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Hiked up Mt. Wachusett in Spencer, MA last night. The glow of Worcester hangs on the horizon, but it is the darkest place within a reasonable distance for astrophotography. This photo is a composite of 23 images stacked in photoshop to compound the light of the stars and reduce noise. Other than that, only contrast and curves adjustments were made. I was surprised to be able to see the band of the Milky Way on top of Wachusett. I highly suggest taking a hike up during a new moon, or before the moon rises one evening.
A Morsbag I made a little while ago from an old sheet. I have a lot more of this fabric, and I hope each one will each have a stencilled picture to distract people from the pattern!
www.jenmeister.com/2010/06/birds-and-bears-on-bags-oh-my....
Vienna Concert House (2006)
The Wiener Konzerthaus was opened in 1913. It is on the 3rd Viennese district road (Lothringerstraße) at the edge of the Inner City between Schwarzenberg Square and City Park .
Architectural History
Ludwig Baumann planned Olympion Art Show 1908, the main building Concert Hall, detail
1890 for a planned house music festivals should be considered as multi-purpose building to address a broader public than the just 200 meters away traditional Viennese Musikverein. The design by architect Ludwig Baumann for a Olympion contained several concert halls except an ice rink and a Bicycleclub. In addition, an open-air arena should offer 40,000 visitors. The skating rink and its adjacent buildings were realized in 1899 by Baumann plans, the Art Nouveau ensemble but fell in 1960 to a construction of the InterContinental Hotels Group to the victim. The Vienna Ice Skating Club is located on the then reduced by about a third place today. The popular freestyle wrestling at the Haymarket took place here.
Organised by Gustav Klimt and his friends art exhibition Vienna 1908 was held in a temporary exhibition building on the undeveloped site of the later concert hall. The Wiener Konzerthaus was finally built 1911-1913 by the Europe-wide Viennese theater architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer Younger (Office Fellner & Helmer ) in collaboration with Ludwig Baumann.
The theme of the concert hall was:
A facility for the care of fine music, a collection of artistic aspirations, a home for music and a house for Vienna.
On 19 October 1913 the Concert Hall in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I with a gala concert of the Vienna Concert Society was opened (now the Vienna Symphony Orchestra ). Richard Strauss composed this be Festive Prelude Op 61. Was combined with this modern work Beethoven's 9th Symphony - the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity should be so much in the first concert of the house.
The disintegration of Austria-Hungary brought tremendous social upheaval and financial crises - and thus flexibility and versatility was also necessary for lack of money. In addition to classical repertoire, there were in the 1920s and 1930s, important world premieres (including Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold ), concerts with jazz and pop songs, speeches from science to spiritualism and poetry readings (including Karl Kraus ). Dance and ballroom events, some large conferences and world championships for boxing and fencing completed the program.
After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, the program for impoverished "non- degenerate entertainment operation ", to many artists remained only the emigration.
After 1945, the concert hall also had the secondary task , " prop up " the bruised Austrian self-confidence in a musical way. In addition to the standard repertoire of classical and romantic and the Viennese Waltz , there were still premieres (eg Schoenberg's oratorio The Jacob's Ladder 1961) and international jazz and pop concerts. From May 1946 spaces for recording studios and administration at the German and in Vienna living music producer Gerhard Mendelson were rented, who is considered one of the most important pop producers in Austria in the postwar period.
After several modifications that changed the original Art Nouveau decoration slightly , the house was restored from 1972 to 1975 to the only slightly altered original plans. From 1998 to 2001 the house was renovated by architect Hans Puchhammer and expanded to include a new concert hall (New Hall) .
From 1989 to 2002 the Vienna Kathreintanz also took place in the concert hall .
Building
Saw the concert at the House of Lorraine Street (Lothringerstraße), the Schwarzenbergplatz
The floor plan approximately 70 x 40 meters large concert hall with the main entrance at the Lothringerstraße and other inputs in the Lisztstraße includes Haymarket (Heumarkt) since the opening three concert halls:
Large hall with 1865 seats
Mozart Hall with 704 seats
Schubert Hall with 366 seats
The new hall (with 400 seats) was not established until the general renovation of 1998 to 2002. The new hall was renamed at the start of the 2009/2010 season in Berio-Saal.
