Could have been really corny and titled it "You don't bring me flowers" but I'm actually really happy that after forty years of marriage he brings me anything at all lol!

 

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You can think about getting a term life insurance policy if you are in search of insurance. You have to choose between non-medical and medical term policy.

During World War II, both Great Britain and Germany had experimented with very large glider designs (the Hamlicar and Gigant, respectively) capable of carrying tanks. Though glider assaults had varied results during the war, the US Air Force briefly considered resurrecting the idea in 1948, and commissioned Chase Aircraft to build a large glider, the XCG-20 Avitruc. The XCG-20 was of all-metal construction, with a fully-equipped flight deck and a rear-mounted loading ramp for vehicles to be driven directly into the fuselage. The USAF abandoned the idea of glider assaults soon after the first XCG-20 was completed, but Chase had anticipated this: through the simple installation of two propeller-driven engines, the XCG-20 became the XC-123. This itself was considered only an interim design, as the XC-123A had four turbojet engines, becoming the first all-jet transport aircraft.

 

The USAF rejected the XC-123A, as it was found to have poor performance and short range, owing to the thirsty jets of the early 1950s. However, the piston-engined XC-123 showed promise, and the USAF ordered it into production in 1953. Production was delayed due to Chase Aircraft being acquired by Kaiser, who in turn sold the design to Fairchild Aircraft, who would produce it as the C-123B Provider.

 

The C-123 was considered a supplemental aircraft to the C-119 Flying Boxcar already in service and the soon-to-be-deployed C-130 Hercules. It had better single-engine performance than the C-119, and acquired a reputation for reliability, rugged design, simple maintenance, and the ability to land almost anywhere. A small number were converted to C-123J standard, with ski landing gear for operations in Antarctica and Greenland, and experiments were even made to convert it to an amphibian. Nevertheless, the number of C-123s in service were small compared to other types, and the C-130 began replacing it beginning in 1958.

 

As the United States involved itself more in the Vietnam War, one major advantage of its Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army adversaries was the very jungle of Vietnam itself, which provided ready-made cover and camouflage from American air units. In an attempt to deprive the VC/NVA of jungle cover in known concentration areas, the USAF converted a number of C-123s to UC-123 standard, with spraying equipment for the pesticide Agent Orange. Under Operation Ranch Hand, UC-123s were among the first USAF aircraft deployed to Vietnam, and the first USAF aircraft lost in combat was a UC-123B. Spraying Agent Orange was very dangerous work, as it involved flying low and slow over hostile territory; it would not be until after the Vietnam War was over that it was learned that Agent Orange, used in the concentrated quantity employed in Vietnam, was also a deadly carcinogenic.

 

Besides their controversial employment as defoilant sprayers, standard C-123s were used as transports and Candlestick flareships, as the C-130 demand was exceeding supply, and the US Army’s CV-2 (later C-8) Caribous were proving the worth of a short-takeoff and landing transport. To improve the Provider’s performance in the “hot and high” conditions of Vietnam, two J85 turbojets were added beneath the wings of the C-123K variant, which became the final Provider variant and the main type used in Vietnam. CIA-flown Providers were used by Air America to clandestinely supply friendly Hmong tribes in Laos and in Cambodia. 54 C-123s were lost in Vietnam, second only to the C-130.

 

Following the end of American involvement in Vietnam, the C-123Ks were either handed over to South Vietnam or relegated to USAF Reserve and Air National Guard units, from which they were finally withdrawn around 1980. A few UC-123Ks were used to spray insecticides in Alaska and Guam as late as 1982. 11 other air forces used Providers, and the last C-123s were retired from the South Korean Air Force in 2001. 27 are preserved as museum pieces and a few remain in revenue service as “bush” aircraft in Alaska and elsewhere; remaining aircraft in storage were scrapped due to Agent Orange contamination.

 

55-4533 was delivered to the USAF's 513th Troop Carrier Group at Sewart AFB, Tennessee in 1957; after Sewart closed, the 513th moved to Pope AFB, North Carolina. In 1964, it was transferred to the 1st Air Commando Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida in anticipation of deployment to Southeast Asia--which happened in 1966, when 55-4533 was sent to the 375th Combat Support Group at Tan Son Nhut, South Vietnam. The aircraft would remain in Vietnam until 1971, serving in the transport and flareship role with the 375th and the 315th Special Operations Wing at Phan Rang. As American involvement wound down, 55-4533 returned to the United States, assigned to the 906th Tactical Airlift Group (Reserve) at Lockbourne AFB, Ohio. It was retired in 1981 and donated to the Castle Air Museum.

 

55-4533 was restored to its Vietnam appearance, with the name and nose art of "Hog Hauler"--either a commentary on the C-123's handling, or the cargo the Providers sometimes carried on Operation Mule Train missions over South Vietnam. Though its SEA camouflage has faded considerably, at least this is one Vietnam veteran C-123 that has found a honorable retirement in a museum.

This is our Vicar - Rev. Dewi Roberts - on his way to the Good Friday Service at Llandyfriog Church - he will provide well over a dozen services over this weekend.

One afternoon c. 1965 this C123 Provider caught fire after landing on the steel runway at Tay Ninh.

 

The crew got out OK, but the plane, obviously, was a total wreck, blocking the runway for several days until the mess could be moved. Never heard what caused the plane to catch fire.

 

I saw this happen but didn't have my camera with me. Took this photo the next morning.

 

Ship Type: Offshore supply ship

Year Built: 2007

Length x Breadth: 73 m X 16 m

Gross Tonnage: 2239, DeadWeight: 3200 t

Speed recorded (Max / Average): 14.9 / 12 knots

Flag: Norway [NO]

Call Sign: LAKI

IMO: 9399155

MMSI: 257232000

 

What is the relation between "provider" and "providence"?

The barge "Fairbanks Provider" under tow by the tug "Ocean Titan" is bound for Whittier, Alaska. She measures 420 ft x 100 ft. The main deck can hold 50 rail cars on rails plus breakbulk freight and containers on the upper deck. This barge plus two sister barges provide regularly scheduled service. Alaska gets a major percentage of it's cargo by tug & Barge.

 

In addition, CN's AquaTrain service is still active, from Prince Rupert, BC, to Whittier, AK, towed by Foss Maritime. Alaska Railbelt is towed by Western Towboat. Both towing companies are headquartered in Seattle. Here is a very interesting link to both operations, with lots of photos.

 

Be sure to read both Part 1 & 2:

 

www.oil-electric.com/search/label/AquaTrain

 

Classic straight deck laker downbound in the St Mary's River.

Entering the inner harbour at Great Yarmouth

Offshore supply vessel built 2007 by Simek,Flekkefjord Norway

Owned /managed by Rem Maritime,Fosnavaag Norway.

I.M.O. 9399155

Callsign LAK1

Gross tons 2239t

Deadweight 3306t

Length/beam 73.6m x 16m

Draught 5.8m

Powered by 2 x Caterpillar 3608 @ 2300kws each = 3127 hp

Flag Norway

Registered Fosnavaag

1964-65 GORDIE HOWE (#9) Eaton's Advertising *All-Star* 8 X 11 Inch Page / signed Photo - In 1964 Eaton’s of Canada made him their sports advisor. LINK to a photo - Gordie Howe greets young fans at the Eaton's store - www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/sports/big/big_1...

 

LINK to a video - Why Gordie Howe Is Called 'Mr. Hockey'? | Hockey Hall of Fame - www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Gordie+Howe&...

 

1992 NHL Official Licensed Norman James Corp. 8x10 Photo of Gordie Howe with the Detroit Red Wings.

 

Inscribed on photo - "Thank you for helping / The Joslin Diabetes Clinic / Gordon Howe"

 

Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Among the Harvard Medical School affiliated institutions, Joslin is unique in its sole focus on diabetes. Joslin has the world's largest team of board-certified physicians treating diabetes and its complications, as well as the largest staff of Certified Diabetes Educators anywhere in the world. Joslin also supports the world's largest diabetes research team with more than 40 faculty investigators and more than 300 researchers.

In order to watch live TV from ESPN3, I must associate my AppleTV with my account at a supported CableTV provider.

accounting services, accountant services, bookkeeping services, bookkeeper services

Starling - (Sturnus vulgaris)

gathering bugs from my lawn for its mate brooding the eggs. Usually its feathers are glossy smooth but here a gust of wind ruffled them which imo makes this capture interesting.

Saint Louis University School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri, was founded in 1928 and is considered among the foremost in the country thanks to its innovative programs and academic caliber. In addition to undergraduate Bachelor of Science registered nursing degrees, SLU – Missouri School of Nursing also had graduate level education opportunities in nursing offering both Master’s and Ph.D. programs. The School of Nursing is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and is approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing. The SLU – Madrid campus, with over 40 years of experience, is accredited by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Autonomous Government of Madrid.

 

The Baccalaureate nursing program takes place on both of the Saint Louis University campuses and is partnered in Spain with a local health care provider, Sanitas. One of Spain’s leading private health care companies, Sanitas is also a member of British United Provident Association Group, the number one private health care company in the United Kingdom. During the two years of study on the SLU – Madrid campus, nursing students conduct their clinical experiences at Sanitas facilities in Madrid. Later, during the last two years of study on the SLU – Missouri campus, nursing students conduct their clinical experiences at Saint Louis University Hospital, which is regarded as one of the foremost medical establishments in the United States.

 

spain.slu.edu/

Headed for the runway at North Island

Fall 2014 NAF El Centro Photocall.

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Killin is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland. Situated at the western head of Loch Tay, it is administered by the Stirling Council area. Killin is a historic conservation village and sits within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. It is the central settlement of the historic region of Breadalbane.

 

Killin is notable as a historically important part of the Gaidhealtachd of Perthshire and a centre of wildlife and adventure tourism.

 

A recent analysis (July 2021) by a leading mental health life insurance provider identified Killin as the second-best holiday destination for wellness in the United Kingdom

 

The west end of the village is magnificently sited around the scenic Falls of Dochart (Scottish Gaelic: Eas Dochard). The falls are crossed by a narrow, multi-arched stone bridge carrying the main A827 road into Killin. The main street then leads down towards the Loch at the confluence of the rivers Dochart (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Dochard) and Lochay (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Lòchaidh). The A827 provides road access from the South and West, with travel times from the main Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow of approximately 90 minutes. The A827 road also provides access from the north and East, albeit via a higher level rural route along the edge of Loch Tay (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Tatha).

