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German postcard, no. 44 (of 64). Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer and Mila Baloh in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At the last moment Annie intervenes. In front of everyone, she reports that the "preacher" is really the vulture Weller and a murderer. Her firm and determined manner makes even Judge Leader doubt Martin's guilt.
In the late 1950s, blonde, German Elke Sommer (1940) was a European sex symbol before conquering Hollywood in the early 1960s. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones, and sky-high bouffant hair-dos, Sommer made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. The gorgeous film star was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties and posed twice for Playboy magazine.
Elke Sommer was born Elke Schletz in 1940 in Berlin to a Lutheran Minister, Baron Peter von Schletz, and his wife, Renata, nee Topp. In 1942, the family was forced to evacuate to Niederndorf, a village near Erlangen, a small university town in the southern region of Germany. Her father's death in 1955, when she was only 14, interrupted her education at the local Gymnasium (high school). In 1957, she graduated from high school and moved to England. There she worked as an au-pair girl in Chigwell and Hampstead, two expensive residential areas of London. She entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator for the United Nations but instead decided to try modeling. After winning the title Miss Viareggio Turistica in 1958 while on vacation in Italy with her mother, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature Uomini e nobiluomini/Men and Noblemen (Giorgio Bianchi, 1959), which starred De Sica. Elke changed her surname from 'Schletz' to 'Sommer' which was easier to pronounce for a non-German audience. A few more Italian pictures followed, including her first starring role in Femmine di lusso/Love, the Italian Way (Giorgio Bianchi, 1960) with Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari. Within two years Elke made five films in Italy and also two in Germany, the adventure Das Totenschiff/Ship of the Dead (Georg Tressler, 1959) with Horst Buchholz, and the interesting Film Noir Am Tag, als der Regen kam/The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959) starring Mario Adorf. She gradually upgraded her status to European sex symbol, and appeared in such films as the sexy De quoi tu te mêles Daniela!/Daniella by Night (Max Pécas, 1961) with Ivan Desny, Douce violence/Sweet Ecstasy (Max Pécas, 1962) opposite Pierre Brice, and the drama Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt/The Girl and the Prosecutor (Jürgen Goslar, 1962). Her first English-speaking picture was Don't Bother to Knock (Cyril Frankel, 1961) with Richard Todd and Nicole Maurey. Most of the publicity photographs for Don't Bother to Knock showed her in a bikini and revealed that although she was nothing like as buxom as Sophia Loren or Jayne Mansfield, Elke had a flat stomach and superb legs. Sommer moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s to try and tap into the foreign-born market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963) with Vince Edwards and Albert Finney. She received considerable publicity when it was reported that she filmed her scenes twice, with a sexier version made for the European market. Elke played a German girl who sexually gratifies her American boyfriend (George Hamilton) with the full knowledge of her parents because he brings chocolate to the family home. In 1964 she won the Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963), an espionage thriller with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson. In the classic, bumbling comedy A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964), the second entry in the hilarious Pink Panther series, she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau. A scene with Sellers and Elke in a nudist camp received enormous publicity, and the film was a huge hit. Besides becoming one of the top film stars of the mid-1960s, Sommer also was one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time. She posed for two spreads in Playboy, in the September 1964 issue and in the December 1967 issue.
