Because of recent news relating to the development [re-development] of Cherrywood in the South of County Dublin I decided to see if I had any relevant photograph but the earliest usable photographs were taken in July 2013. I do know that I did photograph the area in 2010 and possibly in 2009 but I cannot locate the original photographs.

 

This photograph was taken in 2013 but nothing really changed between 2010 and 2013,

 

Back in 2010 I made the following comment online:

 

“The New Luas Extension Has Been Criticised By Commuters Who Cannot Park.”

 

“When it comes to transport in Dublin there have been two success stories in recent years. The DublinBike scheme is one and the other is the Luas tram system. Last Monday was a beautiful sunny day and after photographing the Dublin Marathon I decided that it would be a good idea to get the Luas to Cherrywood to see if I could take a few photographs. It was explained to me, by a gentleman that I met on the tram, that the land is now tied up in NAMA and as a result it cannot be developed as a park and ride facility. Commuters were turned away from the new Cherrywood terminus on opening day as there were no parking facilities available.”

 

“Cherrywood is one of Dublin's newest suburbs and as can be seen from my photographs it is partly developed and there are some very large empty spaces and believe it or not there is a shortage of parking spaces. Some time ago a decision was made to extend the Sandyford (Green) Luas line to Cherrywood and construction started in February 2007 and the line became operational this month (October 2010) There are now two Luas stops in Cherrywood: Cherrywood and the terminus, Brides Glen.”

 

I would suggest that the tram stop at Laughanstown could be described as being in the area.

 

FRIDAY 10 FEB 2016:

 

Hines Ireland has officially started work on the first key phase of construction at Cherrywood in South County Dublin. If all goes well up to 30,000 people will live at Cherrywood by early in the next decade meaning that it will be as large as Bray and even larger than a town such as Athlone.

  

Brian Moran said, “The upfront delivery of the roads, cycle and pedestrian network and three wonderful parks is a pivotal moment for the Cherrywood project. These will be the green lungs for this modern new town and this not only strikes the right environmental note for Cherrywood to come but it also underpins our commitment to expedite the delivery of the 4,000 modern new homes within the Hines land holding."

 

"We are acutely aware of the enormous public demand for new housing stock and the submission of planning for the new €875 million Cherrywood Town Centre in the coming months will include 1300 new smart design apartments as part of this highly ambitious plan.”

 

In 2014, Hines acquired Cherrywood in South Dublin. The two components of this investment include an existing 52,000-square-meter office park and a 390-acre master-planned development site. The Cherrywood site has been acquired with approval for the construction of a new, retail-led mixed-use town center; up to 3,800 apartments and houses; and zoning capacity to expand the second largest office park in Dublin to three times its current size.

 

Mr. Moran is the Senior Managing Director responsible for developing Hines’ Ireland projects. He established the Hines platform in Ireland which currently has more than €1.2 billion of retail, office and residential assets under management, in addition to a major development pipeline which includes an additional €500 million of retail development and over 4,000 residential units. He rejoined the firm in 2011 having previously worked with Hines in Russia in the 1990's.

If you are a teacher, I'm sure you will be able to relate to this.

Any teacher who has something important for their students to remember will use a dry erase marker and write the math problems or test dates on the board. These pens are as invaluable as chalk was 20 years ago. Remember chalk? How it sounded as you wrote? How it got your fingers dry and white, and it managed to get on your face or clothes? Remember the unforgettable sound that your fingernails made on the chalkboard when the chalk was worn down, but you didn't want to waste it, so you used it till it was almost gone? Who could forget that?

Well, that's all in the past now. Now we have stinky markers that make you gag with the fumes. Sometimes the boards won't erase properly, so there's a mixture of all the colors on the board. And just when you have something really, really important to write, you take the cap off and try to write. You discover the tip is worn down to almost nothing, and the marker is just about as dry as the bottom of the ocean without water. lol

The classroom I was in today was stocked with beautiful dry erase markers, all colors, red, green, blue and black, all brand new, odorless, even. I'm happy to say, it's the little things in life that give me pleasure.

It's nice to see how far we've come from the days of slamming two really large erasers together to clean them. It makes me sneeze just thinking about it.

My picture today is a tribute to the new and improved chalk.

 

‘Pasting (from AUGUST STRINDBERG'S 'THE DREAM PLAY')’

 

CHRISTINE. I paste, I paste.

THE DAUGHTER. [Pale and emaciated, sits by the stove] You shut out all the air. I choke!

CHRISTINE. Now there is only one little crack left.

THE DAUGHTER. Air, air—I cannot breathe!

CHRISTINE. I paste, I paste.

THE LAWYER. That's right, Christine! Heat is expensive.

 

Talia: “The characters split, double, multiply, evaporate, condense, dissolve and merge. But one consciousness rules them all: the dreamer's; for him there are no secrets, no inconsistencies, no scruples and no laws. He does not judge or acquit, he merely relates”

 

Ruin: The wonderful Mister Strindberg. Waving here. Whilst un-pasting, even.

 

It’s all a bit like that, I guess. Unravelling, perhaps, more so. But there is a definite picking apart. I almost feel like I have ‘breakthroughs’ every morning, though there might be some self-delusion there. I am aware of my neediness, that yearning for some sort of acknowledgement, central to posting here on Flickr, the text with the images. That is now stopping, I am unlearning that ‘habit’ currently, un-pasting it, unravelling it, whatever. But I can’t spend too much time on that, it’s time to make the move. I think I have done it.

 

I have started to write alone, for and to myself. I can do it. I even found ‘Rock’ to help me out, a fictitious character, an ‘anti-me’. I know. He might, or might not, become fully-fledged, an amalgamation of ‘daddy voices’, a character in himself. He might fade away with time, I have no idea. I am continuing to write.

 

This frees me up, I don’t have to worry about censorship, offending anybody, or being cancelled. There’s an idea, like I care about being cancelled anyway. How more cancelled’ can one be? Death does that eventually and is the only cancellation that is of mild interest, even.

 

Yes, to the world out there, its stupid wars, and its unravelling climate-wise. I am not going to be going out there throwing tomato soup over, oil-painted, water lilies. Each to his own. I have never driven, and never will, and will more than likely never fly again, having not done so for 12 years now. I will wear extra jumpers and turn off the heat. I will continue to write, pasting up those cracks. I won’t be sending money to charitable causes where the head of the board drives a car or takes planes to emergency climate meetings. With a total pension of 500 Euros a month, why would I send money to any charity?

 

Hopefully I will overcome this schizophrenia, this pasting/unpasting, by removing myself further, this quarantine.

 

It’s a bit scary, but ho-hum, that’s life. Ernaux has been wonderful to read, a tonic in these times, the self, that core, extended outwards shamelessly, Sadean and true, wonderfully desperate.

 

I will always have room for you, and will always answer you, and love your incursions.

 

I might not play so much with images anymore, but will continue to put things up on Flickr, more everyday notes, like a visual journal, a day by day diary. I have been using it as a research place for a while now, putting up other reminders for myself, like the one attached, just visual notes.

 

just memory enhancers...

 

And yes, there is an awful lot of writing, and I will try to make it into what is called a book. If any of it is any good, it might survive, if it's not any good, then it won't. I can't judge it, being in the middle of it, and am too busy to bother to even try. Time will tell, and I won't be around for that telling, either way, anyway.

 

I disagree with that “You can’t call yourself a writer ... when you’ve never actually written a book!”. You can call yourself anything you want, the world doesn't have to concur, but that, ultimately doesn't matter.

 

Self-delusion might be at the core of every individual, so embracing that might be a beginning.

 

It's interesting that this brings up a pithiness in me, it's very uncomfortable, but at least interesting to acknowledge. It's a huge failing in me, I have no doubt about that, forty shades of green and all that palaver.

 

Screaming 'love me' relentlessly sure wears one down. I suspect though that this might eventually be a good thing, that wearing down. Hope springs eternal!

 

Paste, unpaste, pick apart and tangle up. Gordian knots, go figure. I like realising how awful I am; it's a great first step.

  

Rack, I guess you are, for now, the only sounding board I am not relinquishing. I know I can do it without you, but I love doing it with you. It is, of course, totally up to you if you want to play the muse role or not. Rock is proving to be a great help, a godsend, even.

 

Enjoy those 40 variations of verdure.

 

Rock: Okay, so you have begun to be more methodical with the keeping of a diary, I think that might be a good idea, to have some continuity. It can feed in and out of what you are writing too.

 

Ruin: Yes, that’s the idea. Of course, it’s inspired by Ernaux, but also by Rack. Rack, apparently, has written every day for as long as I have known her, and obviously well before that too (Yes, there was life before me). This means she knows dates, the exact date we met, the days of our screaming/laughing walks, shared hysterics, and the dates of other huge events in her own life, ones I can only guess approximately. Like the day she discovered she also had Hep-c, on top of her principal fatal disease. In 1988 that’s exactly what it was, there was no talk then of it being manageable. She has always been at great pains to point out to me that these diary entries are just that, the bones of each day, just a record of what happened on that day. Rack has always been spare, the opposite of me. I guess it’s one of the many reasons I am drawn to her. I have always loved to coax out ‘trusting’ from the overly cautious, it’s one of my many failings.

 

I find hesitancy beautiful.

 

I have even asked her for some dates, like what was that date we met, the day of that break in filming in the ‘Moondance Diner’. There is always this sort of vague ‘promise’ of her telling me, of giving me that information, but it isn’t really a promise, more an indication that I was heard, and that, perhaps, I don’t need to know, like it’s one step too far. I love this privacy dance. There are so many ways in which Rack is beyond generous. She is more than right in this preserving of her own bones.

 

As it happens, I don’t really need dates. I can even get the year slightly wrong, and the story would still be exactly the same. I don’t even know on which dates my mother and father died, I know I could search for it in those million words of emails, or Flickr posts, but I don’t have that knowledge in my head. It’s on a hard drive external to me. It’s not something I am proud of, it’s just true. Jeffrey died of Aids sometime in 1991, I think. I helped him die, stopped him universally hemorrhaging with morphine, and I don’t even remember the date.

 

Who believes in dates or calendars anyway?

 

Answer: Obviously Rack and Annie Ernaux do. I love that they do, so I might give it a go here.

 

It might even alleviate the squandering of days, in becoming a daily chore, like brushing your teeth or having a good dump. I suspect it might even become pleasurable, rather like the latter of those two chores.

 

I did follow Rack down the HIV route, some 15 years after she tripped-up potholing. I didn’t follow her down that Hep-c boreen. Perhaps something had kicked-in, in between times. Perhaps our emails had sobered me up, or maybe the childhood abuse was already healing. Either way, Rack sloughed off that liver lurgy, hip-hip-hooray for science, and now we only have this one ‘manageable’ death sentence to negotiate together, side by side whilst forever apart. We now get to catfish each other gloriously.

 

I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, ask for more. Knowing she is out there, and apparently immortal, is more than enough. We share a certain sardonic humour about it all, recalling her “The year of my so-called death” in 1988, a year I initially got wrong at first, erroneously placing us in 1997 in ‘The Moondance Diner’.

 

What’s 34, or is it 35, years between friends?

 

Rack as Nora, Nora as Rack

 

Rack never blurted; she always controlled her output. The effect was precise and Protestant, “I found out I am HIV positive a few days ago.”

 

“Oh Christ”, Ruin blurted, Catholic to the hilt.

 

Ruin was always an outlet for Rack, almost like a delinquent spokesperson, the stuttering utterer of the unspeakable. He had the ability to take the private into the realm of the universally available with consummate ease. She didn’t. It was something she greatly feared and something she instinctively grasped that early summer morning in 1987, in the 'Moondance Diner', on 6th Avenue and Grand. She knew she was making the personal public. She was undoing herself.

 

He possessed that strange gift, the one imposed and imprinted, like the mark of Cain, on the sexually molested child, of having no facility to recognise boundaries, no ability to be able to tell the personal and private apart from what could be made generally available. She knew that he was her surrogate broadcaster and momentarily shuddered at the stranger, whom she had spontaneously trusted, sitting opposite her. This understanding hung between them as they ordered breakfast.

 

Their opening was torturous and drove them scurrying apart. It was more than either of them could handle, Rack racked with regret for exposing this opening wound and Ruin incapable of carrying the story alone. Their rehabilitation was slow and arduous. It was a time when to speak these words was a declaration of the almost immediate dissolution of self. It was a time before the hope generated by the misnomered cocktails and the political agitation, which was to burgeon out of despair and become Act- Up. It was a time before anything could be done except grasp at straws. So, both started grasping and would occasionally find themselves in the same room drawn to the same possible panacea. Rack’s volition was desperation. Ruin’s was guilt. They acknowledged each other with some embarrassment and growing affection and more often than not turned away from each other and left separately. Ruin knew he loved Rack. Rack was not at all sure.

 

Dear Rack,

 

Just sending you back some words you once sent to me:

 

“I have often thought that writers do not write; they read what is already written and transcribe. So perhaps they are not complaining about ill health, lack of money, and rejection, but about the bondage of a calling that keeps them laboriously transcribing cryptic messages in rapidly disappearing ink, like the traces of a dream, year after year...."

 

Thinking of how romantic you are.... even if it is all so appalling to live through.

 

We seem to endure, and hopefully will continue to do so for a little while longer.

 

Love,

Ruin

  

Rack: There they are. And there they aren’t. I love them like I could never love them.

 

Ruin: Yes indeed, there we are and there we aren't. I like finding an image of us, whilst telling a mis-remembered story. I like that we have inadvertently grown older than we expected, and are growing towards not hating ourselves through the writing of it out, and I love that we have written to each other over 35 years and I have squirrelled it all away to draw ‘Artificial Intelligence’ images out of. This image is made from us, but is not exactly us. This A.I. is a late life gift.

 

I dreamt about Rock. He didn’t look at all like me, which sort of surprised me. I am not sure why. We were in bed together, and we were spooning. I was trying it on, of course, which used to be my wont in the intervening years between the rupture and the present, pushing back on him, and he was telling me no, that it was inappropriate, and not what we both needed. Of course, it put me in mind of James, my uncle, and I agreed with Rock. Yes, he was right.

 

Rock was big spooning me, tenderly, lovingly, it felt good, it felt completely nonsexual, there was no pressure against my back. I was a very small spoon. Once I accepted these new, strange, parameters, I was relieved, perhaps more so because I am now, at 68, enjoying being inviolate, and my dream sort of knew this, even though I was young in the dream. There was a weird sort of retrospective knowing. I felt as vulnerable as I was then, but I somehow knew that Rock was right. He said, “you want to talk about James, don’t you?”. Again, he was right, I did. The Pope was also in the dream, not in the bed, but he might as well have been. I can’t remember why he was there, what he was up to. I just remember thinking he must be the biggest tourist-draw in the world, now that Liz is dead, at least as an individual. This seemed, and even now seems, incontrovertible.

 

This diary thing suits me. I start typing as soon as the computer kicks on, before I take my first of three morning pills, before I have time to forget. I still have no idea if Putin has decimated Kherson overnight, or if there is a new universal plague working its terror outside our front door. The world will do what it does. It will work its way into my consciousness all in good time, no man being an island and all that palaver. I really have to stop saying that. The initial diary entry can just sit there uncompleted, a memory jogger, to be filled in, fleshed out, or concluded later, constituting what Rack might call “The bones of the night”.

 

Ok, the bones are established, I can take a peep. Al Jazerra is screaming:“ ‘Too loud is true’: Is Russia setting a Trap in Kherson? “. The madness of the everyday asserts itself, stretching out before breakfast, echoing Blanchot. But back to Uncle James, and other personal insanities.