On the home front, the right and left of the entrance, is the inscription
Honor your German Masters, then you are storing good spirits.
Here is a quote from the final chorus for the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner.
In all rooms the same time can take place, since they do not affect each other acoustically different concerts.
Inside stands in the foyer of the original model created in 1878 by Kaspar von Zumbusch Beethoven Monument, which is situated opposite the Concert Hall at the Beethoven place. At the staircase there is a relief homage to Emperor Franz Joseph (1913 ) by Edmund Hellmer . Furthermore, a bust of Franz Liszt by Max Klinger to mention in 1904.
The complex of the concert hall and the building is part of the K. K Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (now the University of Music and Dramatic Art). Adjoining rooms for academic teaching purposes this part of the building also contains the Academy theater with 521 seats, which is used as a secondary stage of the Burgtheater world premieres among other modern plays.
Great Hall and Organ
The Great Hall has a capacity of 1116 visitors (ground floor) and additional 361 balconies and boxes, and 388 in the gallery. The auditorium is 750 m2 and 170 m2 of the podium. In the 1960s the hall was optimized by Heinrich Keilholz.
The organ was built in 1913 in the Great Hall of the Rieger organ (Rieger-Orgel) (Jägerndorf, Silesia) built. The instrument is located on the end wall of the big room, but has no visible Prospectus. The organ is located behind a grid and is thus hidden from the visitors. The cone-chest-116 instrument has five registers on manual and pedal works and is the largest organ in Austria. The special features of the organ counts, firstly, that the four manual divisions are swellable. In addition, the organ comprises a (swellable ) remote work with separate pedal. Stylistically, the organ is "Alsatian Organ reform " aimed at the so-called ideal of where along the lines of major instruments of Aristide Cavaillé -Coll, the strong voices are divided into two manuals. The tracker action is electro-pneumatic. For the inauguration of the instrument Strauss had the " Festive Prelude " for organ and orchestra composed. In 1982 the instrument was restored.
I Hauptwerk C
Principal 16 '
16 drone '
Principal 8 '
Gedackt 8 '
Flute hollow 8 '
Harmonique Flûte 8 '
Fugara 8 '
Gemshorn 8 '
Dulciana 8 '
Nasatquinte 51/3 '
Octave 4 '
Reed flute 4 '
Viola 4 '
Superoctave 2 '
Noise Quinte II 22 /3 '
Cornet III-V 8 '
Mixture V 22 /3 '
III cymbals 2 '
Trumpet 16 '
Trumpet 8 '
Clarino 4 '
Manual II ( swellable ) C-
Viola 16 '
Quintatön 16 '
Principal 8 '
Bourdon 8 '
Flauto Traverso 8 '
Clara Bella 8 '
Viola da Gamba 8 '
Salicional 8 '
Unda Maris 8 '
Octave 4 '
Octaviante Flûte 4 '
Gemshorn 4 '
Quintatön 4 '
Waldflöte 2 '
Sesquialtera II 22 /3 '
Progress . harm. III - V 22 /3 '
Mixture IV 22/3 '
8 'Clarinet
Krummhorn 8 '
Glockenspiel
tremulant
III . Manual ( swellable ) C-
Lovely - Gedackt 16 '
Violin Principal 8 '
Reed flute 8 '
Still Covered 8 '
Vienna Flute 8 '
Quintatön 8 '
Echo Gamba 8 '
Aeoline 8 '
Vox coelestis 8 '
Octave 4 '
Octaviante Flûte 4 '
Delicate flute 4 '
Aeolsharfe 4 '
Gemsquinte 22/3 '
Flautino 2 '
Third, 13/5 '
Larigotquinte 11/3 '
Seventh 11/7 '
Piccolo 1 '
Harmonia aetherea IV 22/3 '
Basson 16 '
Harmonique Trompette 8 '
Oboe 8 '
Vox Humana 8 '
Harmonique Clairon 4 '
tremulant
IV solo work C
16 drone '
Clarinophon 8 '
Double - Gedackt 8 '
Concert Flute 8 '
Solo Gamba 8 '