Elke Sommer was the leading lady opposite hunky sixties stars like James Garner, Robert Vaughn, and Dean Martin in such Hollywood productions as the crime melodrama The Art of Love (Norman Jewison, 1965), The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1965), The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), The Venetian Affair (Jerry Thorpe, 1967), and the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew (Phil Karlson, 1969). The blonde and beautiful Sommer proved irresistible to American audiences whether adorned in lace or leather or donning lingerie or lederhosen. She continued to make films in Europe as well as in Hollywood. The Euro-Western Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) was based on one of the Winnetou novels by Karl May. Her co-stars were Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, Götz George, and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. In 1966, she returned to England to work on the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1968), a film that has minor cult status, mainly because Richard Johnson gives a superb James Bond-like performance, but also because Elke and Sylva Koscina were so eye-catching as two sexually-charged assassins. Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was too often misused and setbacks began to occur when the quality of her films began to deteriorate. Examples are the tacky Hollywood entry, The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966) with Stephen Boyd, and the Bob Hope misfire, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966). Her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (George Marshall, 1968) proved her undoing. Elke Sommer benefitted from speaking seven languages fluently and her career took her to scores of different countries over time. Her films during the 1970s included the British World War I action-drama Zeppelin (Étienne Périer, 1971) in which she co-starred with Michael York and Anton Diffring, and a remake of Agatha Christie's oft-filmed murder mystery Ten Little Indians called And Then There Were None (Peter Collinson, 1974) with Richard Attenborough and Oliver Reed. In 1972, she starred in two low-budget Italian horror films directed by Mario Bava, which have both become cult classics. Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga/Baron Blood (Mario Bava, 1972) with Joseph Cotten, turned out to be an international box office success, particularly in the U.S. Producer Alfredo Leone offered Bava a contract for another film Lisa e il diavolo/Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, 1973) with Telly Savalas, and granted Bava total artistic control on it. The latter film was later re-edited to a very different film called Casa dell'esorcismo/House of Exorcism, a rip-off of The Exorcist. In 1975, Elke went back to Italy to appear in additional scenes inserted by the producer, against the wishes of the director. In those scenes a demonic Elke swears obscenities at her exorcist, and in typical Linda Blair style spits out pea soup and actually vomits live frogs and insects. In England, she good-naturedly appeared in the ‘comedy’ films Percy (Ralph Thomas, 1971) and its equally cheeky sequel Percy's Progress (Ralph Thomas, 1974), which starred Hywel Bennett (later Leigh Lawson) as the first man to have a penis transplant. She also showed up in one of the later ‘Carry On’ farces entitled Carry on Behind (Gerald Thomas, 1975) as the Russian Professor Anna Vrooshka. In Germany she appeared in Edgar Reitz’s Die Reise nach Wien/The Trip To Vienna (1973) with Hannelore Elsner, and in Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller Einer von uns beiden/One or the Other (1974) opposite Klaus Schwarzkopf and Jürgen Prochnow.
From the mid-1970s, Elke Sommer worked more and more for TV. She appeared as a guest star in such popular series as The Six Million Dollar Man (1976), Fantasy Island (1981) and The Love Boat (1981, 1984). She played in the mini-series Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982), Jenny's War (Steve Gethers, 1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1986) and Peter the Great (Marvin J. Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, 1986). Elke Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993 when Gabor and her husband made disparaging remarks about Sommer to several German publications. The jury ruled in favour of Sommer, and Gabor and her husband were sentenced to pay $2 million. Sommer also made appearances as a cabaret singer and in time put out several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as Irma la Douce and Born Yesterday, eventually becoming a director. Sadly, while performing in Chicago, she lost twins in her sixth month of pregnancy. Since the 1990s, she has concentrated more on book writing and painting than on acting. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc Chagall. She even hosted a TV-series on painting. Nevertheless, on occasion, she tackles an acting role. Out of the blue, she was cast in a Fangoria magazine production, the horror picture Severed Ties (1992). In her native Germany, she played in the TV film Ewig rauschen die Gelder/Eternally rustling funds (Rene Heinersdorff, 2005) and the comedy Das Leben ist zu lang (Dani Levy, 2010) with Markus Hering and Meret Becker. Divorced from writer and journalist Joe Hyams, she has been married since 1993 to hotelier Wolf Walther. In a 2014 interview, Sommer described how she met him: "I was in New York City starring in Tamara and had to stay there for four months. So, I had to find an apartment but they were excruciatingly expensive, tiny, and loud. As I knew the managing director of the Essex House, I wanted to talk to him about renting a room but the hotel had a new managing director, a man by the name of Wolf Walther. So we met. For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer. As you may know, Tamara is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may also know, my husband is 6'5" and hard to miss. I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day." Elke Sommer lives in Los Angeles, California. Last year, she gave her voice to the short animation film A Thousand Kisses (Richard Goldgewicht, 2017).
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Cult Sirens, Brian’s Drive-in Theater, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Reporting live from London: my sister-in-law, nieces and brother are near the Westminster Abbey and the British parliament meeting and having a good laugh at U.S. President Orangeface Madbaby Donald Trump in a diaper / nappy and holding a cell / mobile phone sending out mad tweets.
My eldest niece has been on an exchange program in Edinburgh, Scotland, for two weeks. At the end of the program, the rest of my brother’s family are now in London to meet up with her before returning to Hong Kong later this week. Both my nieces are American, by the way.
I think my uniform looks perfect! I'm sure my shipmates think so too!