 

I never pushed back on James, or did I? I don't know. I was a needy child. I was stupidly innocent, young, ignorant, or perhaps just unschooled. He was the predator, put in my bed by my mother. I was the ‘victim’. Unfortunately, this victimhood status seems to be a very hardy perennial, one that flowers even for the whole life of that plant, or the person, but not only does it flower once yearly, it flowers often, and whenever it wants to. It’s more like a very persistent budding weed, a knot weed of sorts. The Gordian aspect of it all is perhaps gilding that description. But it is there. Either way, unravelling it can take a lifetime. There are shortcuts through it, suicide or running riot with a chainsaw, slicing through it like Alexander the Great, that sort of thing, but Ruin was always glad he hadn’t resorted to those. No, he decided he would gnaw at the knot, hopelessly hoping that nobody would notice his teeth wearing down.

 

Of Boreen Raging (A Silverfish Book)_Photo below.

 

People noticed of course.

 

Anyway Ruin, his pronouns are ‘he’ and ‘him’, is that third person descriptor of the protagonist here, and I am going to write this in the first person. Afterall it is just an early-morning diary entry written to, and for, me, so all subterfuge can be dropped.

 

Rock: I get what you are saying there, but you do know that’s virtually impossible, don’t you? Do you really think you can tell the ‘truth’, even to yourself, I mean, can anyone?

 

Ruin: Yes, Rock, I think he gets that, but you are right to point it out. Perhaps we both need to shut up and just see what he comes up with.

 

Rock: Get you Ruin! Move over King Solomon, there’s a contender in court.

 

Ruin: More of a pretender, but whatevs! Let’s try shutting-the-fuck-up.

 

Either way, I won’t be rushed in this. It will come out in its own time. It will come out. I might write more later today, or I might not. It’s not a question of ‘waiting for the muse’, it’s more letting things percolate. You two, Rock and Ruin, can chime in whenever you want, don’t hold back, I appreciate your input even if I don’t always agree with you. Rack has flown from New York to Ireland, she’s there now. I am thinking about her proximity to Amsterdam (my current home), and ever-present absence. She can still tolerate being there, I can’t. My imagination won’t allow me even to contemplate ever being there again. I can’t see that changing, but I can consider the remote possibility of being wrong about that.

 

As an aside, Annie Ernaux came a little closer to what I wrote about her earlier, that de Sade connection via de Beauvoir, in a quote from her diary in ‘Getting Lost’, page 178:

 

“A descent into sadomasochism, but gentle, without violence (because of the combination of sodomy and ‘normal’ sex - bruised all over, at one point, I thought I was torn). He said, ‘Annie, I love you’, and I didn’t attach any importance to it because it was during sex”

 

My convoluted mind connects this with the abuse in my early teens, I am not sure why it does, it just does. Hence, my need to let things percolate.

 

There was a point, towards the very end of that rupture, when Uncle James, said he loved me. There was no victory there at all, other than getting him permanently out of my bed, which was in itself huge. Strangely it more or less happened at the same time as I seemed to, miraculously, overcome my stammer. I have never understood that. Actually, I do sort of sense what that means though I will need some time to be able to describe that ‘vanquishing’.

 

I think I was 15 years old.

 

Saint Annie hits the nail on the head again, driving it further into that sprawling green Grünewald-ean hand.

 

Look, the stutter is gone, and I am no longer just a set of holes.

  

01/11/2022

 

I dreamt about some right-honourable-members last night, or early this morning. They weren’t ‘in full flight’ members, not ‘virilis’ or anything, just cuddly soft ones, nestled, slumbering in, pre-depilation, retro pubes, with their hoods drawn over their dry little heads. The word ‘cute’ comes to mind. They were attached to unrecognisable individuals, those cuddly coils, one of whom seemed to be collecting money in one of those plastic collecting thingies that those people outside the supermarket carry, trying to relieve you of your spare change for some good cause or other. Their days might be somewhat numbered, those collectors, what with everyone in the queue seemingly flashing their iPhones at the scanners nowadays, so that cash seems to be becoming redundant, going the way of that downy cushion of pubes, following advancement and the new century, like the rest of everything else, towards extinction.

 

Blessed, and much beloved redundancy, all part and parcel of this rush towards endless growth and a brave new post-tumescent world. Bring it on. Being chaffed off is more than acceptable. It’s even interesting to be in the process of feeling the parts fall off. It all puts me in mind of watching Mark America die, yes that was his adopted name, as he watched, and described, his body working to “let me go”, as he put it. I couldn’t be beside his bedside for the whole duration, we were not that close, and he wanted time alone. I asked him would he like to have a camera to record dying, and he said that he really would. He was one of those artist types, incorrigible. I gave him a few disposable cameras, they were all the rage then in the late eighties or early nineties, whenever it was. You know me and dates. I can check though. The dates of his taking them were inscribed automatically on the photos themselves. I have the images; I will take a look.

 

It was later than I thought, 20/12/94 to be precise, coming on Christmas, not that far off the date when the pills became lifesavers. Mark missed that boat, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. He didn’t appear to have a ‘poor me’ bone in his body. Yes Ruin, shut up, I know I could take a page from his book, whilst inserting him into mine. Can you and Rock just withdraw for a moment, whilst I work this out?

 

I have no idea how he did it. He was ensconced in a private room in a salubrious midtown hospital, with a view out on that island in the Hudson, ‘Roosevelt Island’ by name. He could watch the famed aerial tram, a strangely placed type of ski-lift, go back and forth. I knew the area, from having worked up there on some interiors for ‘Parrish Hadley’, well for Arthur Hadley really, Sister Parrish having recently done her own sloughing off. I used to do these interiors, so called ‘special finishes’, Venetian Stucco and the like, to support my making of the ‘Ikons’, those memorialising, honouring, pieces which were part and parcel of my meeting with Mark in that hospital. Some of those pieces are now ensconced in the ‘Irish Museum of Modern Art’. Mark didn’t live long enough to be included in that set of 40 gold-leaf pieces, though we initially met to discuss the possibility.

 

Mark was English originally, I never knew his family name, something else he had sloughed off, becoming an ‘illegal alien’ artist, with no health insurance, taking on the name of his host country. He was a fellow raving homo in the middle of a raging plague. Of course, we loved each other instantly. What was not to love? That love lasted all of three weeks, just allowing him enough time to bring in the New Year and die. How he ended up in a private room in the ‘Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital’, I will never know. I did ask, but he waved the question off as inconsequential. He was right, what mattered was that he was there, with a catheter tube snaking out of his, fully on display, nestled and swollen trouser-snake.

 

He loved its redundancy. I must admit that I loved its redundancy too, it was infectious, but I even more loved his total acceptance, his embracing, of his devolving.

 

Or was it evolving?

 

I remember him say “Look at me, look what my body has to do to let me go. Isn’t it remarkable?”, whilst gesturing towards his family jewels. We both laughed. Yes, it was remarkable, it was a rhetorical question. He appeared to have no anger at all. It wasn’t every day that you would walk into a room and be encountered by a man, a veritable stranger, in a hospital bed with his ‘Scolaro’ out, swollen and pierced by a red dangly tube, leading to a bag attached to the side of the bed. Don’t worry, the full etymology of the word ‘Scolaro’ will follow shortly, but you will know from a few paragraphs above that I am talking about his ‘John Thomas’, those offending members do seem to be the subject for discussion this good morning. Those of a delicate nature might choose to look away, though it is possibly a mite too late now for one of those ubiquitous ‘trigger warnings’. I shall endeavour not to allow my description, my feeling my way into this delicate subject, become too purple.

 

I am looking at a photograph of him now, and no, I am not crying, neither am I sad. He was, and is, formidable, holding his swollen uncut member in his hands, swollen by the substantial tube disappearing into it. The tube itself is forked, the part outside his body, I mean. One fork is sealed off with some sort of stopper, the other fork continues into a long plastic tube, snaking off the side of the bed to a slowly filling bag. I presume the second forked, and stoppered, tube is for ingress, for whatever drugs might be needed to facilitate the body’s acceptance of this intrusion, perhaps some anaesthetising agent.

 

Mark is wonderfully alert, obviously talking to me, but, for the most part, I can’t remember what he was saying. I suspect he was just getting on with being very much alive, and he was letting me record it. I guess that it might have been at that point that I asked him if he would like me to get him some disposable cameras. I knew the answer before I asked.

 

He was still handsome, thin but handsome, with a fashionable goatee beard thing, just on his chin, in the middle of his otherwise cleanly-shaven face. I would guess that he was around 34 at the time. We didn’t really discuss age and birthdays.

 

Come to think of it, it was about one year after I had my first New York exhibition ‘Saints and Survivors in a Time of Plague’. I showed 6 or 8 of the ikons in that show, and ‘The Sodomy Piece’. If my memory serves me rightly, Kelly, one of the ‘ikon’ sitters, introduced me to Mark, and this was how I ended up sitting by his very entertaining bedside. I know, a strange descriptor for that type of vigil, but Mark was full on. I know, ‘ikons’ as opposed to icons, and survivor is missing its ‘u’, but hey, I was American too. Both Rack and Ruin, our titular duo are both represented in these ikons, with perhaps 40 other ‘saints’ and some survivors, even.

 

Mark died 3 weeks later, and left me the disposable cameras, with his last images.

 

I still have them.

 

An Open Beaver

 

Ray: I know you don’t need me, or anyone else, to say this but, Ruin, you’ve done great! And of course far more than great.

 

Ruin: I am not very confident about it, but I am doing it anyway. We get as far as we get.

 

You too.

 

Thank you for saying that. I got your message just as I was going to bed. Yes, to your list above...No interest in (sex, alcohol, travel, parties, people)...I am there too, completely. The rest is extra, though I have said that before. I am still planning to write until I drop, for no other reason other than I enjoy it, and it explains things to oneself.

 

I needed the musk of aging male. That wasn't a choice either, just a happenstance, debatably imprinted during the abuse, but more likely there from the beginning, that missing father stuff. Yes, we are doomed (doomed I tell you, doomed, intoned as a comic aside), that has never been not so, from the beginning of time, and will never be any different. Everything dies, get over it. It’s that universal story to do with what it means to be mortal, and no bloody big deal, whilst being at the same time, for us, the biggest deal of all.

 

Vermeer, Klimt, Grünewald, all great describers in their own time. I am only interested in the now of Putin, Covid and the rest of the sorry travesty (all of which I love, go figure). The world can sink or blow itself up, I will describe it until I cannot. End of story.

 

I don't mind being a demented fool, and getting HIV was not a mistake, or a misfortune.

 

It was a coping mechanism, like everything else. I must say that I am tired of decent good people. Decent good family people, decent good priests and nuns, decent good businessmen and bank managers, decent good 'professionals' and politicians, decent good artists, decent good billionaires. I am most thankful that I never had to take a machine gun to them all, like some poor unfortunates with access to a machine gun license in America, and elsewhere. I am so pleased I only really ever hurt, damaged, 'killed' myself even. That's decency personified in my book.

 

We did, and are doing, okay, and feck all the begrudgers.

 

Well then, that's all the hard edges knocked off at last!

 

Ray: I feel the same way about my whoremongerings. In the post-ménopausique I can see, rationally, that it is sexual exploitation. I was taking advantage of the disadvantaged: poor women in a developing country.

 

Ruin: The whole world is at it; it's what nature does, red in tooth and claw, and all that cliched stuff. The weak are eaten, that includes everyone, the self even, there is always someone stronger. It's the veneer of dignity and pseudo decency I find offensive, especially that dressed in religion and etiquette, propriety, decency and chivalry.

 

The Conjoined Origins of Chivalry and the Humble Domestic Can Opener (Photo attached below).

 

a 'de Selby' classic essay (currently unavailable).

 

'There's many a slip twixt cup and lip', as the old saying goes.

 

Ruin: I suspect he might need a can opener to use the urinal.

 

Seven: Such beautiful lighting for an isolation of desperation. Nobly knelt before the unthought of his decisions. Very much the religious approach and a hilarious reduction of the original taking the knee.

 

Ruin: and this was years, verily centuries, before the advent of the electric can-opener too.

  

Of course, the knights and Samurai of yore, or whatever local military brute force available, would build chivalrous systems based on manners and church-sanctioned decency. They could afford it through the patronage of the top, vicious, dogs, who themselves had evolved through combining brute force with intelligence. It’s evolution at work, that survival of the fittest, nothing noble about it, except in the same idea that defines the ‘Noble gasses’ in the periodic table. They are a chemical fluke that created a class system, wholly natural and infinitely exploitable, and exploiting. Of course, I have no problem with this, how could I?

 

It’s the dressing it all up as ‘decent’ and ‘dignified’, those with ‘manners’ and ‘breeding’ against the ‘Not quite our class, dear’, and then using those ideas as weapons to control. This is partially what I have a problem with. I also know that this story has been told forever, but that’s possibly why it needs to be told, continuously updating it. I don’t think either that humankind is the only facet of everything that tells ‘stories’. The entirety of everything does, it’s about consciousness. I am afraid I am one of those who believe that everything (and non-thing) is conscious, or as the bible says somewhere “The very stones themselves will cry out”. Stories are that ‘crying out’ made manifest.

 

‘Choice’ would be a fine thing, but in my ‘system’ it doesn’t exist. But you know this already.

 

Either way, it is the system I am going to use to describe. It’s the same one I used for forty years whilst visually describing, now I want to take that into words. Writing, or making art, is not a choice. They are both compulsions and survival mechanisms. I see this true of everything we do, including murder, suicide, rape and whoremongering. Sometimes we have to quarantine ourselves to control these compulsions. Those of us who don’t have the compulsion to rape and murder are very lucky indeed.

 

I suspect that empathy grows out of that seedbed, the recognition that we are all capable of the worst atrocities, but by sheer happenstance, and luck, we haven't had to utilise those methods as, what appears to be, our only route for survival. We accidentally, and thankfully, found other ways, in keeping with our natures and conditioning. You gotta luv Darwin.

 

❤️

 

That heart was for Charles, not for my statement.

 

By the way, your name is Ray in the 'book'. I was going to just use 'J', but that, of course, suggests its own name.

 

Ray: As life wears on, and, on reflection, I have come around to your understanding of the meaning of the word ‘choice’. For example, I have no choice about testosterone withdrawal taking away my libido or interest in sex, just as I had no choice about its onset, aged 12, and everything that arose from that. But I do suspect there are categories of choice/no-choice, and that example of the no-choice effect of hormones on behaviour is but one. As far as choice governs conduct, I know I’d be lying if I said I had no choice about whether or not to have sex with a prostitute: it was always a conscious choice, as was the choice to use condoms, even if the libidinous impulse itself wasn’t. Those choices we *are* responsible for, I think, like it or not. And when it comes to crime and law-breaking, criminal law holds us responsible.

 

I am very glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to escape marrying someone I don’t love, having children I don’t want, and doing a dead-end job I hate, to keep all that going. I think that is the lot of many heterosexual men. I can see how that might generate resentment and violence. All thanks to the hormones which make all this happen.

 

Ruin: Yes, to that, but there are other, equally powerful, drivers at work, an infinite number of them, even. I don't see self-quarantining as a 'choice' either, it's a survival mechanism, as is my cuckoo instinct, my moving into already built nests. Anyway, all that is my 'starting point', even if I am wrong.

 

I am somewhat of a mind with Miro on that one, start with a point (a full stop, even), then take that point for a walk. Start with an idea, erroneous or not (who's right and who is wrong anyway?) and begin to walk it forward.