Fifth tube 51/3 '
Octave 4 '
Solo Flute 4 '
Quinte 22/3 '
Superoctave 2 '
Wholesale Cornett III - V 22 /3 '
Tuba mirabilis 8 '
Ophicleide 8 '
Harmonique Clairon 4 '
V Fernwerk ( swellable ) C-
Delicately Gedackt 16 '
Horn 8 'Principal
Lovely - Gedackt 8 '
Reed flute 8 '
Viola d' amore 8 '
Vox Angelica 8 '
Gemshorn 4 '
Flute 4 '
Piccolo 2 '
Mixture IV 22/3 '
Shawm 8 '
Vox Humana 8 '
tremulant
C- pedal
Principalbaß 32 '
Principalbaß 16 '
Violon 16 '
Subbass 16 '
Echobaß 16 '
Salicetbaß 16 '
Quintbaß 102/3 '
Octavbass 8 '
Gedacktbaß 8 '
Bass flute 8 '
Cello 8 '
Dulcianbaß 8 '
Octave 4 '
Flauto 4 '
Campana III 102/3 '
Mixture IV 51/3 '
Bombard 32 '
Trombone 16 '
Bassoon 16 '
Trumpet 8 '
Basset 8 '
Clarino 4 '
C- pedal distance
Subbass 16 '
Octavbass 8 '
Pairing :
Normal coupling : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I, P / I , III / II , IV / II , V / II, I / II , IV / III , V / P, I / P, II / P III / P IV / P
Superoktavkoppeln : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I , III / I , IV / I , III / II , IV / II , IV , V, I / P , IV / P.
Suboktavkoppeln : III / II .
Game Help: Free combinations (5 banks by 1000 = 5000 general memories ), storage rack (roll on, Pair of roller coupling to IV of roller, Manual 16 ' down, Reeds off (as buttons ), the main pedal off, remote pedal off (as flip switches ), Einzelzungenabsteller ), Tutti (push button), principal pedal down, Fernwerk pedal from, sills V in expression pedal II coupled (toggle button), kicks, interact with flip switches (switching I-IV of P, normal couplers II-IV to I, roll off ) Registercrescendo (roller for the organist, coupled with a second roller for the registrant ) .
Program
The concert hall is the main venue of the Vienna Symphony , the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Sound Forum. Since 1913 the Vienna Academy of Music has its permanent home of the Konzerthaus. In separate events at the Wiener Konzerthaus other international orchestras, soloists and chamber ensembles in addition to the Vienna Philharmonic regular guest. In addition, there are also numerous other events organizer at the Konzerthaus. So for example the Bonbon Ball, but also concerts in jazz and world music.
The program of the Vienna Konzerthaus also includes some festivals , such as
the Early Music Festival in January resonances
the Vienna Spring Festival
the International Music Festival
Wien Modern in autumn
Between 2003 and 2006, gave the series with the latest music generator .
From 2008, a year early in the season with a festival held focus " on a particular region or cultural community " [2 ] . The first event in September 2008, the two-day festival Spot On : Yiddishkeit , in which a cross section is presented by the diversity of Jewish music creation.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Konzerthaus
GB Railfreight Class 92, 92043 does its best to make up some time as it works the Caledonian Sleeper Up Highlander through Hartford.
The service was running around an hour late (and was similarly delayed on arrival at Euston) due to issues with the Mk5s during the shunt at Edinburgh.
This was also the first night of the reduced service in response to the second national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the latest revision to the timetable, only one train ran in each direction, serving Edinburgh and Inverness. The usual services to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Fort William were cancelled.
I dropped off our recycling today and grabbed this shot.