 

Killin is the central settlement of the historic region of Breadalbane. In Gaelic breadalbane is Bràghad Albainn, "the high part, or the upper part of Scotland". This is an apt toponym as the village is surrounded by prominent and striking mountain ranges including Meall nan Tarmachan and the Ben Lawers range, that provide an alpine backdrop to the village.

 

The name Killin (Cill Fhinn), is Gaelic and reflects the predominant language of the area for most of recorded history. Killin is sometimes translated into English as the "fair or white church" but is sometimes also translated as "Finn's church, or cell". The latter interpretation links to local legend that Fingal, the mythical hero of the Ossian saga, is buried in the hills overlooking the village.

 

The history of Killin is ancient and there is plentiful evidence of prehistoric habitation of the area including several iron-age artificial islands or Crannog's along the shores of Loch Tay - a reconstructed example can be seen at the Scottish Crannog Centre. Other evidence of prehistoric habitation include a preserved standing stone circle, the Kinnell Stone Circle, close to the village along with the less well preserved remains of ancient hill forts around the area.

 

For a period in history Killin was one of the front lines in the wars between the original Picts people of Highland Scotland and the invading Gaels from Ireland, prior to them becoming united under Kenneth MacAlpin.

 

The MacNab Clan were once dominant here, and have long been associated with Killin. Their ancient burial ground is still on Inchbuie in the River Dochart, just below the falls, and is accessible from the bridge.

 

Kinnell House was the seat of the MacNabs. A well-preserved prehistoric stone circle (possibly 'restored' to improve its appearance) known as Killin Stone Circle can be seen in the grounds of the house. To the north of the village lie the ruins of the Campbells of Breadalbane stronghold of Finlarig Castle, with its associated chapel. The growing power of the Campbells eventually ousted the MacNabs, who lost Kinnell House to their rivals. In 1694 Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, 1st Earl of Breadalbane established Killin as a Burgh of barony. In 1949 Kinnell House and its estate returned to the ownership of the Chief of Clan Macnab, but in 1978 death duties forced the then Chief, James Charles Macnab of Macnab, to sell most of the estate.

 

The Killin incident of 1749 took place in August 1749 in the tumultuous aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Two men who had been plundering at will in full Highland dress after the Dress Act 1746 had made it illegal wear it, had been captured by soldiers of the British Army, but a large mob secured their release.

 

In 1767 the minister of Killin, James Stuart, published the first New Testament in Scottish Gaelic.

 

By the end of the 18th century there was a local linen industry. Flax was grown locally, spun in small mills and woven into linen by home based weavers. Today, Killin services the local rural community and the growing tourism and leisure industries. In addition to walking on Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve, fishing for trout and salmon there are various watersports available on Loch Tay. Many local vernacular buildings have been preserved or converted, allowing the village to retain much of its historic character.

 

The 19th century Moirlanich Longhouse in nearby Glen Lochay is a rare surviving example of the cruck frame Scottish longhouse, and is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The former Breadalbane Folklore Centre in the Victorian mill by the falls displays the 'healing stones' of Saint Fillan.

 

Tomnadashan Mine, an abandoned copper mine overlooking the village is sometimes identified as the haunt of the Rabbit of Caerbannog of Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame. Nearby Glen Lochay is the location to which Richard Hannay, played by Robert Donat, heads in the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock's film The 39 Steps.

 

Killin railway station was on the Killin Railway. The railway station was officially closed on 1 November 1965.

 

Killin has a rich history of folklore and customs which have been passed down mainly through the Gaelic oral tradition.

 

There are many local accounts of supernatural creatures and occurrences. These include accounts of Each-uisge (Water horses) who were said to lure children to the waterside and drown them when they would attempt to mount them, Tarbh-Uisge (Water bulls) who were thought to be dangerous to humans and reproduce with regular cattle, Sìthean (Faeries) who were mischievous and dangerous, Ùruisg (water spirits) who were troublemakers and vandals, and Ban-sìth (Banshee), whose screams were signs of impending death. There were also many stories of people with supernatural powers such as witches or those with An Dà Shealladh (the second sight) who could foresee future events - the most famous of which was Am Ban-Tighearna Labhar (The Lady of Lawers).

 

Local Folklore holds that Fingal, mythical hero of the Ossian saga is buried in Killin. A large standing stone situated just above Breadalbane Park in the centre of the village purports to be the headstone from his grave.

 

The area is also abound with many local legends about healing pools and healing stones, the most famous of which are the healing stones of St Fillan. The ancient practice of the re-bedding of St Fillan's stones on Christmas Eve is still observed and part of the local Christmas celebrations.

 

It was tradition in Killin that Oidhche-Samhna (Halloween) was observed on the old pagan date of 11 November. It is not known when it began to be celebrated on the newer date of October 31, but it was celebrated on the old date until at least the time of the Great War. Halloween was always celebrated with teintean-aighir (bonfires) which were lit in Coire nam Bonnach, just above the village, where there was dancing and merryment. There were Gìsearan (Guisers) who would visit people's homes to perform poems, jokes or songs and be given gifts of money or food. Local children would often play pranks such as removing and hiding the gates from people's gardens.

 

It was traditional in Killin for Hogmanay to be a greater celebration than that of Christmas. It was a special day when special drinks and foods would be consumed and visitors would be welcomed into the home.

 

The people of Killin (and West Perthshire generally) continue to strongly identify with their identity as part of Perthshire. Killin, like other parts of West Perthshire, fell under the administration of Stirling Council following the 1973 reorganisation of local Government which effectively dissolved Perthshire as a locality council area. Despite this, Perthshire continues to exist as a registration county and locals overwhelmingly continue to identify as Perthshire residents.

 

Killin has been a Gaelic-speaking village for almost all of recorded history. English has only gradually become the dominant language here over the last century. The village has always held the highest proportion of Gaelic speakers in West Perthshire, even to this day, and is therefore a culturally and historically important site in the Gaidhealtachd of Perthshire.

 

One of the most significant Gaelic cultural contributions from Killin was the first Gaelic translation of the New Testament, completed by James Stuart, Minister of Killin, in 1767. Another is The Killin Collection, a culturally important body of Gaelic songs collected from the area, by Charles Stewart in 1884.

 

The Gaelic Local Studies summary for Perthshire and Stirling provides an insight into the place of Gaelic in Killin over more than a century:[6]

 

In 1881 Killin village and rural Killin recorded speakers numbers of 340 (71.9%) and 422 (80.1%) respectively, when Gaelic language ability was included in Scotland's census for the first time. The broader parish of Killin recorded over 1,100 Gaelic speakers living locally at this time, representing 78.5% of the total area population, 5.05% of which (56) where monolingual Gaels. By 1901 this had decreased to 62.5% for rural Killin, 49.3% for the Killin village, and 48% for the broader parish.

 

Consistent with other parts of Gaelic-speaking Scotland there has been a pattern of gradual language shift away from Gaelic towards English. Despite this it was still common to hear native Perthshire Gaelic in the community in and around Killin in the 1960s and 70s. Indeed, the 1961 census recorded 138 speakers in Killin along with the last recorded monolingual speaker. In the 1971 census there were 120 Gaelic speakers but none of these were monolingual. By the time of the 2001 census the electoral division of Killin recorded only 63 Gaelic speakers (4.7% of the local population) with 39 (5.9%) in Killin village. Despite this decline Killin still recorded the highest numbers of Gaelic speakers in all of West-Perthshire.

 

Although the Perthshire dialect of Gaelic is considered to be effectively extinct, surviving elderly speakers have recently been identified. However, with a lack of community transmission any surviving speakers in the Killin area are likely to be the final generation of native Perthshire Gaelic speakers.

 

The decline of Gaelic in the area is in keeping with the trend across Scotland and can be attributed to a combination of events including the Highland clearances (Gaelic: Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal) which resulted in great swathes of locals being forcibly removed from the land. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 also made it illegal for Gaels to be educated or use their language in formal education settings. These changes along with others have led to a process of language shift across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

 

More recently, Killin has suffered particularly from a lack of Gaelic Medium Education provision from Stirling council. This is in contrast to the provision in neighbouring Perth and Kinross Council, such as the weekly Gaelic lessons at Glen Lyon primary school, close to Killin, and full GME at Breadalbane Academy in nearby Aberfledy. The closest GME provision offered by Stirling council is at Riverside Primary School in Stirling.

 

Despite its many challenges Gaelic survives in the area amongst a small number of local speakers as well as in the language, history, folklore and many places names of the area. The Killin Music Festival, previously the Killin Folk Festival, is a successful 3-day music festival held in the village in June each year with a Gaelic/Celtic and Folk musical focus.

 

Recordings of Native Gaelic speakers from the area from researcher Anne Ross' fieldwork from 1965 can be heard on the Tobar an Dualchais website (www.tobarandualchais.co.uk). Examples include:

 

James MacDiarmid Anderson (1902-1994)

Ella Walker (1905-1996)

Allan Walker (1894-1975)

William Walker (1883-1968)

Margaret McDiarmid (1904-1982)

 

Killin is a popular tourist destination and a thriving community with a host of local groups including a drama group, badminton club and youth group. The village is also host to number of practical amenities for locals and visitors.

 

The Killin News is a free community newspaper issued every 2 months and available by subscription or to be found in local shops and businesses. Further information can be found on their website: www.killinnews.co.uk

 

There are several hotels and more traditional Inns with restaurants catering to locals and hotel residents. The village is also well equipped with several cafes, a post office and chemist, and several small shops including two gift shops, and an outdoor centre (where outdoor equipment can be hired), as well as a small but well stocked Co-op food store.

 

There is a Petrol station available at Lix Toll, at the junction between the main A85 road and the A827 which leads into Killin.

 

There is a well-equipped Children's play park in Breadalbane Park in the centre of the village.

 

Killin has a small primary school with 56 pupils. For secondary education pupils travel to Callander 21 miles (34 km) to the south. Killin has for generations been an important part of the Gàidhealtachd. However, the nearest Gaelic medium primaries are in Stirling, 37 miles (60 km) to the south and Aberfeldy 23 miles (37 km) to the East.

 

Killin serves as a base for exploration of both the highlands and central Scotland. Common day trips to places such as Oban and Glencoe in the Highlands, the market towns of Aberfeldy and Crieff, as well as the lowland urban centres of Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Dundee and Edinburgh are all within a short distance by car.

 

In the immediate area there is a great deal to explore, particularly for outdoor enthusiasts.

 

Killin is a common base for hillwalkers given its central location and close proximity to several Munroes including the ranges of Meall nan Tarmachan and Ben Lawers.

Ski touring is a popular activity in the mountains of the area and Killin is only approximately 40 minutes drive to Glencoe Ski area containing good skiing for beginners alongside Scotland's longest and steepest runs.

