"Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?"

 

And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread".

 

– Luke 24:29-35, which is part of today's Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Easter.

 

This mosaic in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle, Washington DC, specifically references the supper at Emmaus: Christ stays with us and is known in the Holy Eucharist, alleluia!

Sorry for going MIA again, after the boys went back to school and nursery I had so much to catch up on...I didn't do any house work while they were off :-o....I'll catch up with you all as and when I can today...poor Harry came down with a sickness bug last night...so I'll take the laptop and camp out in the living room with him, I don't think I'll get much else done today....a day of cartoons snuggled up on the sofa I think.

Monica Bellucci showing Marco Polo where she thinks she found a truffle :-)))

Taken on Jan 30th 2014.

 

Marco Polo is a Lagotto Romagnolo dog.

This is the only breed of dog that is officially recognized as specialized in truffle hunting.

 

+ in comments below

Well, I'll ignore the reference to my age and reply

 

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone. And no one seems to want that much to do with anymore so I'll probably never get in Cahoots.

 

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

 

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

 

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

 

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

 

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important not to move much.

 

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

 

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

 

I may have been in Continent. It's was a warm, wet climate but I don't remember what country it was. Must be an age thing?

  

So Flickrettes, I hope everyone is happy in your head - we're all doing pretty good in mine! Really, I'm fine ... oh, and so am I!

My friends will recognize this pond, as I have also posted pictures taken from the same spot in Winter (when it was ice-covered and when the ice was thawing) and in Summer.

 

I took this exactly one week ago today.

I just liked the Fall colors on the trees in the background.

It was pretty windy when I took this (see the Cattails bending in the wind) and a pair of ducks were also frolicking in the distance (view LARGE for more detail).

"Recognizing that prohibiting her honor altogether was impossible, the church co-pted and diabolized her symbols. Thus, for example, they taught that Friday, Freya's sacred day, was really a Catholic holy day on which fish, one of her sacred animals, was to be eaten. And they plunged her magical number 13, the number of the moon and menstrual cycles in a year, became the number to be shunned, especially when it fell on Freiday, which would have doubled its power for worshippers.

 

Carolyn McVicar Edwards, The Storyteller's Goddess, "Freya, Mother of All_ Scandinavia"

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The formation of the Indonesian Air Force came eight months after the former Dutch East Indies unilaterally declared independence from the Netherlands. The Netherlands initially did not recognize this, and a War of Independence ensued, which lasted until 1949. The Indonesian Air Force (Indonesian: Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara (TNI-AU), literally "Indonesian National Military-Air Force") used some machines left behind by the Japanese occupiers, but these were not of decisive importance for the war. Incidentally, the national insignia used until 1949 was only the red "sun" painted white in the lower half.

 

The 1950s were marked by domestic operations. Contrary to the Independence Treaty, which envisaged a federal state, Indonesia quickly became a unitary state. This included the deployment in the Christian-dominated Republic of the South Moluccas, which had unilaterally renounced itself, as well as against Islamic (Darul Islam) and democratic (Permesta) movements. The latter was secretly supported by the CIA, and, in the course of this skirmish, an Indonesian Mustang managed to shoot down a B-26 Invader piloted by a CIA pilot.

The need to prop up to what became Operation Trikora in Netherlands New Guinea, and the rise of the Communist Party of Indonesia, drew Indonesia closer to the Eastern Bloc. Several Soviet-built aircraft began to arrive in the early 1960s including the MiG-15UTI from Czechoslovakia, MiG-17F/PF, MiG-19S and MiG-21F-13, in addition to Ilyushin Il-28, Mil Mi-4, Mil Mi-6, Antonov An-12 and Avia 14 also from Czechoslovakia. Indonesia also received Lavochkin La-11, and some Tupolev Tu-2 from China arrived, too. It was during this period that the Indonesian Air Force became the first Air Force in Southeast Asia which acquired the capability of strategic bombing by acquiring the new Tupolev Tu-16 in 1961. Around 25 Tu-16KS were delivered, complete with AS-1 air-surface missiles.

 

The Sixties also marked the last confrontation with the Dutch in Papua, before the Dutch, again under pressure of the United Nations, left in 1963. Indonesia made territorial claims to the young nation and the Konfrontasi ensued between 1963 and 1966. During this era a coup attempt led by the 30 September Movement in 1965 changed everything and a new anti-communist regime from the Army, led by Major General Suharto, took power. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Marshall Omar Dani was removed from his position and court-martialed for his purported involvement in the coup. Ties with the Eastern bloc countries were cut, and thus support and spare parts for the planes became short.

By August 1968, the situation was critical and in early 1970, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Suwoto Sukandar, said that the spare parts situation meant that only 15–20 percent of aircraft were airworthy. The result was a total re-orientation for the air force material’s procurement, and the considerable Indonesian MiG force already made its farewell flight with a flypast of Jakarta in 1970. The relatively new MiG-19s were sold to Pakistan. By October 1970, only one Tu-16 was still flying, but after an in-flight engine failure, it too was grounded. But despite the problems, the Air Force still served with distinction in fighting militant remnants of the CPI in Java's provinces, particularly in Central and East Java.

 

With Suharto's assumption of the presidency and the office of Commander in Chief in 1967, the focus shifted to fighting the communist PGRS/Paraku insurgency. The Air Force launched Operation Lightning Strike (Indonesian: Operasi Samber Kilat) to support ground troops eradicate Sarawak communists that were present in West Kalimantan and along Indonesia-Malaysia border by dropping troops to the target area, dropping logistical assistance, VIP transportation, medical evacuation and recon flights.

 

The period between 1970 and 1980 saw a rebirth of the TNI-AU. The Air Force began to be re-equipped by receiving refurbished former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) CAC Sabres – an Australian re-design of the F-86 Sabre with a Rolls-Royce Avon engine – to replace the MiG-21s. Pakistan Air Force took over the responsibility to train Indonesian pilots in the Sabre and in logistical aspects of the Air Force. In 1973, the United States started to supply military assistance including T-33s trainers and UH-34D helicopters in exchange for four old MiG-21F-13s, which were shipped to the US for evaluation. Over the next three years, the US also supplied 16 North American Rockwell OV-10 Broncos counter-insurgency aircraft and F-5E/F Tiger II fighters, in exchange for which the Indonesian Air Force handed over the majority of its remaining airworthy MiG-21F-13s, which were used to form a US Air Force Aggressor squadron. In the late 1970s, Indonesia also purchased BAE Hawk Mk 53s trainers from the United Kingdom.

 

In 1974, after the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, the last major European colonial empire was dissolved. As a result, the until-then Portuguese part of the island of Timor declared itself the independent Republic of Timor-Leste in November 1975. After the defeat in Vietnam and with a view to establishing socialist states in the two large African former Portuguese colonies, the USA and Australia did not want to let another socialist statelet develop in the region. Thus, just a few days after the declaration of independence, the young republic was invaded, with the TNI-AU and the Army Air Force (TNI-AD) dropping parachutists over East Timor, and, as a result, a year-long guerrilla war began.

To combat the rebels and the civilians supporting them, the US supplied more close air support aircraft to the TNI-AU, namely more OV-10 Broncos as well as twenty-five AH-1G attack helicopters, the latter refurbished US Army material left over from the Vietnam War. Beyond the 70 mm “hydra” unguided missiles, which were carried in pods with either seven or nineteen rounds, Indonesia also received several XM35 armament subsystems with a XM195 20 mm cannon – a fixed gatling gun that was carried on the inner left weapon station and was combined with a conformal external ammunition supply. Those roundabout ten machines capable of carrying this weapon were recognizable by additional external armor plates on the cockpit’s left flank, because XM195’s gun blast could damage the airframe.

 

In the early 1980s, the Indonesian Air Force, needing modern strike aircraft, organized “Operation Alpha” to clandestinely acquire ex-Israeli Air Force A-4 Skyhawks. Air Force personnel were sent in secret by different routes and eventually Indonesia received 32 aircraft. To further boost and modernize its air force, Indonesia purchased in 1982 sixteen more Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II from the United States to replace their CAC Sabres under the Peace Komodo I and II procurement program, and the AH-1Gs (21 were still operational) received a MLU program and were upgraded, too. They received new Kaman K-747 composite material main rotor blades and passive countermeasures, like a diffusor for the hot engine efflux (making them less vulnerable to man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), which had become a ubiquitous threat) and an improved armor protection for cockpit and the engine. Wire cutters were fitted, and a bigger, more effective oil cooler, too. Since it protruded from the lower fuselage, a unique armored fairing was devised and protected the cooler from arms of up to 23 mm caliber.

The Indonesian Cobras’ armament was improved, too: their original M28 chin turrets were replaced with the M97 system that comprises a three-barrel 20 mm gatling gun, which had more range and firepower against lightly armored targets than the AH-1G’s original 7.62 mm minigun and 40 mm grenade launchers. Since the Indonesian Cobras were still only operated in the daylight CAS role, they did not receive further sensors and avionics, e. g. the M65 TOW/Cobra anti-tank missile subsystem with a Telescopic Sight Unit (TSU) or a laser rangefinder, which had been introduced with the US Army’s AH-1Q in 1975. For the new M97, however a helmet-mounted sight was introduced, and the crews received night vision/low-light goggles, even though these were independent from the helm-mounted sight. After their modifications between 1982 and 1984, the TNI-AD Cobras were unofficially re-designated “AH-1G+”.

 

Even though the Cobras’ firepower and effectiveness were improved, the composite rotors soon turned out to be troublesome. The hot and humid climate in Indonesia weakened the bonding and eventually disrupted the material structure – a weakness that also appeared among retrofitted US Army AH-1s, but not as dramatically. As a result, wear and tear were considerably worse than on the former all-metal blades, even though the helicopters’ handling was better with the new rotors and overall weight was reduced. However, a spectacular and dramatic crash in 1985 showed the imminent risks of the composite blades: three of four AH-1G+s in a tight formation over Aceh in Western Indonesia crashed after a 24 kg rotor balance weight of one machine came loose in flight and hit a sister ship, fatally destroying its engine and the gearbox. Spinning out of control it collided with another Cobra in the same formation, and all three helicopters crashed, with all six crewmen killed. The TNI-AD’s AH-1G+s were immediately grounded, the ongoing rotor conversion was stopped and subsequently all already modified AH-1G+s had their original all-metal rotor blades re-installed – a measure that took almost a year to accomplish and lasted until early 1987.