One man's trash is another's treasure. Make a photo of something discarded or abandoned today.
I need to reduce my contacts/workload. Can I ask my contacts who look but do not comment, to simply delete me as a contact? I won't be offended as I will never make Photographer of the Year lol. That makes it easier for me as I am reducing my contacts and groups - keeping the daisies but cutting back on the deadwood.
Australian government has announced to cut country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 % of 2005 levels by 2030 as part of negotiations on a global climate deal.Prime Minister Tony Abbott led government will submit its target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate C... www.sharegk.com/curent-affairs/latest/australia-unveils-p...
#gk #EntranceExam #OnlineTest #Aptitude
Taken I think somewhere on the Queensbury lines or perhaps on some other WestRiding branches toured by this Class 110 and class 101 DMU's in the early 60's.
Thought to be in the Great Horton Area
More info apprieciated
Kev
OurDailyChallenge Taped
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These are the three prime tenants of waste reduction so when the garbage collector broke my recycling bin about two months after buying it, what else was there to do but repair it by taping up the cracked corner. (Is this the reuse aspect?) Any way, it has been retaped about four times over the last six years so its life has certainly been extended. So a bit of tape on my blue box gives me a nice warm green feeling.
No. 4 - 5:- Exploring Rochester - Rochester Castle
City of Great Expectations - Charles Dickens..
The Keep of the Castle.
The Mural Gallery.
This gallery, which looked down into the state apartments, round right round the building. It is hollowed out of the thickness of the wall and therefore greatly reduces the weight of the upper stories. At this height the walls do not need the massive strength of lower walls as they are out of reach of enemy battering rams.
The gallery had a number of uses and could be partitioned off to make extra rooms for guests, probably servants and less favoured visitors. When the great Hall was in use, guests could gather here to chat and look down on the festivities. This was also a good position for groups of minstrels to provide music for those below. Guidepost.
Rochester Castle.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rochester Castle ( [show location on an interactive map] 51°23′22″N 0°30′05″E / 51.38944°N 0.50139°E / 51.38944; 0.50139) stands on the east bank of the River Medway, in Rochester, Kent. It is one of the best-preserved castles of its kind in the UK. There has been a fortification on this site since Roman times (c AD43), though it is the keep of 1127 and the Norman castle which can be seen today. With the invention of gunpowder other types of defence became more appropriate, and the military centre of the Medway Towns moved to Chatham.
History
The Romans under Aulus Plautius built a fort on the site of the present castle to guard the important river crossing, where they constructed a bridge. There is evidence of an earth rampart later replaced by a stone wall. The timber piles of the Roman bridge were rediscovered during the construction of the present road bridge.This is also a well known spa nowadays but when it was first built it was a massive kitchen.
The Norman period commenced with the victory of William of Normandy at Hastings. He appointed his half brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, as Earl of Kent. Rochester's first Norman castle was probably of the motte and bailey type – a wooden tower and with palisades – on Boley Hill. This was the castle that was besieged by William Rufus during the Rebellion of 1088.
As a result of this siege, Bishop Gundulf was persuaded to build a stone castle with a curtain wall. It is not known how much, if any, of the surviving keep is his. Gundulf was a talented architect: he had started the building work on Rochester's Norman Cathedral in 1080, and was also responsible for the White Tower of the Tower of London.
Henry I granted the custody of the castle to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Corbeil. Corbeil started to build the great stone keep in 1127, much of which survives today. It is the tallest in England and has dominated the city and river crossing for 800 years.
The siege of 1215
In 1206, King John spent £115 on repairs to the castle and moat. He even preemptively held it during the year of the negotiations leading up to Magna Carta, but its terms forced him to hand it back into the custody of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1215. The rebel barons then sent troops under William d'Aubigny to the castle, to whom its constable Reginald de Cornhill opened the castle's gates. During October, marching from Dover to London, John then found Rochester in his way and on 11 October began besieging it in person.