The Heart 200 driving route, a long-distance driving route through Perthshire similar to the North Coast 500 passes through the village.

Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve hosts internationally important examples of alpine plant life.

The Scottish Crannog Centre museum hosts a reconstructed crannog on Lochtayside, giving insight into the lives of prehistoric peoples of the area.

Kinnell Stone Circle stand in the grounds of Linnell House in Killin.

The Falls of Dochart, a beautiful set of rapids on the River Dochart, are the centre point of the village.

The ancient Clan Macnab Burial ground is located on Innis Buidhe, accessed from the Dochart Bridge in the centre of the village.

The Moirlanich Longhouse Museum in Killin offers visitors an insight into highland life of the past in a preserved Longhouse.

Glen Lyon sits immediately above the village in the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area.

Wildlife tourism is popular in the area, with local species including red squirrels, pine Martin, otters, beavers, osprey and even populations of Scottish Wildcat. Wildlife tours are offered in nearby Dull by Highland Safaris.

The Firbush Outdoor Centre lies a couple of miles east of Killin on the shore of Loch Tay. Owned and operated by Edinburgh University it offers a range of outdoor pursuits and accommodations.

Killin Golf Club offer a picturesque 9-hole Course.

The Rob Roy Way, a 127 km long-distance walking path runs through Killin.

National Cycle Route 7 runs through the village.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Bangkok (English pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkɒk/) is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp mahǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] or simply Krung Thep. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in Central Thailand, and has a population of over 8 million, or 12.6 percent of the country's population. Over 14 million people (22.2 percent) live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, significantly dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in terms of importance.

 

Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century, which eventually grew and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam - later renamed Thailand - during the late 19th century, as the country faced pressures from the West. The city was at the centre of Thailand's political struggles throughout the 20th century, as the country abolished absolute monarchy, adopted constitutional rule and underwent numerous coups and several uprisings. The city grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a significant impact on Thailand's politics, economy, education, media and modern society.

 

The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their regional headquarters in Bangkok. The city is now a major regional force in finance and business. It is an international hub for transport and health care, and has emerged as a regional centre for the arts, fashion and entertainment. The city is well known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its notorious red-light districts. The historic Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions such as the nightlife scenes of Khaosan Road and Patpong. Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations. It is named the most visited city in MasterCard's Global Destination Cities Index, and was named "World's Best City" for four consecutive years by Travel + Leisure magazine.

 

Bangkok's rapid growth amidst little urban planning and regulation has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure systems. Limited roads, despite an extensive expressway network, together with substantial private car usage, have led to chronic and crippling traffic congestion, which caused severe air pollution in the 1990s. The city has since turned to public transport in an attempt to solve this major problem. Five rapid transit lines are now in operation, with more systems under construction or planned by the national government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

 

HISTORY

The history of Bangkok dates at least back to the early 15th century, when it was a village on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, under the rule of Ayutthaya. Because of its strategic location near the mouth of the river, the town gradually increased in importance. Bangkok initially served as a customs outpost with forts on both sides of the river, and became the site of a siege in 1688 in which the French were expelled from Siam. After the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese Empire in 1767, the newly declared King Taksin established his capital at the town, which became the base of the Thonburi Kingdom. In 1782, King Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I) succeeded Taksin, moved the capital to the eastern bank's Rattanakosin Island, thus founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom. The City Pillar was erected on 21 April, which is regarded as the date of foundation of the present city.

 

Bangkok's economy gradually expanded through busy international trade, first with China, then with Western merchants returning in the early-to-mid 19th century. As the capital, Bangkok was the centre of Siam's modernization as it faced pressure from Western powers in the late 19th century. The reigns of Kings Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851–68) and Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868–1910) saw the introduction of the steam engine, printing press, rail transport and utilities infrastructure in the city, as well as formal education and healthcare. Bangkok became the centre stage for power struggles between the military and political elite as the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932. It was subject to Japanese occupation and Allied bombing during World War II, but rapidly grew in the post-war period as a result of United States developmental aid and government-sponsored investment. Bangkok's role as an American military R&R destination boosted its tourism industry as well as firmly establishing it as a sex tourism destination. Disproportionate urban development led to increasing income inequalities and unprecedented migration from rural areas into Bangkok; its population surged from 1.8 to 3 million in the 1960s. Following the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, Japanese businesses took over as leaders in investment, and the expansion of export-oriented manufacturing led to growth of the financial market in Bangkok. Rapid growth of the city continued through the 1980s and early 1990s, until it was stalled by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. By then, many public and social issues had emerged, among them the strain on infrastructure reflected in the city's notorious traffic jams. Bangkok's role as the nation's political stage continues to be seen in strings of popular protests, from the student uprisings in 1973 and 1976, anti-military demonstrations in 1992, and successive anti-government demonstrations by the "Yellow Shirt", "Red Shirt" and "Light blue Shirt" movements from 2008 onwards.

 

Administration of the city was first formalized by King Chulalongkorn in 1906, with the establishment of Monthon Krung Thep Phra Maha Nakhon (มณฑลกรุงเทพพระมหานคร) as a national subdivision. In 1915 the monthon was split into several provinces, the administrative boundaries of which have since further changed. The city in its current form was created in 1972 with the formation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), following the merger of Phra Nakhon Province on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya and Thonburi Province on the west during the previous year.

 

NAME

The etymology of the name Bangkok (บางกอก, pronounced in Thai as [bāːŋ kɔ̀ːk] is not absolutely clear. Bang is a Thai word meaning "a village situated on a stream", and the name might have been derived from Bang Ko (บางเกาะ), ko meaning "island", a reference to the area's landscape which was carved by rivers and canals. Another theory suggests that it is shortened from Bang Makok (บางมะกอก), makok being the name of Elaeocarpus hygrophilus, a plant bearing olive-like fruit.[a] This is supported by the fact that Wat Arun, a historic temple in the area, used to be named Wat Makok. Officially, however, the town was known as Thonburi Si Mahasamut (ธนบุรีศรีมหาสมุทร, from Pali and Sanskrit, literally "city of treasures gracing the ocean") or Thonburi, according to Ayutthaya chronicles. Bangkok was likely a colloquial name, albeit one widely adopted by foreign visitors, whose continued use of the name finally resulted in it being officially adopted with the creation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

 

When King Rama I established his new capital on the river's eastern bank, the city inherited Ayutthaya's ceremonial name, of which there were many variants, including Krung Thep Thawarawadi Si Ayutthaya (กรุงเทพทวารวดีศรีอยุธยา) and Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (กรุงเทพมหานครศรีอยุธยา). Edmund Roberts, visiting the city as envoy of the United States in 1833, noted that the city, since becoming capital, was known as Sia-Yut'hia, and this is the name used in international treaties of the period. Today, the city is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร) or simply as Krung Thep (กรุงเทพฯ). Its full ceremonial name, which came into use during the reign of King Mongkut, reads as follows:

 

Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

 

The name, composed of Pali and Sanskrit root words, translates as:

 

City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest.

 

The name is listed in Guinness World Records as the world's longest place name, at 168 letters. Thai school children are taught the full name, although few can explain its meaning as many of the words are archaic, and known to few. Most Thais who recall the full name do so because of its use in a popular song, "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon" (1989) by Asanee–Wasan and will often recount it by singing it, much as an English speaker might sing the alphabet song to recite the alphabet. The entirety of the lyrics is just the name of the city repeated over and over.

 

GOVERNMENT

The city of Bangkok is locally governed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Although its boundaries are at the provincial (changwat) level, unlike the other 76 provinces Bangkok is a special administrative area whose governor is directly elected to serve a four-year term. The governor, together with four appointed deputies, form the executive body, who implement policies through the BMA civil service headed by the Permanent Secretary for the BMA. In separate elections, each district elects one or more city councillors, who form the Bangkok Metropolitan Council. The council is the BMA's legislative body, and has power over municipal ordinances and the city's budget. However, after the coup of 2014 all local elections have been cancelled and the council has been appointed by government on September 15 2014. The current Bangkok Governor is Police General Aswin Kwanmuang, who was appointed by the military government on October 26 following the suspension of the last elected governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

 

Bangkok is subdivided into fifty districts (khet, equivalent to amphoe in the other provinces), which are further subdivided into 169 subdistricts (khwaeng, equivalent to tambon). Each district is managed by a district director appointed by the governor. District councils, elected to four-year terms, serve as advisory bodies to their respective district directors.

 

The BMA is divided into sixteen departments, each overseeing different aspects of the administration's responsibilities. Most of these responsibilities concern the city's infrastructure, and include city planning, building control, transportation, drainage, waste management and city beautification, as well as education, medical and rescue services. Many of these services are provided jointly with other agencies. The BMA has the authority to implement local ordinances, although civil law enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

 

The seal of the city shows Hindu god Indra riding in the clouds on Airavata, a divine white elephant known in Thai as Erawan. In his hand Indra holds his weapon, the vajra.[19] The seal is based on a painting done by Prince Naris. The tree symbol of Bangkok is Ficus benjamina. The official city slogan, adopted in 2012, reads:

 

As built by deities, the administrative center, dazzling palaces and temples, the capital of Thailand

กรุงเทพฯ ดุจเทพสร้าง เมืองศูนย์กลางการปกครอง วัดวังงามเรืองรอง เมืองหลวงของประเทศไทย

 

As the capital of Thailand, Bangkok is the seat of all branches of the national government. The Government House, Parliament House and Supreme, Administrative and Constitutional Courts are all located within the city. Bangkok is the site of the Grand Palace and Chitralada Villa, respectively the official and de facto residence of the king. Most government ministries also have headquarters and offices in the capital.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The Bangkok city proper covers an area of 1,568.737 square kilometres, ranking 69th among the other 76 provinces of Thailand. Of this, about 700 square kilometres form the built-up urban area. It is ranked 73rd in the world in terms of land area by City Mayors. The city's urban sprawl reaches into parts of the six other provinces it borders, namely, in clockwise order from northwest: Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom. With the exception of Chachoengsao, these provinces, together with Bangkok, form the greater Bangkok Metropolitan Region.

 

PARKS AND GREEN ZONES

Bangkok has several parks, although these amount to a per-capita total park area of only 1.82 square metres in the city proper. Total green space for the entire city is moderate, at 11.8 square metres per person; however, in the more densely built-up areas of the city these numbers are as low as 1.73 and 0.72 square metres per person. More recent numbers claim that there is only 3.3 m2 of green space per person, compared to an average of 39 m2 in other cities across Asia. Bangkokians thus have 10 times less green space than is standard in the region's urban areas. Green belt areas include about 700 square kilometres of rice paddies and orchards in the eastern and western edges of the city proper, although their primary purpose is to serve as flood detention basins rather than to limit urban expansion. Bang Kachao, a 20-square-kilometre conservation area in an oxbow of the Chao Phraya, lies just across the southern riverbank districts, in Samut Prakan Province. A master development plan has been proposed to increase total park area to 4 square metres per person.

