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قالت مادام الهجر ما منه مصلـوح خفف من السرعه شويه و حاسب
فكر قبل ما تنوي البعـد و تـروح هل القرار اللـي خذيتـه مناسـب؟
You may view more of my images of Ickworth House, Park and gardens, by clicking "here" !
Please do not insert images, of group invite, thank you!
Ickworth Park. With over 1,800 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown, the house and its grounds were created as an homage to Italy, the country so beloved by Frederick Augustus Hervey, the 4th Earl of Bristol. The Earl-Bishop spent his life travelling the continent, gathering together a vast collection of paintings, sculpture and artefacts. Already possessed of several houses, he conceived Ickworth primarily as a museum for his treasures. At his death only the Rotunda - the giant circular structure at the centre of the two wings, described by Hervey's wife as 'a stupendous moment of Folly' - was nearing completion. The house was eventually finished by his son. Although Hervey's treasures, confiscated during the French invasion of Italy, were destined never to occupy Ickworth, his descendants made it their life's work to rebuild what has become an exceptional collection of art and silver. Paintings housed in the galleries include works by Velázquez, Titian and Poussin, while the collection of 18th-century portraits of the family is exceptionally fine, featuring canvases by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Vigée-Lebrun and Hogarth. In addition to one of the very best British collections of Georgian Huguenot silver, Ickworth is also home to an impressive array of Regency furniture, porcelain, and domestic objects. More made a career of producing idealised Italian landscapes. His Landscape with Classical Figures, Cicero at his Villa, painted in 1780 and funded in 1993, is a typical work, the misty soft-focus and pastel light adding to its appeal. Hugh Douglas Hamilton's The Earl Bishop of Bristol and Derry Seated before the Prospect of Rome shows Hervey seated at what is thought to be the southern tip of the Borghese Gardens. Ickworth's parklands and gardens can provide a day's activity in their own right. The south gardens are modelled on the formal Italian style, while the gardens to the west of the house are more informal. Visitors can walk or cycle out into the park itself and up to the Fairy Lake. Bright and modern, The West Wing Restaurant overlooks the gardens and can be guaranteed to catch any sunlight on offer. It serves everything from hot meals to snacks, and at weekends the restaurant is open for breakfast. If you're after something rather more formal, try Frederick's restaurant at Ickworth Hotel in the grounds.
The sheep is a quadrupedal, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female sheep is referred to as a ewe (/juː/), an intact male as a ram or occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a younger sheep as a lamb. Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleece, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones. Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations. In the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production. Sheepraising has a large lexicon of unique terms which vary considerably by region and dialect. Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap; it is both the singular and plural name for the animal. A group of sheep is called a flock, herd or mob. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age. Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and find representation in much modern language and symbology. As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions. In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals. Domestic sheep are relatively small ruminants, usually with a crimped hair called wool and often with horns forming a lateral spiral. Domestic sheep differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, such as short tails. Depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all, or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a single pair, but a few breeds may have several. Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their wide variation in color. Wild sheep are largely variations of brown hues, and variation within species is extremely limited. Colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown and even spotted or piebald. Selection for easily dyeable white fleeces began early in sheep domestication, and as white wool is a dominant trait it spread quickly. However, colored sheep do appear in many modern breeds, and may even appear as a recessive trait in white flocks. While white wool is desirable for large commercial markets, there is a niche market for colored fleeces, mostly for handspinning. The nature of the fleece varies widely among the breeds, from dense and highly crimped, to long and hairlike. There is variation of wool type and quality even among members of the same flock, so wool classing is a step in the commercial processing of the fibre. Depending on breed, sheep show a range of heights and weights. Their rate of growth and mature weight is a heritable trait that is often selected for in breeding. Ewes typically weigh between 45 and 100 kilograms (99 and 220 lb), and rams between 45 and 160 kilograms (99 and 353 lb). When all deciduous teeth have erupted, the sheep has 20 teeth. Mature sheep have 32 teeth. As with other ruminants, the front teeth in the lower jaw bite against a hard, toothless pad in the upper jaw. These are used to pick off vegetation, then the rear teeth grind it before it is swallowed. There are eight lower front teeth in ruminants, but there is some disagreement as to whether these are eight incisors, or six incisors and two incisor-shaped canines. There is a large diastema between the incisors and the molars. For the first few years of life it is possible to calculate the age of sheep from their front teeth, as a pair of milk teeth is replaced by larger adult teeth each year, the full set of eight adult front teeth being complete at about four years of age. The front teeth are then gradually lost as sheep age, making it harder for them to feed and hindering the health and productivity of the animal. For this reason, domestic sheep on normal pasture begin to slowly decline from four years on, and the average life expectancy of a sheep is 10 to 12 years, though some sheep may live as long as 20 years. Sheep have good hearing, and are sensitive to noise when being handled. Sheep have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, possessing excellent peripheral vision; with visual fields of approximately 270° to 320°, sheep can see behind themselves without turning their heads. Many breeds have only short hair on the face, and some have facial wool (if any) confined to the poll and or the area of the mandibular angle; the wide angles of peripheral vision apply to these breeds. A few breeds tend to have considerable wool on the face; for some individuals of these breeds, peripheral vision may be greatly reduced by "wool blindness", unless recently shorn about the face. Sheep have poor depth perception; shadows and dips in the ground may cause sheep to baulk. In general, sheep have a tendency to move out of the dark and into well lit areas, and prefer to move uphill when disturbed. Sheep also have an excellent sense of smell, and, like all species of their genus, have scent glands just in front of the eyes, and interdigitally on the feet. The purpose of these glands is uncertain, but those on the face may be used in breeding behaviors. The foot glands might also be related to reproduction, but alternative reasons, such as secretion of a waste product or a scent marker to help lost sheep find their flock, have also been proposed.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All of my gachas have been reduced to L$25.play until the 31st at 11:59pm!
I have not decided what I will do with them once gacha is gone, but will most likely repackage them with copy/no trans perms, but who knows how long that will take?!?!
Sounds Rivulet, Murdunna > Tasmania
6 February 2016
4 shot panorama stitched in Lightroom CC
Nikon D7200, ISO 100, f22, 1/8, 50mm, Hoya Circular PL
Zamosc. Eastern Poland.
Picture No: 2021-09-18-1548_P4_FS
Edited in Canon DPP 4:
peripheral illumination reduced to 0
brightness: +0.5
shadow: +2
highlight: -1
Bit cropped. No photomontage.
Colors not modified. Framed in Photoshop 6
A multi scope effort between the LRGB of the newtonian over 3 nights and a night of Ha through the Edge.
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses
Celestron EdgeHD 8" · Meade Starfinder 8 f/6 Newtonian OTA
Imaging Cameras
QHYCCD QHY163M · ZWO ASI1600MM
Mounts
Losmandy GM8 / GM8G · Vixen GPDX
Filters
Astronomik H-alpha CCD 12nm 2" · Baader Neodymium Moon & Skyglow 2" · Meade Blue 2" · Meade Green 2" · Meade Red 2"
Accessories
Baader 2" MPCC Mark III Newton Coma Corrector (2458400A) · Celestron 0.7X Reducer EdgeHD800 (94242) · OnStep Telescope Mount Goto Controller · Rigel Systems Stepper motor · Sharpstar 2" 0.95× coma corrector (CRC2095)
Software
Adobe Photoshop · Aries Productions Astro Pixel Processor (APP) · Open PHD Guiding Project PHD2 · Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
Acquisition details
Dates:
Sept. 7, 2021 · Aug. 26, 2022 · Aug. 29, 2022 · Aug. 30, 2022
Frames:
75×120″(2h 30′) bin 2×2
81×120″(2h 42′) f/6 bin 2×2
Astronomik H-alpha CCD 12nm 2": 83×120″(2h 46′) -10°C bin 2×2
Meade Blue 2": 45×75″(56′ 15″)
Meade Green 2": 45×75″(56′ 15″)
Meade Red 2": 45×75″(56′ 15″)
Integration:
10h 46′ 45″
Darks:
100
Bias:
100
Avg. Moon age:
8.57 days
Avg. Moon phase:
3.92%
Basic astrometry details
Astrometry.net job: 6351768
Resolution: 4093x5238
File size: 26.6 MB
Data source: Backyard
A less fortunate Olympian seen a couple of hours after my previous upload is R837OVN, an Alexander R type bodied example new to Cleveland Transit in 1998 which was later absorbed into the Stagecoach fleet as their 16837.
