternative names for the budgerigar include the shell parrot or shell parakeet, the warbling grass parakeet, the canary parrot, the zebra parrot, the flight bird, and the scallop parrot. Although more often used as a common name for small parrots in the genus Agapornis, the name "lovebird" has been used for budgerigars, because of their habit of close perching and mutual preening, and their long term pair-bonds.
Taxonomy
Evolutionary history
parrots
Lories and lorikeets
Budgerigar
Fig parrots
genera Cyclopsitta & Psittaculirostris
... other parrots
Phylogenetic chart
The budgerigar was first described by George Shaw in 1805, and given its current binomial name by John Gould in 1840. The genus name Melopsittacus, from Ancient Greek, means "melodious parrot". The species name undulatus is Latin for "undulated" or "wave-patterned".
The budgerigar was once proposed to be a link between the genera Neophema and Pezoporus, based on the barred plumage. However, recent phylogenetic studies using DNA sequences place the budgerigar very close to the lories (tribe Loriini) and the fig parrots (tribe Cyclopsittini).
Description
Wild budgerigars average 18 cm (7 in) long,[6] weigh 30–40 grams (1.1–1.4 oz), 30 cm (12 in) in wingspan, and display a light green body colour (abdomen and rumps), while their mantles (back and wing coverts) display pitch-black mantle markings (blackish in fledglings and immatures) edged in clear yellow undulations. The forehead and face is yellow in adults. Prior to their adult plumage, young individuals have blackish stripes down to the cere (nose) in young individuals until around 3–4 months of age. They display small, iridescent blue-violet cheek patches and a series of three black spots across each side of their throats (called throat patches). The two outermost throat spots are situated at the base of each cheek patch. The tail is cobalt (dark-blue); and outside tail feathers display central yellow flashes. Their wings have greenish-black flight feathers and black coverts with yellow fringes along with central yellow flashes, which only become visible in flight or when the wings are outstretched. Bills are olive grey and legs blueish-grey, with zygodactyl toes.
In their natural Australian habitat, budgerigars are noticeably smaller than those in captivity. This particular parrot species has been bred in many other colours and shades in captivity (e.g. blue, grey, grey-green, pieds, violet, white, yellow-blue). Pet store individuals will commonly be blue, green, or yellow. Like most parrot species, budgerigar plumage fluoresces under ultraviolet light – a phenomenon possibly related to courtship and mate selection.
The upper half of their beaks is taller than the bottom half, covering the bottom when closed. The beak does not protrude much, due to the thick, fluffy feathers surrounding it, giving the appearance of a downward-pointing beak that lies flat against the face. The upper half acts as a long, smooth cover, while the bottom half is just about a half-sized cup-piece. These beaks allow the birds to eat plants, fruits, and vegetables.
The colour of the cere (the area containing the nostrils) differs between the sexes, being a lavender/baby blue in males, pale brownish/white (non breeding) to brown (breeding) in females, and pink in immature birds of both sexes (usually of a more even purplish-pink colour in young males). Some female budgerigars develop brown cere only during breeding time, which later returns to the normal colour. Young females can often be identified by a subtle, chalky whiteness that starts around the nostrils. Males that are either albino, lutino, dark-eyed clear or recessive pied (Danish pied or harlequin) retain the immature purplish-pink cere colour for their entire lives.
Behaviours and head shape also help indicate sex. Veterinarians can determine the sex of a bird by invasive examination or samples of blood, feather, or eggshell.
Mature males usually have a cere of light to dark blue, but in some particular colour mutations it can be periwinkle, lavender, purplish or pink – including dark-eyed clears, Danish pieds (recessive pieds) and inos, which usually display much rounder heads. The behaviour of males can distinguish them from females. Males are typically cheerful, extroverted, highly flirtatious, peacefully social, and very vocal.
Female ceres are pinkish while immature. As they age, they move from being beigeish or whitish outside breeding condition into brown (often with a 'crusty' texture) in breeding condition and usually display flattened backs of heads (right above the nape). Females are more dominant and less socially tolerant. This behavior is more pronounced around other females than with males.