 

Bangkok's largest parks include the centrally located Lumphini Park near the Si Lom – Sathon business district with an area of 57.6 hectares, the 80-hectare Suanluang Rama IX in the east of the city, and the Chatuchak–Queen Sirikit–Wachirabenchathat park complex in northern Bangkok, which has a combined area of 92 hectares.

 

DEMOGRAPHY

The city of Bangkok has a population of 8,280,925 according to the 2010 census, or 12.6 percent of the national population. However, there are only 5,692,284 registered residents, belonging to 2,672,423 households. A large number of Bangkok's daytime population commutes from surrounding provinces in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, the total population of which is 14,565,547. Bangkok is a cosmopolitan city; the census showed that it is home to 81,570 Japanese and 55,893 Chinese nationals, as well as 117,071 expatriates from other Asian countries, 48,341 from Europe, 23,418 from the Americas, 5,289 from Australia and 3,022 from Africa. Immigrants from neighbouring countries include 303,595 Burmese, 63,438 Cambodians and 18,126 Lao.

 

Although it has been Thailand's largest population centre since its establishment as capital city in 1782, Bangkok grew only slightly throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. British diplomat John Crawfurd, visiting in 1822, estimated its population at no more than 50,000. As a result of Western medicine brought by missionaries as well as increased immigration from both within Siam and overseas, Bangkok's population gradually increased as the city modernized in the late 19th century. This growth became even more pronounced in the 1930s, following the discovery of antibiotics. Although family planning and birth control was introduced in the 1960s, the lowered birth rate was more than offset by increased migration from the provinces as economic expansion accelerated. Only in the 1990s have Bangkok's population growth rates decreased, following the national rate. Thailand had long since become highly centralized around the capital. In 1980, Bangkok's population was fifty-one times that of Hat Yai and Songkhla, the second-largest urban centre, making it the world's most prominent primate city.

 

The majority of Bangkok's population are of Thai ethnicity,[d] although details on the city's ethnic make-up are unavailable, as the national census does not document race.[e] Bangkok's cultural pluralism dates back to the early days of its foundation; several ethnic communities were formed by immigrants and forced settlers including the Khmer, Northern Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, Tavoyan, Mon and Malay. Most prominent were the Chinese, who played major roles in the city's trade and became the majority of Bangkok's population - estimates include up to three-fourths in 1828 and almost half in the 1950s. However, Chinese immigration was restricted from the 1930s and effectively ceased after the Chinese Revolution in 1949. Their prominence subsequently declined as most of younger generations of Thai Chinese have integrated and adopted a Thai identity. Bangkok is still nevertheless home to a large Chinese community, with the greatest concentration in Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown. The majority (91 percent) of the city's population is Buddhist. Other religions include Islam (4.7%), Christianity (2.0%), Hinduism (0.5%), Sikhism (0.1%) and Confucianism (0.1%).

 

Apart from Yaowarat, Bangkok also has several other distinct ethnic neighbourhoods. The Indian community is centred in Phahurat, where the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, founded in 1933, is located. Ban Khrua on Saen Saep Canal is home to descendants of the Cham who settled in the late 18th century. Although the Portuguese who settled during the Thonburi period have ceased to exist as a distinct community, their past is reflected in Santa Kruz Church, on the west bank of the river. Likewise, the Assumption Cathedral on Charoen Krung Road is among many European-style buildings in the Old Farang Quarter, where European diplomats and merchants lived during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Nearby, the Haroon Mosque is the centre of a Muslim community. Newer expatriate communities exist along Sukhumvit Road, including the Japanese community near Soi Phrom Phong and Soi Thong Lo, and the Arab and North African neighbourhood along Soi Nana. Sukhumvit Plaza, a mall on Soi Sukhumvit 12, is popularly known as Korea Town.

 

ECONOMY

Bangkok is the economic centre of Thailand, and the heart of the country's investment and development. In 2010, the city had an economic output of 3.142 trillion baht (98.34 billion US dollars), contributing 29.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This amounted to a per-capita GDP value of ฿456,911 ($14,301), almost three times the national average of ฿160,556 ($5,025). The Bangkok Metropolitan Region had a combined output of ฿4.773tn ($149.39bn), or 44.2 percent of GDP. Bangkok's economy ranks as the sixth among Asian cities in terms of per-capita GDP, after Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka–Kobe and Seoul.

 

Wholesale and retail trade is the largest sector in the city's economy, contributing 24.0 percent of Bangkok's gross provincial product. It is followed by manufacturing (14.3%); real estate, renting and business activities (12.4%); transport and communications (11.6%); and financial intermediation (11.1%). Bangkok alone accounts for 48.4 percent of Thailand's service sector, which in turn constitutes 49.0 percent of GDP. When the Bangkok Metropolitan Region is considered, manufacturing is the most significant contributor at 28.2 percent of the gross regional product, reflecting the density of industry in the Bangkok's neighbouring provinces. The automotive industry based around Greater Bangkok is the largest production hub in Southeast Asia. Tourism is also a significant contributor to Bangkok's economy, generating ฿427.5bn ($13.38bn) in revenue in 2010.

 

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is located on Ratchadaphisek Road in inner Bangkok. The SET, together with the Market for Alternative Investment (mai) has 648 listed companies as of the end of 2011, with a combined market capitalization of 8.485 trillion baht ($267.64bn). Due to the large amount of foreign representation, Thailand has for several years been a mainstay of the Southeast Asian economy and a centre of Asian business. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranks Bangkok as an "Alpha−" world city, and it is ranked 59th in Z/Yen's Global Financial Centres Index 11.

 

Bangkok is home to the headquarters of all of Thailand's major commercial banks and financial institutions, as well as the country's largest companies. A large number of multinational corporations base their regional headquarters in Bangkok due to the lower cost of the workforce and firm operations relative to other major Asian business centres. Seventeen Thai companies are listed on the Forbes 2000, all of which are based in the capital, including PTT, the only Fortune Global 500 company in Thailand.

 

Income inequality is a major issue in Bangkok, especially between relatively unskilled lower-income immigrants from rural provinces and neighbouring countries, and middle-class professionals and business elites. Although absolute poverty rates are low - only 0.64 percent of Bangkok's registered residents were living under the poverty line in 2010, compared to a national average of 7.75 - economic disparity is still substantial. The city has a Gini coefficient of 0.48, indicating a high level of inequality.

 

CULTURE

The culture of Bangkok reflects its position as Thailand's centre of wealth and modernisation. The city has long been the portal of entry of Western concepts and material goods, which have been adopted and blended with Thai values to various degrees by its residents. This is most evident in the lifestyles of the expanding middle class. Conspicuous consumption serves as a display of economic and social status, and shopping centres are popular weekend hangouts. Ownership of electronics and consumer products such as mobile phones is ubiquitous. This has been accompanied by a degree of secularism, as religion's role in everyday life has rather diminished. Although such trends have spread to other urban centres, and, to a degree, the countryside, Bangkok remains at the forefront of social change.

 

A distinct feature of Bangkok is the ubiquity of street vendors selling goods ranging from food items to clothing and accessories. It has been estimated that the city may have over 100,000 hawkers. While the BMA has authorised the practice in 287 sites, the majority of activity in another 407 sites takes place illegally. Although they take up pavement space and block pedestrian traffic, many of the city's residents depend on these vendors for their meals, and the BMA's efforts to curb their numbers have largely been unsuccessful.

 

In 2015, however, the BMA, with support from the National Council for Peace and Order (Thailand's ruling military junta), began cracking down on street vendors in a bid to reclaim public space. Many famous market neighbourhoods were affected, including Khlong Thom, Saphan Lek, and the flower market at Pak Khlong Talat. Nearly 15,000 vendors were evicted from 39 public areas in 2016. While some applauded the efforts to focus on pedestrian rights, others have expressed concern that gentrification would lead to the loss of the city's character and adverse changes to people's way of life.

 

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

The residents of Bangkok celebrate many of Thailand's annual festivals. During Songkran on 13–15 April, traditional rituals as well as water fights take place throughout the city. Loi Krathong, usually in November, is accompanied by the Golden Mount Fair. New Year celebrations take place at many venues, the most prominent being the plaza in front of CentralWorld. Observances related to the royal family are held primarily in Bangkok. Wreaths are laid at King Chulalongkorn's equestrian statue in the Royal Plaza on 23 October, which is King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day. The present king's and queen's birthdays, respectively on 5 December and 12 August, are marked as Thailand's national Father's Day and national Mother's Day. These national holidays are celebrated by royal audiences on the day's eve, in which the king or queen gives a speech, and public gatherings on the day of the observance. The king's birthday is also marked by the Royal Guards' parade.

 

Sanam Luang is the site of the Thai Kite, Sport and Music Festival, usually held in March, and the Royal Ploughing Ceremony which takes place in May. The Red Cross Fair at the beginning of April is held at Suan Amporn and the Royal Plaza, and features numerous booths offering goods, games and exhibits. The Chinese New Year (January–February) and Vegetarian Festival (September–October) are celebrated widely by the Chinese community, especially in Yaowarat.

 

TRANSPORT

Although Bangkok's canals historically served as a major mode of transport, they have long since been surpassed in importance by land traffic. Charoen Krung Road, the first to be built by Western techniques, was completed in 1864. Since then, the road network has vastly expanded to accommodate the sprawling city. A complex elevated expressway network helps bring traffic into and out of the city centre, but Bangkok's rapid growth has put a large strain on infrastructure, and traffic jams have plagued the city since the 1990s. Although rail transport was introduced in 1893 and electric trams served the city from 1894 to 1968, it was only in 1999 that Bangkok's first rapid transit system began operation. Older public transport systems include an extensive bus network and boat services which still operate on the Chao Phraya and two canals. Taxis appear in the form of cars, motorcycles, and "tuk-tuk" auto rickshaws.

 

Bangkok is connected to the rest of the country through the national highway and rail networks, as well as by domestic flights to and from the city's two international airports. Its centuries-old maritime transport of goods is still conducted through Khlong Toei Port.

 

The BMA is largely responsible for overseeing the construction and maintenance of the road network and transport systems through its Public Works Department and Traffic and Transportation Department. However, many separate government agencies are also in charge of the individual systems, and much of transport-related policy planning and funding is contributed to by the national government.