Last in service with Golden Eagle Coaches of Salsburgh, it's seen here reduced in height and about to head off to the fragger after having had its mechanical units removed.
With their natural supply of chips reduced during the winter months, Herring Gulls, join Blackheaded Gull and Bartailed Godwits looking for food on mudbanks.
Helmeted iguana (Corytophanes cristatus) - Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize
This was a very exciting find for me as I walked through the Belizean forest. This is only the 3rd time I have seen this species, the first was about 5 years ago when I was working in Panama on Barro Colorado Island, the 2nd was in Costa Rica, and now this one from Belize. These lizards are infrequently encountered and are very easy to pass by due to their excellent camouflage and they are thought to be found in relatively low densities in their forest homes. This lizard does not move frequently and perches in the same area for long periods waiting for prey to venture by. Infact there is atleast one study from Costa Rica and Panama that examined this species and determined they were a specialist in feeding on extremely large arthropods, otherwise it engaged in long periods if immobility until the opportunity presented itself to catch prey. Then they would spring into action and tackle its sizeable prey which allowed to retire back to immobility. The authors suggest (correctly in my opinion) that this was an adaptation to minimize conspicuous feeding behavior and thus reduce the risk of attracting predators. Really a cool animal.
In other updates: Normally on my trips I seek to take only photos, and leave only footprints. However, I inadvertently broke my own rules this time and brought some little friends back from Belize. I have discovered 3 botfly larvae buried in my leg, arm, and scalp. I accidentally killed the one in my arm, the others are still making themselves at home. I suspect I acquired them while hiking/camping in Cockscomb where this lizard was found.
View large.
Special NOTE: On Feb. 8, 2012 I attached a comment, readable & easily discoverable on Page 2 of the comments below, that details the vast corporatist scheme, fronted by Jeb Bush, financed in part with hundreds of millions from Rupert Murdoch (FOX nooze), to privatize American public education & reduce it to 'virtual' schools - not to improve anything (as national & international educational research studies clearly show), but rather to become the final recipients of the taxes people pay so that they can skim huge profits off of the top while providing grotesquely inferior services & lots of lying propaganda to keep the public bamboozled. I beg everyone to read the report.
The McGuffey's Ecclectic Spelling Book was published in 1879.
Raymond Cyrus Hoiles (1878-1970) founded Freedom Communications, a newspaper publishing & broadcasting company that has never hesitated to shape the news to fit right wing ideology. When Hoiles was alive & roaring I lived in Orange County, California, home of the equally right wing Walt Disney & Walter Knott, & was frequently compelled to suffer people who agreed with Hoiles' constantly editorialized insistence that public education was a form of theft & communism that must at once be got rid of. Hoiles was motivated by his fundamentalist Christian persuasions, & quite serious. We should restrain our laughter at the abysmal stupidity of his example, because in many ways he & people like him won & are still winning control of public education. - To introduce the article below, I'll say a little about the Christian strategy.
For many years Orange County's teachers worked under a Draconian ruling that forbade the teaching of values. There is no way around the fact, however, that the statement, "Values may not be taught," is itself a value statement belonging to a class of propositions known as Epimenidean Paradoxes. A comparably illustrative sentence would be, "This is not a sentence." Or, a favorite of the best hypnotists, used when addressing a resistant subject, "Do not obey any instruction which I give you."
What, then, was intended by those who created the paradoxical Orange County law? Well, if any teacher dared to say or imply something that would be disagreeable to any person whose beliefs began & ended with church, flag & free-for-all capitalism, then that teacher could be charged with teaching values & be suspended. One family friend, a young man teaching at an elementary school in Anaheim, was charged, hounded, publicly disgraced, threatened with death & discharged from his post, immediately after which he died from a heart attack. The case was depicted in Life Magazine. His only crime was that he was Jewish. His wife, also a teacher, remained bereft & embittered the rest of her long life.
These people became increasingly invisible over time, largely by devising ever more clever ways for gaining control of both education policy & the public dialogue about education.
Ralph Reed, working for Pat Robertson & the Christian Coalition, devised the "stealth agenda" to place fundamentalists in every local school board in America. The plan helped select & fund candidates, who in accord with Reed's instructions never mentioned their religion or religious connections when campaigning for office. In 1983 Reed rigged an election at his university - he got started early, in other words. Recently we learned that Mr. Reed & Jack Abramoff were associate crooks. The revelation forced Reed to abandon his run to become the lieutenant governor of Georgia. Mr. Reed will not disappear, however. He remains a darling of the far Christian right, & owns Century Strategies, a dirty-tricks political consulting & lobbying organization. In 1999 Karl Rove got reed a nice contract with Enron, which was paying Reed $30,000 per month. And guess who recently went to Georgia to try to save poor Reed? Rudy Giuliani, who has the hots to be the next U.S. president & is pandering to the Christians so he can be their new burning Bush.
Stealthiness did not go away when the Christian Coalition folded & Reed went off on his own to rig elections for big bucks. Rather, the stealth moved into policy matters. For instance, all the phony propaganda claiming religious & private education is more successful, creating the excuse to promote vouchers (for which the motives are both religious & racist). Or, most recently, Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, which was sought by the Christians not because they believed all the testing of students would lead to improved education, but rather because they wanted teachers to be made too busy preparing students for endless tests about facts to find time to do the great evil thing, which is the teaching of concepts. Teaching concepts leads to teaching logic, scientific & other academic methodologies which by their nature instill respect for critical - read, skeptical - thinking. Dogmatists, advertisers & con men have equal cause to fear skepticism.
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From: Truthdig.com
Taking Back Our Schools--and Fixing Them
Full text with links: www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060425_taking_back_our_sch...
Posted on Apr. 25, 2006
By Wellford Wilms
The recent news reported in The New York Times that schools are throwing out science, social studies and art to make time for drilling students in remedial math and reading is a sign of things gone terribly wrong. Former New York State Commissioner of Education Thomas Sobol told the Times that narrowing education to just math and reading would be akin to restricting violin students to playing scales day after day. “They’d lose their zest for music.” But most schools that serve poor populations, like those in Cuero, Texas, are squeezed to meet federal math and reading standards. Cuero Superintendent Henry Lind told the paper, “When you have so many hours per day and you’re behind in some area that’s being hammered on, you have to work on that.”
But by the looks of things, hammering students for higher test scores isn’t making much of a difference. Most students have already lost their zest for learning. How do we know? In Los Angeles, upwards of 50% of Latino and African American students never finish high school. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ve been a professor of education at UCLA for more than 25 years and am convinced that despite the fads that come and go, nothing has put a dent in the public schools’ failure to educate inner-city children. In fact, things are getting worse. But I am also convinced that we’ve been looking in the wrong places for solutions. My own research across a wide array of organizations—corporations, trade unions, public schools, colleges, teacher unions and police agencies—suggests another way of looking at the problem and that solutions will come from a new direction.
This essay is a proposition—one that I hope will spark a lively debate among Truthdig readers and inform policy leaders. Future essays will examine Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s campaign to take over the public schools, analyze whether teacher unions can be a force for productive change, and expose promising ways to rebuild public investment in the schools.
Let’s start with Jonathan Kozol’s new book, “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.” It is a scathing indictment of American social policy that banned racial segregation in public schools in 1955 and then turned a blind eye to its implementation. Today, Kozol says, schools are more segregated than ever. But he fails to explain why resegregation has occurred. Because Kozol overlooks the root causes of the problem, his solutions—spending more money on dysfunctional schools and wishing for a social mandate to desegregate the schools—miss the point.