Budgerigars have tetrachromatic colour vision, although all four classes of cone cells will not operate simultaneously unless under sunlight or a UV lamp. The ultraviolet spectrum brightens their feathers to attract mates. The throat spots in budgerigars reflect UV and can be used to distinguish individual birds. While ultraviolet light is essential to the good health of caged and pet birds, inadequate darkness or rest results in overstimulation.
Ecology
Budgerigars are nomadic and flocks move on from sites as environmental conditions change. Budgerigars are found in open habitats, primarily in scrublands, open woodlands, and grasslands of Australia. The birds are normally found in small flocks, but can form very large flocks under favourable conditions. The nomadic movement of the flocks is tied to the availability of food and water. Budgerigars have two distinct flight speeds which they are capable of switching between depending on the circumstance. Drought can drive flocks into more wooded habitat or coastal areas. They feed on the seeds of spinifex and grass, and sometimes ripening wheat.
Outside of Australia, the only long-term establishment of naturalised feral budgerigars is a large population near St. Petersburg, Florida. Increased competition for nesting sites from European starlings and house sparrows is thought to be a primary cause of the Florida population declining from the 1980s. The more consistent, year-round conditions in Florida significantly reduced their nomadic behaviour.
The species has been introduced to various locations in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Budgerigars feed primarily on grass seeds. The species also opportunistically depredates growing cereal crops and lawn grass seeds.[35] Due to the low water content of the seeds they rely on the availability of freshwater.
Behaviour
Breeding in the wild generally takes place between June and September in northern Australia and between August and January in the south, although budgerigars are opportunistic breeders and respond to rains when grass seeds become most abundant. Budgerigars are monogamous and breed in large colonies throughout their range. They show signs of affection to their flockmates by preening or feeding one another. Budgerigars feed one another by eating the seeds themselves, and then regurgitating it into their flockmate's mouth. Populations in some areas have increased as a result of increased water availability at farms. Nests are made in holes in trees, fence posts or logs lying on the ground; the four to six eggs are incubated for 18–21 days, with the young fledging about 30 days after hatching.
In the wild, virtually all parrot species require a hollow tree or a hollow log as a nest site. Because of this natural behaviour, budgerigars most easily breed in captivity when provided with a reasonable-sized nest box.
The eggs are typically one to two centimetres long and are pearl white without any colouration if fertile. Female budgerigars can lay eggs without a male partner, but these unfertilised eggs will not hatch. Females normally have a whitish tan cere; however, when the female is laying eggs, her cere turns a crusty brown colour. Certain female budgies may always keep a whitish tan cere or always keep a crusty brown cere regardless of breeding condition. A female budgerigar will lay her eggs on alternating days. After the first one, there is usually a two-day gap until the next. She will usually lay between four and eight eggs, which she will incubate (usually starting after laying her second or third) for about 21 days each. Females only leave their nests for very quick defecations, stretches and quick meals once they have begun incubating and are by then almost exclusively fed by their mate (usually at the nest's entrance). Females will not allow a male to enter the nest, unless he forces his way inside. Clutch size ranges from 6 to 8 chicks. Depending on the clutch size and the beginning of incubation, the age difference between the first and last hatchling can be anywhere from 9 to 16 days. At times, the parents may begin eating their own eggs due to feeling insecure in the nest box.
There is evidence of same-sex sexual behaviour amongst male budgerigars. It is originally hypothesised that they did this as a form of "courtship practice" so they were better breeding partners for females, however an inverse relationship exists between participation in same-sex behaviour and pairing success.
Chick health
Breeding difficulties arise for various reasons. Some chicks may die from diseases and attacks from adults. Other budgerigars (virtually always females) may fight over the nest box, attacking each other or a brood. Another problem may be the birds' beaks being under-lapped, where the lower mandible is above the upper mandible.
Most health issues and physical abnormalities in budgerigars are genetic. Care should be taken that birds used for breeding are active, healthy and unrelated. Budgerigars that are related or have fatty tumours or other potential genetic health problems should not be allowed to breed. Parasites (lice, mites, worms) and pathogens (bacteria, fungi and viruses), are contagious and thus transmitted between individuals through either direct or indirect contact. Nest boxes should be cleaned between uses.