 

ROADS

Road-based transport is the primary mode of travel in Bangkok. Due to the city's organic development, its streets do not follow an organized grid structure. Forty-eight major roads link the different areas of the city, branching into smaller streets and lanes (soi) which serve local neighbourhoods. Eleven bridges over the Chao Phraya link the two sides of the city, while several expressway and motorway routes bring traffic into and out of the city centre and link with nearby provinces.

 

Bangkok's rapid growth in the 1980s resulted in sharp increases in vehicle ownership and traffic demand, which have since continued - in 2006 there were 3,943,211 in-use vehicles in Bangkok, of which 37.6 percent were private cars and 32.9 percent were motorcycles. These increases, in the face of limited carrying capacity, caused severe traffic congestion evident by the early 1990s. The extent of the problem is such that the Thai Traffic Police has a unit of officers trained in basic midwifery in order to assist deliveries which do not reach hospital in time. While Bangkok's limited road surface area (8 percent, compared to 20–30 percent in most Western cities) is often cited as a major cause of its traffic jams, other factors, including high vehicle ownership rate relative to income level, inadequate public transport systems, and lack of transportation demand management, also play a role. Efforts to alleviate the problem have included the construction of intersection bypasses and an extensive system of elevated highways, as well as the creation of several new rapid transit systems. The city's overall traffic conditions, however, remain bad.

 

Traffic has been the main source of air pollution in Bangkok, which reached serious levels in the 1990s. However, efforts to improve air quality by improving fuel quality and enforcing emission standards, among others, have been largely successful. Atmospheric particulate matter levels dropped from 81 micrograms per cubic metre in 1997 to 43 in 2007.

 

Although the BMA has created thirty signed bicycle routes along several roads totalling 230 kilometres, cycling is still largely impractical, especially in the city centre. Most of these bicycle lanes share the pavement with pedestrians. Poor surface maintenance, encroachment by hawkers and street vendors, and a hostile environment for cyclists and pedestrians, make cycling and walking unpopular methods of getting around in Bangkok.

 

BUSES AND TAXIS

Bangkok has an extensive bus network providing local transit services within the Greater Bangkok area. The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) operates a monopoly on bus services, with substantial concessions granted to private operators. Buses, minibus vans, and song thaeo operate on a total of 470 routes throughout the region. A separate bus rapid transit system owned by the BMA has been in operation since 2010. Known simply as the BRT, the system currently consists of a single line running from the business district at Sathon to Ratchaphruek on the western side of the city. The Transport Co., Ltd. is the BMTA's long-distance counterpart, with services to all provinces operating out of Bangkok.

 

Taxis are ubiquitous in Bangkok, and are a popular form of transport. As of August 2012, there are 106,050 cars, 58,276 motorcycles and 8,996 tuk-tuk motorized tricycles cumulatively registered for use as taxis. Meters have been required for car taxis since 1992, while tuk-tuk fares are usually negotiated. Motorcycle taxis operate from regulated ranks, with either fixed or negotiable fares, and are usually employed for relatively short journeys.

 

Despite their popularity, taxis have gained a bad reputation for often refusing passengers when the requested route is not to the driver's convenience. Motorcycle taxis were previously unregulated, and subject to extortion by organized crime gangs. Since 2003, registration has been required for motorcycle taxi ranks, and drivers now wear distinctive numbered vests designating their district of registration and where they are allowed to accept passengers.

 

RAIL SYSTEMS

Bangkok is the location of Hua Lamphong Railway Station, the main terminus of the national rail network operated by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). In addition to long-distance services, the SRT also operates a few daily commuter trains running from and to the outskirts of the city during the rush hour.

 

Bangkok is currently served by three rapid transit systems: the BTS Skytrain, the underground MRT and the elevated Airport Rail Link. Although proposals for the development of rapid transit in Bangkok had been made since 1975, it was only in 1999 that the BTS finally began operation.

 

The BTS consists of two lines, Sukhumvit and Silom, with thirty stations along 30.95 kilometres. The MRT opened for use in July 2004, and currently consists of two line, the Blue Line and Purple Line. The Airport Rail Link, opened in August 2010, connects the city centre to Suvarnabhumi Airport to the east. Its eight stations span a distance of 28 kilometres.

 

Although initial passenger numbers were low and their service area remains limited to the inner city, these systems have become indispensable to many commuters. The BTS reported an average of 600,000 daily trips in 2012, while the MRT had 240,000 passenger trips per day.

 

As of 2016, construction work is ongoing to extend BTS and MRT, as well as several additional transit lines, including the Light Red grade-separated commuter rail line. The entire Mass Rapid Transit Master Plan in Bangkok Metropolitan Region consists of eight main lines and four feeder lines totalling 508 kilometres to be completed by 2029. In addition to rapid transit and heavy rail lines, there have been proposals for several monorail systems.

 

WATER TRANSPORT

Although much diminished from its past prominence, water-based transport still plays an important role in Bangkok and the immediate upstream and downstream provinces. Several water buses serve commuters daily. The Chao Phraya Express Boat serves thirty-four stops along the river, carrying an average of 35,586 passengers per day in 2010, while the smaller Khlong Saen Saep boat service serves twenty-seven stops on Saen Saep Canal with 57,557 daily passengers. Long-tail boats operate on fifteen regular routes on the Chao Phraya, and passenger ferries at thirty-two river crossings served an average of 136,927 daily passengers in 2010.

 

Bangkok Port, popularly known by its location as Khlong Toei Port, was Thailand's main international port from its opening in 1947 until it was superseded by the deep-sea Laem Chabang Port in 1991. It is primarily a cargo port, though its inland location limits access to ships of 12,000 deadweight tonnes or less. The port handled 11,936,855 tonnes of cargo in the first eight months of the 2010 fiscal year, about 22 percent the total of the country's international ports.

 

AIRPORTS

Bangkok is one of Asia's busiest air transport hubs. Two commercial airports serve the city, the older Don Mueang International Airport and the new Bangkok International Airport, commonly known as Suvarnabhumi. Suvarnabhumi, which replaced Don Mueang as Bangkok's main airport at its opening in 2006, served 52,808,013 passengers in 2015, making it the world's 20th busiest airport by passenger volume. This amount of traffic is already over its designed capacity of 45 million passengers. Don Mueang reopened for domestic flights in 2007, and resumed international services focusing on low-cost carriers in October 2012. Suvarnabhumi is undergoing expansion to increase its capacity to 60 million, which is expected to be completed by 2016.

 

HEALTH AND EDUCATION

EDUCATION

Bangkok has long been the centre of modern education in Thailand. The first schools in the country were established here in the later 19th century, and there are now 1,351 schools in the city. The city is home to the country's five oldest universities, Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Kasetsart, Mahidol and Silpakorn, founded between 1917 and 1943. The city has since continued its dominance, especially in higher education; the majority of the country's universities, both public and private, are located in Bangkok or the Metropolitan Region. Chulalongkorn and Mahidol are the only Thai universities to appear in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, also located in Bangkok, is the only Thai university in the top 400 of the 2012–13 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

 

Over the past few decades the general trend of pursuing a university degree has prompted the founding of new universities to meet the needs of Thai students. Bangkok became not only a place where immigrants and provincial Thais go for job opportunities, but also for a chance to receive a university degree. Ramkhamhaeng University emerged in 1971 as Thailand's first open university; it now has the highest enrolment in the country. The demand for higher education has led to the founding of many other universities and colleges, both public and private. While many universities have been established in major provinces, the Greater Bangkok region remains home to the greater majority of institutions, and the city's tertiary education scene remains over-populated with non-Bangkokians. The situation is not limited to higher education, either. In the 1960s, 60 to 70 percent of 10- to 19-year-olds who were in school had migrated to Bangkok for secondary education. This was due to both a lack of secondary schools in the provinces and perceived higher standards of education in the capital. Although this discrepancy has since largely abated, tens of thousands of students still compete for places in Bangkok's leading schools. Education has long been a prime factor in the centralization of Bangkok and will play a vital role in the government's efforts to decentralize the country.

 

HEALTHCARE

Much of Thailand's medical resources are disproportionately concentrated in the capital. In 2000, Bangkok had 39.6 percent of the country's doctors and a physician-to-population ratio of 1:794, compared to a median of 1:5,667 among all provinces. The city is home to 42 public hospitals, five of which are university hospitals, as well as 98 private hospitals and 4,063 registered clinics. The BMA operates nine public hospitals through its Medical Service Department, and its Health Department provides primary care through sixty-eight community health centres. Thailand's universal healthcare system is implemented through public hospitals and health centres as well as participating private providers.

 

Research-oriented medical school affiliates such as Siriraj, King Chulalongkorn Memorial and Ramathibodi Hospitals are among the largest in the country, and act as tertiary care centres, receiving referrals from distant parts of the country. Lately, especially in the private sector, there has been much growth in medical tourism, with hospitals such as Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital, among others, providing services specifically catering to foreigners. An estimated 200,000 medical tourists visited Thailand in 2011, making Bangkok the most popular global destination for medical tourism.

 

CRIME AND SAFETY

Bangkok has a relatively moderate crime rate when compared to urban counterparts around the world.[119] Traffic accidents are a major hazard, while natural disasters are rare. Intermittent episodes of political unrest and occasional terrorist attacks have resulted in losses of life.

 

Although the crime threat in Bangkok is relatively low, non-confrontational crimes of opportunity such as pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, and credit card fraud occur with frequency. Bangkok's growth since the 1960s has been followed by increasing crime rates partly driven by urbanisation, migration, unemployment and poverty. By the late 1980s, Bangkok's crime rates were about four times that of the rest of the country. The police have long been preoccupied with street crimes ranging from housebreaking to assault and murder. The 1990s saw the emergence of vehicle theft and organized crime, particularly by foreign gangs. Drug trafficking, especially that of ya ba methamphetamine pills, is also chronic.

 

According to police statistics, the most common complaint received by the Metropolitan Police Bureau in 2010 was housebreaking, with 12,347 cases. This was followed by 5,504 cases of motorcycle thefts, 3,694 cases of assault and 2,836 cases of embezzlement. Serious offences included 183 murders, 81 gang robberies, 265 robberies, 1 kidnapping and 9 arson cases. Offences against the state were by far more common, and included 54,068 drug-related cases, 17,239 cases involving prostitution and 8,634 related to gambling. The Thailand Crime Victim Survey conducted by the Office of Justice Affairs of the Ministry of Justice found that 2.7 percent of surveyed households reported a member being victim of a crime in 2007. Of these, 96.1 percent were crimes against property, 2.6 percent were crimes against life and body, and 1.4 percent were information-related crimes.