The retro pinup look will never die!
This is another of the themes Cindy, Roberta & I played with during our most recent photo shoot! It was exciting and kind of got me all tingly to have something hard between my legs! [giggle]
My ensemble for this set consists of my Danskin black nylon spandex leotard with copper & black French heeled seamed stockings and Romance garter belt from secretsinlace.com along with my black patent 5½" heels from electriqueboutique.com, and a cute little fedora to top it all off!
To see more pix of me in other tight, sexy and revealing outfits click this link:www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157623668202157/
To see more pix of me in FF and RHT stockings & lingerie click this link: www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157627113549549/
DSC_0275-5
Video-Report Erciyes & Kayseri - youtu.be/-2lLv_IZvgE
Teaser Lena am Erciyes - youtu.be/ZiSP6X0wDGw
V-Blog Erciyes mit Lena - bit.ly/V-Blog-Kayseri
Tolle Unterkünfte in Kayseri buchen - www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?city=-759102&ai...
Mehr zum Skigebiet am Erciyes - kayserierciyes.com.tr
HOW TO HELP DECEASED !
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
AbuHurairah reported, "The Prophet (saws) said, 'When a person dies all his good deeds cease except for three:
1). a continuous act of charity (which the deceased did in his lifetime),
2). beneficial knowledge (which the deceased left behind),
3). a righteous son (children) who prays for him'.''Related by Muslim and AbuDawood.
Abu Hurairah reported, "The Prophet (saws) said, 'The righteous works that continue to benefit a believer after his death include the knowledge that he taught and spread among others, a righteous son (children) whom he leaves behind, or a copy of the Qur'an that he bequeaths to his inheritors, or a mosque that he builds, or a rest house that he builds for the wayfarers, or a canal of water that he digs for the benefit of others, or a charity that he gives out of his property during his life while he is sound of health. He will continue to receive reward for all these even after his death.'
For more : www.islamhelpline.com/node/6928
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12th Recon Company, 8th May 1903, Capital square
[Start of report]
Despite our briefings at the start of this whole damned affair, we knew there was something amiss about the capital after all of this started. Our encounter with the cultists and their pagan arts confirmed as much. Demons or not, enough bullets can put down these cultists and their spawn if the men's courage holds.
Our push to retake the main square ended in failure. A gathering of cultists discovered our scouts and before we could fight back, they retreated to call something strange.
A towering, veiled creature floated across the stones and over us. Strange symbols and trails of light floated across its skin with claws the size of swords, though it did not deign to use them. Instead, it would extend one arm and in a blink, one of them men would be turned to ash where he stood. A half-dozen of these disintegrations were enough to break the courage of our charge and force a retreat, save myself and a handful of others who dared not risk the demon's wrath.
We hid beneath the rubble like rats as this monster floated overhead, quiet and steady like fog. I ordered the photographer to capture an image of this terrible thing. No sane man would believe a report such as this without evidence.
Note: I know not if we should bear holy sigils or cannons against something like this. Where these things go, we must avoid. I've told the men whatever spirits they come across, they are welcome to; anything to keep our morale intact. I shudder to think on what else has infested the capital, or come to retake it from the hands of men.
[End of report]
Reporting any naughty pictures made in art class.
“You there, model! Keep that robe on or Santa’s gonna hear about it!”
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot-tall (86.9 m) steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its 1902 completion, at 20 floors high, and one of only two "skyscrapers" north of 14th Street—the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street—where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located—with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.
Called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City", the building anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature, iconic building. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
The Flatiron Building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue to the west, Broadway to the east, and East 22nd Street to the south. The western and eastern facades converge, forming a "peak" at its northern corner where Fifth Avenue and Broadway intersect with East 23rd Street. The shape of the site arises from Broadway's diagonal alignment relative to the Manhattan street grid. The site measures 197.5 feet (60.2 m) on Fifth Avenue, 214.5 feet (65.4 m) on Broadway, and 86 feet (26 m) on 22nd Street. Above the ground level, all three corners of the triangle are curved.