   

"730 Hours of Violence" is a project that aims to shed light on such complex realities while holding critical discussions with citizens about how we collectively see and relate to new paradigms of violence.

 

Photo: Florian Voggeneder

Papers relating to the Race Relations Act of 1965

 

GB127.M784/7

Carrigeen Castle has featured in columns of the New York Times, Sunday Times, Kaleva (Finland), and Afton Bladet (Sweden) newspapers, besides several American and European publications relating to Ireland. In the mid-1990s, the Frommer Guide to Ireland took the opportunity of placing a picture of Carrigeen Castle on its front cover.

 

A defensible fortified structure was on this hilltop from at least the sixteenth century. The Pacata Hibernica depiction of the siege of Cahir Castle (1599) shows such a building. In 1690, during the Williamite campaign, earthen and stone outworks were erected around it, presenting an ideally defensible fortification for the Danish troops of William II who, during that winter, had quarters in Cahir and nearby Clonmel. Materials from this earlier structure were incorporated in the present building, while the associated outworks were adapted to serve as the castellated wall encircling the grounds.

 

In 1809, at the Summer Assize Presentments of the County Tipperary Grand Jury, funding was laid aside for the future provision of a bridewell in the town of Cahir. Bridewells (small town gaols) were generally small two-storey buildings, built of cut-limestone, and costing up to £800 to erect. They held prisoners temporarily, pending space in the county gaol, and were funded by the grand jury system (predecessors of the county councils), but supplementary central resources were also available, in certain circumstances. At Cahir, a committee led by local landlord, Richard Butler, baron of Caher – soon to become first earl of Glengall – was successful in attracting over twice the usual funding. Their chosen architect – Michael Bernard Mullins - submitted two plans, both variants of the same elaborate, castellated structure, costing some £2,000 to build, which would emphasize the fortress origins of the site and overawe the local population. This involved the creation of towers, turrets, battlements and a machicolation (defence mechanism over the main door, through which boiling oil was thrown on attackers of medieval castles) of hand cut limestone, an expensive and time consuming process.

 

Construction of the Cahir Bridewell commenced in 1813, and it was opened for the admission of prisoners in 1816. The original section is three stories in height, with a cut-limestone spiral staircase in the main tower. It originally comprised five cells, two dayrooms, two keeper's rooms and two exercise yards, the latter incorporating obtuse and acute angles suggestive of late medieval starfort design. The inner grounds – comprising ½ acre – are encircled by a castellated wall and gateway arch, beyond which lies 5½ acres known as The Bridewell Field.

 

The bridewell was enlarged in 1849-50 – at the height of the Great Famine – when the prison compliment was increased to eight cells (four for males, three for females and one for drunken / violent prisoners), two dayrooms, two storerooms, and two exercise yards. An inter-connecting keeper's residence was also erected – comprising a kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and two bedrooms.

 

LIFE IN THE BRIDEWELL:

Cahir Bridewell received mention in several noteworthy publications due to its unique appearance and situation. Perhaps the earliest coverage, however, was in May 1827 when the local Clonmel Gazette newspaper carried the headline ‘two men escaped from Cahir Bridewell’. The men managed to escape unnoticed but were recaptured the following day. Following on from this incident, the parapet of the exercise yards was raised!

 

In 1837 The Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland stated ‘the bridewell is a handsome castellated building, containing five cells, one dayroom and two airing yards. However, the Inspector General of Prisons (Ireland) Reports of the 1830s and 1840s noted a great decline in the condition of the building, notice of which reached a more general readership in The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1846), which stated ‘The Gaol is distinct and suitable in architecture. A short time ago, it was remarkable for its dilapidated state and bad management, but in 1841 it underwent repair.’ The keeper was ‘a painter, who occupied the house for his trade’, and was ‘totally unsuitable to his office’.

 

Following this damning report, the superintendence of all bridewells of the south riding of Tipperary was placed under the governor of HM Richmond Prison, Clonmel – which was appropriate, given that these temporary places of confinement acted as reserve accommodation for that gaol. Thereafter, a system of training keepers and turnkeys at Clonmel gaol was utilised to great effect.

 

Also, their salaries were increased from £5 in the 1810s (from which minor repairs were paid, leaving little incentive for upkeep) to £30 by the early 1840s, gradually increased to £50 by 1876.

 

Due to the lawlessness and poverty of the period, large numbers were confined at Cahir Bridewell over the years. In the year September 1825 to September 1826, 156 prisoners were confined here for an average of three days (awaiting transfer to Clonmel Gaol), at an average cost of 5d. per head. Numbers confined continued to increase, peaking during the famine years when, during one quarter of 1851, 533 prisoners were confined. The prisoners were fed a pound of bread and a pint of new milk for breakfast, and a pound of bread and a pint of skimmed milk for dinner. The local Anglican clergyman was the inspector. Each cell contained, per person, one iron bedstead, one bed ticken and three blankets.

 

Engraving of 1853

 

This earliest view – an engraving from 1853 – was commissioned when the property was featured as a notable building in the auction catalogue of Cahir Estates. The Encumbered Estates Court sold the majority of the estate, as it had been bankrupted through town improvements and a lack of tenant rents during the Great Famine (1846-51).

 

Cahir Bridewell was one of 52 gaols closed by the prison authorities in 1878, as part of an island wide rationalization. The estate then leased the keepers’ residence to local military officers until the purchase of the building from Lt. Col. Richard Butler-Charteris by David Butler (1890-1955), in 1919. He continued the estate tradition of leasing the keeper’s residence, for a time, before residing here in retirement. Following the marriage in 1969 of his son, John (Séan) with Margaret (Peig), the couple commenced renovating the remainder of the building, which opened in May 1976, as a guest accommodation.

  

Pallavas always tend to relate themselves to lions, which can be observed from their names (Narasimha, Rajasimha, etc). It is not surprising to see this temple built by Pallava kings to be protected by Simma Yaalis all over. However, one can find 3 different types of Yaalis (யாளி) in the premises.

 

1. Simma Yaali (சிம்ம யாளி), which is found wherever one’s eyes would fall.

 

2. Yaanai Yaali (யானை யாளி / Elephant Yaali), which would be the second numerous creatures. However, there are enough number of natural elephant like sculptures on the border walls.

 

3. Makara Yaali (மகர யாளி; looks like Simma Yaali, but has horns on its head), which is found in a few instances (such as amongst the 9 dancers in image: www.flickr.com/photos/46639082@N05/9216713800/.

 

Yaalis are imaginary mythical creatures. Some people believe that they were real terrifying creatures that roamed ancient Tamil Nadu and South India and were driven to be extinct, though there are not enough evidences for such a school of thought.

 

Here is a pillar that is protected by 3 Simma Yaalis.

 

“The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.”

- Bertrand Russell

______________________________________________________________

 

it was extrememly hard for me to get this shot.. i am so glad i could capture it. the way i shot it was extremely funny.. Crea-tive photographed me while i struggled to take this shot. I might post it.. so look out for that one.

 

(for best viewing, have monitor brightness on highest)

立法會發展智慧城市事宜小組委員會參觀香港國際機場

立法会发展智慧城市事宜小组委员会参观香港国际机场

LegCo Subcommittee on Matters Relating to the Development of Smart City visits the Hong Kong International Airport (8.8.2022)

Dundalk overwhelm Bangor in All Ireland Final

by Roger Corbett

Bangor’s amazing run in the All Ireland Junior Cup came to an abrupt end when they were comprehensively beaten by Dundalk, eventually losing by 55-5.

Where do you start when trying to relate and absorb the events of Saturday’s final at Chambers Park? Firstly, congratulations to worthy winners Dundalk who nullified the Bangor attack, then went on to produce some stunning plays which racked up no less than 8 tries, each by a different player. For Bangor’s part, they were unable to respond to the intensity of Dundalk’s game, and lacked the cutting edge which their opponents used to great effect.

The day started full of promise, as the strong support from North Down made their way to Chambers Park in Portadown, knowing Bangor would be fielding their best team. Once again, the pundits had Bangor as the underdogs – just as they had done so in the previous three rounds! In confounding the experts earlier, Bangor produced some awesome performances against top quality opposition to get to the final. Dundalk had produced some convincing wins in the early rounds of the competition, but had struggled to get past CIYMS in the semi-final, just managing to squeeze ahead at the second time of asking. However, with a number of key players returning to the side in time for this game, they were now back at full strength and would be a formidable force to contend with.

Having won the toss, captain Jamie Clegg elected to play into the stiff wind in the first half. For the first 5 minutes, Bangor doggedly retained possession and tried to play their way into Dundalk’s half through a series of determined forward moves. However, little ground was made and, when possession was finally lost, the Dundalk back line produced a burst that simply cut through the Bangor defence resulting in an easy touch down under Bangor’s posts for a 7-0 lead.

Bangor stuck to their plan and slowly, but patiently, got their attack moving forward, eventually winning a penalty to the left of Dundalk’s posts, but Mark Widdowson’s kick into the wind drifted just wide of the mark.

The contrast in play between the two teams was becoming clear, with Bangor trying to keep the ball close while Dundalk were throwing it wide. The latter strategy was proving to be the more effective as, with 20 minutes gone, a quick back line move with players looping around resulted in an overlap on the right wing which gave a clear run in to again, score under the posts. A further 9 minutes later, they did it again and, although the Bangor defence had sensed the danger and moved across to cover it, their tackling let them down allowing Dundalk to get over in the right hand corner, taking their lead to 19-0.

By now, Bangor were trying to hang on until half time when they could regroup and come out with the wind at their backs. Dundalk, on the other hand were anxious to press home their advantage and give them a more comfortable lead. To Bangor’s credit, although camped on their own line for lengthy spells, they dug in and managed to hold on until the referee’s half time whistle.

As the teams reappeared from the dressing rooms, it was obvious Bangor were ringing the changes, particularly in the backs. With the wind advantage having lessened considerably, Bangor got the second half underway. It was now Dundalk’s turn to adopt the slow, steady approach, just as Bangor had done earlier. However, their more confident off-loading and support play was, once again, taking play deep into Bangor’s territory. Frustration at not being able to gain possession and take play out of their danger area eventually resulted in a yellow card for Clegg after a succession of penalties. Dundalk kicked the penalty to touch, won their lineout and drove for the line. Although initially held up by the Bangor defence, Dundalk’s repeated drives were eventually rewarded with another converted score, extending their lead to 26-0.

From the touchline, the Bangor faithful had felt that if their players had managed to score first in the second half, they may have been able to mount a fight-back and close the gap to their opponents. As it was, this Dundalk score simply bolstered their confidence and pushed Bangor deeper into trouble. With Bangor still a man down, Dundalk added to the score with a penalty and then another score in the corner. Everything was now working for the Leinster men, as even the difficult touchline conversion into the biting wind successfully split the posts, bringing the score to 36-0.

As the game entered the final quarter, and with Dundalk all but holding the cup, Bangor were now on the ropes. By contrast, the Dundalk players were in almost total control, and were not going to slow down now. In a 10 minute spell, they ran in a further 3 tries, making the scoreline 55-0. By now, any sense of dejection the Bangor supporters may have been feeling was now moved to feelings of sympathy for their players. However, pride was at stake and once again Bangor rallied as the game entered its final minutes. At last, the forwards got within striking distance of the Dundalk line and, although their repeated attacks were repelled, they finally managed to do what their opponents had done so effectively, and quickly passed the ball wide to Davy Charles. Even though they were 55 points ahead, the Dundalk defence made Charles work hard to drive through the tackles and score Bangor’s consolation try, bringing the final score to 55-5.

From Bangor’s point of view, the final score doesn’t tell the whole story of this competition. While the final may have resulted in a sad anti-climax for Bangor, the remarkable journey to get there will be remembered for some time. On the day, Dundalk were by far the better side, and Bangor would have to concede that their game was not up to the usual standard. However, there is no doubt the experience of competing at this level is something to relish and the goal now will be to secure a top four place in the league and try again next year.

Everybody at the club has nothing but the highest respect and praise for what has been achieved this year by not just the 1sts, but all the senior teams, and one poor result isn’t going to change that – the welcome at Upritchard Park for the returning players is testament to that. With that in mind, the players now need to put this disappointment behind them and provide the best possible response against a struggling Portadown side at home in the league next Saturday.

Bangor side: J Leary, A Jackson, P Whyte, F Black, G Irvine, R Latimer, J Clegg, C Stewart, R Armstrong, K Rosson, D Charles, M Aspley, M Weir, M Widdowson, C Morgan

Subs: S Irvine, O McIlmurray, D Kelly, M Rodgers, C Harper, D Fusco, M Thompson

Bangor scores: D Charles (1T)

Dundalk Storm To Title Dundalk 55 v Bangor 5 from KnockOn.ie

Dundalk Scorers: Christopher Scully, Owen McNally, Jonathan Williams, John Smyth, Ultan Murphy, Tiernan Gonnelly, James McConnon and Stephen Murphy 1 try each. Ultan Murphy 6 cons, 1 pen.

Bangor Scorers: David Charles 1 try.

In front of a big crowd at Chambers Park on Saturday afternoon Dundalk delivered a stunning and ruthless display to see off the challenge of Bangor and capture the All Ireland Junior Cup title for the very first time.

Three first half tries had them firmly in control at 19-0 ahead having played with the elements at the Portadown venue during the first half and while the wind dropped somewhat after half time the Dundalk intensity most certainly didn’t as they cut loose scoring five more tries.

Dundalk returned to a heroes welcome at their Mill Road clubhouse on Saturday night after a display of pure brilliance throughout the afternoon.

Precision, pace and skill from the Louth men from start to finish left Bangor playing second fiddle for long periods.

A second photo album relating to the Valdes Scott Family. The first album can be viewed here www.flickr.com/photos/runninginsuffolk/albums/72157665423... This album also turned up at a car boot sale but a year later than the other in 2017. Seems to date from 1951 and the birth of Roselle in Chile.

The Panel (or Bay) numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels (or Bays). Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative Panel (or Bay) numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panel (or Bay). Wheelchair access to the memorial is possible via an alternative entrance at the rear of Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery. Location Information: The Arras Memorial is in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The cemetery is near the Citadel, approximately 2 kms due west of the railway station.

 

The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917. The Commonwealth section of the FAUBOURG D'AMIENS CEMETERY was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulances and fighting units until November 1918. The cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from two smaller cemeteries in the vicinity. The cemetery contains 2,651 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. In addition, there are 30 war graves of other nationalities, most of them German. During the Second World War, Arras was occupied by United Kingdom forces headquarters until the town was evacuated on 23 May 1940. Arras then remained in German hands until retaken by Commonwealth and Free French forces on 1 September 1944. The cemetery contains seven Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. The graves in the French military cemetery were removed after the First World War to other burial grounds and the land they had occupied was used for the construction of the Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial. The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

 

Activity relating to the carrying of the more than 100 portable shrines (mikoshi) around the Asakusa neighbourhood to bless the businesses and residents with prosperity in the coming year.

 

Sanja Matsuri (Festival) at the Sensoji Temple, Asakusa,

Tokyo, Japan, 2016

 

Only the street shots - thestreetzine.blogspot.com/

This relates to my blog post

www.heatheronhertravels.com/a-cool-gelateria-in-nuoro-in-...

 

This photo is licenced under Creative commons for use including commercial on condition that you link back to or credit http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/.

 

See my profile for more detail.

 

Dundalk overwhelm Bangor in All Ireland Final

by Roger Corbett

Bangor’s amazing run in the All Ireland Junior Cup came to an abrupt end when they were comprehensively beaten by Dundalk, eventually losing by 55-5.