To be sure the problems are undeniable. Kozol examines the appalling condition of big-city schools. In school after school we see children who are brimming with potential but who are walled off from the larger society and abandoned by the schools. Most middle-class white Americans simply cannot comprehend the horrid schools that Kozol describes. Ceilings fall in, toilets are filthy, libraries, music and arts have been stripped away. Teachers in these schools, who are paid 40% less than teachers in the suburbs, are forced to teach “scripted” lessons that are written for children who are deemed incapable of learning.
It is all part of the latest reform pushed by the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind initiative, a reform aimed at the singular pursuit of increasing test scores. Learning has been stripped of its intrinsic meaning and reduced to simplistic steps—“Authentic Writing,” “Active Listening,” “Accountable Talk”—that hamper teachers in teaching anything but how to take a test. Behind it all is an attempt to impose control, much as mass production techniques were used a century ago, to standardize instruction to fit new immigrants to the system.
Meanwhile, millions of children are failing. In nearly half of the high schools in America’s 100 largest districts, fewer than 50% of students graduate in four years. Most of these students are from poor Latino and African-American families. And from 1993 to 2000 the number of failing schools has mushroomed by 75%. Mayor Villaraigosa calls Los Angeles’ high dropout rates “numbers that should put a chill down your spine.”
The reasons, Kozol argues, are lack of money and racial discrimination that produce inferior and segregated schools. No doubt this is partly true. We have tried to desegregate the schools for a half-century and failed. Middle-class white parents have voted for individual freedom with their feet, enrolling their children in private schools, leaving the public schools more segregated than ever. The same is true for middle-class black families. Gail Foster, an educator who has studied black independent schools, was quoted in 2004 in The New York Times as saying: “Many of the most empowered parents and families are removing their children. What’s left, in even working-class communities, are schools filled with the least empowered families. Families with the least parent involvement to offer, families with the least help with homework to offer. There’s been a continual outflow for at least 10 years, and it isn’t stopping now.”
More money is not the answer either. Kozol points to wide disparities in educational expenditures ranging from $11,700 per student in New York City to $22,000 in suburban Manhasset. Disturbing as that is, study after study shows that equalizing money does not necessarily equalize learning.
In 1966, sociologist James Coleman conducted the most extensive study ever made of desegregating education and found that what mattered most in students’ learning was the economic status of their peers rather than the racial makeup of the school. He also found that school funding was not closely related to students’ achievement—their families’ economic status was far more predictive. Coleman’s findings were controversial and led to a bitter debate, but they have been replicated many times. Daniel Patrick Moynihan summed it up best when he commented shortly after Coleman’s groundbreaking study, “We should begin to see that the underlying reality is not race but social class.”
Since social class matters because money follows privilege, and since desegregation will take generations to eradicate, what can be done now? Are poor children doomed to attend grossly inadequate schools? Surely not. We must find ways to remove the influences that have crippled the schools. Money must be diverted from bloated bureaucracies that snuff out innovation. Instead it must go directly to schools where principals and teachers can influence what is taught and what children learn, and help bring parents back into the fold. Otherwise, it is going down a rat hole.
Parents have a significant role to play in their children’s education, but their voices have been largely silenced. Over the last 40 years, we have witnessed the decline of civic involvement and the growing dominance of self-interest over the greater good, a social deterioration that sociologist Robert Putnam calls “hollowing out” in his 2000 book “Bowling Alone.” One result, as the old saying goes, is that “the rich get richer” and the poor fall ever further behind in crumbling schools.
Over the last 25 years, education in general has been taken from ordinary citizens and teachers by politicians, administrators, union leaders, publishers, test makers, consultants, university professors, hardware and software developers and the media, each playing its part in keeping alive the illusion of reform. All in all, this $1-trillion industry has replaced the common interest, and no one, it seems, can muster the will to rein it in.
Local control is only a dim memory. Decisions now come from the top—from the federal and state governments, school boards and high-level administrators who have little knowledge of what goes on in the classroom. Teachers are left out of these decisions, carrying on the best they can, safe in the assumption that the newest fad, like those before it, will blow over. Parents are all but forgotten.
While command-and-control management may seem to produce results in the short run, it strips schools of the capacity to develop the stable leadership that is necessary to sustain success. Principals are besieged with demands from district offices and from the educational fads that emanate from publishers and university researchers. Many principals know that they put their careers in peril unless they do what their bosses want. One elementary school principal told me, “District directives undermine our own abilities to think for ourselves, to believe in what we see and know.” When schools discover something that works, it is rarely sustained because they lack authority or stable leadership.
In 1969 when I worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, I monitored the schools in impoverished Ocean Hill-Brownsville in New York City. The local school board hired a charismatic superintendent, who fired incompetent teachers and hired young and idealistic ones. The firings set the local board at odds with the huge teachers’ union, which demanded due process for the fired teachers. The superintendent, Rhody McCoy, was convinced that good teachers had to respect the children they taught. He put it in plain words: “If you’re convinced that this kid is doomed by nature or by something else to lead a shrunken and curtailed life, then you’re basically incompetent to teach that child.” The experiment worked. Observing classrooms left no doubt in my mind that students were learning. Eager first-graders sat attentively on the floor in semicircles shouting out answers to fraction problems and reading aloud. The schools buzzed with excitement as parent helpers streamed in and out of classrooms. But in a bitter power struggle the board seized authority and the experiment ended.
Years later, in 1985, Deborah Meier, a passionate educator who founded Harlem’s Central Park East Secondary School, achieved stunning successes that led the school to be celebrated as a model alternative school in Time magazine. But it could not be sustained beyond Meier’s unique leadership. Today, 10 years after Meier left, a respected children’s advocacy group, Insideschools and Advocates for Children, reports that the Harlem school “…has fallen on hard times in recent years with rapid staff turnover, low staff morale and uneven discipline.”
In risk-averse environments like public schools, few principals will stick out their necks, because they don’t want to buck the bosses downtown. Courageous and visionary principals like Rhody McCoy and Deborah Meier keep coming. But charismatic leadership is no match for heavy-handed district management, which always wins out.
Take Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles, for example. In 1989, Howard Lappin took over a failing middle school. With the help of teachers and an infusion of money, Lappin wrested control from the district and transformed Foshay. The school expanded into a K-12 “learning center” and became largely autonomous of the district’s bureaucratic requirements. Teachers and administrators decided who would be hired and what would be taught. Foshay succeeded, and in 2000 its high school was selected by Newsweek as one of the 100 best in America. But in 2001 Lappin retired, and his unique leadership was lost. Today Foshay is being threatened with sanctions by the district and the county because gains in students’ test scores have stalled. As the school has fallen under the district’s “one-size-fits all” bureaucratic requirements, the impact has been to undermine the once vibrant teacher leadership that made the school so enviable.
The problem with public education is not with the teachers, or with the children, but the way we organize the schools. Probably the greatest casualties are teachers themselves, who are forced to accept decisions by authorities about teaching that they know to be nonsense. One professor interviewed by Kozol said that forcing an absurdity on teachers teaches something: acquiescence. For example, in study after study, teachers report that relying on test scores as sole marks of student achievement and teaching scripted lessons destroy students’ natural love of learning. And such practices also erode teachers’ professional authority, which is fundamental to student learning.
Why is it so hard to foster the only kind of reform that really works, which is right in the schoolhouse? Because politicians, school board members and administrators are under intense pressure to produce immediate results, i.e., higher and higher test scores—a goal that is pursued through directives from districts with little input of principals, teachers and parents. Superintendents serve at the pleasure of school boards, and most board members are elected or appointed and have limited terms of office. As test scores have become the measure of educational quality, everyone is under immense pressure to show fast results or be turned out.
No wonder that school boards hire superintendents who promise to deliver quick results. But few do. Superintendents last on average only three or four years. Many are thwarted by outmoded bureaucracies that were designed a century ago using top-down control practiced in American industry to mass-produce learning. Within these organizations, power has quietly accumulated, making them all but impervious to outside influence. Sid Thompson, former superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, told me: “Trying to change the district is like trying to change the direction of a fast-moving freight train. You might knock it off course for a moment, but before you know it it’s rattling right down the tracks again.”