 

Political demonstrations and protests are common in Bangkok. While most events since 1992 had been peaceful, the series of protests alternately staged by the Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts since 2006 have often turned violent. Red Shirt demonstrations during March–May 2010 ended in a crackdown in which 92 were killed, including armed and unarmed protesters, security forces, civilians and journalists. Terrorist incidents have also occurred in Bangkok, most notably the 2015 Bangkok bombing at the Erawan shrine, and also a series of bombings on the 2006–07 New Year's Eve.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Getting ready to deploy.

This is the logo picture for a set of photographs from the first running of the Trim AC Bewley's 10 Mile Road Race which was held on Sunday 1st February 2015 at 12:00 in Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland. This race also incorporated the 2015 Meath 10 Mile Road Championships. For the first staging of this event this was an incredible success with almost 800 runners, joggers and walkers talking to the start line. The weather was perfect for running despite the bitter cold temperatures with air temperature of 4C recorded at the start. Some beautiful Spring sunshine helped brighten the day and the roads were clear and dry for racing.

Want to use this photograph or share it? Please read/scroll down a little further to find out how - it's very easy!

The race started on the Trim Athboy Road (the R154) and headed towards the town before making a left turn onto the Trim Dunderry road. The one mile mark comes just after a Y-junction which the race joins back to before the final 600 meters to the finish. Heading north to Dunderry the route takes a left in the middle of the village and heads west for 2 miles on the Dunderry Athboy road. At the next major junction the race takes another left turning south towards Trim town again. One of the only significant hills/drags of the course happens at around the 6.5 mile marker. Miles 7 - 9 are ran on winding roads with nice hedgerows and shelter from any breeze. During these miles you will begin to see the spire of Trim church in the distance. At the Y-Junction from mile one you have 600 meters to go with a final right turn into the industrial estate and the finish line.

 

The success of today's race is not an accident. Trim AC, and their army of volunteers and help from other Meath athletic clubs, put in huge work to make this race a success.

Today's race adds significantly to Trim AC's reputation for top quality organisation of race events. The 10 mile road race today follows on from the Braveheart 5KM Trail Race which is held annually in June around the beautiful and historical fields of Porchfields and Trim Castle.

 

Are there more photographs from this race? This photograph is part of a larger set of photographs from the Trim AC 10 Mile Road Race 2015. They are available on our Flickr photostream in the album set here www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157650166189770

 

Trim 10 Mile 2015 Event Page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1519629891656513/?fref=ts (may require Facebook logon)

Trim Athletic Club on Twitter twitter.com/trimathletic

Trim Athletic Club Internet Homepage www.trimac.ie/

GPS Trace of the 10 Mile Route 2015 www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/590734250/

Boards.ie Athletics Forum Discussion Thread: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057321634

Precision Timing Results from the Trim 10 Mile 2015: www.precisiontiming.net/result.aspx?v=2381

Sponsors: Bewley's 1840: bewleys.com/

Read about Bewley's company on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bewley%27s

Trim Athletic Club on Facebook: www.facebook.com/trimathleticclub?fref=ts (may require Facebook logon)

Google Streetview - St. Loman's Hall Registration and Refreshments www.google.ie/maps/place/St+Loman%27s+St,+Trim,+Co.+Meath...

Our photographs from the Trim AC Braveheart 5KM 2014 www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157645195984413/

  

USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.

 

This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?

 

You can download the photographic image here direct to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. However - look for a symbol with three dots 'ooo' or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

 

I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

  

The is a photograph from the 13th running of the Fields of Athenry 10KM took place on St. Stephen's Day, December 26th 2014 at 11:00 in Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland. Just under 1,200 participants finished the race today under the Medieval Arch in the town. The weather was certainly not for the faint hearted. With temperatures of about 3C and a biting wind mixed with rain participants had to endure a very very cold race day morning. Heavy rain during the previous night had seen some flooding on the road between 6KM and 9KM. Regardless of this, as always, The Fields of Athenry Road Race rose to the challenge.

This is one of the leading 10KM road races in Ireland. It is hard to believe that the race is "only" thirteen years old. It's superb organisation, atmosphere, and great race history gives it the characteristic of a race that is many years older. The credit for this goes to the wonderful athletics club in Athenry AC and the Race Director for 2014 Frank Burke and his team of volunteers. The attention to every detail in the race which this year attracted over 1,200 participants means that the race has earned it's stripes as one of the leading road races in Ireland. This year the race coupled with Athenry Tidy Towns Committee. A contribution from the proceeds from this year's race will be made to support the work of the Tidy Town Committee.

 

The race started at the Railway station and then took in a loop of the famous fields of Athenry where it turns left and begins it's return to the town, passing the soccer club, over the railway lines, and finishing under the medival arch in Athenry town for a fittingly atmospheric finish to the race. Race HQ is in the Presentation College in Athenry. Post race showers, prize giving ceremony, and refreshments were provided in the College after the race.

 

We have a very extensive set of photographs from this year's event. The link to the full set of photographs on this Flickr photostream is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157649881213766. There are some photographs of the race start and photographs of the race finish from the 1st across the line until the 50 minutes finish time. It just got too cold to continue at this point.

 

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone and you want to see the larger version(s) of this photograph then: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

  

Some useful Internet links

 

The Athenry AC Website: www.athenryac.com/

 

The Athenry AC Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/athenryac?fref=ts (Requires Facebook Login)

 

The official website for the Fields of Athenry 10KM 2014 Website: www.athenry10k.com (This also provides access to the complete archive of results for the entire series of Fields of Athenry races)

 

The Finish of the 10km under the Medieval Arch on Google Streetview: goo.gl/maps/O2Sv1

 

Our Flickr set from the Fields of Athenry 2013: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157639022727644/

Our Flickr set from the Fields of Athenry 2012: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157632343684441/

Our Flickr set from the Fields of Athenry 2011: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157628575384797/

 

Éirefoto.com will have professionally taken photographs of the 2013 Fields of Athenry and other race events in Galway and Connaught over the year: http://www.eirefoto.com/sports.htm

 

Edenhill77 also posts photographs from road race events in Galway to Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/

 

Garmin Connect GPS trace of the 10KM Race Route: connect.garmin.com/player/61755378

 

Wikipedia Page on 'The Field's of Athenry' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fields_of_Athenry

 

The defacto definitive version of the famous song as sung by Paddy Reilly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9InnXP64To

 

The fields of Athenry as sung by the fans of the Republic of Ireland soccer team at Euro 2012 against Spain: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdZqpYX9eNk

   

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.

 

This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?

 

You can download the photographic image here direct to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. However - look for a symbol with three dots 'ooo' or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

 

I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

  

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

  

A health care provider assists a bedside client with a CPAP machine ( Continuous positive airway pressure therapy ) at the Bariatric Care suite. This clinic provides medical, psychological, and surgical interventions for weight management and improving health. Support is provided to individuals with obesity who require complex medical management and/or surgical intervention.

 

Photos aim to reflect positive imagery for obese populations. Using various spaces of the bariatric care suite, we will take photos of care providers and clients receiving diabetes and obesity care.

A health care provider, AHS nurse, assists a client at the Bariatric Care suite while she uses a walker to make her way down a hallway at the clinic. This clinic provides medical, psychological, and surgical interventions for weight management and improving health. Support is provided to individuals with obesity who require complex medical management and/or surgical intervention.

 

Photos aim to reflect positive imagery for obese populations. Using various spaces of the bariatric care suite, we will take photos of care providers and clients receiving diabetes and obesity care.

Flying at dawn, just over the jungle foliage, U.S. Fairchild C-123 Provider aircraft spray concentrated defoliant along power lines running between Saigon and Dalat in South Vietnam, early in August 1963. The planes were flying about 130 miles per hour over steep, hilly terrain, believed to be infiltrated by the Viet Cong.

 

In January 1962, the United States initiated Operation 'Ranch Hand' and began spraying large areas of South Vietnam with herbicides, mainly Agent Orange. By 1971, 12 percent of the total area of South Vietnam had been sprayed with defoliating chemicals, at an average concentration of 13 times the recommended U.S. Department of Agriculture application rate for domestic use.

 

The use of Agent Orange has been controversial in New Zealand because of the exposure to it by New Zealand troops in Vietnam and because the Agent Orange for Vietnam and other users was produced at an Ivon Watkins-Dow chemical plant in Paritutu, New Plymouth.

 

Agent Orange:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

 

Fairchild C-123 Provider:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_C-123_Provider

 

AP Photo: Horst Faas

A look back at the Vietnam war:

cherrieswriter.com/2014/01/13/photos-a-look-back-at-the-v...

 

TPAI

 

This is a photograph from the 3rd annual hosting of the Coralstown National School 5KM Road Race and Fun Run was held at Coralstown, Co. Westmeath, Ireland on Wednesday 29th April 2015 at 19:30. This proceeds of the race were in aid of support for Coralstown National School. The race started and finished outside of Coralstown Church (beside the school - see Google StreetMap goo.gl/maps/oWGeu). The National School provided the facilities for changing rooms, toilets, registration, and parking. The race was organised by local athlete and Mullingar Harriers clubman Mattie Glennon. Mattie and a huge team of helpers and volunteers organised a wonderful evening's racing. The course was on small country roads and tarmac canal bank. Coralstown is located just off the M4 motorway between junctions 12 Kinnegad and 13 The Downs. It is approximately 7 miles east of Mullingar. There was a very strong headwind for runners between 2km and 4km marks which slowed times down significantly on previous years.

Well done to everyone involved. This was a great evening with a real sense of community spirit at the race. Spot prizes and refreshments were offered afterwards in the National School. The race event was notable for the very large number of local school children who took part in the 5KM.

 

We have a full set of photographs from the race tonight on Flickr at this album location: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157652257403301/

 

USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

BUT..... Wait there a minute....

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.

 

This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?

 

You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

 

I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

 

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Every cell phone has a unique number assigned to it commonly known as IMEI which stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity. Internet providers use this number to track the owners surfing habits and locations for advertising purposes and they sell this info. Police would buy them to track the owners. Even though the info is supposed to be anonymous, it's not difficult to identify the phone owners as it shows the owners' home and work addresses.

 

As a law abiding citizen, I personally don't have any problem with the police using this tool as it can help solve crimes, as in the Eliza Fletcher kidnapping case, see below. However, one has to wonder if this kind of surveillance is against the 4th Amendment on searches without warrants.