Splay leg is a relatively common problem in baby budgerigars and other birds; one of the budgerigar's legs is bent outward, which prevents it from being able to stand properly and compete with the other chicks for food, and can also lead to difficulties in reproducing in adulthood. The condition is caused by young budgerigars slipping repeatedly on the floor of a nest box. It is easily avoided by placing a small quantity of a safe bedding or wood shavings in the bottom of the nest box. Alternatively, several pieces of paper may be placed in the box for the female to chew into bedding.
Development
Eggs take about 18–20 days before they start hatching. The hatchlings are altricial – blind, naked, unable to lift their head and totally helpless, and their mother feeds them and keeps them warm constantly. Around 10 days of age, the chicks' eyes will open, and they will start to develop feather down. The appearance of down occurs at the age for closed banding of the chicks.
They develop feathers around three weeks of age. (One can often easily note the colour mutation of the individual birds at this point.) At this stage of the chicks' development, the male usually has begun to enter the nest to help his female in caring and feeding the chicks. Some budgerigar females, however, totally forbid the male from entering the nest and thus take the full responsibility of rearing the chicks until they fledge.
Depending on the size of the clutch and most particularly in the case of single mothers, it may then be wise to transfer a portion of the hatchlings (or best of the fertile eggs) to another pair. The foster pair must already be in breeding mode and thus either at the laying or incubating stages, or already rearing hatchlings.
As the chicks develop and grow feathers, they are able to be left on their own for longer periods of time. By the fifth week, the chicks are strong enough that both parents will be comfortable in staying out of the nest more. The youngsters will stretch their wings to gain strength before they attempt to fly. They will also help defend the box from enemies, mostly with their loud screeching. Young budgerigars typically fledge (leave the nest) around their fifth week of age and are usually completely weaned between six and eight weeks old. However, the age for fledging, as well as weaning, can vary slightly depending on the age and the number of surviving chicks. Generally speaking, the oldest chick is the first to be weaned. Although it is logically the last one to be weaned, the youngest chick is often weaned at a younger age than its older sibling(s). This can be a result of mimicking the actions of older siblings. Lone surviving chicks are often weaned at the youngest possible age as a result of having their parents' full attention and care.
Hand-reared budgies may take slightly longer to wean than parent-raised chicks. Hand feeding is not routinely done with budgerigars, due to their small size and because young parent raised birds can be readily tamed.
Relationship with humans
Aviculture
The budgerigar has been bred in captivity since the 1850s. Breeders have worked to produce a variety of colour, pattern and feather mutations, including albino, blue, cinnamon-ino (lacewing), clearwing, crested, dark, greywing, opaline, pieds, spangled, dilute (suffused) and violet.
"English budgerigars", more correctly called "show" or "exhibition budgerigars", are about twice as large as their wild counterparts and have puffier head feathers, giving them a boldly exaggerated look. The eyes and beak can be almost totally obscured by these fluffy head feathers. English budgerigars are typically more expensive than wild-type birds, and have a shorter life span of about seven to nine years. Breeders of English budgerigars show their birds at animal shows. Most captive budgerigars in the pet trade are more similar in size and body conformation to wild budgerigars.
Budgerigars are social animals and require stimulation in the shape of toys and interaction with humans or with other budgerigars. Budgerigars, and especially females, will chew material such as wood. When a budgerigar feels threatened, it will try to perch as high as possible and to bring its feathers close against its body in order to appear thinner.
Tame budgerigars can be taught to speak, whistle and play with humans. Both males and females sing and can learn to mimic sounds and words and do simple tricks, but singing and mimicry are more pronounced and better perfected in males. Females rarely learn to mimic more than a dozen words. Males can easily acquire vocabularies ranging from a few dozen to a hundred words. Pet males, especially those kept alone, are generally the best speakers.
Budgerigars will chew on anything they can find to keep their beaks trimmed. Mineral blocks (ideally enriched with iodine), cuttlebone and soft wooden pieces are suitable for this activity. Cuttlebones also supply calcium, essential for the proper forming of eggs and bone solidity. In captivity, budgerigars live an average of five to eight years, but life spans of 15–20 years have been reported. The life span depends on breed, lineage, and health, being highly influenced by exercise and diet. Budgerigars have been known to cause "bird fancier's lung" in sensitive people, a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Apart from a handful of illnesses, diseases of the species are not transmittable to humans.