Frustration and suspicion about who might emerge from the shadows to sabotage their plans often lead superintendents to jealously guard their power. In 2002, Day Higuchi, then president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the Los Angeles teacher union, had high hopes for working with the school district’s new “can-do” superintendent, Roy Romer. Higuchi hoped that Romer would endorse a new union initiative called Lesson Study, a plan to help teachers work collectively to improve classroom lessons. At a breakfast meeting that I attended, Higuchi presented Romer with an invitation to work with the union to develop and spread Lesson Study across the district. When Higuchi finished, Romer flipped over his paper placemat and with a red felt pen drew a box with an S in it. “That’s me,” he said. Beneath he drew 11 boxes with smaller s’s in them, representing the 11 local superintendents, and below that, a number of small boxes with roofs, representing schools and teachers. Then, pulling his face near to Higuchi’s, he drew bold red arrows pointing downward from the top. Romer jabbed his pen in the air to accentuate each word: “You cannot usurp my authority to manage this district!” It was a dumbfounding moment, one that revealed the true underside of the use of power. Here was a chance for a new superintendent to forge a small but significant step with the union, but Romer, who recently announced his resignation, explained that he was “in a hurry.” He clearly had little time for ideas that were at odds with his own. In the end his refusal to work with the union undermined the possibility of creating a broader base of power that could transcend self-interest.
Nor are the unions exempt from self-interest. A few years ago I helped establish a national group of union presidents called TURN (Teacher Union Reform Network) who were dedicated to remaking their unions as forces to improve education. One way was to cooperate with administrators and encourage teachers to use their classroom know-how to redesign teaching at the schoolhouse. But hostility and mistrust run deep. The union leaders became nervous, fearing that fellow unionists would attack them for “collaborating” with the enemy and that if the effort to collaborate failed they would share the blame. Don Watley, president of the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees, commented: “It’s like the Normandy landing. We’ve got the best troops in the world. We’ve got the best officers in the world. And we’ve got the best equipment in the world. But at 0800 when we hit the beach half of us are going to get killed!” Sadly, in the years to come, the ingrained mistrust, and the unpredictable dance of union politics, prevented these unionists from becoming a positive force in educational reform. Instead, they have been reduced to stockpiling power, much as the Soviets and Americans stockpiled nuclear weapons during the Cold War, to oppose any hostile moves the other side might make.
So what can be done to break the standoff between teacher unions and districts? How can teachers’ professional authority be restored? How can parents be awakened and brought back into the fold? Experience shows that it can be done. Schools such as Harlem’s Central Park East Secondary, Los Angeles’ Foshay Learning Center, those in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, and many others attest to the fact that schools can be made into safe places where children learn. Sustaining them is the hard part.
There is little doubt that trying to build good schools with command-and-control management doesn’t work. School boards, superintendents and union officials need to clear the obstacles—unnecessary bureaucratic requirements and outmoded work rules—to make innovation at the schoolhouse possible. These top-level educational leaders also must make resources available to support new ways of teaching. Jonathan Kozol has it right. Teaching is the only reform that counts and it can be done only at the schoolhouse by teachers, principals, parents and students working together.
Turning school districts upside down will also mean turning a century of top-down management on its head. But where is such bold leadership to be found? One promising place is among big-city mayors. But they must resist trying to take over the schools, as they did in New York, Chicago and Boston with mixed results at best. Instead, popular mayors could use their influence and visibility to tell the truth about the condition of education and to build a popular consensus about how change must occur.
In the next essay I am going to examine what mayors can do. Waiting for the schools to be saved by someone else is nonsense. Only concerted local action offers a chance. Doubters should recall Margaret Mead’s observation: “Never doubt that a small group of concerned people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
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IC405 Flaming Star Nebula in SHO/HST processed colours. Scope: TSAPO65Q with TeleVue NVR-1073 0.8x Reducer. Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro with Optolong L-Pro. Mount: StellarDrive 6R. Guide: SkyWatcher EvoGuide with Altair 130M. 5x5mins Ha, 10x5minx Oiii, 15x5Mins Sii. Combined and Processed in APP. Finished in Adobe CC.
"The fog is an illusion,
A master of disguise,
Which hides the tangible
Before our very eyes...
It gives an air of mystery
That has long prevailed.
Dangerously intriguing
Is the fog's foggy veil."
.:: Poem (Partial) © Walterrean Salley ::.
A foggy morning in Upper Normandy.
Étretat is a very picturesque town surrounded by steep chalk cliffs (falaises), including 3 stunning natural arches. Despite the reduced visibility, the most famous of the arches (La Porte d'Aval) and the pointed "needle" were breath-taking. The Falaise d’Aval looks as an elephant dipping his trunk into the sea. Standing next to it is l'Aiguille Creuse (Hollow Needle), made famous by Maurice Leblanc. The French novelist created the character of Arsène Lupin, the Gentleman Thief and set his legendary refuge inside the Needle.
Postcard texture with thanks to Kim Klassen
View Large On Black and have a fabulous day.
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Copyright © Kia & Zeno. All rights reserved.
No usage allowed in any form without our written explicit permission.
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(homeless woman, sf, 11/12/06)
homeless rebecca from detroit. rebecca doesn't fit. as though she's not where she's supposed to be. i see her as i pass. she is almost ghostly. she sways and bends like the only tree on a hill; unprotected. she seems resigned to a losing battle.
she is panhandling as i pass. or she is praying or mourning. but she is not seen. i turn the corner and watch her for a moment. she grimaces her mouth as though swallowing some new resignation and moves away from the season's passing throng; in my direction, but floating by. i seem to snap a trance when i say hello.
she's been homeless since 1998. she sleeps sometimes in shelters. but says there's not enough beds for women. the men have many more. she went to the shelter this afternoon to put her name in for a bed this evening. there's a lottery, and she didn't get one.
says she has no family and no children. she's the only one. but she has one girlfriend who got a place from the city finally after years. says she's trying to stay there with her friend tonight, if she can make up the guest fee. she's about a third of the way. it's been cold and she clearly doesn't want to be on the street tonight.
she was an accountant not so long back. she had a good job. she worked for kgo. but in '98, they were downsizing her group and she was let go. she thought she'd get another job easy. but she never did. they all wanted someone younger. and now she's 54, and says it's too late for her.
("news" about shows etc.)
i like the browny dark nebula near the left upper corner.
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-130ED, F3 Reducer 0.6x, IDAS Clear Filter, and EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo San on ZWO AM5n Equatorial Mount, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 174MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 18 times x 600 seconds, 1 x 240 sec, and 6 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.0, focal length 390mm
site: 2,560m above sea level at lat. 24 23 21 South and long. 70 12 01 West near the peak of Cerro Ventarrones Chile
Ambient temperature was 11 degrees Celsius or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild, and guide error RMS was 0.73". Sky was dark, and SQML was 21.77 at the night.
It is difficult not to push the shutter in a William Klein moment. I actually somewhat reduced the hue and saturation for this shot. The photo was taken one day after the Gay Pride Parade, turning the city in a theatre ground for all kinds of interest groups. Particularly in summer.
The Oman SP landing at EDDH on a sunny spring day. The noise of those four JT9Ds was amazing. The SP wing is different than the 747-100 series it was derived from. Instead of complex triple slotted Fowler flaps with external flap track and associated fairings, the SP has single slotted Fowler flaps that move on internal tracks. Also note the inboard ailerons directly behind engines 2 and 3. The leading edge high lift devices are unchanged from the -100: 1 section unslotted Kruger flaps inboard and 2 sections slotted Kruger flaps outboard. This measure sounds weird, but ensures that the wing roots suffer flow separation first at the beginning of a stall. As the wing tips still are further aft and still produce lift, this will cause the lift vector to shift rearwards and the nose-down moment caused will reduce the angle-of-attack of the aircraft, recovering from the stall.
By the same logic the horizontal tail planes (HTPs) have less sweep than the wings: if the wings stall first, the aircraft is still controllable in pitch so the pilots have a chance to recover.