The rebels were expecting reinforcements from London but on hearing of the size of King John's army they turned back at Dartford. Robert Fitzwalter rode out to stop the king, fighting his way onto the bridge but eventually being beaten back into the castle. He also sacked the cathedral, took anything of value and stabled his horses in it, all as a slight to Langton. Orders were then sent to the men of Canterbury saying, "We order you, just as you love us, and as soon as you see this letter, to make by day and night, all the pickaxes that you can. Every blacksmith in your city should stop all other work in order to make them and you should send them to us at Rochester with all speed". Five siege engines were then erected and work carried out to undermine the curtain wall. By one of these means the king's forces entered and held the bailey in early November, and began attempting the same tactics against the keep, including undermining the south-east tower. The mine-roof was supported by wooden props, which were then set alight using pig-fat, on 25 November 1215 John had sent a writ to the justiciars saying "Send to us with all speed by day and night, fifty of the fattest pigs of the sort least good for eating so that we may bring fire beneath the castle" [2], causing the south-east tower of the keep to collapse. The rebels withdrew behind the keep's cross-wall but still managed to hold out. A few were allowed to leave the castle but on John's orders had their hands and feet lopped off as an example.
Winter was now setting in, and the castle was only taken (on 30 November) by starvation and not by force. John set up a memorial to the pigs and a gallows with the intention of hanging the whole garrison, but one of his captains (Savari de Mauleon) persuaded him not to hang the rebels since hanging those who had surrendered would set a precedent if John ever surrendered - only one man was actually hanged (a young bowman who had previously been in John's service). The remainder of the rebel barons were taken away and imprisoned at various royal-held castles, such as Corfe Castle. Of the siege - against only 100 rebels, and costing over a thousand pounds a day - the Barnwell chronicler wrote "No one alive can remember a siege so fiercely pressed and so manfully resisted" and that, after it, "There were few who would put their trust in castles".
King John died on October 19, 1216, so it fell to Henry III to repair the castle. He spent over a £1000 on rebuilding, with new stables and gateways, and a further ditch to strengthen the defences. A new chapel was built next to the Royal apartments in the bailey. The most notable surviving feature is the new south-east tower, which was rebuilt according to the latest defensive design and is three-quarters round better to deflect missile attack and work against attempts at undermining.
The siege of 1264
In 1264, the dissident barons, led by Simon de Montfort, attacked Rochester. They crossed the Medway under cover of the smoke from a fire-ship, and took the city. Like John before them, they quickly gained control of the castle bailey and then attempted to undermine the keep. This time the siege was not successful, being relieved after only a week by Henry himself. However, the rebels did burn down many of the buildings, including the Royal chambers. Repairs were not carried out until 1367, under Edward III, by which time much of the stone had been removed for other use.
The 15th century Wars of the Roses were not fought in Kent, so the castle was spared. It was briefly taken by Wyatt's men during his futile uprising of 1554. But with the invention of gunpowder and introduction of cannon, this form of castle was no longer so secure. It became expensive to maintain so fell into disrepair.
Later military history
Rochester remained of strategic importance, and the neighbouring Chatham Naval Dockyard grew in importance. In the Napoleonic wars, the dockyard was protected by a circle of Palmerston Forts, including Fort Luton, Fort Borstal, Fort Pitt, Fort Clarence, and Fort Amherst. HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship was built in Chatham (though now "exiled" in Portsmouth). During the twentieth century wars, Chatham has provided a home for the Royal Engineers, and Rochester built aircraft such as the Sunderland. The Dockyard also built and serviced nuclear submarines.
Today
The castle is now maintained by English Heritage and is open to the public. The wooden flooring in the centre of the keep is gone, but many of the passageways and spiral staircases within the thickness of the walls are still usable. Decorative chevrons ornament the archways and the water well in the cross-wall is clearly visible. Visitors with a head for heights can climb 111 ft (34 m) to the battlements and enjoy a commanding view of the river and surrounding area.
Since Victorian times, Rochester Castle Gardens have been an important leisure area for Rochester. They were a popular promenade, they have hosted a bandstand, and have become a centre point for festivals and summer concerts.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Castle
'Magnificent ruin!...What a study for an antiquarian!'