Where do you start when trying to relate and absorb the events of Saturday’s final at Chambers Park? Firstly, congratulations to worthy winners Dundalk who nullified the Bangor attack, then went on to produce some stunning plays which racked up no less than 8 tries, each by a different player. For Bangor’s part, they were unable to respond to the intensity of Dundalk’s game, and lacked the cutting edge which their opponents used to great effect.

The day started full of promise, as the strong support from North Down made their way to Chambers Park in Portadown, knowing Bangor would be fielding their best team. Once again, the pundits had Bangor as the underdogs – just as they had done so in the previous three rounds! In confounding the experts earlier, Bangor produced some awesome performances against top quality opposition to get to the final. Dundalk had produced some convincing wins in the early rounds of the competition, but had struggled to get past CIYMS in the semi-final, just managing to squeeze ahead at the second time of asking. However, with a number of key players returning to the side in time for this game, they were now back at full strength and would be a formidable force to contend with.

Having won the toss, captain Jamie Clegg elected to play into the stiff wind in the first half. For the first 5 minutes, Bangor doggedly retained possession and tried to play their way into Dundalk’s half through a series of determined forward moves. However, little ground was made and, when possession was finally lost, the Dundalk back line produced a burst that simply cut through the Bangor defence resulting in an easy touch down under Bangor’s posts for a 7-0 lead.

Bangor stuck to their plan and slowly, but patiently, got their attack moving forward, eventually winning a penalty to the left of Dundalk’s posts, but Mark Widdowson’s kick into the wind drifted just wide of the mark.

The contrast in play between the two teams was becoming clear, with Bangor trying to keep the ball close while Dundalk were throwing it wide. The latter strategy was proving to be the more effective as, with 20 minutes gone, a quick back line move with players looping around resulted in an overlap on the right wing which gave a clear run in to again, score under the posts. A further 9 minutes later, they did it again and, although the Bangor defence had sensed the danger and moved across to cover it, their tackling let them down allowing Dundalk to get over in the right hand corner, taking their lead to 19-0.

By now, Bangor were trying to hang on until half time when they could regroup and come out with the wind at their backs. Dundalk, on the other hand were anxious to press home their advantage and give them a more comfortable lead. To Bangor’s credit, although camped on their own line for lengthy spells, they dug in and managed to hold on until the referee’s half time whistle.

As the teams reappeared from the dressing rooms, it was obvious Bangor were ringing the changes, particularly in the backs. With the wind advantage having lessened considerably, Bangor got the second half underway. It was now Dundalk’s turn to adopt the slow, steady approach, just as Bangor had done earlier. However, their more confident off-loading and support play was, once again, taking play deep into Bangor’s territory. Frustration at not being able to gain possession and take play out of their danger area eventually resulted in a yellow card for Clegg after a succession of penalties. Dundalk kicked the penalty to touch, won their lineout and drove for the line. Although initially held up by the Bangor defence, Dundalk’s repeated drives were eventually rewarded with another converted score, extending their lead to 26-0.

From the touchline, the Bangor faithful had felt that if their players had managed to score first in the second half, they may have been able to mount a fight-back and close the gap to their opponents. As it was, this Dundalk score simply bolstered their confidence and pushed Bangor deeper into trouble. With Bangor still a man down, Dundalk added to the score with a penalty and then another score in the corner. Everything was now working for the Leinster men, as even the difficult touchline conversion into the biting wind successfully split the posts, bringing the score to 36-0.

As the game entered the final quarter, and with Dundalk all but holding the cup, Bangor were now on the ropes. By contrast, the Dundalk players were in almost total control, and were not going to slow down now. In a 10 minute spell, they ran in a further 3 tries, making the scoreline 55-0. By now, any sense of dejection the Bangor supporters may have been feeling was now moved to feelings of sympathy for their players. However, pride was at stake and once again Bangor rallied as the game entered its final minutes. At last, the forwards got within striking distance of the Dundalk line and, although their repeated attacks were repelled, they finally managed to do what their opponents had done so effectively, and quickly passed the ball wide to Davy Charles. Even though they were 55 points ahead, the Dundalk defence made Charles work hard to drive through the tackles and score Bangor’s consolation try, bringing the final score to 55-5.

From Bangor’s point of view, the final score doesn’t tell the whole story of this competition. While the final may have resulted in a sad anti-climax for Bangor, the remarkable journey to get there will be remembered for some time. On the day, Dundalk were by far the better side, and Bangor would have to concede that their game was not up to the usual standard. However, there is no doubt the experience of competing at this level is something to relish and the goal now will be to secure a top four place in the league and try again next year.

Everybody at the club has nothing but the highest respect and praise for what has been achieved this year by not just the 1sts, but all the senior teams, and one poor result isn’t going to change that – the welcome at Upritchard Park for the returning players is testament to that. With that in mind, the players now need to put this disappointment behind them and provide the best possible response against a struggling Portadown side at home in the league next Saturday.

Bangor side: J Leary, A Jackson, P Whyte, F Black, G Irvine, R Latimer, J Clegg, C Stewart, R Armstrong, K Rosson, D Charles, M Aspley, M Weir, M Widdowson, C Morgan

Subs: S Irvine, O McIlmurray, D Kelly, M Rodgers, C Harper, D Fusco, M Thompson

Bangor scores: D Charles (1T)

Dundalk Storm To Title Dundalk 55 v Bangor 5 from KnockOn.ie

Dundalk Scorers: Christopher Scully, Owen McNally, Jonathan Williams, John Smyth, Ultan Murphy, Tiernan Gonnelly, James McConnon and Stephen Murphy 1 try each. Ultan Murphy 6 cons, 1 pen.

Bangor Scorers: David Charles 1 try.

In front of a big crowd at Chambers Park on Saturday afternoon Dundalk delivered a stunning and ruthless display to see off the challenge of Bangor and capture the All Ireland Junior Cup title for the very first time.

Three first half tries had them firmly in control at 19-0 ahead having played with the elements at the Portadown venue during the first half and while the wind dropped somewhat after half time the Dundalk intensity most certainly didn’t as they cut loose scoring five more tries.

Dundalk returned to a heroes welcome at their Mill Road clubhouse on Saturday night after a display of pure brilliance throughout the afternoon.

Precision, pace and skill from the Louth men from start to finish left Bangor playing second fiddle for long periods.

Monument Historique :

Selon une tradition relatée par Mérimée, un enfant de choeur aurait été assassiné par un Juif en 1320, irrité de l'entendre chanter la naissance du Christ, puis enterré secrètement. Mais l'enfant de choeur ressuscita le dimanche des Rameaux, se mêlant à la procession et, passant devant la fontaine des Farges, au bas de la rue des Tables, accusa le meurtrier et le fit lapider. Afin de commémorer ce souvenir, cette fontaine fut élevée au 14e siècle. Elle était composée d'un large bassin au milieu duquel s'élevait un vase à large panse s'évidant du haut et surmonté d'un pilier gothique à pinacles et fleurons au sommet duquel était l'image sculptée du choriste. Le monument fut détruit en 1837. Le pilier gothique fut conservé et remployé dans la restauration de l'ouvrage précédent.

Eléments protégés :

Fontaine des Tables ou de l'Ange : classement par arrêté du 13 avril 1907

Périodes de construction :

14e siècle;15e siècle;19e siècle

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

PLEASE NOTE: -

“MUDA” is a singular word relating to one of the mercantile convoys sailing out of Venice each year.

“MUDE” is a plural word relating to several, or all, of the mercantile convoys sailing out of Venice each year.

 

27 leaves, leaf size 249mm x172mm (9 3/4ins. X 6 8/10ins.) with a text block of 172mm x 98mm (6 8/10ins. x 3 17/20ins.).

Single column, 29 lines in a superb, elegant, humanistic cursive minuscule script in black, probably all written by the same scribe. Many ascenders on the top line, and descenders on the bottom line, have been embellished.

 

This manuscript include two texts, the first being the Regulations of the Muda of Venice to Alexandria, and the second being the Journal of the Muda to Alexandria that set sail from Venice on 21st. May, 1504. The manuscript was probably written in that city in that year.

  

A FULL DESCRIPTION IS ATTACHED TO THE OVERVIEW.

 

Folio 5 recto (Original Folio 6 recto)

 

TRANSCRIPTION

 

(38)

lignum vel navigium armatu Vel disarmatum, vel merces ali -

quas de extra Culphum ad aliquas partes de intra Culphum alioquin

venetiis. Sub pena de L. pro .c . totius eius quod portaretur, vel mit -

teretur, aut discarricaretur contra hoc. Et si maiores pene inveni -

rentur apposite p alios ordines nostros, ille maiores pene exigatur

a contrafacientibus: et pro omni bono respectu est etiam ordinatum,

q de cetero nullis fidelis, vel districtualis Venetiarum possit levare

vel levari facere sup aliquibus navigiis armatis vel disarmatis ali -

quod havere Venetiarum subtile vel grossum quod foret conductum de

extra Culphum sub pena de. L .pro .Co . In quam penam etiam incur -

rant nostri Patroni navigiorum armatorum et disarmatorum super

quibus levaretur de Dicto havere : Et si levaretur de havere fo -

rensium cadant tam nostri patroni predicti, super quorum navigiis

levaretur, q nostri mercatores contrafacientes De . Co . Pro . Co . Valoris

eius in quo fuerit contrafactum. Et si maiores pene forent positae

sup hoc exigantur a contrafacientibus, Et predicta omnia inquiren -

da comissimus omnibus officialibus quibus comissa sunt qui banna

qui inquirant de contrafacientibus, et penas exigant habentes partem ut

de aliis sui officii. Et si fuerit Accusator habeat tertium, & sit

de credentia, officium, tertium, et Commune reliquum. Et perpea

Committimus tibi q predicta facias obsuari, & ingras de contra -

facientibus cum illa libertate, et conditione quibus est comissum

in Venetiis officialibus ante dictis, habendo partem sicut haberet

officiales. Et de dictis penis non potest ferie gratia sub pena du -

catorum mille pro quolibet ponentem vel contrafaciente partem in con -

trarium : & predicta revocari non possint nisi p sex Consiliari -

os, tria Capita de xLra. & tres partes consilii rogarum congregarum

ab octnaginta supra.

(39)NUllus ciuis noster vel habitator Venetiis vel alia persona

  

Folio 5 recto (Original Folio 6 recto)

 

POSSIBLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION

 

38. …............. stock or ship armed or unarmed or reward from any outside Culphum to any parts of the Culphum other than Venice under the penalty of 100 pounds instead of the whole of that which he was born with, or be sent to, or discharged against this. And if our ancestors found it appropriate through other means, they opposed a greater punishment being required, and with respect to all the other goods is ordered otherwise in the future it will not be believed that a distracted Venice can raise or levy on some boats or disarmed can have any Venetian fine or anything which would be hired from outside Culphum under penalty of 50 in which also incurs the penalty of our patron' boats upon which the amusement has taken place : And if the amusement of our patrons takes place in public then let them fall as aforesaid, upon whose boats there was amusements that have opposed the merchants 100 for 100 value of that in which it has been against the facts. And if the punishment that should be placed needs to be opposed and said everything looked affable to all officials who have imposed the banns are to enquire concerning who opposed and the pain brought with it as they possess a much apart as others in the same office. And it shall the plaintiff that may have a third, the entrusted officer a third and the commune the other third. And the aforesaid do entrust it, to suffer, and to enter into the battle with her, opposed to the liberty that had been made by officials in Venice, and as said before, the conditions as set out, as they would have been on the part of the officials. And concerning the said grace in the penalties nor can he make the pain of 1,000 ducats for any part of the holiday for any claims that can not be part of or opposed to the contrary, but that they cannot be recalled and to the aforesaid six councillors, three parts of the 40 and three parts to the council asked to store the 80 above.

39. None of our citizens or inhabitants of Venice or any other person …...........

Relating to a method of instruction involving sight

 

Detail of miniature from scroll relating the Mahabharata. Shows Krishna, armed with a bow and arrow, riding a chariot, aiming at another chariot which is following it.

 

One of two major Sanskrit epics of Ancient India, the Mahabharata tells the tale of a dynastic struggle between two sets of cousins for control of the Bharata kingdom in central India. One of the longest poems ever written, eclipsed only by the Gesar Epic of Tibet, it is said to have been composed between 900 and 400BCE by the sage Vyasa, although, in reality, it is likely to have been created by a number of individuals. To Hindus, it is important in terms of both dharma (moral law) and history (itihasa), as its themes are often didactic.

 

This scroll dates to 1795CE and was donated to the university in 1821 by Colonel Walker of Bowland. It is 13.5cm wide and 72m long and has 78 miniatures of varying sizes. All of the illustrations are in the late Mughul or Kangra style, with gold backgrounds and floral patterning in red, white and gold, as well as green leaves and blue diamond-shaped designs.

 

Sources:

www.brown.edu/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/M... (accessed 16/06/14).

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357806/Mahabharata (accessed 16/06/14).

The full LUNA record for this item is here: images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/UoEsha~4~4~61054~1...

© The University of Edinburgh Library

Michael Good relates his emotional experience at the end of one of his spacewalks during STS-132. Upon entering the payload bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the location brought back memories of his first shuttle flight, when he was one of six individuals servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.

 

The Silver Snoopy Award, also known as the astronaut’s personal award, recognizes NASA civil servants and contractors who have provided exemplary support of NASA’s Human Spaceflight Programs. To be selected, an individual must have made significant contributions to flight safety and mission success.

 

Those selected for the award receive the specially designed sterling Silver Snoopy lapel pin flown on a space shuttle mission, a letter of commendation, and a certificate presented by a member of the astronaut corps.

 

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Pat Izzo

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

 

Follow us on Twitter

 

Join us on Facebook

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

The original photograph of this edited and colourised picture was taken in 1919 - 1923 and is called the "Photographs & correspondence relating to Sir Tom Bridges' trip to Kangaroo Island" (PRG 335/83/25). It is from the State Library of South Australia. The unedited black and white picture can be accessed using the link below:

 

collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+335/83/25

 

The library provides the following summary, "Outside the Queenscliffe [now Kingscote] Anderson's Hotel." Thankfully, there is a summary that provides a little more detail on the collection of beautiful photographs. "Papers relating to the planning and execution of the Kangaroo Island trip (1919-1923) with the Governor Sir Tom Bridges, comprising letters received by S.A. White (from V.H.F. Cook, R.W. Chapman and Charles Anderson, all of Kingscote), an ink sketch by Sir Tom Bridges of S.A. White and Bill Chapman titled 'The Guides disagree', and photographs taken by S.A. White during the trip around Kangaroo Island. The envelope containing the prints carries a note which reads 'K.I. Trip with Sir Tom Bridges - round the Island by [Dort] car".

 

Source: State Library of South Australia

 

PLEASE NOTE: The colours on my modified photographs are not meant to be an absolute representation of what existed when the original pictures were taken. I try my best to replicate colours, but I ask you to please view the colourised photographs as digital art.

 

If you share or use this photograph, please reference State Library of South Australia and A Colourful History.

Common sites for hernia to occur..!!

 

What is Hernia? Hernia is a term relating to a situation which could seem in any area of the body. The maximum commonplace hernias occurrences are seen in the abdomen area. They are caused by a weak point in the abdominal wall which permits a hole to increase. If you suffer from hernia or are looking for to save you its prevalence, it is important to follow the information in this article. In addition, adding a few simple fitness program can even assist.

What are the Preventions? One should warm up nicely before athletic activity and exercising, learn how to strengthen belly muscle tissue with electricity physical activities, rest well after full of life workout, in particular lifting, absolutely quit smoking, as coughing can make a contribution to hernia expansion, eat a high fiber diet to avoid constipation, maintain a healthy weight and lastly incorporate a few stretching and flexibility physical games into your workout.