Categories:
Boeing - 747 - 747 VIP - B747SP - Oman - HAM/EDDH
Collections:
SN/NC: Diospyros kaki, Ebenaceae Family
Diospyros kaki is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Diospyros. Although its first published botanical description was not until 1780, the kaki is among the oldest plants in cultivation, known for its use in China for more than 2000 years. In some rural Chinese communities, the kaki fruit is seen as having a great mystical power that can be harnessed to solve headaches, back pains and foot ache.
The persimmon (kaki) is a sweet, slightly tangy fruit with a soft to occasionally fibrous texture. This species, native to China, is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Cultivation extended first to other parts of East Asia, including Japan where it is very popular. It was later introduced to California and southern Europe in the 19th century, to Brazil in the 1890s, and numerous cultivars have been selected. A variety is Diospyros kaki var. sylvestris Makino. When ripe, this fruit comprises thick pulpy jelly encased in a waxy thin-skinned shell.
In many cultivars, known as the astringent varieties, the fruit has a high proanthocyanidin-type tannin content which makes the immature fruit astringent and bitter. The tannin levels are reduced as the fruit matures. The fruit of those cultivars is not edible in its crisp, firm state; it tastes best when allowed to rest and soften after harvest. It has a soft jelly-like consistency and is best eaten with a spoon. The Japanese 'Hachiya' is a widely grown astringent cultivar. Other cultivars, such as 'Fuyu', do not contain tannins when firm. Those can be eaten like an apple or can be allowed to go to any stage of ripeness, including to the jelly-like stage. These non-astringent varieties are however considered to have a less complex flavor.
"Sharon Fruit" (named originally after Sharon plain in Israel) is a trade name for non-astringent D. kaki fruit.
El caqui o palosanto, una especie arbórea de la familia de las Ebenáceas, originario de Asia. Su fruto, el caqui o pérsimo, es una baya comestible de sabor muy dulce. Diospyros kaki es la especie más cultivada del género Diospyros. Aunque su primera descripción botánica publicada no fue hasta 1780, el kaki se encuentra entre las plantas más antiguas en cultivo, conocido por su uso en China durante más de 2000 años. En algunas comunidades rurales chinas, se considera que la fruta kaki tiene un gran poder místico que puede aprovecharse para resolver dolores de cabeza, de espalda y de pies.
El caqui (kaki) es una fruta dulce, ligeramente ácida, con una textura suave a ocasionalmente fibrosa. Esta especie, originaria de China, es caducifolia, con hojas anchas y rígidas. El cultivo se extendió primero a otras partes del este de Asia, incluido Japón, donde es muy popular. Más tarde se introdujo en California y el sur de Europa en el siglo XIX, en Brasil en la década de 1890, y se han seleccionado numerosos cultivares. Una variedad es Diospyros kaki var. Sylvestris Makino. Cuando está madura, esta fruta se compone de gelatina espesa y carnosa encerrada en una cáscara cerosa de piel fina.
En muchos cultivares, conocidos como variedades astringentes, la fruta tiene un alto contenido de taninos de tipo proantocianidina que hace que la fruta inmadura sea astringente y amarga. Los niveles de taninos se reducen a medida que la fruta madura. El fruto de esos cultivares no es comestible en su estado crujiente y firme; sabe mejor cuando se deja reposar y ablandar después de la cosecha. Tiene una consistencia gelatinosa suave y se come mejor con una cuchara. El 'Hachiya' japonés es un cultivar astringente ampliamente cultivado. Otros cultivares, como 'Fuyu', no contienen taninos cuando están firmes. Se pueden comer como una manzana o se puede permitir que pasen a cualquier etapa de madurez, incluida la etapa gelatinosa. Sin embargo, se considera que estas variedades no astringentes tienen un sabor menos complejo.
"Sharon Fruit" (llamado originalmente por la llanura de Sharon en Israel) es un nombre comercial para la fruta D. kaki no astringente.
O caquizeiro é uma árvore de origem asiática, dióica, decídua e mundialmente apreciada por seus frutos doces e saborosos, os caquis. O próprio nome botânico Diospyros, já dá uma boa idéia de que estamos falando de uma fruta deliciosa. A palavra vem do grego antigo e significa "alimento de Zeus", uma alusão ao divino sabor dessa fruta. Em Portugal, é conhecida por dióspiro, e a árvore, por diospireiro. Seu tronco é tortuoso e a casca bastante rugosa, com raízes profundas e fortes. Se deixada a crescer livremente, atinge 15 metros de altura. No entanto, em pomares, sejam comerciais ou domésticos, não convém que se deixe crescer tanto, o que dificulta a colheita. As folhas são largas, lanceoladas e rígidas, e apresentam um verde terroso mais claro ou mais escuro, que adquire belas tonalidades de bronze e vermelho durante o outono, logo antes de caírem. As flores são pequenas, de cor creme ou rosadas, tetrâmeras e podem ser femininas, masculinas ou hermafroditas. A floração ocorre na primavera e pode acontecer de a expressão sexual de uma árvore se alterar a cada ano, com uma proporção maior de flores masculinas ou hermafroditas por exemplo.
Os frutos são bagas, e podem apresentar sementes, quando polinizados, ou ausência total de sementes, quando formados por partenocarpia. Eles podem ser globosos, ovóides ou achatados, amarelos a avermelhados, de casca fina e polpa firme e opaca, ou mole, gelatinosa e translúcida. Os frutos tornam-se maduros no final do verão e início do outono, mas algumas colheitas podem se estender um pouco mais, de acordo com a cultivar.
Diospyros kaki è la specie più coltivata del genere Diospyros. Sebbene la sua prima descrizione botanica pubblicata non risalga al 1780, il kaki è tra le piante più antiche in coltivazione, nota per il suo uso in Cina da oltre 2000 anni. In alcune comunità rurali cinesi, il frutto del kaki è visto come dotato di un grande potere mistico che può essere sfruttato per risolvere mal di testa, mal di schiena e dolori ai piedi.
Il cachi (kaki) è un frutto dolce e leggermente piccante con una consistenza da morbida a occasionalmente fibrosa. Questa specie, originaria della Cina, è decidua, con foglie larghe e rigide. La coltivazione si è estesa prima ad altre parti dell'Asia orientale, incluso il Giappone, dove è molto popolare. Successivamente è stato introdotto in California e nell'Europa meridionale nel 19° secolo, in Brasile negli anni '90 dell'Ottocento e sono state selezionate numerose cultivar. Una varietà è Diospyros kaki var. sylvestris Machino. Quando è maturo, questo frutto comprende una gelatina densa e polposa racchiusa in un guscio ceroso dalla buccia sottile.
In molte cultivar, note come varietà astringenti, il frutto ha un alto contenuto di tannino di tipo proantocianidina che rende il frutto immaturo astringente e amaro. I livelli di tannino si riducono con la maturazione del frutto. Il frutto di quelle cultivar non è commestibile nel suo stato croccante e sodo; ha un sapore migliore quando viene lasciato riposare e ammorbidire dopo la raccolta. Ha una consistenza morbida e gelatinosa ed è meglio mangiarlo con un cucchiaio. La "Hachiya" giapponese è una cultivar astringente ampiamente coltivata. Altre cultivar, come "Fuyu", non contengono tannini quando sono sodi. Quelli possono essere mangiati come una mela o possono essere lasciati andare a qualsiasi stadio di maturazione, incluso lo stadio gelatinoso. Si ritiene tuttavia che queste varietà non astringenti abbiano un sapore meno complesso.
"Sharon Fruit" (dal nome originariamente della pianura di Sharon in Israele) è un nome commerciale per il frutto D. kaki non astringente.
Diospyros kaki ist die am weitesten verbreitete Art der Gattung Diospyros. Obwohl die erste veröffentlichte botanische Beschreibung erst 1780 erfolgte, gehört die Kaki zu den ältesten Kulturpflanzen und ist seit mehr als 2000 Jahren für ihre Verwendung in China bekannt. In einigen ländlichen chinesischen Gemeinden wird der Kaki-Frucht eine große mystische Kraft zugeschrieben, die genutzt werden kann, um Kopfschmerzen, Rückenschmerzen und Fußschmerzen zu lindern.