The impressive Norman castle at Rochester had a humbling effect upon Dickens, reminding him perhaps of his own mortality. In Household Words he wrote: 'I surveyed the massive ruin from the Bridge, and thought what a brief little practical joke I seemed to be, in comparison with the solidarity, stature, strength and length of life.' In Dickens' time the castle looked very different. Houses and workshops filled much of the moat by the cathedral, the keep and towers were festooned with ivy and the waters of the River Medway lapped the base of the walls. - Guidemap
To see Large:-
farm4.static.flickr.com/3351/3440968099_ba05ea3474_b.jpg
Taken on
July 18, 2007 at 11:31 BST
Designed by Carol Sogard. The cover was letterpressed and the guts were offset printed on repurposed posters. The result was fantastic.
Printed in 2005.
51 megapixel image shot that the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix Arizona where I have a membership! Nothing is more beautiful in the desert world than a hearty tough cactus that withstands sunburn and battle scars to survive the ruthless toughness of the desert! Captured with a #Kipon made #Baveyes 0.8x Focal Reducer in Mamiya 645 to Fujifilm GFX adaptor with Fuji 50s II and Mamiya 8m F1.9 attached and shot wide open. Focus was super duper narrow but still nailed it!
Governor O'Malley gives remarks at reducing violence against women and children press conference by Tom Nappi at Arnold, Maryland
The original to this image was a nice, but not truly remarkable portrait. Reduction sometimes works wonders ...
Semiahmoo County Park, Blaine, WA.
© 2016 Andrew A Reding. Comments (including corrections) invited. Photographed RAW, so customizable. Photos are reduced; check my profile page for information on use of full-size originals.
Lion. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park/ Kalahari Desert. South Africa. Nov/2019
Lion
The lion (Panthera leo) is a species in the family Felidae; it is a muscular, deep-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck and round ears, and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. The lion is sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females with a typical weight range of 150 to 250 kg (330 to 550 lb) for the former and 120 to 182 kg (265 to 400 lb) for the latter. Male lions have a prominent mane, which is the most recognisable feature of the species. A lion pride consists of a few adult males, related females and cubs. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. The species is an apex and keystone predator, although they scavenge when opportunities occur. Some lions have been known to hunt humans, although the species typically does not.
Typically, the lion inhabits grasslands and savannas but is absent in dense forests. It is usually more diurnal than other big cats, but when persecuted it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. In the Pleistocene, the lion ranged throughout Eurasia, Africa and the Americas from the Yukon to Peru but today it has been reduced to fragmented populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and one critically endangered population in western India
Source: Wikipedia
Leão
O leão [feminino: leoa] (nome científico: Panthera leo) é uma espécie de mamífero carnívoro do gênero Panthera e da família Felidae. A espécie é atualmente encontrada na África subsaariana e na Ásia, com uma única população remanescente em perigo, no Parque Nacional da Floresta de Gir, Gujarat, Índia. Foi extinto na África do Norte e no Sudoeste Asiático em tempos históricos, e até o Pleistoceno Superior, há cerca de 10 000 anos, era o mais difundido grande mamífero terrestre depois dos humanos, sendo encontrado na maior parte da África, em muito da Eurásia, da Europa Ocidental à Índia, e na América, do Yukon ao México. É uma dos quatro grandes felinos, com alguns machos excedendo 250 quilogramas em peso, sendo o segundo maior felino recente depois do tigre.
A pelagem é unicolor de coloração castanha, e os machos apresentam uma juba característica. Uma das características mais marcantes da espécie é a presença de um tufo de pelos pretos na cauda, que também possui uma espora. Habita preferencialmente as savanas e pastagens abertas, mas pode ser encontrado em regiões mais arbustivas. É um animal sociável que vive em grupos que consiste das leoas e suas crias, o macho dominante e alguns machos jovens que ainda não alcançaram a maturidade sexual. A dieta consiste principalmente de grandes ungulados e possuem hábitos noturnos e crepusculares, descansando e dormindo na maior parte do dia. Leões vivem por volta de 10-14 anos na natureza, enquanto em cativeiro eles podem viver por até 30 anos.