How to avoid Hernia? In a few cases where Hernia occurs in in toddlers and youngsters, mostly it cannot be avoided. Adults are capable of save themselves on hernias following some of these quick tips:

Avoid turning into overweight. Being overweight creates extra belly pressure and increases your risk for growing an inguinal hernia. Stay at a wholesome weight thru weight-reduction plan and exercise.

Avoid fast weight loss (consisting of in crash dieting). Rapid weight loss packages may be lacking in protein and nutrients which might be wished for muscle strength, inflicting weak point inside the muscular tissues of the abdomen. Stop smoking. Coughing that ensues from smoking upsurges the hazard for mounting a hernia. Avoid constipation and straining all through bowel movements and urination. Straining causes expanded strain inside the abdomen. Use accurate frame mechanics when you elevate heavy objects. Lift together with your legs, not pressurizing your back.

What happens if Hernia occurs? Surgery is advocated for all inguinal hernias, in which a loop of gut turns tightly trapped, cutting off the blood supply to that a part of the gut. Hernia in an adult is slowly plummeting, surgical operation may be executed on the individual’s convenience. But it cannot be pushed again later, surgical operation have to be achieved faster. Surgical treatment may not be required if the hernia is small and without signs and symptoms. Consult with your health practitioner to decide if you need hernia restore surgery if your symptoms are common.

 

More visit@

www.elceclinics.com/

Various Artists

 

Monday 4 - Wednesday 13 November, 10:00am - 4:00pm

Wellgate Shopping Centre

Level 1, Space 2

Dundee, DD1 2DB

 

This exhibition, curated by Weave at Abertay, brings together emerging and established digital artists/activists whose work comments, reflects and challenges ideas relating to socio-political issues and events. It is a survey of media objects of protest against hostile acts and environments over the past 35 years.

 

How are digital artists using their practice to facilitate conversations around complex socio-political issues? How do we protest differently in a digital age?

 

It is a turbulent time across the globe – from the challenges of Brexit to the protests in Hong Kong, from the growing Climate Emergency movement to the rise in Nationalism — the international socio-political landscape is increasingly subject to crisis and change.

 

These events and activities, while tied to specific cultural and socio-political contexts, often transcend borders and speak to collective concerns for alternative forms of democracy and citizen-informed solutions to complex issues.

 

Digital devices and platforms have encouraged the public to engage more with social and political issues, expanding opportunities for citizens to directly participate in civil society action. Blogs, petition platforms, crowdfunding sites, e-voting and other online forums and tools offer new means for individuals to contribute to shaping political debate and driving ‘real-world’ change.

 

It is against this diverse backdrop of politics, and the participatory nature of digital technologies, that many artists are producing work today.

 

The exhibition reflects on gun culture through Joseph Delappe’s Elegy: GTA USA Gun Homicides and Addie Wagenknecht’s series The Liberator Vases of 3D printed vases made using the first open source downloadable handgun. Irene Tokini Fubara-Manuel’s videogame ‘Dreams of Disguise: Errantry’ we explore issues of agency at border control and in Tina Keane’s video installation we recognise women’s historical struggle against nuclear weapons at Greenham Common . Igor Vamos’ (Yes Men) Barbie Liberation Organization playfully challenges gender-norms and Echo Youth by Matthew Plummer-Fernandez frames physical protest for a digital era.

 

The title of the exhibition is inspired by Roxy Music’s song, ‘Re-make/Re-model’ and makes reference to musician and theorist Brian Eno’s perspectives on technology, society and the future.

 

Weave by Abertay, based at Abertay University, creates a vibrant programme of cultural events across the city of Dundee, sharing local and global creativity.Weave gives a platform to national and international artists and designers to share their practice. Weave supports the talent and innovation of Abertay students and staff by working closely with the School of Design and Informatics. They collaboratively explore creative projects relating to Digital Culture, building on Abertay’s international reputation for excellence in computer games education. Through a series of talks, workshops, exhibitions and performances Weave collaborates with cultural partners across the city to make new connections, share knowledge and create cultural happenings across Dundee.

 

With gratitude and thanks to

 

Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics

 

Adam Lockhart

 

Andrew McLean

 

Andy Slater

 

bitforms gallery

 

Creative Scotland

 

DJCAD, University of Dundee

 

Gerald High

 

Joseph DeLappe

 

Martin Zeilinger

 

Sarah Cook

 

Steve Page

 

Wellgate Centre

 

And our brilliant volunteer team.

 

Photography Kathryn Rattray

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

The Governor signed the following bills today:

 

SB535 (Relating to Labor) makes Hawaii the second state – after New York – to place basic labor protections for domestic workers into law. It also establishes basic rights and protections for domestic workers, entitles workers to overtime pay and time for meal and rest breaks, and provides basic civil rights protections against abuse and harassment.

 

HB1187 (Relating to Human Trafficking) designates January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month and adds minor victims of sex and labor trafficking to the scope of the Child Protective Act and other state child abuse laws.

 

HB1068 (Relating to Human Trafficking) requires certain employers to display a poster that provides information relating to human trafficking and contact information for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline.

 

SB192 (Relating to Prostitution) makes solicitation of a minor a crime and increases the statute of limitations to bring a cause of action for coercion into prostitution from 2 to 6 years. It also clarifies the minimum and maximum fine for a person convicted of committing the offense of prostitution; adds the offenses of solicitation of a minor for prostitution, habitual solicitation of prostitution, and solicitation of prostitution near schools and public parks under the state’s forfeiture laws; amends the definition of “sexual offense” under the sexual offender registry laws to include acts that consist of the solicitation of a minor who is less than 18 years of age for prostitution; and requires registration with the sexual offender registry for conviction of solicitation of a minor for prostitution as a Tier 1 offense.

 

HB587 (Relating to the Penal Code) amends the penal code to include that it shall be unlawful to physically abuse persons in a “dating relationship.” It also requires a police officer to separate a perpetrator and family or household member who has been physically abused for 48 hours.

 

SB655 (Relating to Health) allows health professionals to treat partners of patients diagnosed as having certain sexually transmitted diseases by dispensing or prescribing medication to the partners without examining them. The measure also ensures that expedited partner therapy is in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and recommendations, and it provides limited liability protection.

 

SB532 (Relating to Breastfeeding in the Workplace) requires certain employers to provide reasonable time and private location for breastfeeding employees to express breast milk. The measure also requires covered employers to post a notice, and it establishes a civil fine for each violation.

 

SB1340 (Relating to Foster Care) extends voluntary foster care to age 21.

 

SB529 (Relating to Parental Rights) requires family courts to deny custody or visitation, and allows courts to terminate parental rights, to a person convicted of a sexual assault with respect to the child conceived through that assault.

立法會鐵路事宜小組委員會視察廣深港高速鐵路香港段西九龍總站，以及石蔭至海庭道隧道段的建築工地

立法会铁路事宜小组委员会视察广深港高速铁路香港段西九龙总站，以及石荫至海庭道隧道段的建筑工地

LegCo Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways visits the construction sites of the West Kowloon Terminus of the Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link & the Shek Yam to Hoi Ting Road tunnel section (2013.06.24)

Protest against government mandates relating to Covid measures.

Various Artists

 

Monday 4 - Wednesday 13 November, 10:00am - 4:00pm

Wellgate Shopping Centre

Level 1, Space 2

Dundee, DD1 2DB

 

This exhibition, curated by Weave at Abertay, brings together emerging and established digital artists/activists whose work comments, reflects and challenges ideas relating to socio-political issues and events. It is a survey of media objects of protest against hostile acts and environments over the past 35 years.

 

How are digital artists using their practice to facilitate conversations around complex socio-political issues? How do we protest differently in a digital age?

 

It is a turbulent time across the globe – from the challenges of Brexit to the protests in Hong Kong, from the growing Climate Emergency movement to the rise in Nationalism — the international socio-political landscape is increasingly subject to crisis and change.

 

These events and activities, while tied to specific cultural and socio-political contexts, often transcend borders and speak to collective concerns for alternative forms of democracy and citizen-informed solutions to complex issues.

 

Digital devices and platforms have encouraged the public to engage more with social and political issues, expanding opportunities for citizens to directly participate in civil society action. Blogs, petition platforms, crowdfunding sites, e-voting and other online forums and tools offer new means for individuals to contribute to shaping political debate and driving ‘real-world’ change.

 

It is against this diverse backdrop of politics, and the participatory nature of digital technologies, that many artists are producing work today.

 

The exhibition reflects on gun culture through Joseph Delappe’s Elegy: GTA USA Gun Homicides and Addie Wagenknecht’s series The Liberator Vases of 3D printed vases made using the first open source downloadable handgun. Irene Tokini Fubara-Manuel’s videogame ‘Dreams of Disguise: Errantry’ we explore issues of agency at border control and in Tina Keane’s video installation we recognise women’s historical struggle against nuclear weapons at Greenham Common . Igor Vamos’ (Yes Men) Barbie Liberation Organization playfully challenges gender-norms and Echo Youth by Matthew Plummer-Fernandez frames physical protest for a digital era.

 

The title of the exhibition is inspired by Roxy Music’s song, ‘Re-make/Re-model’ and makes reference to musician and theorist Brian Eno’s perspectives on technology, society and the future.

 

Weave by Abertay, based at Abertay University, creates a vibrant programme of cultural events across the city of Dundee, sharing local and global creativity.Weave gives a platform to national and international artists and designers to share their practice. Weave supports the talent and innovation of Abertay students and staff by working closely with the School of Design and Informatics. They collaboratively explore creative projects relating to Digital Culture, building on Abertay’s international reputation for excellence in computer games education. Through a series of talks, workshops, exhibitions and performances Weave collaborates with cultural partners across the city to make new connections, share knowledge and create cultural happenings across Dundee.

 

With gratitude and thanks to

 

Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics

 

Adam Lockhart

 

Andrew McLean

 

Andy Slater

 

bitforms gallery

 

Creative Scotland

 

DJCAD, University of Dundee

 

Gerald High

 

Joseph DeLappe

 

Martin Zeilinger

 

Sarah Cook

 

Steve Page

 

Wellgate Centre

 

And our brilliant volunteer team.

 

Photography Kathryn Rattray

Understanding how materials behave, degrade and relate to each other is a fundamental part of the research that takes place at TWI, and factors into much of the work we conduct for our Members.

 

Whether it’s identifying what caused a component to fail, developing hydrophobic coatings for anti-graffiti applications, or identifying the optimum material for a niche application, our materials scientists have the depth of knowledge to develop solutions to all manner of materials-related problems, without compromising on safety or quality.

 

TWI Members benefit from our unrivalled breadth of understanding and versatility of capability: with laboratories able to examine the microscopic, and specialised testing rigs able to investigate the massive, we can take on projects of any size.

 

For more information please visit www.twi-global.com/capabilities/materials-and-corrosion-m...

 

If you wish to use this image each use should be accompanied by the credit line and notice, "Courtesy of TWI Ltd".

 

This lantern slide relates to a photograph taken by Clement Lindley Wragge (b.1852, d.1922), likely dating between 1890s-1920s.

 

The slide shows a photograph of the face of the moon, with craters and maria. Features of the moon are labelled in surrounding text.

 

Inscription Details: Handwritten in blue ink on recto, bottom left corner, "Um2". Handwritten in black ink on recto (clockwise), "Clavius and Tycho - Sea of clouds - [Schickaira] - Sea of Humors or 'Fluids - Grimaldi - Capernicus and Kepler -[illegible] - Plato and [alps] - Mare Imbrium - Arctic or rigid sea - Sea of vapours - Lake of Sleep - Sea of Serenity - Sea of Crises - Sea of Plenty - Sea of Nectar". Cardinal points are drawn in top left corner of recto. Handwritten in white ink on verso, "212 Full Moon Rutherford".

 

Credit: Shared by Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira, as part of the Clement Lindley Wragge collection.

 

Rights: No known copyright restrictions.

 

Reference: 235931|PH-1984-1-LS78-4-76|Um2

 

For more details, please visit: www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/record/1033283

Understanding how materials behave, degrade and relate to each other is a fundamental part of the research that takes place at TWI, and factors into much of the work we conduct for our Members.

 

Whether it’s identifying what caused a component to fail, developing hydrophobic coatings for anti-graffiti applications, or identifying the optimum material for a niche application, our materials scientists have the depth of knowledge to develop solutions to all manner of materials-related problems, without compromising on safety or quality.

 

TWI Members benefit from our unrivalled breadth of understanding and versatility of capability: with laboratories able to examine the microscopic, and specialised testing rigs able to investigate the massive, we can take on projects of any size.

 

For more information please visit www.twi-global.com/capabilities/materials-and-corrosion-m...

 

If you wish to use this image each use should be accompanied by the credit line and notice, "Courtesy of TWI Ltd".

 

Various papers relating to Mr.Thomas Wheeler my late Grandfather.Sadly he died when I was just eleven years of age.I do however recall it was he that took me on my very first fishing trip using the first fishing rod and reel that he bought me.The images here are from WWII papers when he was an active serviceman and I only recently found these in an old album of my late father`s.These are the first twenty images in nigh on eighty images of both his army papers and my Great Grandparents (to come later) images.Some images are somewhat the same but have different focus points and apertures,mainly to suit prospective customers on Alamy.com stock images.I sincerely hope you enjoy the images and hope you see,as I did,what I think is one of many of the Identity Card issued during WWII.As you can see my Grandfather first signed up in September 1940 and seved right up until the end of the war 1945.He was then signed up for the reserves.Do Not Use Without Express Permisison From Peter Wheeler.

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

Photo Collection Relating to MARGARET LOWE

www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/collections/virtualmem/photos/497437

 

Rank: Nursing Sister

Date of Death: 28/05/1918 [Died of wounds sustained in air raid of 19 May]

Age: 32

Regiment/Service: Canadian Army Nursing Service - 1st Canadian Gen. Hosp.

Grave Reference XXVIII. M. 9.

Cemetery ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY

 

Additional Information:

Daughter of Thomas Lowe, of Binscarth, Manitoba.

 

throughtheselines.com.au/research/etaples

Legend relates that in January 1297 François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, sought shelter at the castle. On obtaining entry he murdered the guard, whereupon his men miraculously appeared and captured the castle. Thus the fortress became the stronghold of the Grimaldi. This event is commemorated by a statue of François Grimaldi in the precincts of the palace and in the arms of the House of Grimaldi where François is depicted wielding a sword while in the garb of a monk.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince's_Palace_of_Monaco

Some stories relate that this flag was originally introduced by Mohamed Ali Pasha as his personal/viceregal standard although I have not been able to verify that. The three crescents and three stars symbolize the victories of the Egyptian armies in three continents and the exapnsion of his dream empire in Africa, Asia and Europe. However, it is more certain that this flag was used during the reign of his grandson, Ismail Pasha. It was most probably introduced by Mohamed Ali pasha around 1826 and then reintroduced by Khedive Ismail in 1867, when Egypt was elevated from an Eyalet to a Khedivate. This banner became the National Flag of Egypt during the reign of Sultan Hussein Kamel and was used as such during the short lived Sultanate of Egypt. It was used as a national flag from early 1915 to 1922 when Egypt was declared a Kingdom (15 March, 1922)

Photo credit: UNDP Bangladesh

 

Relates to the UNDp-supported GEF-LDCF-funded ICBA-AR Project www.bd.undp.org/content/bangladesh/en/home/projects/integ...