 

After this troublesome phase, the TNI-AD’s Cobras were kept busy, with frequent deployments during the Aceh Insurgency and the East Timor conflict. They soldiered on into the new millennium, even though some machines were lost in accidents or through small arms ground fire, and less and less machines remained airworthy due to the airframes’ age. In 2003, only six AH-1G+ were still operational, and even these machines had reached the ultimate end of their useful service life after more than 30 years of frequent duty. They were in September of the same year replaced by Mil Mi-35P attack helicopters, directly procured from Russia, of which several batches were acquired throughout the following years.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 2: one pilot, one co-pilot/gunner (CPG)

Length: 53 ft (16 m) including rotors

Fuselage length: 44 ft 5 in (13.5 m)

Main rotor diameter: 44 ft 0 in (13.4 m)

Main rotor area: 1,520 sq ft (141 m²)

Blade section: NACA 0009.3 mod

Width: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m) stub wings

Height: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)

Empty weight: 5,810 lb (2,635 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 9,500 lb (4,309 kg)

 

Powerplant:

1× Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft, 1,400 shp (1,000 kW)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 149 kn (171 mph, 276 km/h)

Never exceed speed: 190 kn (220 mph, 350 km/h)

Range: 310 nmi (360 mi, 570 km)

Service ceiling: 11,400 ft (3,500 m)

Rate of climb: 1,230 ft/min (6.2 m/s)

 

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.707 in) three-barreled M197 20 mm cannon in a chin turret with 750 rounds

4× hardpoints under the stub wings, primarily used for 2.75 in (70 mm) rockets mounted in

M158 seven-round or M200 nineteen-round launchers; alternatively, M14 12.7 mm machine

gun or M18 7.62 mm Minigun pods could be carried or a single XM35 armament subsystem with

a XM195 20 mm gatling cannon

 

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional Bell AH-1 Cobra is the result of a cross-bashing of two Fujimi kits of this helicopter, namely the AH-1S and the AH-1J kit. I had both in The Stash™ and recently came across the Iranian HESA-2091 ‘Tiztak’, an indigenous refurbished AH-1J with flat armor glazing. Since both Fujimi kits could theoretically be combined to build this exotic Cobra derivative, I decided to try this stunt – and it left me with enough surplus parts to build something like an early/standard AH-1G.

 

However, combining the parts from both kits turned out to be more challenging than expected. The biggest problem was to adapt the AH-1J’s standard glazing to the respective opening on the AH-1S hull: the clear part is bigger/longer than the later flat, armored glazing, so that the fuselage area at the canopy’s rear end had to be cut away. Fitting the clear part into this widened opening furthermore called for delicate PSR work to fill gaps and bridge the transition between parts that were never meant to be stuck together – but it worked, somehow.

 

To set the fictional AH-1G+ apart a bit further I made some cosmetic changes: the main rotor was modified to resemble Kaman composite blades (recognizable through the tapered blade tips) that were introduced with the AH-1S (and actually turned out to be not very durable!), and a “Sugar Scoop” thermal diffusor was scratched from a piece of styrene tube. I furthermore added a ventral blade antenna and a fairing for an enlarged oil cooler – it’s actually a H0 scale Euro pallet! The blade cutters were scratched from styrene sheet. The rest was primarily taken from the AH-1J kit, e. g. the simple/early nose tip, the ordnance and the M97 chin turret. The pilot figures came from the Fujimi kit, too.

  

Painting and markings:

Indonesia as fictional operator for this helicopter model was inspired by TNI-AD markings (the standard TNI-AU pentagon with an additional black star in the middle) that were left over on a TL Modellbau sheet with generic national markings. The Seventies/Eighties offered a suitable time frame for the Cobras’ procurement, and from this starting point anything developed quite naturally.

However, I did not want to paint the AH-1 in a simple all-olive drab livery, and found in the Indonesian C-130 Hercules a nice painting option: at some point in time these transporters received a unique three-tone camouflage that consists of a reddish chocolate brown, a bluish dark green and a greyish grass green, combined with very light grey undersides.

 

For the AH-1, the pattern was directly adopted from the C-130s’ fuselage and the colors approximated, since I doubt that the paints conform to FS standards. I used Humbrol 133 (Satin Brown), ModelMaster 2060 (RAF WWII Dark Green) and a 2:1 mix of Humbrol 80 (Grass Green) and Revell 45 (Helloliv). The light grey underside was omitted, for a wraparound scheme.

The cockpit interior became very dark grey (Revell 06, Anthracite), the rotor blades tar black (Revell 09), and a black anti-glare panel was placed in front of the windscreen. For some variety I painted the 19 round rocket launchers in olive drab while the 7 round launchers for the inner stations became very light grey, so that they’d be better visible.

 

The decals were improvised. The TNI-AD roundels and the small Indonesian fin flashes came from the aforementioned TL Modellbau sheet. The tactical codes on the nose and the taglines on the flank consist of single black letters. The serial number on the tail came from an Iranian F-4D Phantom II sheet from Model Scale, it matched the intended time frame well. The only original decals are the small red tail rotor warning arrows.

After a light black ink washing, some post-panel-shading and an overall treatment with graphite to emphasize the kit’s fine, raised panel lines, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and finally assembled.

  

Well, this “kitbashed” AH-1G with some mods is certainly not the best model of this helicopter type, but a good use of leftover parts from the “counter-bashed” project. Compatibility between the Fujimi AH-1S and AH-1J is limited, though, especially the canopy does not fit easily and calls for some delicate bodywork. However, with the garish paint scheme (which, as I found out after the kit had been finished, resembles a lot the livery of the illegal North Korean Hughes 500MD Defenders!) and the exotic TNI-AD markings, this Cobra really stands out und looks quite unusual.

“Suppose this is it…” I said as I looked at the address written on the small slip of paper Fluxx had given me ages ago. I then gazed upward at what looked to be a decently sized facility with “Flickr Fighters” printed on a sign above the entrance.

 

“Must be a typo…”

 

Shaking off the peculiar wordage I marched inside to find surprisingly few of my colleagues. Hardly any of which I recognized.

This could prove difficult…

 

“You alright there Count?” A slightly modulated voice spoke behind me.

 

I quickly whipped around to find a figure clad in silver and purple power armor with a cape similar to my own. I recognized them from the Halloween incident but like most instances, I could not remember their name.

 

“Ah, Hello there. By chance do you have any idea where we keep the archives?”

 

“Try the office next to the meeting room.”

“Which is where exactly?”

 

“Just follow me…” the figure said with a sigh as he marched through the lobby and down the hall.

 

We reached the office and they walked over to the filing cabinet and attempted to open it only to discover it was locked.

 

“Allow me.” I said calmly as I pulled out a couple of bobby pins from my pocket. And began picking the lock.

 

“Why don’t you just carry lock picks?” They asked likely wondering why a gentleman had hairpins on his person.

 

“Lock picks always raise suspicion… Not to mention I never could get the hang of them…”

 

With that, a satisfying “click” sounded as I positioned the last pin and opened the drawer.

 

“Let’s see… ah, here we are.”

 

I pulled out a large folder filled with sheets of paper containing a photo of each member along with their name, powers, and a summary of their background.

 

“What is it you’re looking for anyway?”

 

“I’m looking for heroes with portal generation abilities…” I answered as I flipped through the papers.

 

“You mean like this?”

 

With a flick of the wrist, the hero summoned a small purple rift in space-time about the size of a pie pan.

Then something clicked in my cluttered mind and I remembered that the hero in front of me went by the name Rift Runner.

 

“Well. I feel like an idio-“

 

Suddenly a fellow in a black tactical suit wearing a bandana over his mouth entered the office.

 

“What’s going on here?!” Agent Sharp exclaimed.

 

“Oh bother, time to go!” I said quickly grabbing Rift runner’s shoulder and shifting to a random dimension.

 

“Youch! Watch it man, that hasn’t fully healed- What the?! Where the heck are we?!” Rift shouted as he looked around clearly startled by our sudden change in location.

 

I looked around and saw we stood in a room with yellow wallpaper covered in mildew stains, slightly damp foul-smelling carpet and Fluorescent lights that buzzed loudly overhead.

 

“It appears we have ended up in the realm known only as the backrooms.” I replied as I pocketed the folder.

 

“Backrooms? Sounds like one of those crazy stories you find online…”

 

“Well my friend, the multiverse is often a very odd thing. Sometimes one realm’s crazy story is another’s reality… Now, if we just stay put we should return to the realm we came from shortly.”

 

“Can’t you just shift us back?”

 

“One does not enter or exit this realm on purpose. Only by accident. If I were to shift now we’d end up in one of the more treacherous levels of this office building of the damned…”

 

Suddenly a loud howl echoed through the halls causing Fluffenstein to leap out of my pocket and dash off down the hall.

 

“Oh bugger! Come on! And try to keep up, this place will drive you mad if we get separated!” exclaimed as I pulled out my cutlass and a bottle of almond water before we ran through the endless halls after the cat.

 

As we searched I explained the Apophis Ra situation to Rift in order to try and maintain our sanity.

 

“So what does this guy have to do with me?” Rift asked.

 

“Well, I honestly have no idea what Apophis is capable of. Thus I devised a backup plan utilizing portals just in case- There!”

 

I pointed as a white blur dashed towards us and clung to the leg of my trousers.

 

“Easy there mate. You’re safe now.” I said consoling the frightened feline as I picked him up and gently placed him in my coat. Buttoning it to ensure he stayed put.

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure Count…” Rift said pointing to a pair of shadowy creatures in the distance slowly approaching us.

 

“Hounds…” I whispered as I passed Rift the bottle of almond water. “Here, start backing up slowly and If they turn hostile douse them with this.”

 

Rift nodded and we began to walk backwards. The creatures slowly picking up speed and their appearance becoming clearer as they got closer. Revealing not the canine shape they had at a distance but that of distorted and tangled humanoids walking on all fours with unnatural movements. With a loud snarl, the creatures began rapidly scuttling towards us. I quickly raised my sword and prepared to strike the beast in front as it lunged towards me when suddenly a pair of purple vortexes opened in front of the first creature and above the other as the first tumbled in and sank its claws into the other’s back causing a fight to break out between them. I turned to my companion to see he had his hand raised and was breathing heavy as though he had just had quite a workout.

 

“Quick Mate, the water!” I exclaimed.

 

Rift tossed me the bottle and I ripped off the cap frantically before splashing the liquid onto the beasts causing them to scream in pain as it burned their shadowy hide.

 

I then began shouting and swinging my sword as I walked towards them and the creatures scrambled back down the hall they came from.

 

“Haha! That’s it ya yella bellied beasties! Run back to the void where ya belong!” I shouted as I pocketed my weapon and turned back to my companion.

 

“Exceptional work my friend!” I said as I went to pat Rift on the shoulder but caught myself before I made the mistake.

 

“What even were those things?!”

 

“Most refer to them as the Hounds of Tindalos after one of Lovecraft’s abominations.” I explained. “Now then, what say we find a way out of this wretched place before Cuthulhu shows up…”

 

“Should I take that last statement a joke or an actual concern?”

 

“Best to take it as both mate…” I replied with a laugh. “Best to take it as both.”

 

After a bit more walking we turned a corner to find the hallway opened into a desert landscape filled with mesquite bushes and cacti.

 

“Ah, an exit!” I stated as we walked into the “room” only for the hallway to vanish once we turned around.

 

“Now. Let’s find out where we are…” I said as I began pulling out my navigational equipment. Compass, spyglass, sextant and the like.

 

“Hold on Capt Sparrow.” Rift said likely referencing something. “Let me handle this.”

 

Rift then pulled out a smartphone and opened up some sort of map on it.