Die Kaki (Kaki) ist eine süße, leicht würzige Frucht mit einer weichen bis gelegentlich faserigen Textur. Diese in China beheimatete Art ist laubabwerfend mit breiten, steifen Blättern. Der Anbau erstreckte sich zunächst auf andere Teile Ostasiens, einschließlich Japan, wo er sehr beliebt ist. Später wurde sie im 19. Jahrhundert nach Kalifornien und Südeuropa eingeführt, in den 1890er Jahren nach Brasilien, und es wurden zahlreiche Sorten ausgewählt. Eine Sorte ist Diospyros kaki var. Sylvestris Makino. Wenn sie reif ist, besteht diese Frucht aus dickem, fleischigem Gelee, das von einer wachsartigen, dünnhäutigen Schale umhüllt ist.
In vielen Sorten, die als adstringierende Sorten bekannt sind, hat die Frucht einen hohen Tanningehalt vom Proanthocyanidin-Typ, der die unreife Frucht adstringierend und bitter macht. Mit zunehmender Fruchtreife nimmt der Tanningehalt ab. Die Früchte dieser Sorten sind in ihrem knackigen, festen Zustand nicht essbar; es schmeckt am besten, wenn es nach der Ernte ruhen und weich werden kann. Es hat eine weiche geleeartige Konsistenz und wird am besten mit einem Löffel gegessen. Die japanische 'Hachiya' ist eine weit verbreitete adstringierende Sorte. Andere Sorten wie 'Fuyu' enthalten keine Tannine, wenn sie fest sind. Diese können wie ein Apfel gegessen werden oder können jedes Reifestadium erreichen, einschließlich des geleeartigen Stadiums. Diese nicht adstringierenden Sorten gelten jedoch als weniger komplex im Geschmack.
"Sharon Fruit" (ursprünglich nach Sharon Plain in Israel benannt) ist ein Handelsname für nicht-adstringierende D. kaki-Früchte.
Diospyros kaki is de meest gekweekte soort van het geslacht Diospyros. Hoewel de eerste gepubliceerde botanische beschrijving pas in 1780 werd gepubliceerd, is de kaki een van de oudste planten in de teelt en staat hij al meer dan 2000 jaar bekend om zijn gebruik in China. In sommige landelijke Chinese gemeenschappen wordt de kaki-vrucht gezien als een grote mystieke kracht die kan worden aangewend om hoofdpijn, rugpijn en voetpijn op te lossen.
De persimmon (kaki) is een zoete, licht pittige vrucht met een zachte tot soms vezelige textuur. Deze soort, afkomstig uit China, is bladverliezend, met brede, stijve bladeren. De teelt breidde zich eerst uit naar andere delen van Oost-Azië, waaronder Japan, waar het erg populair is. Het werd later geïntroduceerd in Californië en Zuid-Europa in de 19e eeuw, in Brazilië in de jaren 1890, en er zijn talloze cultivars geselecteerd. Een variëteit is Diospyros kaki var. Sylvestris Makino. Wanneer rijp, bestaat deze vrucht uit dikke, vlezige gelei omhuld door een wasachtige, dunne schil.
In veel cultivars, bekend als de samentrekkende variëteiten, heeft de vrucht een hoog tanninegehalte van het proanthocyanidine-type, wat de onrijpe vrucht samentrekkend en bitter maakt. Het tanninegehalte neemt af naarmate het fruit rijpt. De vrucht van die cultivars is niet eetbaar in zijn knapperige, stevige staat; het smaakt het lekkerst als het na de oogst rust en zacht wordt. Het heeft een zachte geleiachtige consistentie en kan het beste met een lepel worden gegeten. De Japanse 'Hachiya' is een veel gekweekte samentrekkende cultivar. Andere cultivars, zoals 'Fuyu', bevatten geen tannines als ze stevig zijn. Die kunnen als een appel worden gegeten of kunnen naar elk stadium van rijpheid gaan, inclusief het gelei-achtige stadium. Deze niet-samentrekkende variëteiten worden echter beschouwd als een minder complexe smaak.
"Sharon Fruit" (oorspronkelijk genoemd naar de Sharon-vlakte in Israël) is een handelsnaam voor niet-samentrekkend D. kaki-fruit.
Diospyros kaki est l'espèce la plus cultivée du genre Diospyros. Bien que sa première description botanique publiée ne remonte qu'en 1780, le kaki est l'une des plus anciennes plantes cultivées, connue pour son utilisation en Chine depuis plus de 2000 ans. Dans certaines communautés rurales chinoises, le kaki est considéré comme ayant un grand pouvoir mystique qui peut être exploité pour résoudre les maux de tête, les maux de dos et les douleurs aux pieds.
Le kaki (kaki) est un fruit sucré légèrement acidulé avec une texture douce à parfois fibreuse. Cette espèce, originaire de Chine, est caduque, aux feuilles larges et raides. La culture s'est d'abord étendue à d'autres parties de l'Asie de l'Est, notamment au Japon où elle est très populaire. Il a ensuite été introduit en Californie et en Europe du Sud au XIXe siècle, au Brésil dans les années 1890, et de nombreux cultivars ont été sélectionnés. Une variété est Diospyros kaki var. Sylvestris Makino. À maturité, ce fruit comprend une épaisse gelée pulpeuse enfermée dans une coquille cireuse à peau fine.
Dans de nombreux cultivars, connus sous le nom de variétés astringentes, le fruit a une teneur élevée en tanin de type proanthocyanidine qui rend le fruit immature astringent et amer. Les niveaux de tanin sont réduits à mesure que le fruit mûrit. Le fruit de ces cultivars n'est pas comestible dans son état croquant et ferme; il a meilleur goût lorsqu'on le laisse reposer et ramollir après la récolte. Il a une consistance gélatineuse et se mange mieux avec une cuillère. Le 'Hachiya' japonais est un cultivar astringent largement cultivé. D'autres cultivars, comme 'Fuyu', ne contiennent pas de tanins lorsqu'ils sont fermes. Ceux-ci peuvent être consommés comme une pomme ou peuvent atteindre n'importe quel stade de maturité, y compris le stade de la gelée. Ces variétés non astringentes sont cependant considérées comme ayant une saveur moins complexe.
"Sharon Fruit" (nommé à l'origine d'après la plaine de Sharon en Israël) est un nom commercial pour le fruit D. kaki non astringent.
Ο Διόσπυρος είναι το πιο ευρέως καλλιεργούμενο είδος του γένους Διόσπυρος. Αν και η πρώτη δημοσιευμένη βοτανική περιγραφή του έγινε μόλις το 1780, το kaki είναι ένα από τα παλαιότερα φυτά σε καλλιέργεια, γνωστό για τη χρήση του στην Κίνα για περισσότερα από 2000 χρόνια. Σε ορισμένες αγροτικές κινεζικές κοινότητες, το φρούτο kaki θεωρείται ότι έχει μια μεγάλη μυστικιστική δύναμη που μπορεί να αξιοποιηθεί για να λύσει πονοκεφάλους, πόνους στην πλάτη και πόνους στα πόδια.
Ο λωτός (κακί) είναι ένα γλυκό, ελαφρώς πικάντικο φρούτο με απαλή έως περιστασιακά ινώδη υφή. Αυτό το είδος, εγγενές στην Κίνα, είναι φυλλοβόλο, με πλατιά, δύσκαμπτα φύλλα. Η καλλιέργεια επεκτάθηκε πρώτα σε άλλα μέρη της Ανατολικής Ασίας, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της Ιαπωνίας όπου είναι πολύ δημοφιλής. Αργότερα εισήχθη στην Καλιφόρνια και τη νότια Ευρώπη τον 19ο αιώνα, στη Βραζιλία τη δεκαετία του 1890 και έχουν επιλεγεί πολλές ποικιλίες. Μια ποικιλία είναι ο Διόσπυρος κακή βάρ. συλβεστρης Μακινο. Όταν είναι ώριμο, αυτό το φρούτο αποτελείται από παχύρρευστο πολτό ζελέ που περικλείεται σε ένα κέρινο κέλυφος με λεπτό δέρμα.