Colour mutations
Main article: Budgerigar colour genetics
All captive budgerigars are divided into two basic series of colours; namely, white-based (blue, grey and white) and yellow-based (green, grey-green and yellow). Presently, at least 32 primary mutations (including violet) occur, enabling hundreds of possible secondary mutations (stable combined primary mutations) and colour varieties (unstable combined mutations).
Mimicry
Main article: Talking bird
Male specimens of budgerigars can be skilled at mimicking human speech.
Puck, a male budgerigar owned by American Camille Jordan, holds the world record for the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words. Puck died in 1994, with the record first appearing in the 1995 edition of Guinness World Records.
In 2001, recordings of a budgerigar called Victor got some attention from the media. Victor's owner, Ryan B. Reynolds of Canada, stated Victor was able to engage in contextual conversation and predict the future. Although some believe the animal was able to predict his own death as was claimed, further study on the subject is difficult without the bird. As of 2001, the recordings still remain to be verified by scientific analysis. Critics argue Victor's speech in the recordings is not coherent enough to be determined as spoken in context.
The budgerigar "Disco" became Internet famous in 2013. As of 2023, Disco had been viewed over 24,198,346 times on his YouTube channel. Some of Disco's most repeated phrases included, "I am not a crook" and "Nobody puts baby bird in a corner!". Disco died in 2017.
In popular culture
Small bathing suits for men, commonly referred to as togs or "Speedos", are informally called "budgie smugglers" in Australia. The phrase is humorously based on the appearance of the tight-fitting cloth around the male's genitals looking like a small budgie. The phrase was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016
An other way for "Let's Mini", particularly proposed to my friend chateauglenunga
www.flickr.com/photos/8622063@N04/
who's been known to Mini, while he's also fit enough to take the most unusual poses...
On the occasion of your photography exhibition "These Surveillance Blues"
flickr.com/photos/8622063@N04/2429443526/
greetings and best wishes from Greece to Australia, Harvey!..
:-)
A picture taken in Kyoto Japan on a recent trip I took to propose to my girlfriend :) still managed to fit in some shooting :)
May - Divers 2018
KANAL - Centre Pompidou!
13 months of exhibitions and shows before conversion work begins
Before it becomes the largest cultural institution in Brussels, with 35,000 m2 devoted to artistic creation in all its forms, KANAL - Centre Pompidou proposes a unique cultural immersion in the buildings of the former Citroen garage.
Before conversion work begins, KANAL - Centre Pompidou will open its doors from May 2018 until June 2019 to allow the public to discover an exceptional cultural heritage, rich in history and preserved in its current state. Benefiting from the richness of the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the former Citroen garage will turn into a site hosting several exhibitions mixing visual arts, design, architecture, major installations and creations by Brussels-based artists, as well as a programme of performing-arts shows co-produced for this occasion with many of the city's cultural actors.
A future cultural hub
The ambition of KANAL - Centre Pompidou is to offer a centre of culture and exchange open to all, to put the creative scene of Brussels in the limelight, and to contribute to the capital's cultural appeal.
Driven by the Brussels-Capital Region, this ambitious project seeks to provide Brussels with a cultural hub favourable to the aura of the capital of Europe. In the context of a ten-year partnership with the Centre Pompidou, the future KANAL - Centre Pompidou will not only house a museum of modern and contemporary art, but also the rich collections of architecture and urbanism of the CIVA Foundation. It will also accommodate many public spaces with a range of functions, including several stages for the performing arts.
A wide-ranging programme
Events imagined in response to the identity of the site and its unique aesthetic qualities, but also its history
From 5 May 2018 until 10 June 2019, following a radically experimental approach, the former Citroen garage will turn into a platform open to a reflection on the stakes of the museum of the future. Curated by Bernard Blistene, the director of the Musee national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou, a multidisciplinary programme will seek to fill the spaces that were recently emptied of their functions and left in their current state. Many of the proposals seek to echo the identity of the site, but also its human and social history, tangible across the different workshops and offices and in the different fittings of this vast complex.
Eager to integrate Kanal - Centre Pompidou in its context, the programme will let a vast audience have access, in one and the same venue, to a wide-ranging and unique cultural offer. The programme follows the rhythm of the Brussels cultural calendar, in partnership with, among others, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, BOZAR, Performatik Festival, Flagey, Kaaitheater and La Raffinerie (Charleroi Danse).