 

“Looks like we’re just outside Laredo. Just a quick jump and we’ll be back in Advent City.”

 

Rift opened a portal under our feet and we disappeared through it and landed in the lounge room of the Flickr Fighters Headquarters. Rift landing on a chair while I crashed backwards into the coffee table.

 

“Sorry about that Count. I’m used to traveling alone.”

 

“That’s understandable. Most Vampire hunters choose to be lone wolves…” I said as I picked myself up and let the cat out of my coat before I sat down on the couch.

 

“Vampire hunter? What are you talking about?”

 

“Your cape, it’s a trophy from a vampire hunt correct?” I asked. “Got mine after a fight with Dracula last centur- er, a few years ago.”

 

Rift shook his head.

 

“I Just thought the cape looked cool and the guys back at HQ whipped this one up for me.” Rift explained. “It helps with gliding and deflects heat and ice rays.”

 

I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Rift’s description.

 

“Fancy. But I’ll stick with being able to say I pulled mine out of the dust pile that was once a legendary strigoi.”

 

Just then our discussion was interrupted by the lights flickering out and then on again to reveal the sudden and dramatic arrival of agent sharp.

 

“The folder. Hand it over.” He said sternly.

 

I sighed as I pulled out the file and tossed it onto the coffee table. (Which was now cracked down the center and was being held up by only three legs.)

 

“Anything else officer?” I asked mocking Sharp’s serious tone.

 

“Yes. You’ve yet to show up at any of the group training sessions or any of the meetings…”

 

“In my defense, I wasn’t aware either of those were things.”

 

“I figured as much.” Sharp said shifting to a somewhat softer tone as he picked up the file. “According to Fluxx you only knew about Gravestein last Thursday because he happened to say something to you.”

 

“Hey, I was at the warehouse wasn’t I? What’s the big deal?”

 

“The point I’m getting at is the Flickr fighters rely upon communication between heroes. And we can’t function properly if one of them doesn’t even have a phone.”

 

“I’ll have you know I have two excellent telephones.” I said pulling one out of my pocket. “Why this one even has one of those newfangled rotary dial setups.”

 

“Man, I didn’t know they still made these…” Rift said as he picked up one of my phones and fiddled with the dial. “And how exactly are we supposed to send you messages on these?”

 

“Well, I figured we could set up a party line. Telephones still have that right?”

 

“No Count, they do not.” Sharp said with a sigh. “Look, you have access to a multiverse full of tech. Just find a smartphone you like and then get someone more technologically inclined to connect it to HQ’s network for you.”

 

“Not to mention you’ll have access to the group files and don’t have to raid the office.” Rift said passing the phone back to me.

 

As I stuck the phone into my pocket I noticed a sneaky look in Sharp’s eyes as a smirk came across his face.

 

“Which reminds me, which of you left a hairpin jammed into the lock on the cabinet?”

 

“He did it.” Rift said quickly slipping through a portal before I had a chance to pull him down with me.

 

“Well. I believe some extra time in the training room will be suitable consequences. I’ll see you at 0500 tomorrow morning for your first session.”

 

Sharp then exited the room and once he was a good distance away Rift appeared through a portal and landed back in his seat.

 

“Sorry man, I survived one training session with him, I don’t know if I’d last through another.”

 

“Quite alright ol’ chap. But you better not let me down tonight.”

 

“No prob. I’ll meet you at the museum ’round eleven. This should be interesting…”

 

That evening…

I walked around the museum half shifted to avoid detection. Looking at the exhibits to pass the time as I waited for either Rift or Apophis to arrive.

 

I couldn’t help but notice the differences in this dimension’s history I wasn’t aware of. The Sphinx not having a nose, three pyramids at Giza instead of four. But oddest exhibit of all was in the American history exhibit. A playbill from the Ford theatre’s production of “Our American Cousin.” Perhaps this realm’s version of the event went differently than I had learned. If Lincoln hadn’t bent down to retrieve his wife’s handkerchief Booth’s scheme could have easily succeeded.

 

“Excuse me, sir.” The night guard said rounding the corner and walking towards me. “I’m gonna have to ask you to le- GAH!”

 

The guard screamed and frantically drew his weapon as he saw the beam of his flashlight hit the wall behind me.

 

“Ah, Sorry my good fellow.” I said shifting back to where I was no longer translucent and held up my ITF badge. I’m an agent from the Interdimensional Task Force. I’m here to investigate a potential robbery.”

 

“Interdimensonal? Look, kid, I have no idea what the heck you are or what you’re doin’ here and I honestly don’t care. Now come along-“

 

Suddenly a portal opened under the guard and he disappeared through it.

 

“Gotten in trouble with the cops already?.” Rift said as he walked up behind me.

 

“So it would seem… The ITF must not be very well known in this realm.”

 

I then noticed rift was holding a cloth knapsack and something in it was moving.

 

“um, what’s in the bag?”

 

“your cat.” Rift said shoving the bag in my face. “you left them at HQ. Thought you might need them for whatever plan you have.”

 

I hadn’t thought of that… If Apophis’ is fascinated with the Egyptian religion then Fluffenstein could be a valuable weapon.

 

Genius idea mate! Just like The Battle of Pelusium!”

 

“The what?”

 

“During the first Persian conquest of Egypt, Cambyses II’s troops painted cat faces on their shields and placed dogs, sheep, cats, ibises and whatever other animals the Egyptians held sacred onto the front lines. Thus, the Egyptians surrendered at once instead of facing the ‘cat army.'”

 

“Huh, neat… But last time I checked two guys and a cat aren’t an army…”

 

“What we need is not an army, but a lookout.” I answered. “Follow me into the Egyptian exhibit.

 

We walked down the hall a ways until we came to a room filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts. Or rather, what the people of this dimension assume to be Egyptian.

 

“See that camera up there?” I said gesturing to the security device above us in the corner of the room.

 

“Lemme guess. you want me to head up to the security room and keep an eye on the cameras while you wait here for Apophis”

 

“You catch on quickly my friend.” I said with a grin. “When he gets here focus on the Egyptian exhibit’s camera and whenever you see me tip my hat open a rift under Apophis into that sarcophagus over there.”

 

“You got it Count.”

 

Rift gave me a quick salute before opening a rift behind him and disappearing through it.

 

“Well Fluffenstein.” I said pulling the kitten from the bag. “I hope that Antiquitus has the same superstitions as Third Dynasty Egypt.”

 

Around thirty minutes had passed and I had shifted in an armchair from my lair and was beginning to doze off in it whilst stroking Fluffenstein. Something about petting a small furry creature always puts one’s mind at ease.

 

Suddenly the lights in the room turned on and then began flickering rhythmically as an electronic noise began echoing around me.

 

I quickly stood up and shifted the chair away to my lair and tucked Fluffenstein behind my back under my cape.

 

Wait a minute, that noise, is that, music?

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Cbb0AyhBU

 

Suddenly a cloud of blue smoke appeared and Apophis Ra stepped through it holding an ankh staff in one hand and a strange obsidian tablet in the other.

 

“Friends, Romans, countrymen…” The Cultist said in a semi-robotic voice. “Apophis Ra here coming at you live with a crossover I have been waiting dynasties to make! Here he is, the menace of the multiverse, Bane of Anubis, Count Dimensio!”

 

“Bane of Anubis? That’s a new one…” I joked trying to mask my confusion as Apophis held the tablet up towards me.

 

“Oh yeah, my dude! That ol’ doggo is ticked with you. What with your tomb raiding and all. Right folks?”

 

“Who the devil are you talking to?!”

I exclaimed in frustration as I scanned the room. “What manner of multidimensional demons have you brought here?”

 

“Chill, I’m just vloggin dude, Gotta keep them followers posted on my conquest of the multiverse.”

 

“Well, I’m afraid your cult’s quest ends here…” I said drawing my sword.

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Apophis replied as he set his device on top of a nearby crate and held up his staff with both hands. “BEHOLD THE POWER OF APOPHIS RA!”

 

As he tapped the end of his staff on the floor a loud hissing erupted from the walls and hundreds of vipers began pouring out of the cracks and formed a defensive ring around their master.

“Impressive eh? Go ahead my man, try and strike me!” Apophis taunted

“With pleasure…” I said tipping my hat.

 

On cue, a rift opened under Apophis and he fell into the sealed sarcophagus in the corner.

Before a larger rift opened and the vipers fell into it.

 

“Well, that was easy.” Rift said as he appeared beside me.

 

“Indeed, I didn’t even have to use the-“

 

Suddenly I was cut off by the sound of a laser blast and the lid of the sarcophagus shattering and flying across the room.

 

“HEY! Not cool dude!” Apophis shouted as he lept out of the casket. “You totally messed up the vibe I had going!”

 

“Never mind…” I said with a sigh as I dodged a blast from the arch of Apophis’ staff.

 

“Did he just say vibe? I thought you said he was a Cultist.” Rift asked as we ducked behind a display case whilst Apophis was firing his staff and swinging it around like a maniac whilst doing some kind of strange dance. “He looks more like one of those annoying internet celebrities…”

 

“I’m certain, he even has a magic tablet that he uses to keep his followers updated on the fight.”

 

“Tablet huh. Where?”

 

I pointed out the strange device to Rift and he opened a portal under it causing it to fall right into his hands.

 

“Uh, Count? this is just a smartphone.” Rift explained looking the device over. “albeit a rather strange looking one. I mean it looks like he’s live-streaming the fight on some kind of youtube style site but the text is all in caps and some kind of weird language.”

 

“All in capitals? Hand me that…”

 

I took the phone and sure enough, it was filming us right that moment and many different people were posting messages beside the video in what appeared to be Latin. Or at least a variant of it.

 

“Hmm, I believe you’re right… it does appear to be an internet-like system..”

 

“Hey, I have an idea.” RIft whispered. “If his internet is anything like ours I know something that just might give us an advantage.”

 

“Hey! You fellas comin’ out or am I gonna have to disappoint all my followers?” Apophis asked mockingly before smiling towards where his phone had been and noticing it wasn’t there.

 

“What the- WHO STOLE MY EYE-PHONE?”

 

“You mean this?” I taunted as I shifted through the display and walked into the center of the room. “Sorry ‘dude’ but I just had a talk with your followers they think this fight is missing something.”

 

“Oh yeah? And what do my loyal legion of fans what to see?”

 

“BEHOLD! THE SLAYER OF RODENTS, DESTROYER OF HOUSEPLANTS! FLUFFENSTEIN!!!” I exclaimed pulling the cat out and holding him in view of the phone’s camera.

 

“GAH! GET THAT BASTET SPAWN AWAY FROM ME!!” Apophis screamed as he stumbled backward.

 

“Well now, An Egyptian who’s afraid of cats? Now I’ve seen everything…” I said with a laugh.

 

“I’m n-not afraid of th-them I’m just Aler- aah, Aah, ACHOO!!”

 

Apophis then entered a sneezing fit and dropped his staff in the process. which rift quickly snatched up with a portal.

 

“Allergic?” Rift said with an obvious chuckle in his voice he was trying to hide.