Σε πολλές ποικιλίες, γνωστές ως στυπτικές ποικιλίες, ο καρπός έχει υψηλή περιεκτικότητα σε τανίνες τύπου προανθοκυανιδίνης που κάνει τον ανώριμο καρπό στυπτικό και πικρό. Τα επίπεδα τανίνης μειώνονται καθώς ο καρπός ωριμάζει. Ο καρπός αυτών των ποικιλιών δεν είναι βρώσιμος στην τραγανή, σταθερή του κατάσταση. έχει καλύτερη γεύση όταν αφήνεται να ξεκουραστεί και να μαλακώσει μετά τη συγκομιδή. Έχει μια μαλακή υφή σαν ζελέ και τρώγεται καλύτερα με ένα κουτάλι. Η ιαπωνική «Hachiya» είναι μια ευρέως αναπτυσσόμενη στυπτική ποικιλία. Άλλες ποικιλίες, όπως το «Fuyu», δεν περιέχουν τανίνες όταν είναι σταθερές. Αυτά μπορούν να καταναλωθούν σαν μήλο ή μπορούν να περάσουν σε οποιοδήποτε στάδιο ωρίμανσης, συμπεριλαμβανομένου του σταδίου που μοιάζει με ζελέ. Αυτές οι μη στυπτικές ποικιλίες ωστόσο θεωρείται ότι έχουν λιγότερο περίπλοκη γεύση.
Το "Sharon Fruit" (ονομάστηκε αρχικά από την πεδιάδα Sharon στο Ισραήλ) είναι μια εμπορική ονομασία για το μη στυπτικό φρούτο D. kaki.
Diospyros kaki هو أكثر الأنواع المزروعة على نطاق واسع من جنس Diospyros. على الرغم من أن أول وصف نباتي منشور لها لم يكن حتى عام 1780 ، إلا أن الكاكي يعد من بين أقدم النباتات في الزراعة ، والمعروف باستخدامه في الصين لأكثر من 2000 عام. في بعض المجتمعات الريفية الصينية ، يُنظر إلى فاكهة الكاكي على أنها تتمتع بقوة صوفية عظيمة يمكن تسخيرها لعلاج الصداع وآلام الظهر وآلام القدم.
البرسيمون (كاكي) هو فاكهة حلوة ، منعشة قليلاً ذات ملمس ناعم إلى ليفي في بعض الأحيان. هذا النوع ، موطنه الصين ، نفضي ، بأوراق عريضة وقاسية. امتدت الزراعة أولاً إلى أجزاء أخرى من شرق آسيا ، بما في ذلك اليابان حيث تحظى بشعبية كبيرة. تم تقديمه لاحقًا إلى كاليفورنيا وجنوب أوروبا في القرن التاسع عشر ، إلى البرازيل في تسعينيات القرن التاسع عشر ، وتم اختيار العديد من الأصناف. مجموعة متنوعة هي ديوسبيروس كاكي فار. سيلفستريس ماكينو. عندما تنضج ، تتكون هذه الفاكهة من هلام لب سميك مغطى بقشرة شمعية رقيقة القشرة.
في العديد من الأصناف ، المعروفة باسم الأصناف القابضة ، تحتوي الفاكهة على نسبة عالية من التانين من نوع البروانثوسيانيدين مما يجعل الفاكهة غير الناضجة قابضة ومريرة. تنخفض مستويات التانين مع نضوج الثمار. ثمرة تلك الأصناف ليست صالحة للأكل في حالتها الهشة والثابتة ؛ يكون طعمه أفضل عندما يُسمح له بالراحة واللين بعد الحصاد. قوامه ناعم يشبه الهلام ويفضل تناوله بالملعقة. يُعد "Hachiya" الياباني أحد الصنف القابض للنمو على نطاق واسع. الأصناف الأخرى ، مثل "فويو" ، لا تحتوي على العفص عندما تكون صلبة. يمكن أن تؤكل مثل التفاح أو يمكن السماح لها بالذهاب إلى أي مرحلة من النضج ، بما في ذلك المرحلة التي تشبه الهلام. ومع ذلك ، تعتبر هذه الأصناف غير القابضة ذات نكهة أقل تعقيدًا.
"شارون فروت" (سميت في الأصل على اسم سهل شارون في إسرائيل) هو اسم تجاري لفاكهة D. kaki غير القابض.
Diospyros kakiは、Diospyros属の中で最も広く栽培されている種です。最初に発表された植物の説明は1780年までではありませんでしたが、カキは栽培で最も古い植物の1つであり、2000年以上中国で使用されていることで知られています。一部の中国の田舎のコミュニティでは、カキの実は、頭痛、腰痛、足の痛みを解決するために利用できる大きな神秘的な力を持っていると見られています。
柿（柿）は甘くて少しピリッとした果実で、やわらかいものから時々繊維質の食感があります。この種は中国原産で、落葉性で、広くて硬い葉を持っています。栽培は、それが非常に人気のある日本を含む東アジアの他の地域に最初に広がりました。その後、19世紀にカリフォルニアと南ヨーロッパに、1890年代にブラジルに導入され、数多くの品種が選ばれました。品種はカキノキ変種です。シルベストリス牧野。熟すと、この果実は、ワックス状の薄い皮の殻に包まれた厚い果肉のあるゼリーで構成されます。
収斂性品種として知られる多くの栽培品種では、果実はプロアントシアニジンタイプのタンニン含有量が高く、未熟な果実を収斂性で苦いものにします。果実が成熟するにつれてタンニンレベルは低下します。それらの栽培品種の果実は、そのさわやかな、しっかりした状態では食用ではありません。収穫後に休ませて柔らかくすると、最高の味がします。やわらかいゼリーのような粘りがあり、スプーンで食べるのが一番です。日本の「八谷」は、広く栽培されている収斂性の品種です。 「ふゆ」のような他の品種は、しっかりしているときはタンニンを含んでいません。それらはリンゴのように食べることができます、またはゼリーのような段階を含む熟成の任意の段階に行くことができます。しかし、これらの非収斂性の品種は、それほど複雑ではないと考えられています。
「シャロンフルーツ」（イスラエルのシャロン平野にちなんで名付けられました）は、収斂性のないD.カキフルーツの商品名です。
Happy Earth Day, ya'll
Reuse more, waste less.
Keep them bushes tidy
and above all don't litter!
Every little bit helps :)
With all the attention and focus on chasing the always faster mechanical rabbit, this is Greyhound live dog racing action at the Flagler Dog Track of Magic City Casino - Miami, Florida, USA.
Thanks for viewing!
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Mario Houben | Photography - The Website
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FILE: GH_7DMII_0154
If only I won a lottery or someone that wanted to gift me all of these at the same time, I would die happy..
Lol no but this is my wishlist!. It's pretty fun to make, but also depressing when you see how FRICKING much you need to hunt! And when you are broke asf... But probably some of the dolls will become more boring over time, I mean I deleted some of the 2015 Fashionistas that I really wanted before! So Hopefully this list will be reduced. ^^
A darkroom print made from a 35mm Fomapan 100 negative taken with a Holga 135bc plastic camera. I used a No.4 filter in the enlarger for this print, on Fomapan paper. Love the feel of this photo. Some digital sepia added, with the saturation reduced alittle, just to warm the b/w.
Went to Tsaritsyno Park south part of Moscow. Stop by the lake and took this long exposure shot of the beautiful autumn scenery.
Using the ND1000 filter, to reduced as much light as I can while taking long exposure shot during daylight..