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

PLEASE NOTE: -

“MUDA” is a singular word relating to one of the mercantile convoys sailing out of Venice each year.

“MUDE” is a plural word relating to several, or all, of the mercantile convoys sailing out of Venice each year.

 

27 leaves, leaf size 249mm x172mm (9 3/4ins. X 6 8/10ins.) with a text block of 172mm x 98mm (6 8/10ins. x 3 17/20ins.).

Single column, 29 lines in a superb, elegant, humanistic cursive minuscule script in black, probably all written by the same scribe. Many ascenders on the top line, and descenders on the bottom line, have been embellished.

 

This manuscript include two texts, the first being the Regulations of the Muda of Venice to Alexandria, and the second being the Journal of the Muda to Alexandria that set sail from Venice on 21st. May, 1504. The manuscript was probably written in that city in that year.

  

A FULL DESCRIPTION IS ATTACHED TO THE OVERVIEW.

 

Folio 3 verso (Original Folio 4 verso)

 

TRANSCRIPTION

 

(26)

cadant Capitanie qui non servarent praedicta.

(27)Et quia ab aliquo tempore citra alique expensa ponu tur in Vaream

que non solebant poni .s. de donis que fuit Admirato : Comito: Me -

dicis : Presbytero : & scribis galearum : sen etiam de expensis dic -

torum scribanorum ordinatum est, et sic observabis q aliqua dona

que fierent predictis, vel alicui eorum non ponantur in Vaream ullo

modo, quia nulla fieri debeat rarea. Verum sicut dabantur ad -

mirato sol. xxti. Grossorum in mense, sic habeat xxxta. Ultra quod

salarium nil possit hre vel recipere.

(28)OMnia arma mercatorum poni facias de subtus scandolarium apud

Canipam, & omnia ibi reponi non possent facias poni restum ad

portam de medio super omnes alias res, Possendo in hoc ponere pe -

nam, et penas sicut tibi videbitur.

(29)Et quia galee non onerantur equaliter tam eundo, q redeundo

quod inducit piculum armatis, relinquemus in discretione, et liber -

tate tua tam eundo, q redeundo de faciendo accipi de una galea

et poni in aliam sicut tibi melius videbitur, Et pro equan do ea siet

pro bono mercatorum et galearum, et ut pedicta s ventur possis

imponere penam sicut tibi videbitur.

(30)Cum sint aliqui, sicut sunt Comiti, Nanclerii, et homines de Remo

qui faciunt se scribi in Doana, et non Cum suo non ie sed alieno. Ita quae

numquam inverirrent, quae redundat in damnum mercatorum et galearum

Committimus tibi, & Consuli nostro Alexandrie quae faciatis et ordi -

netis quae in galea, & in terra non fiant talia sub penis quae non indebutur.

(31)DE dote accipi debent pre Capitaneum, quae meliores poteris pro bono, et

salute galearum.

(32)AD removendum omnes errores et cavilationes, ac scandala que posset

occurrere in casu quae armate nostre tam mercatorum, quo alia quae cunq.

Navigia tam armata quae disarmata se reperirent Cum capitaneo

 

Folio 3 verso (Original Folio 4 verso)

 

POSSIBLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION

 

26. …................. to observe the punishment of those that does not fall to the captain.

27. And, from that which it is not at any time on this side of of the observation that any expenses used are to be assigned to a certain person and that was spent on ponu(?) be registered in a the gifts that have been admired. The committee are the physicians, and the priests and the galley scribes and they should also write down and keep an orderly record of the said gifts, which, in any way, or any of the usages that are not set down in, because they have no rarity. Actually, as they were admired, give twenty sol, in longer months let them take thirty. Beyond that, nobody can have or receive a salary.

28. All the arms of the merchants shall be placed underneath the cabin at the stern with canopies, and all they can do there has been done to replace from the middle of the gate, above all the other things, the penalty of being able to lay down in this, and the pain, just as you see fit.

29. And because the galleys are not going to be loaded equally as well, which causes peril for soldiers at the back, and remain there at their discretion and freedom, and must be taken from the back of the galley and put in another that you prefer, and for that matter for the good of the merchants and of the galleys, and they might be able to impose a penalty as seen fit as aforementioned.

30. Whilst there are some, such as Remus, the Earl of Nanclerii, and those men with him who are in the Doana, and not with him but with another. Thus a material which will never be appropriate and which flows back as a loss for the merchants, and the galleys, we allow to you, and I advise that those things that are arranged to be done in Alexandria, and in the galley, and such things that are not done on the land , under the penalties which are not due.

31. The dowry should be accepted by the captain, as better able to be for the good and the safety of the galleys.

32. To remove all the errors and squabbles, and the stumbling blocks that could cause an army to meet the merchants, over all things what so ever. Such armed boats that disarm but find themselves with captain ….........

 

My meter and multimeter : this picture relates to the low frequency magnetic flux meter I designed and posted at www.5volt.eu

 

Detail of miniature from scroll relating the Mahabharata showing the symbol 'om'. Inside, five Hindu deities can be seen.

 

One of two major Sanskrit epics of Ancient India, the Mahabharata tells the tale of a dynastic struggle between two sets of cousins for control of the Bharata kingdom in central India. One of the longest poems ever written, eclipsed only by the Gesar Epic of Tibet, it is said to have been composed between 900 and 400BCE by the sage Vyasa, although, in reality, it is likely to have been created by a number of individuals. To Hindus, it is important in terms of both dharma (moral law) and history (itihasa), as its themes are often didactic.

 

This scroll dates to 1795CE and was donated to the university in 1821 by Colonel Walker of Bowland. It is 13.5cm wide and 72m long and has 78 miniatures of varying sizes. All of the illustrations are in the late Mughul or Kangra style, with gold backgrounds and floral patterning in red, white and gold, as well as green leaves and blue diamond-shaped designs.

 

Sources:

www.brown.edu/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/M... (accessed 16/06/14).

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357806/Mahabharata (accessed 16/06/14).

The full LUNA record for this item is here: images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/UoEsha~4~4~61032~1...

© The University of Edinburgh Library

OGR

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.

 

The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.

 

General characteristics

 

•Crew: Two

•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)

•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)

•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)

•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)

•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)

•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)

•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)

 

Performance

 

•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)

•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)

•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)

•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)

•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)

•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)

•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

 

Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.

Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/; Sanskrit: कृष्ण, Kṛṣṇa in IAST, pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳə] ( listen)) is a Hindu deity, worshipped across many traditions of Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. Krishna is recognized as the complete and eighth avatar of the God Vishnu or as the Supreme God in his own right. Krishna is one of the most widely revered and popular of all Hindu deities.[1]

 

Krishna is known by many names such as Kishan, Makhanchor, and Kanha. Krishna is often described and portrayed as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,[2] a young man along with Radha or as an elder giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita.[3] The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.[4] They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the Supreme Being.[5] The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.

 

Worship of the deity Krishna, either in the form of deity Krishna or in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopala can be traced to as early as the 4th century BC.[6][7] Worship of Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, or the supreme being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the Bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favourite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Jagannatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra and Shrinathji in Rajasthan. Since the 1960s the worship of Krishna has also spread in the Western world and in Africa largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.[8] Gaudia Math is also a leading proponent of Krishna worship.[citation needed]

 

Contents [hide]

1Names and epithets

2Iconography

3Literary sources

4Life

4.1Birth

4.2Childhood and youth

4.3The prince

4.4Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita

4.5Family

4.6Later life

5Worship

5.1Vaishnavism

5.2Early traditions

5.3Bhakti tradition

5.4Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement

5.5In the West

5.6In South India

6In the performing arts

7In other religions

7.1Jainism

7.2Buddhism

7.3Bahá'í Faith

7.4Ahmadiyya Islam

7.5Other

8TV serial depictions

9See also

10Notes

11References

12Sources

13Further reading

14External links

Names and epithets[edit]

 

14th-century fresco of Krishna on the interior wall of City Palace, Udaipur

Main article: List of titles and names of Krishna

The name originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark" or "dark blue".[9] The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening".[9] Sometimes it is also translated as "all-attractive", according to members of the Hare Krishna movement.[10]

 

As a name of Vishnu, Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Based on his name, Krishna is often depicted in murtis as black or blue-skinned. Krishna is also known by various other names, epithets and titles, which reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohnish "Attractive God", Mohan "enchanter", Govinda, "Finder of 'Go' - Veda or the cows" or Gopala, "Protector of the 'Go' - Veda or the cows" as 'Go' means Veda or cow, which refer to Krishna's childhood in Braj (in present-day Uttar Pradesh).[11][12] Some of the distinct names may be regionally important; for instance, Jagannatha, a popular incarnation of Puri, Odisha in eastern India.[13]

 

Iconography[edit]

 

Krishna with cows, herdsmen and Gopis, Pahari painting [Himalayan] from Smithsonian Institution

Krishna is easily recognized by his representations. Though his skin color may be depicted as black or dark in some representations, particularly in murtis, in other images such as modern pictorial representations, Krishna is usually shown with a blue skin. He has been described as having skin the color of Jambul (Jamun a purple color fruit). He is also known to have four symbols of the jambu fruit on his right foot as mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam commentary (verse 10.30.25), "Sri Rupa Cintamani" and "Ananda Candrika" by Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura.[14]

 

He is often shown wearing a silk golden yellow dhoti and a peacock feather crown. Common depictions show him as a little boy, or as a young man in a characteristically relaxed pose, playing the flute.[15][16] In this form, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other with a flute raised to his lips, in the Tribhanga posture, accompanied by cows, emphasizing his position as the divine herdsman, Govinda, or with the gopis (milkmaids) i.e. Gopikrishna, stealing butter from neighbouring houses i.e. Navneet Chora or Gokulakrishna, defeating the vicious serpent i.e. Kaliya Damana Krishna, lifting the hill i.e. Giridhara Krishna ..so on and so forth from his childhood / youth events.

 

A steatite (soapstone) tablet unearthed from Mohenjo-daro, Larkana district, Sindh depicting a young boy uprooting two trees from which are emerging two human figures is an interesting archaeological find for fixing dates associated with Krishna. This image recalls the Yamalarjuna episode of Bhagavata and Harivamsa Purana. In this image, the young boy is Krishna, and the two human beings emerging from the trees are the two cursed gandharvas, identified as Nalakubara and Manigriva. Dr. E.J.H. Mackay, who did the excavation at Mohanjodaro, compares this image with the Yamalarjuna episode. Prof. V.S. Agrawal has also accepted this identification. Thus, it seems that the Indus valley people knew stories related to Krishna. This lone find may not establish Krishna as contemporary with Pre-Indus or Indus times, but, likewise, it cannot be ignored.[17]

  

Bala Krishna dancing, 14th century CE Chola sculpture, Tamil Nadu.from Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The scene on the battlefield of the epic Mahabharata, notably where he addresses Pandava prince Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, is another common subject for representation. In these popular depictions, he is shown as the charioteer in the battle-field of Kurukshetra. In Visvaroopa Darshana to Arjuna, Lord Krishna resumes the role of the often with supreme God's characteristics of Hindu religious art, such as multiple arms or heads, denoting power, and with attributes of Vishnu, such as the chakra or in his two-armed form as a charioteer. Cave paintings dated to 800 BCE in Mirzapur, Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh, show raiding horse-charioteers, one of whom is about to hurl a wheel, and who could potentially be identified as Krishna.[18]

 

Representations in temples often show Krishna as a man standing in an upright, formal pose. He may be alone, or with associated figures:[19] his brother Balarama and sister Subhadra, or his main queens Rukmini and Satyabhama.

 

Often, Krishna is pictured with his gopi-consort Radha. Manipuri Vaishnavas do not worship Krishna alone, but as Radha Krishna,[20] a combined image of Krishna and Radha. This is also a characteristic of the schools Rudra[21] and Nimbarka sampradaya,[22] as well as that of Swaminarayan sect. The traditions celebrate Radha Ramana murti, who is viewed by Gaudiyas as a form of Radha Krishna.[23]

 

Krishna is also depicted and worshipped as a small child (Bala Krishna, Bāla Kṛṣṇa the child Krishna), crawling on his hands and knees or dancing, often with butter or Laddu in his hand being Laddu Gopal.[24][25] Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha of Odisha, Vithoba of Maharashtra,[26] Venkateswara (also Srinivasa or Balaji) in Andhra Pradesh, and Shrinathji in Rajasthan.

 

Krishna is also depicted as a new born floating on a leaf of a banyan tree during the Pralaya ( the great flood ) at the end of the Dvapara Yuga.

 

Literary sources[edit]

See also: Krishna in the Mahabharata

 

Yashoda bathing the child Krishna

The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[27] Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (Bhishma Parva) of the epic that constitute the Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to the warrior-hero Arjuna, on the battlefield. Krishna is already an adult in the epic, although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The Harivamsa, a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.

 

The Rig Veda 1.22.164 sukta 31 mentions a herdsman "who never stumbles".[28] Some Vaishnavite scholars, such as Bhaktivinoda Thakura, claim that this herdsman refers to Krishna.[29] Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar also attempted to show that "the very same Krishna" made an appearance, e.g. as the drapsa ... krishna "black drop" of RV 8.96.13.[30] Some authors have also likened prehistoric depictions of deities to Krishna.

 

Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.6), dated between 8th and 6th century BCE, mentions Vasudeva Krishna as the son of Devaki and the disciple of Ghora Angirasa, the seer who preached his disciple the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya.’ Having been influenced by the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya’ Krishna in the Bhagavadgita while delivering the discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra discussed about sacrifice, which can be compared to purusha or the individual.[31][32][33][34]

 

Yāska's Nirukta, an etymological dictionary around 6th century BC, contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura, a motif from well known Puranic story about Krishna.[35] Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka, associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.[36]

 

Pāṇini, the ancient grammarian and author of Asthadhyayi (probably belonged to 5th century or 6th century BC) mentions a character called Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva, and also mentions Kaurava and Arjuna which testifies to Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna and Kauravas being contemporaries.[31][37][38]

 

Megasthenes (350 – 290 BC) a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya made reference to Herakles in his famous work Indica. Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna. According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Methora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.[39]

 

The name Krishna occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kānha, phonetically equivalent to Krishna.[40]

 

The Ghata-Jâtaka (No. 454) gives an account of Krishna's childhood and subsequent exploits which in many points corresponds with the Brahmanic legends of his life and contains several familiar incidents and names, such as Vâsudeva, Baladeva, Kaṃsa. Yet it presents many peculiarities and is either an independent version or a misrepresentation of a popular story that had wandered far from its home. Jain tradition also shows that these tales were popular and were worked up into different forms, for the Jains have an elaborate system of ancient patriarchs which includes Vâsudevas and Baladevas. Krishna is the ninth of the Black Vâsudevas and is connected with Dvâravatî or Dvârakâ. He will become the twelfth tîrthankara of the next world-period and a similar position will be attained by Devakî, Rohinî, Baladeva and Javakumâra, all members of his family. This is a striking proof of the popularity of the Krishna legend outside the Brahmanic religion.[41]

 

According to Arthasastra of Kautilya (4th century BCE) Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format.[37]

 

Around 150 BC, Patanjali in his Mahabhashya quotes a verse: "May the might of Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!" Other verses are mentioned. One verse speaks of "Janardhana with himself as fourth" (Krishna with three companions, the three possibly being Samkarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha). Another verse mentions musical instruments being played at meetings in the temples of Rama (Balarama) and Kesava (Krishna). Patanjali also describes dramatic and mimetic performances (Krishna-Kamsopacharam) representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.[42][43]

 

In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba) for an inscription has been found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great satrap Rajuvula, probably the satrap Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors".[44] Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.[45][46]

 

Many Puranas tell Krishna's life-story or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana, that contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna’s story and teachings are the most theologically venerated by the Vaishnava schools.[47] Roughly one quarter of the Bhagavata Purana is spent extolling his life and philosophy.