 

“Yeah…” Apophis answered with a sniffle, reaching for his staff and fumbling around with watery eyes.

 

“Well, It appears we have the upper-hand here Apophis… Perhaps you better come along peacefully before we have to take you to a hospital…”

 

“Sure man, ACHOO! J-just get that thing away from me…”

 

a short while later we had Apophis in cuffs and we had just finished dropping off Fluffenstein at my lair with Jack.

 

“Right, So I assume you’ll take it from here?” Rift asked.

 

“I can, but I’d prefer if I had someone else with me. helps keep the cops from getting suspicious if I have a hero with me…”

 

“But I thought you work for some top-secret Men in black style organization?”

 

Men In Black? Good heavens no. It’s just the inter-dimensional police. Not the CIA. Now come on…”

 

I grabbed Rift and Apophis’ shoulders and shifted into the large front lobby of the police station.

 

marble pillars lining the walls, royal blue carpeting, and a large wooden desk in the center.

 

“Well look what we got here.” The red-haired woman at the desk stated. “Chief said you’d be comin’ in with a convict but I didn’t expect you to bring in two.”

 

“Uh, No Miss Lana. This is Rift Runner, He’s part of the hero team I joined.”

 

Lana raised an eyebrow suspiciously as she looked Rift over.

 

“If you say so sugar. leave Apophis with Charlie and then head on back to the chief’s office. I’ll let her know Y’all are here…”

 

“Thank you, ma’am. Come on Rift.”

 

I walked towards what must have seemed like a wall to Rift and apophis until we stepped through it and into the prisoner processing center.

 

“So this is where you guys lock up the crooks?” Rift asked.

 

“No, this is just where we throw the book at em, and that fellow over there is our head book thrower. How’s it going, Charlie?”

 

The tall gawky looking man jolted up in his seat and straightened his uniform only to sigh once he turned his desk chair around to find me.

 

“Oh, It’s just you. I thought it was somebody important.” Charlie said with a yawn. “Just stick the perp in cell seven while I work out the papers…”

 

“Cell seven? Well now, You’re a lucky man Apophis.” I joked. “You get to stay in my old room.”

 

Apophis merely rolled his eyes as rift shoved him down the hall and into the cell with a seven above it.

 

“Right, You have a good evening Charlie, I’ll fill out any paperwork later. Gotta go see chief.”

 

“HEY! you still haven’t turned those papers from-“

 

I quickly grabbed Rift and shifted to the Cheif’s office door before Charlie could finish.

 

“Sorry about that Rift, I can’t stand paperwork…”

 

“Tell me about it. you wouldn’t believe how many reports Sharp has us fill out when we capture a villain…”

 

“You’re preaching to the choir mate. Preaching to the choir…”I said with a grin as I knocked on the door.

 

“Enter…” The Chief replied from inside.

 

I opened the door to see Chief Cahill standing at the window behind her desk. gazing out at the futuristic skyline of Capitus Prime.

 

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Chief asked as she turned around and sat down at her desk and turned on the banker’s lamp that sat on it.

 

“I always prefered the look of Capitus Delta.” I replied.

 

“Of course you would. Have a seat Jones, You too Monteleone.”

 

“HOW DID YOU KNOW-“

 

“Your Name? Oh relax, I know more about you flickr fighters than Sharp! why else would I have sent Jones here to Advent city to serve his parole.”

 

“Well, just don’t tell anybody alright? I prefer to keep my secret identity.”

 

“Of course, My lips are sealed…” Chief replied with a locking motion over her lips. “Now then, tell me everything that happened…”

recognize anyone?

recognize anyone?

Yosemite National Park is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an area of 759,620 acres (1,187 sq mi; 3,074 km2) and sits in four counties – centered in Tuolumne and Mariposa, extending north and east to Mono and south to Madera County. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness. Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals.

 

The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granite rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and tilted to form its unique slopes, which increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in the formation of deep, narrow canyons. About one million years ago glaciers formed at higher elevations which eventually melted and moved downslope, cutting and sculpting the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today

 

European American settlers first entered Yosemite Valley itself in 1851. There are earlier instances of other travelers entering the Valley but James D. Savage is credited with discovering the area that became Yosemite National Park. Despite Savage and others claiming their discovery of Yosemite, the region and Valley itself have been inhabited for nearly 4,000 years, although humans may have visited the area as long as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.

 

Yosemite was critical to the development of the national park idea. Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Yosemite Grant of 1864 which declared Yosemite as federally preserved land. It was not until 1890 that John Muir led a successful movement which had Congress establish Yosemite Valley and its surrounding areas as a National Park. This helped pave the way for the National Park System. Yosemite draws about four million visitors each year, and most visitors spend the majority of their time in the seven square miles (18 km2) of Yosemite Valley. The park set a visitation record in 2016, surpassing five million visitors for the first time in its history. The park began requiring reservations to access the park during peak periods starting in 2020 as a response to the rise in visitors.

 

The indigenous natives of Yosemite called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning "dwellers" in Ahwahnee. The Ahwahneechee People was the only tribe that lived in the boundaries of Yosemite National Park but other tribes lived in its surrounding areas, together they formed a larger Indigenous population in California, called the Southern Sierra Miwok. They are related to the Northern Paiute and Mono tribes. Other tribes like the Central Sierra Miwoks and the Yokuts, who both lived in the San Joaquin Valley and central California, visited Yosemite to trade and intermarry with the Ahwahneechee. This resulted in a blending of culture which helped preserve Indigenous people's presence in Yosemite after early American settlements and urban development threatened their survival.[20] Vegetation and game in the region were similar to modern times; acorns were a staple to their diet, as well as other seeds and plants, salmon and deer.

 

A major event impacting the native population of Yosemite and all of California in the mid-19th century was the California Gold Rush, which drew more than 90,000 European Americans to the area in less than two years, causing competition for resources between gold miners and the local Natives. Before large amounts of European settlers arrived in California, about 70 years before the Gold Rush, the Indigenous population was estimated to be 300,000, once the Gold Rush started it dropped down to 150,000, and just ten years later, only about 50,000 remained. The reason for such a decline in the Native American population results from numerous reasons including disease, birth rate decreases, starvation, and the conflicts from the American Indian Wars. The conflict in Yosemite is known as the Mariposa War, it started in December 1850 when California funded a state militia to drive Native people from contested territory, also known as Indigenous traditional and sacred homelands; the goal was to suppress Native American resistance to American expansion.

 

In retaliation to the extermination and domestication of their people, and loss of their lands and resources, Yosemite Indian tribes often stole from settlers and miners, sometimes killing them, both actions seen as tribute for the great losses they experienced. The War and formation of the Mariposa Battalion was partially the result of a single incident involving James Savage, a trader in Fresno, California whose trading post was attacked in December, 1850. After the incident, Savage rallied other miners and gained the support of local officials to pursue revenge and a full out war against the Natives, that is how he was appointed United States Army Major and leader the Mariposa Battalion in the beginning of 1851. He and Captain John Boling were responsible for pursuing the Ahwahneechee people that were being led by Chief Tenaya and driving them as far west as possible, out of Yosemite. In March 1851 under the command of Savage, the Mariposa Battalion captured about 70 Ahwahneechee and planned to take them to a reservation in Fresno, but they all managed to escape. Later in May, under the command of Boling, the battalion captured 35 Ahwahneechee including Chief Tenaya and marched them to the reservation but most were allowed to eventually leave and the rest escaped. Tenaya and others fled across the Sierra Nevada and settled with the Mono Lake Paiutes. Tenaya and some of his companions were ultimately killed in 1853 either over stealing horses or a gambling conflict and the survivors of Tenaya's group and other Ahwahneechee were absorbed into the Mono Lake Paiute tribe.

 

Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley. Attached to Savage's unit was Doctor Lafayette Bunnell, who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley, based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya. Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Ahwahnee colony. Bunnell falsely believed that the word "Yosemite" meant "full-grown grizzly bear." In fact, "Yosemite" was derived from the Miwok term for the Ahwaneechee people: yohhe'meti, meaning "they are killers".

 

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

 

The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.

 

Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.

 

Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.

 

The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.

 

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.

 

The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.

 

The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.

 

After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.

 

Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.

  

The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.

During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.

 

During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.

 

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.

 

From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.

 

One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.

 

After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.

 

In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.

 

The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).

 

Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.

 

Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.

 

In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.

 

The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.

 

In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.

 

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.

 

At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.

 

Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.

 

In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

 

Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.

 

Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.

 

In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.

 

Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.

 

To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.

 

Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.

 

In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.

 

Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.

 

In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

Well, many of us recognize this "style." Ugh. I have had abdominal pain since the day before Thanksgiving, and today, I had an upper endoscopy. In years past, I have had a hernia repair, and that was suspect; also possibility of an ulcer. We don't have all the info in yet, but hope to know what we are going to do with me by Monday. Yikes. As the saying goes- THIS IS ONLY A TEST! but what that means is that nothing is solved, and I am still in pain . . . I always seem to do the fun stuff during holidays. :(

Recognized as one of the Midwest's largest living history festivals, come share in the excitement and make plans to join us August 14-16 2015, at Galesburg Heritage Days. A family event, featuring both pre-1840 early American Colonial Frontier Rendezvous, and a thoroughly fielded Civil War Battle Reenactment/Encampment, along with dozens of unique period merchants...all within walking distance of each other.

 

Offering 411 acres of woodland and prairie plus a 130 acre lake and your choice of primitive or modern amenities and the best period shopping available. We have one of the most beautiful and truly unique event locations in the Midwest, drawing well over 600 reenactors from 14 different states.

 

Info from,

www.galesburgheritagedays.com/

 

Roman Imperial period, Severan period, late 2nd-early 3rd c. CE

Found in Pozzuoli (ancient Puteoli; see on Pleiades), in the macellum (meat market).

 

The discovery of this statue at Pozzuoli in 1750 led to the erroneous identification of the structure as a temple of Serapis, later recognized as a macellum, or meat market. The enthroned Egyptian god is represented as a judge of the underworld, accompanied by the three-headed dog Cerberus.

 

In the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN), Inv. 975

Photographed on display as part of the exhibit "L'Amato di Iside. Nerone, la Domus Aurea e l'Egitto" ("The Beloved of Isis. Nero, the Domus Aurea, and Egypt") at the Domus Aurea, Rome, 22 June 2023-14 January 2024.

Recognized as one of the Midwest's largest living history festivals, come share in the excitement and make plans to join us August 14-16 2015, at Galesburg Heritage Days. A family event, featuring both pre-1840 early American Colonial Frontier Rendezvous, and a thoroughly fielded Civil War Battle Reenactment/Encampment, along with dozens of unique period merchants...all within walking distance of each other.

 

Offering 411 acres of woodland and prairie plus a 130 acre lake and your choice of primitive or modern amenities and the best period shopping available. We have one of the most beautiful and truly unique event locations in the Midwest, drawing well over 600 reenactors from 14 different states.

 

Info from,

www.galesburgheritagedays.com/

 

Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe, and 12 mi (19 km) east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554 m). Bodie became a boom town in 1876 (146 years ago) after the discovery of a profitable line of gold; by 1879 it had a population of 7,000–10,000.