Photos of May 2018
Photos de mai 2018
( Diverses photos prisent en 2018 sans sujet reel.
Various pictures taken in 2018 without real subject. )
So here is the original idea that was drawn out for Dyer, Indiana interlocking as of August 15th, 1902. The Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville (Monon) would run north to south crossing the east to west Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and Michigan Central mainlines. Connections were to be from the CI&L to the EJ&E (S/E quadrant, which was actually approved and built), CI&L to the EJ&E (S/W quadrant) and CI&L to MC (S/W quadrant, which would have come off of the interchange to the J and cross the J to the MC). A total of 5 bridges over Plum Creek would have had to have been constructed.
Interlocking Machine was as follows:
14 levers for 14 semaphores
5 levers for 5 dwarf signals
5 levers for 9 derails
2 levers for 2 switches
26 Working Levers
4 spaces occupied by 11, 13, 16 & 19
30 Lever Frame Machine
The facing locks on 2 EJ&E switches to be handled by levers operating switches.
Proposed Plan of Tracks and Signals
Crossing of CI&L with EJ&E and MC Ry's
Taylor Signal Company
August 15th, 1902
I had the pleasure of photographing some friends as they got engaged. it was an extremely emotional experience. Full post here: www.georgeweissthethird.com/tina-bob-phildelphia-proposal/
From the Report to the Housing and Town Planning Committee of the Dundee Town Council on Preparation for Work after the Termination of the War and Proposed Housing Schemes.
Note: The eventual layout was somewhat different, rather than being in right angles the blocks were arranged in 5 streets on curves.
Date: 1917
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Description: Prior to the construction of Tower Bridge, as we know it today, a number of designs were invited for consideration. A special committee examined at least ten alternative schemes in addition to the widening of London Bridge. These included two low-level bridges with different forms of swing opening for the passage of ships into the Upper Pool; a moveable or rolling bridge shuttling constantly across the river, leaving part free for navigation at all times; a further bridge near the east side of London Bridge and connected to it at both ends and at intervals throughout its length; a high level bridge with hydraulic hoists at each end, eliminating the need for expensive compensation for property on long approaches; a high level bridge with a spiral ascent on the south side; submerged railway lines with a "deck" above high water level moving on them; a submerged cast-iron archway cum tunnel on the river bed; a further high level bridge; and paddle-wheel ferry boats.
Here we see one of these designs, by Frederic Barnett, for a 'duplex' low-level Tower Bridge, allowing 'uninterrupted continuity of vehicular and general traffic.'
Date of Execution: 1876
Engraver: Maclure, Macdonald & Macgregor
Medium: lithograph
Collection: Main Print
Reference No: SC/PR/La/Pr/S3/TOW/bri/p5410547
Find more images relating to Tower Bridge via our image library.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 23, 2016
About 300 people met in south Minneapolis to march in protest against the proposed policies of President-elect Donald Trump. Protesters denounced bigotry, racism, Islamophobia, and Donald Trump's proposals on immigration. They called for preservation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which allows certain people who came to the United States as children to request deferred action on prosecution for a period of two years, subject to renewal. They also called for an end to deportations, immigration raids, and family detention centers.
Organized and endorsed by: Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc), Anti-War Committee, Augsburg Latin American Students (ALAS), BlackLivesMatter Saint Paul, Blue LIES Matter, Boneshaker Books, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), St. Cloud State University Chicana Chicano Studies, Committee in Solidarity with the People of Syria (CISPOS), Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), De León & Nestor, University of Minnesota Department of Chicano and Latino Studies, 15 Now Minnesota, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Interfaith Coalition on Immigration (ICOM), James Dewitt Yancey Foundation MN Chapter, University of Minnesota La Raza Student Cultural Center, Minnesota Neighbors for Justice, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, RELEASE MN 8 families, Saint Paul For Justice, Socialist Alternative, Students for a Democratic Society, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, Twin Cities IWW General Defense Committee Local 14, Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 Minneapolis, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)
2016-11-23 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution to: Fibonacci Blue
The Tower of Pisa (popularly known as the leaning tower and, in Pisa, the Campanile or the Tower ) is the bell tower of the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta , in the famous Piazza del Duomo ( a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 ) of which it is the most famous monument due to its characteristic slope, symbol of Pisa and among the iconic symbols of Italy. It is a free-standing bell tower 57 meters high (58.36 meters considering the foundation plan) built over two centuries, between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. With a mass of 14,453 tons, the curved line predominates, with turns of blind arches and six floors of loggias. The slope is due to a subsidence of the underlying ground which occurred already in the early stages of construction.