Fonte: Wikipedia
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area in southern Africa. The park straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises two adjoining national parks:
•Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa
•Gemsbok National Park in Botswana
The total area of the park is 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi). Approximately three-quarters of the park lies in Botswana and one-quarter in South Africa. Kgalagadi means "place of thirst." [1] In September 2014, more than half of the Botswana portion of the park was sold for gas-fracking
The park is located largely within the southern Kalahari Desert. The terrain consists of red sand dunes, sparse vegetation, occasional trees, and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob Rivers. The rivers are said to flow only about once per century. However, water flows underground and provides life for grass and camelthorn trees growing in the river beds. The rivers may flow briefly after large thunderstorms
Source: Wikpedia
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi), covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and regions of South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian and South African Namib coastal desert, whose name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place"
Kalahari is derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning "the great thirst", or Kgalagadi, meaning "a waterless place"; the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water
Source: Wikpedia
Parque Transfronteiriço do Kgalagadi
O Parque Transfronteiriço de Kgalagadi é uma grande área de preservação e conservação da vida selvagem no sul da África. O parque fica na fronteira entre a África do Sul e o Botsuana e compreende dois parques nacionais adjacentes:
• Parque Nacional Kalahari Gemsbok na África do Sul
• Parque Nacional Gemsbok no Botsuana
A área total do parque é de 38.000 quilômetros quadrados (15.000 milhas quadradas). Aproximadamente três quartos do parque ficam no Botsuana e um quarto na África do Sul. Kgalagadi significa "lugar de sede". Em setembro de 2014, mais da metade da parte do parque em Botsuana foi vendida por fracking a gás
O parque está localizado em grande parte no sul do deserto de Kalahari. O terreno consiste em dunas de areia vermelha, vegetação escassa, árvores ocasionais e leitos secos dos rios Nossob e Auob. Diz-se que os rios fluem apenas uma vez por século. No entanto, a água flui no subsolo e fornece vida para as árvores que crescem nos leitos dos rios. Os rios podem fluir brevemente após grandes tempestades
Fonte: Wikipedia (tradução livre)
Deserto do Kalahari
O Kalahari, Calaari ou Calaári é um deserto localizado na África Austral, com cerca de 900.000 km² abrangendo partes de Angola, do Botswana, Namíbia e África do Sul.
O nome é derivado de uma palavra em tsuana[2] e significa "a grande sede"
Derivada da palavra Kgalagadi, significa o lugar da a grande sede (kgala - sede; gadi - lugar). A formação do deserto é devida, principalmente, a corrente marítima fria de Benguela, que atua na costa sudoeste da África, condensando o vapor de água que vai em direção ao continente, fazendo com que as massas de ar cheguem mais secas ao mesmo. O Kalahari possui vasta área coberta por areia avermelhada sem afloramento de água em caráter permanente. Porém Kalahari não é um deserto verdadeiro. Partes dele recebem mais de 250 mm de chuva mal distribuída anualmente e possuem bastante vegetação. É realmente árido somente no sudoeste (menos de 175 mm de chuva ao ano), fazendo do Kalahari um deserto de fósseis. As temperaturas no verão do Kalahari vão de 20 a 40°C. No inverno, o Kalahari tem um clima seco e frio com geada à noite. As baixas temperaturas do inverno podem ficar abaixo de 0°C. O clima no verão em algumas regiões do Kalahari pode alcançar 50°C (por isso algumas tribos bosquimanas se recolhem nos momentos mais quentes do dia).
Fonte: Wikipedia
I must admit that although I say that technology usage is grounded in a cultural context, I struggle to operationalize "culture" for the fear of reducing it to some causal variable or some vague concept that dilutes what I am arguing. I haven't found much solace in sociology's linear models that isolate "culture's" effects - as it repeats the whole divide of structure versus agency. Neither have I found much clarity in the interpretive tradition of culture, not because I don't agree with it, but because am confused at how to methodologically move forward with an interpretive approach.