 

The town went into decline in the subsequent decades and came to be described as a ghost town by 1915 (107 years ago). The U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes the designated Bodie Historic District as a National Historic Landmark.

 

Also registered as a California Historical Landmark, the ghost town officially was established as Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. It receives about 200,000 visitors yearly. Bodie State Historic Park is partly supported by the Bodie Foundation.

 

Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by a group of prospectors, including W. S. Bodey. Bodey died in a blizzard the following November while making a supply trip to Monoville (near present-day Mono City), never getting to see the rise of the town that was named after him. According to area pioneer Judge J. G. McClinton, the district's name was changed from "Bodey," "Body," and a few other phonetic variations, to "Bodie," after a painter in the nearby boomtown of Aurora, lettered a sign "Bodie Stables".

 

Gold discovered at Bodie coincided with the discovery of silver at nearby Aurora (thought to be in California, later found to be Nevada), and the distant Comstock Lode beneath Virginia City, Nevada. But while these two towns boomed, interest in Bodie remained lackluster. By 1868 only two companies had built stamp mills at Bodie, and both had failed.

 

In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 7,000–10,000 people and around 2,000 buildings. One legend says that in 1880, Bodie was California's second or third largest city. but the U.S. Census of that year disproves this. Over the years 1860-1941 Bodie's mines produced gold and silver valued at an estimated US$34 million (in 1986 dollars, or $85 million in 2021).

 

Bodie boomed from late 1877 through mid– to late 1880. The first newspaper, The Standard Pioneer Journal of Mono County, published its first edition on October 10, 1877. Starting as a weekly, it soon expanded publication to three times a week. It was also during this time that a telegraph line was built which connected Bodie with Bridgeport and Genoa, Nevada. California and Nevada newspapers predicted Bodie would become the next Comstock Lode. Men from both states were lured to Bodie by the prospect of another bonanza.

 

Gold bullion from the town's nine stamp mills was shipped to Carson City, Nevada, by way of Aurora, Wellington and Gardnerville. Most shipments were accompanied by armed guards. After the bullion reached Carson City, it was delivered to the mint there, or sent by rail to the mint in San Francisco.

 

As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including a Wells Fargo Bank, four volunteer fire companies, a brass band, railroad, miners' and mechanics' union, several daily newspapers, and a jail. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences.

 

As with other remote mining towns, Bodie had a popular, though clandestine, red light district on the north end of town. There is an unsubstantiated story of Rosa May, a prostitute who, in the style of Florence Nightingale, came to the aid of the town menfolk when a serious epidemic struck the town at the height of its boom. She is credited with giving life-saving care to many, but after she died, was buried outside the cemetery fence.

 

Bodie had a Chinatown, the main street of which ran at a right angle to Bodie's Main Street. At one point it had several hundred Chinese residents and a Taoist temple. Opium dens were plentiful in this area.

 

Bodie also had a cemetery on the outskirts of town and a nearby mortuary. It is the only building in the town built of red brick three courses thick, most likely for insulation to keep the air temperature steady during the cold winters and hot summers. The cemetery includes a Miners Union section, and a cenotaph erected to honor President James A. Garfield. The Bodie Boot Hill was located outside of the official city cemetery.

 

On Main Street stands the Miners Union Hall, which was the meeting place for labor unions. It also served as an entertainment center that hosted dances, concerts, plays, and school recitals. It now serves as a museum.

 

The first signs of decline appeared in 1880 and became obvious toward the end of the year. Promising mining booms in Butte, Montana; Tombstone, Arizona; and Utah lured men away from Bodie. The get-rich-quick, single miners who came to the town in the 1870s moved on to these other booms, and Bodie developed into a family-oriented community. In 1882 residents built the Methodist Church (which still stands) and the Roman Catholic Church (burned 1928). Despite the population decline, the mines were flourishing, and in 1881 Bodie's ore production was recorded at a high of $3.1 million. Also in 1881, a narrow-gauge railroad was built called the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company, bringing lumber, cordwood, and mine timbers to the mining district from Mono Mills south of Mono Lake.

 

During the early 1890s, Bodie enjoyed a short revival from technological advancements in the mines that continued to support the town. In 1890, the recently invented cyanide process promised to recover gold and silver from discarded mill tailings and from low-grade ore bodies that had been passed over. In 1892, the Standard Company built its own hydroelectric plant approximately 13 miles (20.9 km) away at Dynamo Pond. The plant developed a maximum of 130 horsepower (97 kW) and 3,530 volts alternating current (AC) to power the company's 20-stamp mill. This pioneering installation marked the country's first transmissions of electricity over a long distance.

 

In 1910, the population was recorded at 698 people, which were predominantly families who decided to stay in Bodie instead of moving on to other prosperous strikes.

 

The first signs of an official decline occurred in 1912 with the printing of the last Bodie newspaper, The Bodie Miner. In a 1913 book titled California Tourist Guide and Handbook: Authentic Description of Routes of Travel and Points of Interest in California, the authors, Wells and Aubrey Drury, described Bodie as a "mining town, which is the center of a large mineral region". They referred to two hotels and a railroad operating there. In 1913, the Standard Consolidated Mine closed.

 

Mining profits in 1914 were at a low of $6,821. James S. Cain bought everything from the town lots to the mining claims, and reopened the Standard mill to former employees, which resulted in an over $100,000 profit in 1915. However, this financial growth was not in time to stop the town's decline. In 1917, the Bodie Railway was abandoned and its iron tracks were scrapped.

 

The last mine closed in 1942, due to War Production Board order L-208, shutting down all non-essential gold mines in the United States during World War II. Mining never resumed after the war.

 

Bodie was first described as a "ghost town" in 1915. In a time when auto travel was on the rise, many travelers reached Bodie via automobiles. The San Francisco Chronicle published an article in 1919 to dispute the "ghost town" label.

 

By 1920, Bodie's population was recorded by the US Federal Census at a total of 120 people. Despite the decline and a severe fire in the business district in 1932, Bodie had permanent residents through nearly half of the 20th century. A post office operated at Bodie from 1877 to 1942

 

In the 1940s, the threat of vandalism faced the ghost town. The Cain family, who owned much of the land, hired caretakers to protect and to maintain the town's structures. Martin Gianettoni, one of the last three people living in Bodie in 1943, was a caretaker.

 

Bodie is now an authentic Wild West ghost town.

 

The town was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and in 1962 the state legislature authorized creation of Bodie State Historic Park. A total of 170 buildings remained. Bodie has been named as California's official state gold rush ghost town.

 

Visitors arrive mainly via SR 270, which runs from US 395 near Bridgeport to the west; the last three miles of it is a dirt road. There is also a road to SR 167 near Mono Lake in the south, but this road is extremely rough, with more than 10 miles of dirt track in a bad state of repair. Due to heavy snowfall, the roads to Bodie are usually closed in winter .

 

Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survived, with about 110 structures still standing, including one of many once operational gold mills. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Littered throughout the park, one can find small shards of china dishes, square nails and an occasional bottle, but removing these items is against the rules of the park.

 

The California State Parks' ranger station is located in one of the original homes on Green Street.

 

In 2009 and again in 2010, Bodie was scheduled to be closed. The California state legislature worked out a budget compromise that enabled the state's Parks Closure Commission to keep it open. As of 2022, the park is still operating, now administered by the Bodie Foundation.

 

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

 

The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.

 

Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.

 

Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.

 

The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.

 

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.

 

The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.

 

The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.

 

After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.

 

Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.

  

The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.

During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.

 

During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.

 

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.

 

From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.

 

One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.

 

After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.

 

In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.

 

The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).

 

Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.

 

Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.

 

In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.

 

The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.

 

In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.

 

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.

 

At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.

 

Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.

 

In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

 

Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.

 

Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.

 

In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.

 

Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.

 

To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.

 

Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.

 

In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.

 

Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.

 

In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.

 

For the second night in a row, the heavens opened up. This time, I am beginning to recognize a pattern. I love auroras that are well-defined with brilliant curtains, and I have seen enough now to recognize that they typically come strong in these times out of times of soft, diffuse bands of lights across the sky. I saw it some last night, and tonight, I was just about to turn in when I saw this and decided to look for another location to shoot from. So glad I did. I found a pigeon barn on the outskirts of town on the side of the road. I set up my camera, and started getting shots of the auroras with the barn in the foreground. Soon, the heavens opened up, just as I predicted. WELL worth the extra time out tonight.

It's the Time Bandit from the TV program "The Deadliest Catch." In port at Homer, Alaska.

Keep Recognizing Jesus

 

"…Peter…walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid…" [Matthew 14:29-30]

 

The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus. We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “…why did you doubt?” (Mat.14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.'If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

_____

My Utmost - Oswald Chambers

Recognized worldwide

recognize anyone?

They are recognized by their distinctive long snout and geniculate antennae with small clubs; beyond that, curculionids have considerable diversity of form and size, with adult lengths ranging from 1 to 40 millimetres (0.04 to 1.57 in).

 

Weevils are almost entirely plant feeders, and most species are associated with a narrow range of hosts, in many cases only living on a single species. With so many species to classify and over 400 genera, the taxonomy of this family is quite complicated, and authors disagree on the number and placement of various subfamilies, tribes and subtribes.

 

This image is Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC).

Cathedral Rock trailhead.

 

Cathedral Rock Trail ascends one of the most recognizable rock formations in the heart of Red Rock Country. Many visitors hike the first quarter mile to enjoy the fantastic views from the first ledge, where the trail meets Templeton Trail. From here, the trail becomes as much a rock climb as a hike, requiring non-technical scrambling up rock faces and ledges to make it to the final ascent to the top. The saddle between two spires offers spectacular views. The unmaintained trail explores the lava dike and spires at the top.

 

Photo by Deborah Lee Soltesz, February 13, 2013. Credit: USFS Coconino National Forest. Learn more about hiking Cathedral Rock Trail No. 170 in the Red Rock Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest website.

One of the most recognizable buildings in Texas is the Alamo in downtown San Antonio Texas. It is known worldwide by its characteristic shape. The Alamo began as the Mission San Antonio de Valero, a Spanish Mission, in the early 1700's, one of the first in Texas. The establishment of this mission played a crucial role in the settlement of San Antonio, Texas and the Southwest. "Mission San Antonio de Valero" has not always been at this location. The original mission was founded near the headwaters of San Pedro Creek in 1718. In 1719 the mission was relocated a short distance to the south of where it sits today. A 1724 storm destroyed structures at the new site, prompting Spanish officials to relocate the mission to its present spot. It was the mission compound constructed here at the 1724 location that later gained fame as the Alamo. While this is the third spot for Mission San Antonio de Valero, it is the only place the "Alamo" has ever been.The San Antonio de Valero Mission was built to provide local indigenous people, or Indians, with protection from hostile tribes and conversion to the Catholic faith, the state religion of Spain at that time. Accordingly, the first residents of San Antonio de Valero were members of Native American tribes like the Payaya, Sama, Pachaque and other Coahuiltecan Indian tribes. Spanish missionaries provided religious services and directed the work of those residing inside the Mission. Those residents who died in the mission were often buried in front of the Church, according to Spanish tradition. Consequently, the area in front of the Alamo Shrine represented with a patch of green grass, the Campo Santo, is considered hallowed burial ground.