 

How is this different from what China using cameras in public areas to track people? At least the Chinese people know they are being tracked with the presence of the cameras. We in the U.S. are being tracked without being told.

 

Indeed, during the IRA days in the UK, London police installed lots of surveillance cameras all over the City. And Foster City police has just solved a robbery with the help of a surveillance camera:

youtu.be/2wd3wmrplMM

 

apnews.com/article/technology-police-government-surveilla...

 

Tech tool offers police mass surveillance on a budget

 

Local law enforcement agencies from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina have been using an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants, that gives them the power to follow people’s movements months back in time, according to public records and internal emails obtained by The Associated Press.

 

Police have used “Fog Reveal” to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among law enforcement as “patterns of life,” according to thousands of pages of records about the company.

 

Sold by Virginia-based Fog Data Science LLC, Fog Reveal has been used since at least 2018 in criminal investigations ranging from the murder of a nurse in Arkansas to tracing the movements of a potential participant in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The tool is rarely, if ever, mentioned in court records, something that defense attorneys say makes it harder for them to properly defend their clients in cases in which the technology was used.

 

The company was developed by two former high-ranking Department of Homeland Security officials under former President George W. Bush. It relies on advertising identification numbers, which Fog officials say are culled from popular cellphone apps such as Waze, Starbucks and hundreds of others that target ads based on a person’s movements and interests, according to police emails. That information is then sold to companies like Fog.

 

“It’s sort of a mass surveillance program on a budget,” said Bennett Cyphers, a special adviser at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy rights advocacy group.

 

This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series, “Tracked,” that investigates the power and consequences of decisions driven by algorithms on people’s everyday lives.

 

The documents and emails were obtained by EFF through Freedom of Information Act requests. The group shared the files with The AP, which independently found that Fog sold its software in about 40 contracts to nearly two dozen agencies, according to GovSpend, a company that keeps tabs on government spending. The records and AP’s reporting provide the first public account of the extensive use of Fog Reveal by local police, according to analysts and legal experts who scrutinize such technologies.

 

Federal oversight of companies like Fog is an evolving legal landscape. On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission sued a data broker called Kochava that, like Fog, provides its clients with advertising IDs that authorities say can easily be used to find where a mobile device user lives, which violates rules the commission enforces. And there are bills before Congress now that, if passed, would regulate the industry.

 

“Local law enforcement is at the front lines of trafficking and missing persons cases, yet these departments are often behind in technology adoption,” Matthew Broderick, a Fog managing partner, said in an email. “We fill a gap for underfunded and understaffed departments.”

 

Because of the secrecy surrounding Fog, however, there are scant details about its use and most law enforcement agencies won’t discuss it, raising concerns among privacy advocates that it violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

 

What distinguishes Fog Reveal from other cellphone location technologies used by police is that it follows the devices through their advertising IDs, unique numbers assigned to each device. These numbers do not contain the name of the phone’s user, but can be traced to homes and workplaces to help police establish pattern-of-life analyses.

 

“The capability that it had for bringing up just anybody in an area whether they were in public or at home seemed to me to be a very clear violation of the Fourth Amendment,” said Davin Hall, a former crime data analysis supervisor for the Greensboro, North Carolina, Police Department. “I just feel angry and betrayed and lied to.”

 

Hall resigned in late 2020 after months of voicing concerns about the department’s use of Fog to police attorneys and the city council.

 

While Greensboro officials acknowledged Fog’s use and initially defended it, the police department said it allowed its subscription to expire earlier this year because it didn’t “independently benefit investigations.”

 

But federal, state and local police agencies around the U.S. continue to use Fog with very little public accountability. Local police agencies have been enticed by Fog’s affordable price: It can start as low as $7,500 a year. And some departments that license it have shared access with other nearby law enforcement agencies, the emails show.

 

Police departments also like how quickly they can access detailed location information from Fog. Geofence warrants, which tap into GPS and other sources to track a device, are accessed by obtaining such data from companies, like Google or Apple. This requires police to obtain a warrant and ask the tech companies for the specific data they want, which can take days or weeks.

 

Using Fog’s data, which the company claims is anonymized, police can geofence an area or search by a specific device’s ad ID numbers, according to a user agreement obtained by AP. But, Fog maintains that “we have no way of linking signals back to a specific device or owner,” according to a sales representative who emailed the California Highway Patrol in 2018, after a lieutenant asked whether the tool could be legally used.

 

Despite such privacy assurances, the records show that law enforcement can use Fog’s data as a clue to find identifying information. “There is no (personal information) linked to the (ad ID),” wrote a Missouri official about Fog in 2019. “But if we are good at what we do, we should be able to figure out the owner.”

 

Fog’s Broderick said in an email that the company does not have access to people’s personal information, and draws from “commercially available data without restrictions to use,” from data brokers “that legitimately purchase data from apps in accordance with their legal agreements.” The company refused to share information about how many police agencies it works with.

 

“We are confident Law Enforcement has the responsible leadership, constraints, and political guidance at the municipal, state, and federal level to ensure that any law enforcement tool and method is appropriately used in accordance with the laws in their respective jurisdictions,” Broderick said in the email.

 

“Search warrants are not required for the use of the public data,” he added Thursday, saying that the data his product offers law enforcement is “lead data” and should not be used to establish probable cause.

 

___

 

Kevin Metcalf, a prosecutor in Washington County, Arkansas, said he has used Fog Reveal without a warrant, especially in “exigent circumstances.” In these cases, the law provides a warrant exemption when a crime-in-process endangers people or an officer.

 

Metcalf also leads the National Child Protection Task Force, a nonprofit that combats child exploitation and trafficking. Fog is listed on its website as a task force sponsor and a company executive chairs the nonprofit’s board. Metcalf said Fog has been invaluable to cracking missing children cases and homicides.

 

“We push the limits, but we do them in a way that we target the bad guys,” he said. “Time is of the essence in those situations. We can’t wait on the traditional search warrant route.”

 

Fog was used successfully in the murder case of 25-year-old nurse Sydney Sutherland, who had last been seen jogging near Newport, Arkansas, before she disappeared, Metcalf said.

 

Police had little evidence to go on when they found her phone in a ditch, so Metcalf said he shared his agency’s access to Fog with the U.S. Marshals Service to figure out which other devices had been nearby at the time she was killed. He said Fog helped lead authorities to arrest a farmer in Sutherland’s rape and murder in August 2020, but its use was not documented in court records reviewed by AP.

 

Cyphers, who led EFF’s public records work, said there hasn’t been any previous record of companies selling this kind of granular data directly to local law enforcement.

 

“We’re seeing counties with less than 100,000 people where the sheriff is using this extremely high tech, extremely invasive, secretive surveillance tool to chase down local crime,” Cyphers said.

 

One such customer is the sheriff’s office in rural Rockingham County, North Carolina, population 91,000 and just north of Greensboro, where Hall still lives. The county bought a one-year license for $9,000 last year and recently renewed it.

 

“Rockingham County is tiny in terms of population. It never ceases to amaze me how small agencies will scoop up tools that they just absolutely don’t need, and nobody needs this one,” Hall said.

 

Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Kevin Suthard confirmed the department recently renewed its license but declined to offer specifics about the use of Fog Reveal or how the office protects individuals’ rights.

 

“Because it would then be less effective as criminals could be cognizant that we have the device and adjust their commission of the crimes accordingly. Make sense?” Suthard said.

 

Fog has aggressively marketed its tool to police, even beta testing it with law enforcement, records show. The Dallas Police Department bought a Fog license in February after getting a free trial and “seeing a demonstration and hearing of success stories from the company,” Senior Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez, a department spokeswoman, said in an email.

 

Fog’s tool is accessed through a web portal. Investigators can enter a crime scene’s coordinates into the database, which brings back search results showing a device’s Fog ID, which is based on its unique ad ID number.

 

Police can see which device IDs were found near the location of the crime. Detectives or other officers can also search the location for IDs going forward from the time of the crime and back at least 180 days, according to the company’s user license agreement.

 

The emails and Fog’s Broderick contend the tool can actually search back years, however. Emails from a Fog representative to Florida and California law enforcement agencies said the tool’s data stretched back as far as June 2017. On Thursday Broderick, who had previously refused to address the question, said it “only has a three year reach back.”

 

While the data does not directly identify who owns a device, the company often gives law enforcement information it needs to connect it to addresses and other clues that help detectives figure out people’s identities, according to company representatives’ emails.

 

It is unclear how Fog makes these connections, but a company it refers to as its “data partner” called Venntel, Inc. has access to an even greater trove of users’ mobile data.

 

Venntel is a large broker that has supplied location data to agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog is auditing how the offices under its control have used commercial data. That comes after some Democratic lawmakers asked it to investigate U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s use of Venntel data to track people without a search warrant in 2020. The company also has faced congressional inquiries about privacy concerns tied to federal law enforcement agencies’ use of its data.

 

Venntel and Fog work closely together to aid police detectives during investigations, emails show. Their marketing brochures are nearly identical, too, and Venntel staff has recommended Fog to law enforcement, according to the emails. Venntel said “the confidential nature of our business relationships” prevented it from responding to AP’s specific questions, and Fog would not comment on the relationship.

 

While Fog says in its marketing materials that it collects data from thousands of apps, like Starbucks and Waze, companies are not always aware of who is using their data. Venntel and Fog can collect billions of data points filled with detailed information because many apps embed invisible tracking software that follows users’ behavior. This software also lets the apps sell customized ads that are targeted to a person’s current location. In turn, data brokers’ software can hoover up personal data that can be used for other purposes.

 

Prior to publication, Fog’s Broderick refused to say how the company got data from Starbucks and Waze. But on Thursday, he said he did not know how data aggregators collected the information Fog Reveal draws from, or the specific apps from which the data was drawn.

 

For their part, Starbucks and Waze denied any relationship to Fog. Starbucks said it had not given permission to its business partners to share customer information with Fog.

 

“Starbucks has not approved Ad ID data generated by our app to be used in this way by Fog Data Science LLC. In our review to date, we have no relationship with this company,” said Megan Adams, a Starbucks spokesperson.

 

“We have never had a relationship with Fog Data Science, have not worked with them in any capacity, and have not shared information with them,” a Waze spokesperson said.

 

___

 

Fog Data Science LLC is headquartered in a nondescript brick building in Leesburg, Virginia. It also has related entities in New Jersey, Ohio and Texas.

 

It was founded in 2016 by Robert Liscouski, who led the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division in the George W. Bush adminstration. His colleague, Broderick, is a former U.S. Marine brigadier general who ran DHS’ tech hub, the Homeland Security Operations Center, during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A House bipartisan committee report cited Broderick among others for failing to coordinate a swift federal response to the deadly hurricane. Broderick resigned from DHS shortly thereafter.