The inclination of the building measures 3.97° with respect to the vertical axis. The tower is managed by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana , the body that manages all the monuments in the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa. It has been proposed as one of the seven wonders of the modern world .
Work began on 9 August 1173 . The foundations were left fallow for an entire year. Some studies attribute the authorship of the project to the Pisan architect Diotisalvi , who was building the baptistery in the same period . Construction was stopped during the beginning of the third ring.
There are in fact many similarities between the two buildings, starting from the type of foundations. Others instead suggest Gherardi , while according to Vasari the work was started by Bonanno Pisano . Vasari's thesis was considered valid especially after the discovery of a tombstone with the name of Bonanno near the bell tower, walled up in the atrium of the building; furthermore, in the 19th century, an epigraphic fragment of pink material was also found nearby, probably a cast on which a metal plate was cast, which is placed on the jamb of the entrance door of the building. On this fragment we read, reversed: "Pisan citizen named Bonanno". This cast was most likely related to the Porta Regia of the Cathedral, destroyed during the fire of 1595 .
The first phase of the work was interrupted halfway through the third floor, due to the subsidence of the land on which the base of the bell tower stands. The softness of the soil, consisting of normally consolidated soft clay , is the cause of the slope of the tower and, although to a lesser extent, of all the buildings in the square.
Work resumed in 1275 under the guidance of Giovanni di Simone and Giovanni Pisano , adding another three floors to the previous construction. In an attempt to straighten the tower, the three added floors tend to curve in the opposite direction to the slope. The bell tower was completed in the middle of the following century, adding the belfry .
Since its construction the overhang has substantially increased, but over the centuries there have also been long periods of stability or even reduction in the slope. During the nineteenth century the bell tower underwent important restorations, which led, for example, to the insulation of the tower's base. The works, carried out under the direction of Alessandro Gherardesca , contributed to definitively debunking the theory, supported by some scholars of the time, according to which the bell tower was thought to have been leaning since its origin.
In fact, soil tests carried out during the restoration brought to light the presence of a significant quantity of underground water which made the ground soft. To deal with this problem, large quantities were sucked up from the underground with the aid of pumps, but this favored the phenomenon of subsidence and the consequent increase in the slope of the tower. In the last decades of the 20th century the inclination had undergone a decisive increase, so much so that the danger of collapse had become real. In 1993 the displacement from the top of the axis to the base was estimated to be approximately 4.47 meters, or approximately 4.5 degrees .
During the consolidation works, which began in 1990 and ended at the end of 2001 , the slope of the bell tower was reduced by encircling some floors, temporary application of steel tie rods and lead counterweights (up to 900 tons) and under-excavation, bringing it back to the one that, presumably, must have been 200 years old. Furthermore, the foundation has been consolidated to allow the tower to be safely maintained for at least another three centuries, thus allowing access to visitors. Starting in 2004, the restoration of all the external stone surfaces and the restoration and layout of the internal rooms began. Some of these interventions were carried out thanks to funds from the Lotto game , according to what is regulated by law no. 662/1996
Since March 2008 the tower has reached the definitive level of consolidation in terms of inclination, settling again at 3.97°, a value that should remain unchanged for at least another 300 years. The success of the operation is linked to the name of Michele Jamiolkowski , professor of the Polytechnic of Turin and president of the International Committee for the Protection of the Tower of Pisa from 1990 to 2003, to that of Carlo Viggiani , professor of the Department of Geotechnical Engineering of the University of the Studies of Naples Federico II and president of the International Committee for the conservation of monuments and historical sites and that of the engineer John Boscawen Burland , professor of the Department of Civil Engineering of the Imperial College of London .
After twenty years, the restoration work on the stone surfaces, both on the exterior and interior, was completed on 22 April 2011 .