 

Life[edit]

This summary is based on details from the Mahābhārata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. The scenes from the narrative are set in north India mostly in the present states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.

 

Birth[edit]

 

Krishna's great escape

 

Krishna's foster mother Yashoda with the infant Krishna. Chola period, Early 12th century, Tamil Nadu, India.

Based on scriptural details and astrological calculations, the date of Krishna's birth, known as Janmashtami,[48] is 21 February 3228 BCE.[49][note 1] He was born to Devaki and her husband, Vasudeva.[54][55][56] When Mother Earth became upset by the sin being committed on Earth, she thought of seeking help from Lord Vishnu. She went in the form of a cow to visit Lord Vishnu and ask for help. Lord Vishnu agreed to help her and promised her that he would be born on Earth. On Earth in the Yadava clan, he was yadav according to his birth, a prince named Kamsa sent his father Ugrasena (King of Mathura) to prison and became the King himself. One day a loud voice from the sky (Akasha Vani in Samskrutam prophesied that the 8th son of Kamsa's sister (Devaki) would kill Kamsa. Out of affection for Devaki, Kamsa did not kill her outright. He did, however, send his sister and her husband (Vasudeva) to prison. Lord Vishnu himself later appeared to Devaki and Vasudeva and told them that he himself would be their eighth son and kill Kamsa and destroy sin in the world. In the story of Krishna the deity is the agent of conception and also the offspring. Because of his sympathy for the earth, the divine Vishnu himself descended into the womb of Devaki and was born as her son, Vaasudeva (i.e., Krishna). This is occasionally cited as evidence that "virgin birth" tales are fairly common in non-Christian religions around the world.[57][58][59] However, there is nothing in Hindu scriptures to suggest that it was a "virgin" birth. By the time of conception and birth of Krishna, Devaki was married to Vasudeva and had already borne 7 children.[60] Virgin birth in this case should be more accurately understood as divine conception. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas referenced contemporaneously with the story of Krishna in the Mahabharata also has divine conception and virgin birth of Prince Karna.[61]

 

The Hindu Vishnu Purana relates: "Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed deity...before the birth of Krishna, no one could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed." This reference to light is reminiscent of the Vedic hymn "To an Unknown Divine," which refers to a Golden Child. According to F. M. Müller, this term means "the golden gem of child" and is an attempt at naming the sun. According to the Vishnu Purana, Krishna is the total incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It clearly describes in the Vishnu Purana that Krishna was born on earth to destroy sin, especially Kamsa.

 

Krishna belonged to the Vrishni clan of Yadavas from Mathura,[62] and was the eighth son born to the princess Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva.

 

Mathura (in present-day Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh) was the capital of the Yadavas, to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. King Kamsa, Devaki's brother,[63] had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King Ugrasena. Afraid of a prophecy from a divine voice from the heavens that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth "garbha", Kamsa had the couple locked in a prison cell. After Kamsa killed the first six children, Devaki apparently had a miscarriage of the seventh. However, in reality, the womb was actually transferred to Rohini secretly. This was how Balarama, Krishna's elder brother, was born. Once again Devaki became pregnant. Now due to the miscarriage, Kamsa was in a puzzle regarding 'The Eighth One', but his ministers advised that the divine voice from the heavens emphasised "the eight garbha" and so this is the one. That night Krishna was born in the Abhijit nakshatra and simultaneously Ekanamsha was born as Yogamaya in Gokulam to Nanda and Yashoda.

 

Since Vasudeva knew Krishna's life was in danger, Krishna was secretly taken out of the prison cell to be raised by his foster parents, Yasoda[64] and Nanda, in Gokula (in present-day Mathura district). Two of his other siblings also survived, Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini, born much later than Balarama and Krishna).[65]

 

Childhood and youth[edit]

 

Krishna holding Govardhan hill as depicted in Pahari painting

Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders, and he settled in Vrindavana. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth tell how he became a cow herder,[66] his mischievous pranks as Makhan Chor (butter thief), his foiling of attempts to take his life, and his role as a protector of the people of Vrindavana.

 

Krishna killed the demoness Putana, disguised as a wet nurse, and the tornado demon Trinavarta both sent by Kamsa for Krishna's life. He tamed the serpent Kāliyā, who previously poisoned the waters of Yamuna river, thus leading to the death of the cowherds. In Hindu art, Krishna is often depicted dancing on the multi-hooded Kāliyā.

 

Krishna lifted the Govardhana hill and taught Indra, the king of the devas, a lesson to protect the native people of Vrindavana from persecution by Indra and prevent the devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. Indra had too much pride and was angry when Krishna advised the people of Vrindavana to take care of their animals and their environment that provide them with all their necessities, instead of worshipping Indra annually by spending their resources.[67][68] In the view of some, the spiritual movement started by Krishna had something in it which went against the orthodox forms of worship of the Vedic gods such as Indra.[69] In Bhagavat Purana, Krishna says that the rain came from the nearby hill Govardhana, and advised that the people worshiped the hill instead of Indra. This made Indra furious, so he punished them by sending out a great storm. Krishna then lifted Govardhan and held it over the people like an umbrella.

 

The stories of his play with the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana, especially Radha (daughter of Vrishbhanu, one of the original residents of Vrindavan) became known as the Rasa lila and were romanticised in the poetry of Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda. These became important as part of the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.[70]

 

Krishna’s childhood reinforces the Hindu concept of lila, playing for fun and enjoyment and not for sport or gain. His interaction with the gopis at the rasa dance or Rasa-lila is a great example of this. Krishna played his flute and the gopis came immediately from whatever they were doing, to the banks of the Yamuna River, and joined him in singing and dancing. Even those who could not physically be there joined him through meditation.[71] The story of Krishna’s battle with Kāliyā also supports this idea in the sense of him dancing on Kāliyā’s many hoods. Even though he is doing battle with the serpent, he is in no real danger and treats it like a game. He is a protector, but he only appears to be a young boy having fun.[72] This idea of having a playful god is very important in Hinduism. The playfulness of Krishna has inspired many celebrations like the Rasa-lila and the Janmashtami : where they make human pyramids to break open handis (clay pots) hung high in the air that spill buttermilk all over the group after being broken by the person at the top. This is meant to be a fun celebration and it gives the participants a sense of unity. Many believe that lila being connected with Krishna gives Hindus a deeper connection to him and thus a deeper connection to Vishnu also; seeing as Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu. Theologists, like Kristin Johnston Largen, believe that Krishna’s childhood can even inspire other religions to look for lila in deities so that they have a chance to experience a part of their faith that they may not have previously seen.[73]

 

The prince[edit]

 

Krishna with his consorts Rukmini, Satyabhama and his mount Garuda; Tamil Nadu, India, late 12th-13th century[74]

On his return to Mathura as a young man, Krishna overthrew and killed his maternal uncle, Kamsa, after quelling several assassination attempts from Kamsa's followers. He reinstated Kamsa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas and became a leading prince at the court.[75] During this period, he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins. Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat) and established a new kingdom there. Krishna was the prince and commander of the Armies of Dwaraka, while Balarama was crown prince and de facto administrator as, King Ugrasena was still the emperor of Dwaraka, but reigned over mathura.[76]

 

Krishna married Rukmini, the Vidarbha princess, by abducting her, at her request, from her proposed wedding with Shishupala. He married eight queens—collectively called the Ashtabharya—including Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana.[77][78] Krishna subsequently married 16,000 or 16,100 maidens who were held captive by the demon Narakasura, to save their honour.[79][80] Krishna killed the demon and released them all. According to social custom of the time, all of the captive women were degraded, and would be unable to marry, as they had been under the Narakasura's control. However Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society. This symbolic wedding with 16,100 abandoned daughters was more of a mass rehabilitation.[81] In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are forms of the goddess Lakshmi — consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his two queens, Rukmani and Satyabhama, are expansions of Lakshmi.[82]

 

When Yudhishthira was assuming the title of emperor, he had invited all the great kings to the ceremony and while paying his respects to them, he started with Krishna because he considered Krishna to be the greatest of them all. While it was a unanimous feeling amongst most present at the ceremony that Krishna should get the first honours, his cousin Shishupala felt otherwise and started berating Krishna. Due to a vow given to Shishupal's mother, Krishna forgave a hundred verbal abuses by Shishupal, and upon the one hundred and first, he assumed his Virat (universal) form and killed Shishupal with his Chakra. The blind king Dhritarashtra also obtained divine vision to be able to see this form of Krishna during the time when Duryodana tried to capture Krishna when he came as a peace bearer before the great Mahabharat War. Essentially, Shishupala and Dantavakra were both re-incarnations of Vishnu's gate-keepers Jaya and Vijaya, who were cursed to be born on Earth, to be delivered by the Vishnu back to Vaikuntha.[83]

 

Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita[edit]

Main articles: Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita

 

Krishna Mediating between the Pandavas and Kauravas

Once battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides the opportunity to choose between having either his army called Narayani Sena or himself alone, but on the condition that he personally would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on behalf of the Pandavas, chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana, Kaurava prince, chose Krishna's army. At the time of the great battle, Krishna acted as Arjuna's charioteer, since this position did not require the wielding of weapons.

 

Upon arrival at the battlefield, and seeing that the enemies are his family, his grandfather, his cousins and loved ones, Arjuna is moved and says his heart does not allow him to fight and he would rather prefer to renounce the kingdom and put down his Gandiv (Arjuna's bow). Krishna then advises him about the battle, with the conversation soon extending into a discourse which was later compiled as the Bhagavad Gita.[84]

  

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (universal form) to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Krishna asked Arjuna, "Have you within no time, forgotten the Kauravas' evil deeds such as not accepting the eldest brother Yudhishtira as King, usurping the entire Kingdom without yielding any portion to the Pandavas, meting out insults and difficulties to Pandavas, attempt to murder the Pandavas in the Barnava lac guest house, publicly attempting to disrobe and disgracing Draupadi. Krishna further exhorted in his famous Bhagavad Gita, "Arjuna, do not engage in philosophical analyses at this point of time like a Pundit. You are aware that Duryodhana and Karna particularly have long harboured jealousy and hatred for you Pandavas and badly want to prove their hegemony. You are aware that Bhishmacharya and your Teachers are tied down to their dharma of protecting the unitarian power of the Kuru throne. Moreover, you Arjuna, are only a mortal appointee to carry out my divine will, since the Kauravas are destined to die either way, due to their heap of sins. Open your eyes O Bhaarata and know that I encompass the Karta, Karma and Kriya, all in myself. There is no scope for contemplation now or remorse later, it is indeed time for war and the world will remember your might and immense powers for time to come. So rise O Arjuna!, tighten up your Gandiva and let all directions shiver till their farthest horizons, by the reverberation of its string."

  

Krishna in Balinese Wayang form

 

Festival in honour of Chrishna (October 1853, X, p.114)[85]

Krishna had a profound effect on the Mahabharata war and its consequences. He had considered the Kurukshetra war to be a last resort after voluntarily acting as a messenger in order to establish peace between the Pandavas and Kauravas. But, once these peace negotiations failed and was embarked into the war, then he became a clever strategist. During the war, upon becoming angry with Arjuna for not fighting in true spirit against his ancestors, Krishna once picked up a carriage wheel in order to use it as a weapon to challenge Bhishma. Upon seeing this, Bhishma dropped his weapons and asked Krishna to kill him. However, Arjuna apologized to Krishna, promising that he would fight with full dedication here/after, and the battle continued. Krishna had directed Yudhishthira and Arjuna to return to Bhishma the boon of "victory" which he had given to Yudhishthira before the war commenced, since he himself was standing in their way to victory. Bhishma understood the message and told them the means through which he would drop his weapons—which was if a woman entered the battlefield. Next day, upon Krishna's directions, Shikhandi (Amba reborn) accompanied Arjuna to the battlefield and thus, Bhishma laid down his arms. This was a decisive moment in the war because Bhishma was the chief commander of the Kaurava army and the most formidable warrior on the battlefield. Krishna aided Arjuna in killing Jayadratha, who had held the other four Pandava brothers at bay while Arjuna's son Abhimanyu entered Drona's Chakravyuha formation—an effort in which he was killed by the simultaneous attack of eight Kaurava warriors. Krishna also caused the downfall of Drona, when he signalled Bhima to kill an elephant called Ashwatthama, the namesake of Drona's son. Pandavas started shouting that Ashwatthama was dead but Drona refused to believe them saying he would believe it only if he heard it from Yudhishthira. Krishna knew that Yudhishthira would never tell a lie, so he devised a clever ploy so that Yudhishthira wouldn't lie and at the same time Drona would be convinced of his son's death. On asked by Drona, Yudhishthira proclaimed

 

Ashwathama Hatahath, naro va Kunjaro va

 

i.e. Ashwathama had died but he was nor sure whether it was a Drona's son or an elephant. But as soon as Yudhishthira had uttered the first line, Pandava army on Krishna's direction broke into celebration with drums and conchs, in the din of which Drona could not hear the second part of the Yudhishthira's declaration and assumed that his son indeed was dead. Overcome with grief he laid down his arms, and on Krishna's instruction Dhrishtadyumna beheaded Drona.

 

When Arjuna was fighting Karna, the latter's chariot's wheels sank into the ground. While Karna was trying to take out the chariot from the grip of the Earth, Krishna reminded Arjuna how Karna and the other Kauravas had broken all rules of battle while simultaneously attacking and killing Abhimanyu, and he convinced Arjuna to do the same in revenge in order to kill Karna. During the final stage of the war, when Duryodhana was going to meet his mother Gandhari for taking her blessings which would convert all parts of his body on which her sight falls to diamond, Krishna tricks him to wearing banana leaves to hide his groin. When Duryodhana meets Gandhari, her vision and blessings fall on his entire body except his groin and thighs, and she becomes unhappy about it because she was not able to convert his entire body to diamond. When Duryodhana was in a mace-fight with Bhima, Bhima's blows had no effect on Duryodhana. Upon this, Krishna reminded Bhima of his vow to kill Duryodhana by hitting him on the thigh, and Bhima did the same to win the war despite it being against the rules of mace-fight (since Duryodhana had himself broken Dharma in all his past acts). Thus, Krishna's unparalleled strategy helped the Pandavas win the Mahabharata war by bringing the downfall of all the chief Kaurava warriors, without lifting any weapon. He also brought back to life Arjuna's grandson Parikshit, who had been attacked by a Brahmastra weapon from Ashwatthama while he was in his mother's womb. Parikshit became the Pandavas' successor.

 

Family[edit]

 

Krishna and ladies in a garden: 18th century Indian painting

Main articles: Ashtabharya and Junior wives of Krishna

Krishna had eight principal wives, also known as Ashtabharya: Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Nagnajiti, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Bhadra and Lakshmana. Besides them Krishna married 16,100 more women (number varies in scriptures), whom he had rescued from Narakasura's palace after killing Narakasura. He married them all to save them from destruction and notoriety. He gave them shelter in his new palace and a respectful place in society.

 

The Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, and Harivamsa list the children of Krishna from the Ashtabharya with some variation, while Rohini's sons are interpreted to represent the unnumbered children of his junior wives. Most well-known among his sons are Pradyumna, the eldest son of Krishna (and Rukmini). Pradyumna is one in 24 Keshava Namas (names), praised in all pujas.[86] and Samba, the son of Jambavati, whose actions led to the destruction of Krishna's clan.