 

It's difficult to pinpoint when the Valero mission was first called "Alamo." In 1803 a company of Spanish soldiers arrived in San Antonio de Valero or Bejar, now simply known as San Antonio. They were housed in and around the mission, which became known as the Presidio de Bejar. Over time the presidio/mission became know as The Alamo and its garrison as The Alamo Company presumably because of a row of Cottonwood Trees nearby the Mission. Alamo means cottonwood tree in Spanish.

 

San Antonio de Bexar had long been an important place in Texas. Not only was it home to a military garrison, it was a crossroads and center of commerce. By the early 1830s, the town's population had grown to nearly 2,500. With the outbreak of revolt in Coahuila y Tejas, San Antonio even resumed its old role as the capital of Texas. San Antonio experienced two sieges and battles during the Texas Revolution. The first, the Siege and Battle of Bexar, began in late October 1835 after the incident in Gonzales when angry colonists and Tejanos followed the retreating Alamo Company back to San Antonio in the early stage of the revolution. When the Texian siege of the town stalled, soldier and empresario Ben Milam rallied a force on December 5 that fought its way into the center of San Antonio. After a bloody five-day, house-to-house fight, the Texians took control of the town and Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered the town and the public property it held. Thus, the rebels gained control of San Antonio and the Alamo.

 

The second battle occurred when the Mexican forces marched north to squash the rebellion and take back San Antonio de Bexar. On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught the rebels by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. Eventually the rebels retreated to the inside of the Alamo compound and the siege of the Alamo began. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did.

As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

 

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo's walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed into the compound.

 

Once inside, they turned a captured cannon on the Long Barrack and church, blasting open the barricaded doors. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

 

While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt about what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against impossible odds; a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

 

The Alamo was designated a National Historical Landmark on December 19, 1960. National Historic Landmarks are on the National Register of Historic Places and have high historical significance. Out of more than 80,000 places on the National Register of Historic Places only about 2,430 are NHLs.

This is my LEGO® design of a "RECOGNIZER" as seen in the movie TRON:Legacy. Here you can see it arriving at TRON City (also designed by me).

 

The Model consists of 4087 Bricks and took about 48 hours to design. I used LEGO's own LDD (Lego Digital Designer) Software during the design phase. Preparation and conversion for rendering with POVRAY was done in "Bricksmith".

 

I'm using a iMac (6 core i7, with 4GB of RAM) to render the images in POVRAY 3.7 64bit.

 

I rendered a 3540 frame long animation where I show off the mechanical design of my creation. Check it out on Youtube: youtu.be/vpS_5QYYulQ?hd=1

Recognize the boot?

Please keep in mind that, although I took and processed this photo…

Where it ended up, was as a result of a passionate and diligent team effort…

It was the combined effort of the “Engine 57 Graphics Support Group”.

Our group generated a phenomenal quantity of quality artwork..

Our collaboration was one of those experiences that happens only a few times in life.

 

I can’t list the names of the team members without their permission.

But, they deserve credit and I hope they distribute their work for all the world to see..

 

We produced slide shows, funeral programs, a web site,

engine57memorial.org/

photographs, ceremonial art and banners…

Much of which I’m sure you’ve seen in the news without knowing it.

All the members of our team purposefully left our names off our original work

out of respect for the recently departed.

But now, it’s time to celebrate our efforts..

Somehow, I believe, the members of Engine 57 would want us to pick up and move on…

That’s what I would want…

 

Thanks for having a look everyone and it’s good to be back..

 

 

más fotos en:

facebook.com/POS420

Rectify or Games?

The Recognizer sorts rogue programs entering ElecTRONica, a awesome light, music and dance show playing nightly at DCA

 

About that sky...

Welcome to California Summers at The Disneyland Resort where a phenomenon known as June Gloom, or May Gray, or a Coastal Inversion Layer, or simply FOG shows up mornings and evenings to thwart the white balance, exposures, and beautiful skies for Disneyland photographers...

I usually do something about the brown or orange yuckiness, but it makes a nice contrast with all the blue, so THIS TIME it can stay, haha...

 

This was taken on an excellent evening at Disneyland Resort with my son Justin and our pals Ryan Pastorino, Melyna Martinez, Bill McIntosh, Cory Disbrow, and Cory's girlfriend Sam...

 

HDR from 3 images

Recognized as ‘One of the Top 14 Places in the World to See Spring Flowers’ by MSN.com in 2010, Dallas Blooms is the largest floral festival in the southwest with over 500,000 spring-blooming bulbs. Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths abound in the 66 acre garden with vibrant colors creating an amazing backdrop to the city of Dallas. March 5-April 10, 2011

Live Bait, a restaurant and bar located across from Madison Square Park was founded in 1987. When we interviewed the co-owner Carolyn Benitez for our book “New York Nights”, she told us that they”took over the space from an old Irish pub. The wood bar and neon signage that says “Bar Restaurant” was installed in 1941 and we decided to keep it because it was very recognizable”. Sadly Live Bait closed after 31 years in business in 2018 and although the neon signage remained, it was reinvented as a taco and tequila bar called Flat Fix but that too closed during the pandemic and we are extremely sad to report that the storefront stripped of its neon is now home to a Popeyes franchise, which we could not even bear to photograph.

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#storefront #jamesandkarla #neon #disappearingfaceofnewyork #divebar #divebars #neonsigns #neonsignage #bar

Taken at Stourhead Garden, England. If you've seen (and are obsessed with, as I am) the latest version of Pride & Prejudice, with Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen, this is the famous scene where passion and loathing are unleashed by the two characters. *sigh*

Carte de visite of Philip Joseph Sanger by Washburn of New Orleans, La. Sanger, left, a second assistant engineer on the sloop-of-war “Monongahela,” was present at the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., on August 5, 1864. According to a note in his obituary, “He was thrown to the deck and covered with debris by a shell which demolished the bridge upon which he had been standing, but at once he resumed his post of duty and was applauded by [Rear Adm. David] Farragut for his conspicuous bravery.” He survived the war, became a physician in Philadelphia, Pa., and died in 1887.

 

Researching the life and military service of this sailor is currently in progress. If you have any information to share, including letters, journals, and other personal and public documents, please contact me.

 

I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.

recognize anything ?

The Storr is a rocky hill on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The Old Man of Storr is one of Skye's most recognizable landmarks. The ‘Old Man’ is the large pinnacle of rock that stands high and can be seen for miles around. The Storr was created by a massive ancient landside, leaving one of the most photographed landscapes in the world.

The Storr and the Old Man

Trotternish, Skye, Scotland

I recognize this story from having seen its counterpart at colonial churches in Peru.

 

To modern eyes, it might seem that the angels around the periphery are holding microphones on booms.

 

That's not the case: they're holding two of the Arma Christi, or Instruments of the Passion.

 

On our left, an angel holds a vinegar-soaked sponge on a reed. The angel on the left appears to be holding the torch.

 

The second angel on the right holds Veronica's veil.

 

The crown of thorns is in the hands of the angel floating to the right of God's left shoulder.

 

However, this leaves a long list of Instruments of Passion unaccounted for. Maybe they're beyond the bottom of the frame. They are:

 

The pillar or column where Jesus was whipped in the Flagellation of Christ.

 

The whip(s), in Germany often birches, used for the 39 lashes.

 

The Holy Lance with which a Roman soldier inflicted the final of the Five Wounds in his side.

 

The Nails, inflicting four wounds on the hands and feet.

 

The reed which was placed in Jesus' hand as a sceptre in mockery.

 

The purple robe of mockery.

 

The Titulus Crucis, attached to the Cross. It may be inscribed in Latin (INRI, Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum), Greek, Hebrew, or some other language.

 

The Holy Grail, the chalice used by Jesus at The Last Supper, and which some traditions say Joseph of Arimathea used to catch his blood at the crucifixion.

 

The Seamless robe of Jesus

The dice with which the soldiers cast lots for Christ's seamless robe.

 

The rooster (cock) that crowed after Peter's third denial of Jesus.

 

The vessel used to hold the gall and vinegar.

 

The ladder used for the Deposition, i.e. the removal of Christ's body from the cross for burial.

 

The hammer used to drive the nails into Jesus' hands and feet.

 

The pincers used to remove the nails.

 

The vessel of myrrh, used to anoint the body of Jesus, either by Joseph of Arimathea or by the Myrrhbearers.

 

The shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus before burial.

 

The sun and moon, representing the eclipse which occurred during the Passion.

 

Thirty pieces of silver (or a money bag), the price of Judas' betrayal.

 

A spitting face, indicating the mockery of Jesus.

 

The hand which slapped Jesus' face.

 

The chains or cords which bound Jesus overnight in prison.

 

The lantern or torches used by the arresting soldiers at the time of the betrayal, as well as their swords and staves.

 

The sword used by Peter to cut off the ear of the High Priest's servant.

 

Sometimes a human ear is also represented.

Sometimes the heads or hands of figures from the Passion are shown, including Judas, Caiaphas, or the man who mocked Christ spitting in Christ's face.

The washing hands of Pontius Pilate may be shown.

 

The trumpet played for mocking Christ on the Way to Calvary.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arma_Christi

 

Another difference between the Arma Christi I have seen in Peruvian churches and this Northern European example is that in Peru the Instruments are depicted as a static ensemble (or, in archaeological terms, an assemblage) of objects. There are no beings in the scene.

 

Here, however, the evidence of the Crucifixion have been seized by the heavenly hosts. (Is that what happens in Scripture?) While I'm not a believer, I am not without empathy. For that reason, I prefer this scene to the evidence-locker approach to depicting the Instruments. It no doubt served and may still serve a purpose in furthering the role of religious art under the dictates of the Council of Trent.

 

The difference is that this sculpture clearly depicts the passage of time. It is no longer the day of the Crucifixion but Easter Morning. The instruments have lost their sting.

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The Church of St. Francis of Assisi at Vilnius, Lithuania.

 

From signage in the church:

 

Between 1764 and 1781 the church was fitted with an ensemble of late Baroque fixtures: the pulpit, confessionals, pews and eleven altars. The ensemble displayed stylistic harmony, as well as a singleness of purpose-drawing attention to the main altar.

 

[The main altar] now contains the Crucifix that had previously hung above the altar of the Holy Cross. The cross was known to bestow special grace, and it was at this time that the fresco depicting this Crucifix was painted on the façade of the church. The identity of the person who designed the new interior furnishings is not now known. The interior was executed by several joiners (Giotto, Holtzas, Valteris and others are mentioned). Paintings for the altars were done by . . . a person with the surname Motiejus.

 

Between 1764 and 1768 Mikaloju Jansonas, a renowned organ builder of the day, restored the church organ and moved it from the side nave to a platform constructed at the back of the presbytery (choir). (At the end of the 19th century the organ was reconstructed once again and moved to the old balcony of the Bernardines.)