Well then came my meeting with Prof. Alladi Venkatesh, Assoc. Director of UC Irvine's Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) (thanks for gloria mark for the introduction!). Prof. Venkatesh has created methodology magic! Ethno-consumerism is a methodology for doing cross-cultural research. It encourages the researcher to "study culture not merely as providing the context for the study of consumer behavior but study consumption itself as culturally constituted behavior. "In principle, the ethnoconsumerist perspective goes beyond the distinction of emic and etic research approaches." The etic approach encourages the researcher to interpret from her/his point of view. On the other hand, the emic approach tells the researcher to look at the subject's point of view. But ethnoconsumerism advocates for the next critical step, which is to then develop knowledge from subject's point of view. "The research becomes more than an etic interpretation (researcher's point of view) of the culture, but a view of the culture informed by the culture itself as demonstrated by the above" (Venkatesh and Meamber, 1997).
Venkatesh makes clear that this is methodology, not a method. It does not seek to promote any data collection methods. Of course I think that qualitative methods (or a mixed-method approach of qual + quant) is the best way to arrive at what he is saying is the crux of ethnoconsumerism - developing a cultural framework of analysis from the consumer's point of view.
Read his paper and other writings here.
I highly encourage you to read his 1995 paper below on Ethnoconsumerism (citation below). It's a beautifully written paper that feels intellectually and spiritually moving at the same time. When I read it I felt as if the words has fallen out of the sky onto self-organizing fractals of joy. After 3 years of sociology coursework, I've become averse at times to theories by sociologists because the words just don't stick in my brain or they just don't inspire me anymore. There was something this 1995 piece that helped me deconstruct 3 years of wonderful and hellish sociological self-discovery to even learn about the cultural divide within the field of sociology (culture vs structure or culture as interpretive model). Dr. Venkatesh, coming from a business/economics background, beautifully reconstructs all the various authors of the interpretive tradition who I have come to love. He has inspired me to think of these authors - such as Geertz, in a new way for my own work on new technology users.
I will be thinking about this methodology for a while as I try to figure out if this framework makes sense for my dissertation. So I will be writing more about this model. In the meantime, two things come to my mind: how I can apply this for my research and how this intersects with Stuart Halls, et. al. 1997 book on Sony Walkmans. How do I apply this this my research?
study how new users use their technology as culturally constituted behavior.
Do not treat new tech users as objects.
Do not treat their practices as economically motivated.
People use techology to get things done. It is my job to understand as an outsider what is being "done" in their context.
Don't be culturally reductive by picking one feature of the culture and anchoring all analysis around the feature.
If I want to compare two different regions with a cultural framework - this takes a realllllly long time because I have to understand the cultural categories and experiences of all the sites.
Circuit of Culture In 1997, Stuart Hall, Paul Du Gray, and Linda James published Doing cultural studies: the story of the Sony Walkman. They created a model for the analysis of cultural objects called the circuit of culture. On page 3, they show this graph below. The book walks one through on how to deconstruct the Sony walkman as a cultural object.
In an upcoming post, I would like to discuss ways I could combine Ethnoconsumerism and the Circuit of Culture to work for my research. What's interesting is that while both authors are talking about objects and the people who use the, these are two slightly different approaches. I want to think about to spatialize these approaches. I need to give this some more thought so until the next post on this!
Suggested Reading:
Gay PD, Hall S, Janes L. Doing cultural studies: the story of the Sony Walkman. SAGE; 1997.
Easterly W. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. Penguin Press; 2006. "Ethnoconsumerism: A New Paradigm to Study Cultural and Cross-cultural Consumer Behavior," Alladi Venkatesh. Marketing in a Multicultural World, J.A. Costa and G. Bamossy (eds.), SAGE Publications, 1995, 26-67.