 

In marketing materials, Fog also has touted its ability to offer police “predictive analytics,” a buzzword often used to describe high-tech policing tools that purport to predict crime hotspots. Liscouski and another Fog official have worked at companies focused on predictive analytics, machine learning and software platforms supporting artificial intelligence.

 

“It is capable of delivering both forensic and predictive analytics and near real-time insights on the daily movements of the people identified with those mobile devices,” reads an email announcing a Fog training last year for members of the National Fusion Center Association, which represents a network of intelligence-sharing partnerships created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

 

Fog’s Broderick said the company had not invested in predictive applications, and provided no details about any uses the tool had for predicting crime.

 

Despite privacy advocates’ concerns about warrantless surveillance, Fog Reveal has caught on with local and state police forces. It’s been used in a number of high-profile criminal cases, including one that was the subject of the television program “48 Hours.”

 

In 2017, a world-renowned exotic snake breeder was found dead, lying in a pool of blood in his reptile breeding facility in rural Missouri. Police initially thought the breeder, Ben Renick, might have died from a poisonous snake bite. But the evidence soon pointed to murder.

 

During its investigation, emails show the Missouri State Highway Patrol used Fog’s portal to search for cellphones at Renick’s home and breeding facility and zeroed in on a mobile device. Working with Fog, investigators used the data to identify the phone owner’s identity: it was the Renicks’ babysitter.

 

Police were able to log the babysitter’s whereabouts over time to create a pattern of life analysis.

 

It turned out to be a dead-end lead. Renick’s wife, Lynlee, later was charged and convicted of the murder.

 

Prosecutors did not cite Fog in a list of other tools they used in the investigation, according to trial exhibits examined by the AP.

 

But Missouri officials seemed pleased with Fog’s capabilities, even though it didn’t directly lead to an arrest. “It was interesting to see that the system did pick up a device that was absolutely in the area that day. Too bad it did not belong to a suspect!” a Missouri State Highway Patrol analyst wrote in an email to Fog.

 

In another high-profile criminal probe, records show the FBI asked state intelligence officials in Iowa for help with Fog as it investigated potential participants in the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

 

“Not definitive but still waiting to talk things over with a FOG rep,” wrote Justin Parker, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, in an email to an FBI official in September 2021. It was unclear from the emails if Fog’s data factored into an arrest. Iowa officials did not respond and the FBI declined to comment.

 

___

 

Metcalf, the Arkansas prosecutor, has argued against congressional efforts to require search warrants when using technologies like Fog Reveal.

 

He believes Americans have given up any reasonable expectation of privacy when they use free apps and likens EFF’s objections to tech like Fog to a “cult of privacy.”

 

“I think people are going to have to make a decision on whether we want all this free technology, we want all this free stuff, we want all the selfies,” he said. “But we can’t have that and at the same time say, ‘I’m a private person, so you can’t look at any of that.’ That just seems crazy.”

 

Although he is not an official Fog employee, Metcalf said he would step in to lead training sessions including the tool for federal prosecutors, federal agencies and police, including the Chicago Police Department, the emails show.

 

That kind of hands-on service and word-of-mouth marketing in tight-knit law enforcement circles seems to have helped increase Fog’s popularity.

 

The Maryland State Police is among the many agencies that have had contracts for Fog Reveal, and records show investigators believed it had a lot of potential.

 

“Companies have receptors all over. Malls, shopping centers, etc. They’re all around you,” wrote Sgt. John Bedell of the Criminal Enforcement Division, in an email to a colleague. The agency purchased a year of access to Fog in 2018.

 

“Picture getting a suspect’s phone then in the extraction being able to see everyplace they’d been in the last 18 months plotted on a map you filter by date ranges,” wrote Bedell. “The success lies in the secrecy.”

 

Elena Russo, a spokesperson for the agency, confirmed it had a Fog license previously but that it had lapsed. “Unfortunately, it was not helpful in solving any crimes,” she wrote in an email.

 

Still, as more local policing agencies sign up for Fog, some elected officials said they have been left in the dark. Several officials said there wasn’t enough information to grasp what services Fog actually provides.

 

“Who is this company? What are the track records? What are the privacy protections?” asked Anaheim council member Jose Moreno, remembering his confusion about Fog during a 2020 council meeting. “That night our chief had very little information for us.”

 

In Anaheim, the Fog license was paid for by a federal “Urban Area Security Initiative,” DHS grants that help localities fund efforts to prevent terrorism. A police spokesman said the department has not used it.

 

Defense attorneys worry there are few legal restrictions on law enforcement’s use of location data.

 

It’s a gap police agencies exploit, and often don’t disclose in court, said Michael Price, litigation director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Fourth Amendment Center.

 

“(Fog) is exceedingly rare to see in the wild because the cops often don’t get warrants,” said Price.

 

“Even if you do ask for (information) sometimes they say ‘We don’t know what you are talking about.’”

 

Privacy advocates worry Fog’s location tracking could be put to other novel uses, like keeping tabs on people who seek abortions in states where it is now illegal. These concerns were heightened when a Nebraska woman was charged in August with helping her teenage daughter end a pregnancy after investigators got hold of their Facebook messages.

 

Government’s use of location data is still being weighed by the courts, too. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that police generally need a warrant to look at records that reveal where cellphone users have been.

 

Nearly two years after walking off the crime data supervisor job with the Greensboro police force, Hall still worries about police surveillance in neighboring communities.

 

“Anyone with that login information can do as many searches as they want,” Hall said. “I don’t believe the police have earned the trust to use that, and I don’t believe it should be legal.”

 

www.yahoo.com/news/man-charged-kidnapping-missing-memphis...

 

Man charged with kidnapping missing Memphis jogger Eliza Fletcher

 

DNA from Eliza Fletcher's sandals led police to charge a suspect in connection with her disappearance Friday as she was running near the University of Memphis in Tennessee, police said Sunday.

 

Cleotha Abston, 38, “has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence,” Memphis police said in a statement.

 

Fletcher, 34, who disappeared on a 4 a.m. run, “has not been located at this time,” police said.

 

A pair of Champion slide sandals recovered from the area where Fletcher disappeared bore DNA matching that of Abston, according to an affidavit obtained by NBC News. Fletcher's phone was found with the sandals.

 

Security video from the scene showed "a black GMC Terrain passing and then waiting for the victim to run by," according to the document. A male then exited the car, ran aggressively toward Fletcher and forced her into the passenger's seat.

 

"During this abduction, there appeared to be a struggle," the document said. "The Champion slides sandals were found in this area. The vehicle then sat in the parking lot with the victim inside for approximately four minutes before it drove off."

 

Cellular records obtained by investigators are alleged to have determined that Abston's cellphone was near the site when Fletcher was forced into the car.

 

Officers arrested Abston on Saturday after they found the GMC Terrain with a matching license plate number in a parking lot by Abston's residence, the affidavit said. Abston tried to flee but was ultimately taken into custody.

 

Mario Abston, 36, Cleotha Abston’s brother, was also arrested, but he is not believed to be connected to Fletcher’s abduction, authorities said. He was charged with drug and firearms offenses, police tweeted.

 

Police said Abston declined to tell investigators whether he knew where Fletcher was.

 

Investigators said they believe that Fletcher "suffered serious injury" because of the violent nature of the abduction and that based on witness statements, the injuries left evidence, like blood, in Abston's car.

 

Abston will be arraigned by video at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

 

Investigators continue to search for Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher and mother of two, the police statement said.

 

“This remains to be an active and ongoing investigation,” it said.

 

In an earlier statement, police said Fletcher’s personal items had been recovered. At the time she was kidnapped, she was wearing purple jogging shorts and a pink top.

 

“Liza has touched the hearts of many people,” Michael Keeney, Fletcher’s uncle, said in a statement Saturday on behalf of the family, noting an outpouring of support and goodwill for the Fletcher, an avid runner.

 

“More than anything we want to see Liza returned home safely,” he said.

 

The family has put up a $50,000 reward for information leading to her safe return, NBC affiliate WMC of Memphis reported.

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Sgt. 1st Class Roddy Rieger, U.S. Army Africa Command Surgeon NCOIC, in the lab during Tropical Medicine Course (TMC) training Sept. 13, 2010, at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md.

 

U.S. Army photo by Capt. Gabrielle Caldara

 

The continent of Africa is home to many tropical diseases, which cause illness and, in some instances, death. Tropical diseases wreak havoc on the social and economic growth of the continent and affect the health and welfare of those who travel.

 

To combat the affects of tropical diseases, and to ensure the health and safety of all Soldiers operating in the U.S. Africa Command operational area, the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, in coordination with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, has resurrected the formerly defunct Tropical Medicine Course (TMC) for the 21st century.

 

The original TMC was taught in 1941 and discontinued in 1991, after 50 years. It was resurrected in 2010 in response to the operational needs of AFRICOM and the Special Operations Command.

 

Once a six-week long course, it was converted to a targeted short course, and tailored toward non-physician health care providers. The week-long class is now a requirement for all medical professionals deploying to provide health care on the African continent, said Capt. Gabrielle Caldara, environmental science officer with U.S. Army Africa’s Command Surgeon’s Office.

 

Caldara, Sgt. 1st Class Roddy Rieger, the CSO’s NCOIC, and Staff Sgt. Darren Jones, a medical NCO with USARAF Headquarters Support Company, were the first Army Africa personnel to attend the class Sept. 13-17 at WRAIR in Silver Spring, Md.

 

The course focused on teaching medical personnel to recognize, diagnosis and treat a range of tropical diseases and ailments that can affect Soldiers who work and travel throughout Africa, said Rieger.

 

“There were a lot of lectures, seminars and hands on lab practices on things such as leishmaniasis and malaria,” he said. “We learned better ways to recognize symptoms and better ways to treat the problems.”

 

Among them was the Rapid Diagnostic Test, used to screen patients for malaria. The test uses only a pinprick amount of blood and “is as simple as using a pregnancy test,” Rieger said.

 

“This particular test allows medical professionals the freedom and convenience to test for the disease without requiring them to transport the patient to a medical facility,” Caldara said.

 

While Army Africa personnel attending the TMC appreciated the advances in treatment of many tropical diseases, Caldara stressed prevention and education remain key factors in disease prevention.

 

“This was a great class to understand the intricacies of these diseases, but in the end it all goes back to basics,” she said. “Proper precautions such as uniform treatment, use of DEET/insect repellent, adherence to proper medications and use of a bed net are essential.”

  

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