The structure of the bell tower incorporates two rooms: one at the base of the tower, known as the Fish Room, due to a bas-relief depicting a fish; this room has no ceiling, being in fact the cable of the tower. The other one is the belfry, on the seventh ring. Delimited by the walls of the upper walkway, it is also open to the sky and in the centre, through an opening, it is possible to see the ground floor of the tower. There are also three flights of stairs: one uninterrupted from the base to the sixth ring, where you exit outside; one, a smaller spiral that leads from the sixth ring to the seventh; finally an even smaller one, still spiral, which leads from the seventh ring to the top.
Bells
Assunta - is the largest bell in the concert and emits the note B2, its weight amounts to 2600 kg. about; it was cast in 1654 by Giovanni Pietro Orlandi;
Crucifix - of note C#3 and weighing 1850 kg. approximately, originally cast in 1572 by Vincenzo Possenti, recast in 1818 by Gualandi da Prato;
San Ranieri - of note D#3 and weight 1150 kg. approximately, cast in 1735 by Pier Francesco Berti of Lucca;
Dal Pozzo - of note Sol3, cast in 1606 and damaged by the bombings of the last world war, displayed in a museum and replaced in 2004 by a copy made by the Marinelli foundry in Agnone weighing 490 kg. about;
Pasquereccia - of note G#3 and weighing approximately 1014 kg., cast in 1262 by Lotteringio di Bartolomeo (Locterineus de Pisis);
Terza - of note is #3 and weighs approximately 330 kg., made by Lorraine or Alsatian foundrymen in 1473;
Vespruccio - the minor, of note E4 and weighing 120 kg. approximately, made in the 14th century and recast in 1501.
The bells ring before masses in the cathedral and at midday via a system of electric clappers.
In ancient times each bell was used for a moment of the liturgical day. For example, the Pasquereccia rang for Easter, the Terce at the third hour of the day (nine in the morning), the Vespruccio bell at the time of vespers (six in the afternoon).
There is news of a bell stolen from the church of San Michele a Guamo , near Lucca, then recast to form a "new concert" .
The bell of San Ranieri was originally called "Giustizia" and was located in the palace of the same name. He used to play for the deaths of traitors and, it is supposed, he also played for the death of Count Ugolino . It was brought to the bell tower in the 15th century to replace the original Pasquareccia and later recast in 1606.
Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.
The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.
History
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.
Ancient times
The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.
Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.
Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.
The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.
Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.
Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.
After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.
11th century
The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).
At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.
In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.
Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.
12th century
In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.
In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.
The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.
In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.
New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi
In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.
Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.
To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.
One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.
13th century
In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.
In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.
The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.
The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.
Decline
The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.
Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.
The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).
Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.
Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.
Geography
Climate
Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.
Culture
Gioco del Ponte
In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.
In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:
"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."
In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.
Festivals and cultural events
Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)
Gioco del Ponte (folklore)
Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)
Maritime republics regata (folklore)
Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa
Pisa Book Festival
Metarock (rock music festival)
Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)
Turn Off Festival (house music festival)
Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)
Main sights
The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.
Other sights include:
Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.
St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.
St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.
San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.
San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.
Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.
San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.
San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.
Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.
Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.
Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.
Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.
Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.
Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.
Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.
Museums
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.
Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.
Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.
Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.
Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.
Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.
Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.
Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour.[19] The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.
Churches
St. Francis' Church
San Francesco
San Frediano
San Giorgio ai Tedeschi
San Michele in Borgo
San Nicola
San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno
San Paolo all'Orto
San Piero a Grado
San Pietro in Vinculis
San Sisto
San Tommaso delle Convertite
San Zeno
Santa Caterina
Santa Cristina
Santa Maria della Spina
Santo Sepolcro
Palaces, towers and villas
Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.
Pisa by Oldypak lp photo
Pisa
Palazzo del Collegio Puteano
Palazzo della Carovana
Palazzo delle Vedove
Torre dei Gualandi
Villa di Corliano
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Sports
Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.
Notable people
For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:
Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs
Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.
Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist
Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor
Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.
Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.
Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy
Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet
Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.
Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician
Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer
Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.
Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.
Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician
Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.
Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).
Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy
Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.
Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy
Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist
Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer
Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo
Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.
Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone
Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist
Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker
Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.
Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.
Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic
Sport
Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer
Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer
Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer
Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player