Chassis n° DB4/886/L
Zoute Sale - Bonhams
Estimated : € 1.200.000 - 1.600.000
Sold for € 1.236.250
Zoute Grand Prix 2022
Knokke - Zoute
België - Belgium
October 2022
The competition potential of Aston Martin's new DB4 had been recognised from the outset, and the factory lost no time in developing a lightweight version suitable for racing, the resulting DB4GT debuting at the 1959 London Motor Show. The model had already been proven in competition earlier that year when the prototype ('DP/199') driven by Stirling Moss won its first race at Silverstone. Extensive modifications to the standard car took 5" (127mm) out of the wheelbase, and replaced the rear seats with a luggage platform on all but a small number of cars. Together with lighter, 18-gauge bodywork, these changes reduced the car's weight by around 200lb (91kg).
The GT used a tuned engine which, equipped with a twin-plug cylinder head and triple Weber 45DCOE carburettors, produced a claimed 302bhp at 6,000rpm, a useful increase over the standard car's claimed 240bhp. Maximum speed, of course, depended on overall gearing, but 250km/h was achieved during testing with a 0-100km/h time of 6.2 seconds recorded. The DB4 was also one of the first cars to go from standstill to 160km/h and then brake to a dead stop on under 20 seconds, a tribute, in part, to its up-rated Girling brakes as used on Aston Martin's competition sports racers of the era.
While several customers liked the idea of the GT engine, not all were so keen on the DB4GT's Spartan, competition orientated and less roomy interior, preferring the civility of the standard model. To accommodate these select few clients, Aston Martin was happy to supply the DB4 with the GT engine. The first three such examples were completed in 1961 during production of the 'Series 3' DB4, followed by a further five in 'Series 4' and six in 'Series 5' plus one convertible, making 15 cars in total (source: AMOC Register).
This matching-numbers car, left-hand drive chassis 'DB4/886/L', is one of the five 'Series 4' saloons delivered with the twin-plug GT engine installed, three of which were left-hand drive, and is thus one of the rarest of all DB4 variants. The car was delivered new in 1962 via US importers J S Inskip first owner Henry Dingley Jr of Auburn, Maine, a motor sports enthusiast known to have raced Alfa Romeos and a Lotus XI. The DB4 was ordered with the desirable GT-type dashboard, overdrive gearbox, oil temperature gauge, brake servo, chrome wheels, and a Bray block heater as well as the GT engine. The Aston's immediate history thereafter is not known, but by January 1985 it was in the ownership of Thomas Clark of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. '886/L' next passed to S A Taylor in the USA and in 1992 was acquired by Philip Cowan of Guernsey, Channel Islands. Later that same year the car was sold to Mr Rolf Annecke of Neuenkirchen, Germany.
During the years of Mr Annecke's ownership the car was completely restored (body, mechanicals, engine, transmission, suspension, brakes, electrics, etc) including a bare metal re-spray in Deep Carriage Green (an original Aston Martin colour). The extensive engine overhaul and tune up was carried out by Roos Engineering of Safenwil, Switzerland, while the interior was completely refurbished using correct original materials: Connolly leather, Wilton carpeting, etc.
In 2014 Mr Annecke offered the DB4 for sale. At that time approximately 1,000 miles had been covered since the rebuild's completion in 2005, the odometer reading at time of sale being 48,000 miles. Some 500 miles previously the old original Dunlop wire wheels had been exchanged for new 16" Borrani-style wheels shod with new Dunlop racing tyres. Most aspects of the restoration are documented by bills and photographs on file.
In early 2014 Mr Annecke sold the DB4 to the consignor, a connoisseur marque enthusiast based in Belgium. Determined to return the Aston to concours-standard original specification, he commissioned Carrosserie Philip Vilain in Brussels to start work in the summer of 2014. Vilain's brief was to completely restore the coachwork and chrome, and so the body was stripped back to bare metal and repainted in its original black livery, the entire process being documented by numerous photographs on file.
The factory's Aston Martin Works division was approached in 2015 to carry out a thorough evaluation of '886/L'. They made several recommendations, resulting in further refurbishment that included installing a new radiator, steering wheel, front/rear windscreens, headlights, and accelerator pedal. At the same time the interior was correctly re-trimmed in red leather with Wilton woollen carpets and a correct headlining. Related invoices on file total over £78,000 (approximately €90,500). Aston Martin Works issued a Gold Certification book in September 2016, confirming '886/L' to be a fully matching-numbers car retaining its original GT engine. Additional paperwork includes a factory production record; a former bill of sale and registration document; a BMIHT Certificate; and the aforementioned restoration records. The car is UK registered and comes to the sale with EU duties paid.
To call the GT-engined DB4 a 'factory hotrod' may not be entirely appropriate, but there can be no denying that its unique combination of high performance and 'gentlemen's club' refinement, not to mention a decent sized boot, makes it particularly appealing. Rarer but in the same top league as many a more expensive motor car from Maranello it represents a very refined choice for the discerning collector. As such it is nevertheless the ideal companion for use on long-distance tours and rallies and would surely be a welcome participant at any prestigious concours d'élégance event.
A guided image of the spiral galaxy NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis taken last in Monticello with a ZWOASI183 Pro camera attached to an Explore Scientific 102ED refracting telescope with a .8 focal reducer. 40 three minute exposures were stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz AI.
Is it my imagination, or do Oystercatchers fly with their legs crossed? If so, is it to reduce air resistance?
Barnegat jetty,
Barnegat Light, New Jersey
with all my aversion to naming my pics I simply can not resist the temptation in this instance ,
I have been a good boy and reduced my donalding to a minimum, I watched movies and stuff, I listened to some music, I read a book for fuck sake, I even did some Spanish ... but the rolling, roaring, stinking, relentless shit show unfolding from shores of what used to be the home of the brave just leaves me no chance, no chance in hell ...
so breaking with my self imposed rule - this one of course is called "shitshow"
my search for a tune with "shitshow" in it, to go along with the pic, failed but I got one tune from a very fine Finnish punk band, very fine indeed, album has "shit" in it's title, thanks god, and the song is called "Nazional Day" which is a very topical title
everybody dance!
T45 Leyland Roadtrain B429APP- Showing a few battle scars but otherwise ready for work around the yard.
Tradewinds Motel
2844 Auburn Blvd
Sacramento, California
It took an extra month due to asbestos abatement, but this motel was finally taken down. Now only the sign, front garden, and pool remain. The Maita auto dealership group bought this property and the adjacent Welcome Inn. Reportedly the Subaru dealership further down the street will be moving here.
My attempt at showing the color differences on our moon's surface. These subtle colors can be brought out easily with astronomy cameras and heavy saturation, but they cannot be seen with our naked eye due to the moon's extreme surface brightness.
The colors are controlled by variations in iron and titanium content. The most notable red to blue color change in the Mare regions is caused by titanium oxide.
Equipment:
OTA: William Optics GT81 w/0.8x reducer (382mm fl at f/4.7)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G (HEQ-5)
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool
Software:
Firecapture
CdC
Autostakkert!2
Registax
PixInsight
Acquisition:
Location: Arlington, TX (Bortle 7)
Dates: 5/24/18
Gain: 139
Camera temp: -10C
R: 1.00ms exposure / 11fps / 60" of video
G: 1.30ms exposure / 11fps / 60" of video
B: 1.80ms exposure / 11fps / 60" of video
Preprocessing:
Stacked best 10% of frames using AS!2
ChannelCombination in PixInsight
RGB Align in Registax
Postprocessing in PixInsight:
Deconvolution
MultiscaleLinearTransform
CurvesTransformation for saturation
ColorSaturation for specific saturation
HistogramTransformation for brightness adjustment
Invert > SCNR green > Invert to remove some pink artifacts
Monster High Venus McFlytrap didn't have to use her pollen persuasion to convince these ghouls to reduce, reuse, recycle.
I like Venus a lot, but she hasn't been much of a muse to me yet for pictures. Luckily, I got the Barbie Recycling Time accessory pack with I ordered the Create-A-Monster torsos from Mattel Shop online, and that inspired this pic. :)
Mildread (Skeleton), Meriel (Sea Monster), Andromeda (Three-Eyed), Falkora (Dragon), and Beetina (Bee) are all decked out with their new torsos, Monster High fashions, and Liv wigs. So happy to have them complete! :D