 

From the middle of the 18th century until the end of the 20th century the architecture and furnishings of the church remained largely unchanged. When the church was closed during the Soviet years, the painting over the altar, the liturgical vessels and other fixtures were scattered among museum collections or given to other churches.

 

The altar ensemble, which was disassembled for reconstruction has only been partially restored. In response to present-day liturgical requirements, a new altar created by Rimas Skakalauakas was constructed in 1998 and placed in the central nave of the church. The altar echoes the lines and shapes of the old Gothic belfry.

========================================================

From Wikipedia:

 

The Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard (also known as Bernardine Church) is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is located next to St. Anne's Church. Dedicated to Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernardino of Siena, it is an important example of Gothic architecture in Lithuania.

 

History

After their arrival in Vilnius, Bernardine monks built a wooden church in the second half of the 15th century, and at the end of the same century - a brick one.

 

In the early 16th century it was reconstructed, apparently with the participation of a master from Gdansk (Danzig) Michael Enkinger.

 

In the beginning of the 16th century the church was incorporated into the construction of Vilnius defensive wall, so there are shooting openings in its walls.

 

Afterwards it was renewed many times, particularly after the 1655-61 war with Moscow, when the Cossacks ravaged the church killing the monks and citizens who had taken shelter there.

 

In the times of the Soviet occupation it was closed down and handed over to the Art institute.

 

In 1994, the brethren of St. Francis returned to the church.

 

Church and Monastery are some of the largest sacral buildings in Vilnius, although in the 17th and 18th centuries they acquired the Renaissance and Baroque features.

 

Being much larger and more archaic than the St. Anne's Church, it forms and interesting and unique ensemble with the latter.

 

Gothic pointed-arch windows and buttresses stand out on the façade. Above them rises a pediment with twin octagonal towers on the sides and a fresco depicting the Crucifix in the middle niche.

 

A Gothic presbytery is the oldest part of the church. Eight high pillars divide the church interior into 3 naves.

 

There are many valuable 16th-century wall paintings in Bernardine church and the oldest known artistic Lithuanian crucifix sculpture from the 15th century. [2]

 

The walls of the naves are decorated with Gothic polychrome frescoes, partly uncovered in 1981 - dynamic, colourful figural compositions on biblical and hagiographic themes, with occasional inscriptions in Gothic characters, floral ornaments, heraldic insignia etc.

 

These mural paintings date from the early 16th century and are considered unique in the world: their composition and type of presentation of the subject matter belongs to Renaissance, and the stylistics - to the Gothic style. [3]

 

The Bernardine monastery north of the church, built simultaneously with the church, was renovated and reconstructed several times. Since its founding, a novitiate and a seminary operated at the monastery, a rich library had been accumulated, and a scriptorium operated. There [were] artists, craftsmen and organists among the monks. The monastery was closed in 1864, and the building housed soldiers' barracks. In 1919 it was given to the art faculty of the university, later - to the Art Institute (now the Art Academy).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Francis_and_St._Berna...

 

April 2015

What all do you recognize?

*** Oh dear, you all are very good at this... but the few not identified are ones that I will have to look up to provide the correct names. So, I will have to do some HOMEWORK :-)

1st Row: Caryopteris clandonensis 'Summer Sorbet', Nepeta (Catmint) (probably Walker's Low), Sunjoy® Gold Pillar Barberry Berberis thunbergii

2nd Row: Euonymus japonicus Silver Princess 'Moness. (maybe) and the Big photo is Orange Rocket Barberry Berberis thunbergii 'Orange Rocket'

3rd Row: Peony (unknown variety), jump across the big lime foliage and the grass on the 3rd row, right side is a big tall beautiful ornamental grass: Miscanthus sinensis 'Cosmopolitan

www.gardenality.com/Plants/1170/Ornamental-Grasses/Cosmop...

4th Row: Northern Sea Oats 'River Mist www.flickr.com/photos/55344233@N00/14936380720/,

jump across the big lime foliage and the lime foliage in the bottom right is Beauty Bush Kolkwitzia 'Dream Catcher'

www.transatlanticplantsman.com/transatlantic_plantsman/20... and last but not least the Big photo on the bottom, with the lime/gold foliage is: Tiger Eyes Golden Sumac. This site shows the Fall foliage.

www.seasonsgardendesign.com/Images/FallPlanting-1.jpg

And this is the reason I may dig it up and plant it in a BIG planter :-)

www.examiner.com/article/use-caution-when-planting-tiger-...

Wesley Snipes (aka Ugo) is fighting to live.

He really wants to live and we can see in this video clip.

We have to bottle feed him each 2 hours.

 

He is a Lagotto Romagnolo dog.

This is the only breed of dog that is officially recognized as specialized in truffle hunting.

animal.discovery.com/videos/dogs-101-lagotto-romagnolo.html

 

I'm still late with my comments. I'm sorry my friends, I'm trying to catch up.

 

*© All rights reserved *

  

Update --> April 15th 2011: Wesley Snipes is doing very well!!!

Early on, Mckague Housser recognized the rapidly industrializing North as a worthwhile subject for art. In 1917, while passing through Cobalt, Ontario, she was fascinated by the boom town’s architectural forms and later returned to paint them. The small painting is a sketch for the larger, finished work, whichdepeicts a trio of workers with their miners’ lamps in an eerie half light. By 1930 production in Cobalt was in sharp decline. The workers were likely projections of the artist’s imagination, as she portrayed an heroic picture of industry in Canada’s north.

Recognizing one from the wanted poster, the bounty hunter checked up and down the street for any more before crossing over to the saloon.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

 

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,731,571 in 2016, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,245,438 people (as of 2016) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) proper had a 2016 population of 6,417,516. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

 

People have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops. York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto. It was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km2 (243.3 sq mi).

 

The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. More than 50 percent of residents belong to a visible minority population group, and over 200 distinct ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city.

 

Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Its varied cultural institutions, which include numerous museums and galleries, festivals and public events, entertainment districts, national historic sites, and sports activities, attract over 43 million tourists each year. Toronto is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, the CN Tower.

 

The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks, and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations. Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ontario_Museum

 

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM; French: Musée royal de l'Ontario) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year, making the ROM the most-visited museum in Canada. The museum is north of Queen's Park, in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance on Bloor Street West. Museum subway station is named after the ROM and, since a 2008 renovation, is decorated to resemble the institution's collection.

 

Established on 16 April 1912 and opened on 19 March 1914, the museum has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. The museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Today, the museum is Canada's largest field-research institution, with research and conservation activities around the world.

 

With more than 6,000,000 items and 40 galleries, the museum's diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. The museum contains a collection of dinosaurs, minerals and meteorites; Canadian, and European historical artifacts; as well as African, Near Eastern, and East Asian art. It houses the world's largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale with more than 150,000 specimens. The museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine art, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco.

Walking around Porto (Portugal)

 

If you recognize yourself in the photograph and you want me to remove it from this photo stream or you want me to send it to you in HD, completely free of charge, let me know via email. Thanks for being there

____________________________________

 

Si te reconoces en la fotografía y quieres que la elimine de está página o bien quieres que te la remita en HD, de manera totalmente gratuita, házmelo saber vía mail. Gracias por estar ahí

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the U.S. Navy’s first-line fighter from 1972 until its retirement in 2006. It is perhaps one of the most widely recognized Navy fighter jets of all time thanks to its starring role in the 1986 Tom Cruise film “Top Gun” and the 2022 sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”

 

The Tomcat’s design, with its distinctive variable-sweep wings, was a significant innovation. In the full forward position, the wings provide the lift necessary for slow-speed flight, essential for landing back on an aircraft carrier. In the swept-back position, the wings blended into the aircraft, giving the F-14 Tomcat a dart-like silhouette for supersonic flight. This design feature allowed the F-14 to perform a wide range of missions, from carrier landings to high-speed intercepts, making it a highly versatile and effective fighter jet.

 

The F-14 was explicitly designed to carry the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles. Robust onboard targeting systems allowed a single Tomcat to simultaneously fire up to six Phoenix missiles at six different targets up to ranges exceeding 100 miles away. U.S. Navy Tomcats flew combat missions during Desert Storm, the Gulf War, and various other missions over Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan from 2001-2006.

 

The only other country to order the Tomcats was Iran. There were 79 aircraft supplied before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. While it might be hard to believe today, Iran was, in fact, one of the United States’ closest allies before the fall of the last Shah of Iran in 1979. Statistics are inaccurate; however, the Iranian military claims that Tomcats were highly successful in combat against Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. What is known, however, is that Iranian Tomcats were engaged in the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) as recently as November of 2015.

 

This aircraft, BuNo 157986, was only the 7th Tomcat to roll off the production line and has quite the story to tell. It mainly served as the prototype for all future improvements to the F-14 series. Her first flight occurred on September 9th, 1973, with Test Pilots Joe Burke (pilot) and Roger Ferguson (Weapon Systems Officer) at the controls. It was equipped with Pratt & Whitney’s F401-PW-400 engines. Tests with the F401 engines were not satisfactory, and after the flight test program ended, the F-14B was stored at Calverton.

 

It was reactivated in early 1981, and two General Electric F101DFE (Derivative Fighter Engines) were installed. On July 14th, the first test flight took place. Test pilots discovered that the F-14B could accelerate from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.8 in just 90 seconds and could launch from a catapult without afterburners. With 65,000 lbs of thrust each, the F101DFE engines produced enough power to give the F-14B a thrust-to-weight ratio of approximately one to one. Though far more successful than the previous F401 trials, the U.S. Navy terminated the testing program in September of 1981.

 

Once again, the aircraft was back in storage. A few years later, in July of 1984, it was reactivated again, and two General Electric F110-GE-400 engines were installed. Test flights began shortly after that on what would become known as the Super Tomcat. This time, the tests proved to be highly successful. They led to the production of the F-14A (PLUS), essentially an “A” model, in March of 1987 with the General Electric F110 series engines (and redesignated as the F-14B in May of 1991), to the highly improved and updated F-14D produced until 1992.

Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe, and 12 mi (19 km) east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554 m). Bodie became a boom town in 1876 (146 years ago) after the discovery of a profitable line of gold; by 1879 it had a population of 7,000–10,000.

 

The town went into decline in the subsequent decades and came to be described as a ghost town by 1915 (107 years ago). The U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes the designated Bodie Historic District as a National Historic Landmark.

 

Also registered as a California Historical Landmark, the ghost town officially was established as Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. It receives about 200,000 visitors yearly. Bodie State Historic Park is partly supported by the Bodie Foundation.

 

Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by a group of prospectors, including W. S. Bodey. Bodey died in a blizzard the following November while making a supply trip to Monoville (near present-day Mono City), never getting to see the rise of the town that was named after him. According to area pioneer Judge J. G. McClinton, the district's name was changed from "Bodey," "Body," and a few other phonetic variations, to "Bodie," after a painter in the nearby boomtown of Aurora, lettered a sign "Bodie Stables".