 

Later life[edit]

Main article: Mausala Parva

 

An hunter named Jara aiming an arrow to sleeping Krishna

According to Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra war resulted in the death of all the hundred sons of Gandhari. On the night before Duryodhana's death, Krishna visited Gandhari to offer his condolences. Gandhari felt that Krishna knowingly did not put an end to the war, and in a fit of rage and sorrow, Gandhari cursed that Krishna, along with everyone else from the Yadu dynasty, would perish after 36 years. Krishna himself knew and wanted this to happen as he felt that the Yadavas had become very haughty and arrogant (adharmi), so he ended Gandhari's speech by saying "tathastu" (so be it). According to Srimad Bhagavatham, Rishi Vyas cursed yadavas (due to a tactful play by Yadavas with Rishi Vyas) saying, your entire community will die.[citation needed]

 

Thirty-six years later, a fight broke out between the Yadavas at a festival, who killed each other. Krishna's elder brother, Balarama, then gave up his body using Yoga. Krishna retired into the forest and started meditating under a tree. The Mahabharata also narrates the story of a hunter who becomes an instrument for Krishna's departure from the world. The hunter Jara, mistook Krishna's partly visible left foot for that of a deer, and shot an arrow, wounding him mortally. Krishna told Jara, "O Jara, you were Bali in your previous birth, killed by myself as Rama in Tretayuga. Here you had a chance to even it and since all acts in this world are done as desired by me, you need not worry for this". Then Krishna, with his physical body[87] ascended back to his eternal abode, Goloka vrindavan and this event marks departure of Krishna from the earth.[88][89][90] The news was conveyed to Hastinapur and Dwaraka by eyewitnesses to this event.[87] The place of this incident is believed to be Bhalka, near Somnath temple.[91][92]

 

According to Puranic sources,[93] Krishna's departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE.[94] Vaishnava teachers such as Ramanujacharya and Gaudiya Vaishnavas held the view that the body of Krishna is completely spiritual and never decays (Achyuta) as this appears to be the perspective of the Bhagavata Purana. Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (an incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna according to the Bhavishya Purana) exhorted, "Krishna Naama Sankirtan" i.e. the constant chanting of the Krishna's name is the supreme healer in Kali Yuga. It destroys sins and purifies the hearts through Bhakti and ensures universal peace.

 

Krishna never appears to grow old or age at all in the historical depictions of the Puranas despite passing of several decades, but there are grounds for a debate whether this indicates that he has no material body, since battles and other descriptions of the Mahabhārata epic show clear indications that he seems to be subject to the limitations of nature.[95] While battles apparently seem to indicate limitations, Mahabharata also shows in many places where Krishna is not subject to any limitations through episodes Duryodhana trying to arrest Krishna where his body burst into fire showing all creation within him.[96] Krishna is also explicitly described as without deterioration elsewhere.[97]

 

Worship[edit]

Vaishnavism[edit]

Main article: Vaishnavism

 

Rasa Lila in Manipuri dance style.

The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the supreme God and venerates his associated avatars, their consorts, and related saints and teachers. Krishna is especially looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu, and as one with Vishnu himself.[98] However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,[99] where Krishna is sometimes considered an independent deity, supreme in his own right.[100] Out of many deities, Krishna is particularly important, and traditions of Vaishnava lines are generally centered either on Vishnu or on Krishna, as supreme. The term Krishnaism has been used to describe the sects of Krishna, reserving the term "Vaishnavism" for sects focusing on Vishnu in which Krishna is an avatar, rather than as a transcendent Supreme Being.[101]

 

All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu; others identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[102][103] Vallabha Sampradaya and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, regard Krishna as the Svayam Bhagavan, original form of God.[104][105][106][107][108] Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday also worshipped Krishna as God himself. "Greater Krishnaism" corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism, revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of late Vedic period.[109] Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.[110]

 

Early traditions[edit]

 

An image of Bala Krishna displayed during Janmashtami celebrations at a Swaminarayan Temple in London

The deity Krishna-Vasudeva (kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, the son of Vasudeva") is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism.[6][35] It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of the worship of Krishna in antiquity.[7][111] This tradition is considered as earliest to other traditions that led to amalgamation at a later stage of the historical development. Other traditions are Bhagavatism and the cult of Gopala, that along with the cult of Bala Krishna form the basis of current tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna.[112][113] Some early scholars would equate it with Bhagavatism,[7] and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name is Vāsudeva; he is said to be historically part of the Satvata tribe, and according to them his followers called themselves Bhagavatas and this religion had formed by the 2nd century BC (the time of Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century BC according to evidence in Megasthenes and in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, when Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where the supreme being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.[7] In many sources outside of the cult, the devotee or bhakta is defined as Vāsudevaka.[114] The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar."[115]

 

Bhakti tradition[edit]

Main article: Bhakti yoga

Bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotional and ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the Vaishnava sects.[102][116] Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the Universe. The lilas of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the actions of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of maryada, or rules and regulations."[103]

 

The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of the Tamil country.[117] A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. The Alvar Andal's popular collection of songs Tiruppavai, in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the oldest works in this genre.[118][119] [120] Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another notable work of this early stage.

 

Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement[edit]

The movement, which started in the 6th-7th century A.D. in the Tamil-speaking region of South India, with twelve Alvar (one immersed in God) saint-poets, who wrote devotional songs. The religion of Alvar poets, which included a woman poet, Andal, was devotion to God through love (bhakti), and in the ecstasy of such devotions they sang hundreds of songs which embodied both depth of feeling and felicity of expressions. The movement originated in South India during the seventh-century CE, spreading northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra; by the fifteenth century, it was established in Bengal and northern India[121]

  

Gita Govinda by Jayadeva.

While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like Gita Govinda or Bilvamangala's Krishna-Karnamritam, the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.

  

Krishna (left) with the flute with gopi-consort Radha, Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, England

These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the 11th century AD, Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya (15th century AD) and (Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu an incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna according to the Bhavishya Purana) (16th century AD) all inspired by the teachings of Madhvacharya (11th century AD) were the founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively, see Krishna as the supreme God.

 

In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Varkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba,[26] a local form of Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th century.[5] In southern India, Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa of Karnataka composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of Udupi. Rupa Goswami of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.[116]

 

In the West[edit]

In 1965, the Krishna-bhakti movement had spread outside India when its founder, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (who was instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) traveled from his homeland in West Bengal to New York City. A year later in 1966, after gaining many followers, he was able to form the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. The purpose of this movement was to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world by spreading the teachings of the saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In an effort to gain attention, followers chanted the names of God in public locations. This chanting was known as hari-nama sankirtana and helped spread the teaching. Additionally, the practice of distributing prasad or "sanctified food" worked as a catalyst in the dissemination of his works. In the Hare Krishna movement, Prasad was a vegetarian dish that would be first offered to Krishna. The food’s proximity to Krishna added a "spiritual effect," and was seen to "counteract material contamination affecting the soul." Sharing this sanctified food with the public, in turn, enabled the movement to gain new recruits and further spread these teachings.[8][122][123]

 

In South India[edit]

In South India, Vaishnavas usually belong to the Sri Sampradaya[citation needed]. The acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya have written reverentially about Krishna in most of their works like the Thiruppavai by Andal[124] and Gopala Vimshati by Vedanta Desika.[125] In South India, devotion to Krishna, as an avatar of Vishnu, spread in the face of opposition to Buddhism, Shaktism, and Shaivism and ritualistic Vedic sacrifices. The acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya like Manavala Mamunigal, Vedanta Desika strongly advocated surrender to Vishnu as the aim of the Vedas. Out of 108 Divya Desams there are 97 Divya Desams in South India.

 

Due to strong vaishnava influence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, these states have many major Krishna temples and Janmashtami is one of the widely celebrated festivals in South India.

 

In the performing arts[edit]

 

A Kerala Kathakali performer as Krishna

While discussing the origin of Indian theatre, Horwitz talks about the mention of the Krishna story in Patanjali's Mahabhashya (c. 150 BC), where the episodes of slaying of Kamsa (Kamsa Vadha) and "Binding of the heaven storming titan" (Bali Bandha) are described.[126] Bhasa's Balacharitam and Dutavakyam (c. 400 BC) are the only Sanskrit plays centered on Krishna written by a major classical dramatist. The former dwells only on his childhood exploits and the latter is a one-act play based on a single episode from the Mahābhārata when Krishna tries to make peace between the warring cousins.[127]

 

From the 10th century AD, with the growing bhakti movement, Krishna became a favorite subject of the arts. The songs of the Gita Govinda became popular across India, and had many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the repository of both folk and classical singing.

 

The classical Indian dances, especially Odissi and Manipuri, draw heavily on the story. The 'Rasa lila' dances performed in Vrindavan shares elements with Kathak, and the Krisnattam, with some cycles, such as Krishnattam, traditionally restricted to the Guruvayur temple, the precursor of Kathakali.[128]

 

The Sattriya dance, founded by the Assamese Vaishnava saint Sankardeva, extols the virtues of Krishna. Medieval Maharashtra gave birth to a form of storytelling known as the Hari-Katha, that told Vaishnava tales and teachings through music, dance, and narrative sequences, and the story of Krishna one of them. This tradition spread to Tamil Nadu and other southern states, and is now popular in many places throughout India.

 

Narayana Tirtha's (17th century AD) Krishna-Lila-Tarangini provided material for the musical plays of the Bhagavata-Mela by telling the tale of Krishna from birth until his marriage to Rukmini. Tyagaraja (18th century AD) wrote a similar piece about Krishna called Nauka-Charitam. The narratives of Krishna from the Puranas are performed in Yakshagana, a performance style native to Karnataka's coastal districts. Many movies in all Indian languages have been made based on these stories. These are of varying quality and usually add various songs, melodrama, and special effects.

 

In other religions[edit]

Jainism[edit]

Further information: Śalākāpuruṣa

The most exalted figures in Jainism are the twenty-four Tirthankaras. Krishna, when he was incorporated into the Jain list of heroic figures, presented a problem with his activities which are not pacifist. The concept of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prati-Vasudeva was used to solve it.[neutrality is disputed] The Jain list of sixty-three Śalākāpuruṣa or notable figures includes, amongst others, the twenty-four Tirthankaras and nine sets of this triad. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the Baladeva and Jarasandha as the Prati-Vasudeva. He was a cousin of the twenty-second Tirthankara, Neminatha. The stories of these triads can be found in the Harivamsa of Jinasena (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to Mahābhārata) and the Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita of Hemachandra.[129]

 

In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva. Baladeva is the upholder of the Jain principle of non-violence. However, Vasudeva has to forsake this principle to kill the Prati-Vasudeva and save the world.[130][131]

 

Buddhism[edit]

 

Depiction of Krishna playing flute in the temple constructed in AD 752 on the order of Emperor Shomu; Todai-ji Temple, Great Buddha Hall in Nara, Japan

The story of Krishna occurs in the Jataka tales in Buddhism,[132] in the Vaibhav Jataka as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India.[133] In the Buddhist version, Krishna is called Vasudeva, Kanha and Keshava, and Balarama is his older brother, Baladeva. These details resemble that of the story given in the Bhagavata Purana. Vasudeva, along with his nine other brothers (each son a powerful wrestler) and one elder sister (Anjana) capture all of Jambudvipa (many consider this to be India) after beheading their evil uncle, King Kamsa, and later all other kings of Jambudvipa with his Sudarshana Chakra. Much of the story involving the defeat of Kamsa follows the story given in the Bhagavata Purana.[134]

 

As depicted in the Mahābhārata, all of the sons are eventually killed due to a curse of sage Kanhadipayana (Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dwaipayana). Krishna himself is eventually speared by a hunter in the foot by mistake, leaving the sole survivor of their family being their sister, Anjanadevi of whom no further mention is made.[135]

 

Since Jataka tales are given from the perspective of Buddha's previous lives (as well as the previous lives of many of Buddha's followers), Krishna appears as the "Dhammasenapati" or "Chief General of the Dharma" and is usually shown being Buddha's "right-hand man" in Buddhist art and iconography.[136] The Bodhisattva, is born in this tale as one of his youngest brothers named Ghatapandita, and saves Krishna from the grief of losing his son.[133] The 'divine boy' Krishna as an embodiment of wisdom and endearing prankster forms a part of the pantheon of gods in Japanese Buddhism .[137]

 

Bahá'í Faith[edit]

Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was a "Manifestation of God", or one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity. In this way, Krishna shares an exalted station with Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus, the Báb, and the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh.[138][139]

 

Ahmadiyya Islam[edit]

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Members of the Ahmadiyya Community believe Krishna to be a great prophet of God as described by their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. This belief is maintained by the Qur'anic principle that God has sent prophets and messengers to every nation of the world leaving no region without divine guidance (see for instance Quran 10:47 and Quran 16:36).[citation needed]

 

Ghulam Ahmad also claimed to be the likeness of Krishna as a latter day reviver of religion and morality whose mission was to reconcile man with God.[140] Ahmadis maintain that the Sanskrit term Avatar is synonymous with the term 'prophet' of the Middle Eastern religious tradition as God's intervention with man; as God appoints a man as his vicegerent upon earth. In Lecture Sialkot, Ghulam Ahmed wrote:

 

Let it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., Prophet—of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Aryas from sin and was in fact the Prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil.[140]

 

Krishna is also called Murli Dhar. The flute of Krishna means the flute of revelation and not the physical flute. According to Ahmadis, Krishna lived like humans and was a prophet.[141][142]

 

Other[edit]

Krishna worship or reverence has been adopted by several new religious movements since the 19th century and he is sometimes a member of an eclectic pantheon in occult texts, along with Greek, Buddhist, biblical and even historical figures.[143] For instance, Édouard Schuré, an influential figure in perennial philosophy and occult movements, considered Krishna a Great Initiate; while Theosophists regard Krishna as an incarnation of Maitreya (one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom), the most important spiritual teacher for humanity along with Buddha.[144][145]

 

Krishna was canonized by Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis.[146][14

Description: Newspaper cutting relating to Ronald Macleay

 

Date: 1923-1926

 

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Description: Camel bridge, Summer Palace.

 

Location: China

 

Date: 1923-1926

 

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Description: Gate.

 

Location: China

 

Date: 1923-1926

 

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Description: The Yellow River at Tsinan Fu

 

Location: China

 

Date: 1923-1926

 

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Description: Chapel Bell Tower. Ministers House. Sundial.

 

Location: China

 

Date: 1923-1926

 

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Our Catalogue Reference: Part of CO 1069/429.

 

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This badge may relate to the novelty song I’ve never seen a straight banana, sung by Whispering Jack Smith (Jacob Schmidt). This song was first published in 1927 by Irving Berlin Music Publishing Inc of New York.

 

Song-sheet badges were a long series of promotional badges that accompanied its song-sheet when purchased. Most song-sheet badges were issued during the 1920’s and 1930’s, the majority manufactured by Millers of Birmingham. The badge’s design always tied-in with the theme of the song’s lyrics

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6n00XcVHJE (I’ve never seen a straight banana song).

 

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Enamels: 2 (yellow & brown).

Finish: Gilt.

Material: Brass.

Fixer: Pin.

Size: 35mm long (1 /3/8” approx).

Process: Die stamped.

Imprint: W. MILLER, 118 BRANSTON ST, BIRMINGHAM (1928)

 

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Photo reproduced with kind permission of the seller (amersham417).

Sold on eBay 13th February 2014.

Item number 251442390750.

Start price £8.99 and sold for £44.00 p&p (7 bids from 4 bidders).

 

 

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