 

Gold discovered at Bodie coincided with the discovery of silver at nearby Aurora (thought to be in California, later found to be Nevada), and the distant Comstock Lode beneath Virginia City, Nevada. But while these two towns boomed, interest in Bodie remained lackluster. By 1868 only two companies had built stamp mills at Bodie, and both had failed.

 

In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 7,000–10,000 people and around 2,000 buildings. One legend says that in 1880, Bodie was California's second or third largest city. but the U.S. Census of that year disproves this. Over the years 1860-1941 Bodie's mines produced gold and silver valued at an estimated US$34 million (in 1986 dollars, or $85 million in 2021).

 

Bodie boomed from late 1877 through mid– to late 1880. The first newspaper, The Standard Pioneer Journal of Mono County, published its first edition on October 10, 1877. Starting as a weekly, it soon expanded publication to three times a week. It was also during this time that a telegraph line was built which connected Bodie with Bridgeport and Genoa, Nevada. California and Nevada newspapers predicted Bodie would become the next Comstock Lode. Men from both states were lured to Bodie by the prospect of another bonanza.

 

Gold bullion from the town's nine stamp mills was shipped to Carson City, Nevada, by way of Aurora, Wellington and Gardnerville. Most shipments were accompanied by armed guards. After the bullion reached Carson City, it was delivered to the mint there, or sent by rail to the mint in San Francisco.

 

As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including a Wells Fargo Bank, four volunteer fire companies, a brass band, railroad, miners' and mechanics' union, several daily newspapers, and a jail. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences.

 

As with other remote mining towns, Bodie had a popular, though clandestine, red light district on the north end of town. There is an unsubstantiated story of Rosa May, a prostitute who, in the style of Florence Nightingale, came to the aid of the town menfolk when a serious epidemic struck the town at the height of its boom. She is credited with giving life-saving care to many, but after she died, was buried outside the cemetery fence.

 

Bodie had a Chinatown, the main street of which ran at a right angle to Bodie's Main Street. At one point it had several hundred Chinese residents and a Taoist temple. Opium dens were plentiful in this area.

 

Bodie also had a cemetery on the outskirts of town and a nearby mortuary. It is the only building in the town built of red brick three courses thick, most likely for insulation to keep the air temperature steady during the cold winters and hot summers. The cemetery includes a Miners Union section, and a cenotaph erected to honor President James A. Garfield. The Bodie Boot Hill was located outside of the official city cemetery.

 

On Main Street stands the Miners Union Hall, which was the meeting place for labor unions. It also served as an entertainment center that hosted dances, concerts, plays, and school recitals. It now serves as a museum.

 

The first signs of decline appeared in 1880 and became obvious toward the end of the year. Promising mining booms in Butte, Montana; Tombstone, Arizona; and Utah lured men away from Bodie. The get-rich-quick, single miners who came to the town in the 1870s moved on to these other booms, and Bodie developed into a family-oriented community. In 1882 residents built the Methodist Church (which still stands) and the Roman Catholic Church (burned 1928). Despite the population decline, the mines were flourishing, and in 1881 Bodie's ore production was recorded at a high of $3.1 million. Also in 1881, a narrow-gauge railroad was built called the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company, bringing lumber, cordwood, and mine timbers to the mining district from Mono Mills south of Mono Lake.

 

During the early 1890s, Bodie enjoyed a short revival from technological advancements in the mines that continued to support the town. In 1890, the recently invented cyanide process promised to recover gold and silver from discarded mill tailings and from low-grade ore bodies that had been passed over. In 1892, the Standard Company built its own hydroelectric plant approximately 13 miles (20.9 km) away at Dynamo Pond. The plant developed a maximum of 130 horsepower (97 kW) and 3,530 volts alternating current (AC) to power the company's 20-stamp mill. This pioneering installation marked the country's first transmissions of electricity over a long distance.

 

In 1910, the population was recorded at 698 people, which were predominantly families who decided to stay in Bodie instead of moving on to other prosperous strikes.

 

The first signs of an official decline occurred in 1912 with the printing of the last Bodie newspaper, The Bodie Miner. In a 1913 book titled California Tourist Guide and Handbook: Authentic Description of Routes of Travel and Points of Interest in California, the authors, Wells and Aubrey Drury, described Bodie as a "mining town, which is the center of a large mineral region". They referred to two hotels and a railroad operating there. In 1913, the Standard Consolidated Mine closed.

 

Mining profits in 1914 were at a low of $6,821. James S. Cain bought everything from the town lots to the mining claims, and reopened the Standard mill to former employees, which resulted in an over $100,000 profit in 1915. However, this financial growth was not in time to stop the town's decline. In 1917, the Bodie Railway was abandoned and its iron tracks were scrapped.

 

The last mine closed in 1942, due to War Production Board order L-208, shutting down all non-essential gold mines in the United States during World War II. Mining never resumed after the war.

 

Bodie was first described as a "ghost town" in 1915. In a time when auto travel was on the rise, many travelers reached Bodie via automobiles. The San Francisco Chronicle published an article in 1919 to dispute the "ghost town" label.

 

By 1920, Bodie's population was recorded by the US Federal Census at a total of 120 people. Despite the decline and a severe fire in the business district in 1932, Bodie had permanent residents through nearly half of the 20th century. A post office operated at Bodie from 1877 to 1942

 

In the 1940s, the threat of vandalism faced the ghost town. The Cain family, who owned much of the land, hired caretakers to protect and to maintain the town's structures. Martin Gianettoni, one of the last three people living in Bodie in 1943, was a caretaker.

 

Bodie is now an authentic Wild West ghost town.

 

The town was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and in 1962 the state legislature authorized creation of Bodie State Historic Park. A total of 170 buildings remained. Bodie has been named as California's official state gold rush ghost town.

 

Visitors arrive mainly via SR 270, which runs from US 395 near Bridgeport to the west; the last three miles of it is a dirt road. There is also a road to SR 167 near Mono Lake in the south, but this road is extremely rough, with more than 10 miles of dirt track in a bad state of repair. Due to heavy snowfall, the roads to Bodie are usually closed in winter .

 

Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survived, with about 110 structures still standing, including one of many once operational gold mills. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Littered throughout the park, one can find small shards of china dishes, square nails and an occasional bottle, but removing these items is against the rules of the park.

 

The California State Parks' ranger station is located in one of the original homes on Green Street.

 

In 2009 and again in 2010, Bodie was scheduled to be closed. The California state legislature worked out a budget compromise that enabled the state's Parks Closure Commission to keep it open. As of 2022, the park is still operating, now administered by the Bodie Foundation.

 

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

 

The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.

 

Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.

 

Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.

 

The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.

 

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.

 

The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.

 

The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.

 

After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.

 

Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.

  

The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.

During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.

 

During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.

 

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.

 

From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.

 

One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.

 

After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.

 

In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.

 

The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).

 

Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.

 

Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.

 

In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.

 

The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.

 

In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.

 

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.

 

At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.

 

Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.

 

In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

 

Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.

 

Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.

 

In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.

 

Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.

 

To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.

 

Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.

 

In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.

 

Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.

 

In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.

 

Curitiba developed a non subsidized, private owned, public transport system called BRT (Bus Rapid Transit). Today it stands as a model recognized internationally. Insightful, long term planning with several innovative solutions has provided the citizens with an effective system that gives priority to public instead of private transport. Besides being model in public transportation and urban planning, Curitiba is also considered the ecologic capital of Brazil. The city recently won the “Sustainable Transport Award 2010” a prize annually offered to the best public transport projects of the world, organized by the United States ITDP and a commission composed of more eight international institutions.

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Curitiba desenvolveu um sistema de transporte público denominado RIT (Rede Integrada de Transportes), que atualmente é reconhecido internacionalmente e serviu de inspiração para a implantação de sistemas semelhantes em diversas cidades do mundo. Além de ser referência mundial em transporte público e planejamento urbano, Curitiba é considerada também a capital ecológica do Brasil, devido a sua grande quantidade de parks e áreas verdes. A cidade ganhou recentemente o “Prêmio Transporte Sustentável 2010”, organizado pelo ITDP, dos Estados Unidos e por uma comissão com mais oito instituições internacionais que premia os projetos de transporte público do mundo.

 

(By Guilherme Mendes Thomaz)

 

www.curitiba-travel.com.br

Carte de visite by an anonymous photographer. Perhaps one of the most recognizable faces to students of the Civil War is not a famous general, but a sergeant. Alfred A. Stratton's (1845-1874) story is well-known and often told. This version, by correspondent Berry Craig for Orthotics and Prosthetics News, provides a solid overview of the man, husband and soldier:

 

Civil War Amputee Ended Up a Minister, Husband and Father

 

Though he lived only to age 29, Alfred A. Stratton led a full life.

 

Stratton was a 19-year-old private in Company G of the 147th New York Infantry, when “both arms [were] carried away by a solid cannon shot from the defences in front of Petersburg [Va.] on June 18, 1864,” according to an old document in the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C.

 

The facility was founded during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum. Stratton, according to the old document, “called at the… [museum], in good health, on Dec. 24, 1869, to have his photograph taken.”

 

The photos were used for medical purposes. They also were displayed at the museum and exhibited in other cities.

 

In addition, amputees such as Stratton had their photos reprinted as carte-de-visites – mass-produced photo cards – and sold the pictures to help raise money to support themselves. Perhaps no image was more heart-rending than Stratton’s.

 

There are reportedly at least seven photos of him. In one he is stripped to the waist, clearly showing his residual limbs. Both arms were missing from just below the shoulders.

 

Other records in the National Museum of Health and Medicine show that Stratton joined the 147th New York Infantry in August 1863, after the regiment helped the Union army win the battle of Gettysburg. Stratton had been a blacksmith in Jamestown, N.Y.

 

In June, 1864, Union forces under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant besieged Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army at Petersburg, near Richmond, the Confederate capital. Fighting was fierce.

 

Lee knew if Grant won at Petersburg, Richmond could not be defended. But not until April 1865, was Grant able to capture Richmond and Petersburg and force Lee to surrender at Appomattox, Va., effectively ending the Civil War. By then, Stratton was a civilian again, “pensioned at twenty-five dollars per month and supplied with artificial limbs of Grinnell’s make,” the old document says.

 

“The projectile struck both limbs about the elbow, tearing off the forearms, and greatly lacerating the soft parts above the elbow,” the document says. “Cordials [liqueurs] were given, and immediate amputation of both arms was performed by surgeon A.S. Coe, 147th New York Volunteers.”

 

Afterwards, Stratton was transferred to City Point (now Hopewell), Va., the main supply base for Grant’s campaign against Petersburg and Richmond.

 

“On June 28, he was sent to the Second Division Alexandria [Va.] Hospital, both wounds progressing very favorably,” according to the document. “The stumps rapidly cicatrized [formed scars], and on Oct. 3, 1864, he was discharged from the service.”

 

Stratton also was photographed in New York, where he married in 1865 and became the father of a son and a daughter. He was pastor of Washington Street Episcopal Church in Brooklyn before being named rector of the Epiphany Episcopal Church in Washington. He died in 1874.

 

Berry Craig is a correspondent for O&P Business News: www.healio.com/orthotics-prosthetics/news/print/o-and-p-n...

 

I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.