Adjacent buildings include the Toy Center to the north, the Sohmer Piano Building to the southwest, the Scribner Building to the south, and Madison Green to the southeast. Entrances to the New York City Subway's 23rd Street station, served by the R and W trains, are adjacent to the building. The Flatiron Building is at the northern end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District, which extends between 15th Street to the south and 24th Street to the north. By the 1990s, the blocks south of the building had also become known as the Flatiron District
At the beginning of March 1901, media outlets reported that the Newhouse family was planning to sell "Eno's flatiron" for about $2 million to Cumberland Realty Company, an investment partnership created by Harry S. Black, CEO of the Fuller Company. The Fuller Company was the first true general contractor that dealt with all aspects of buildings' construction (except for design), and they specialized in erecting skyscrapers. Black intended to construct a new headquarters building on the site, despite the recent deterioration of the surrounding neighborhood. At the end of that March, the Fuller Company organized a subsidiary to develop a building on the site. The sale was finalized in May 1901.
Black hired Daniel Burnham's architectural firm to design a 21-story building on the site in February 1901. It would be Burnham's first in New York City, the tallest building in Manhattan north of the Financial District, and the first skyscraper north of Union Square (at 14th Street). The Northwestern Salvage and Wrecking Company began razing the site in May 1901, after the majority of existing tenants' leases had expired. Most of the Cumberland's remaining tenants readily vacated the building in exchange for monetary compensation. The sole holdout was Winfield Scott Proskey, a retired colonel who refused to move out until his lease expired later that year. Cumberland Realty unsuccessfully attempted to deactivate Proskey's water and gas supply, and Proskey continued to live in the Cumberland while contractors demolished all of the surrounding apartments. By the end of May 1901, Cumberland Realty discovered that Proskey was bankrupt, and his creditors took over the lease and razed the rest of the Cumberland that June.
The New York Herald published an image of the site on June 2, 1901, with the caption "Flatiron Building". The project's structural engineer, Corydon Purdy, filed plans for a 20-story building on the site were filed that August. The Flatiron Building was not the first building of its triangular ground-plan, although it was the largest at the time of its completion. Earlier buildings with a similar shape include a triangular Roman temple built on a similarly constricted site in the city of Verulamium, Britannia; Bridge House, Leeds, England (1875); the I.O.O.F. Centennial Building (1876) in Alpena, Michigan; and the English-American Building in Atlanta (1897). The Real Estate Record and Guide published a drawing of the building in October 1901; though the drawing was captioned "The Cumberland", it was very similar to the Flatiron Building's final design.
The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company began producing architectural terracotta pieces for the building in August 1901. Around the same time, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) indicated that it would refuse to approve Purdy's initial plans unless the engineers submitted detailed information about the framework, fireproofing, and wind-bracing systems. Purdy complied with most of the DOB's requests, submitting detailed drawings and documents, but he balked at the department's requirement that the design include fire escapes. For reasons that are unclear, the DOB dropped its requirement that the building contain fire escapes. In addition, the building was originally legally required to contain metal-framed windows, although this would have increased the cost of construction. The city's Board of Building Commissioners had granted an exemption to Black's syndicate, prompting allegations of favoritism. A new Buildings Department commissioner was appointed at the beginning of 1902, promising to enforce city building codes; this prompted general contractor Thompson–Starrett Co. to announce that the building's window frames would be made of fireproof wood with a copper coating.
The building's steel frame was manufactured by the American Bridge Company in Pennsylvania. The frame had risen above street level by January 1902. Construction was then halted for several weeks, first because of a delay in steel shipments, then because of a blizzard that occurred in February. Further delays were caused by a strike at the factory of Hecla Iron Works, which was manufacturing elevators and handrails for the building. The steel was so meticulously pre-cut that, according to The New York Times, the steel pieces could be connected "without so much as the alteration of a bored hole, or the exchange of a tiny rivet". Workers used air-powered tools to rivet the steel beams together, since such equipment was more efficient than steam-powered tools at conducting power over long distances. The frame was complete by February 1902, and workers began installing the terracotta tiles as the framework of the top stories were being finished. By mid-May, the building was half-covered by terracotta tiling. The terracotta work was completed the next month, and the scaffolding in front of the building was removed. The Fifth Avenue Building Company had invested $1.5 million in the project.
Officials of the Fuller Company announced in August 1902 that the structure would be officially named after George A. Fuller, founder of the Fuller Company and "father of the skyscraper", who had died two years earlier. By then, the site had been known as the "flatiron" for several years; according to Christopher Gray of The New York Times, Burnham's and Fuller's architectural drawings even labeled the structure as the "Flatiron Building". Although the Fuller name was used for some time after the building's completion, locals persisted in calling it the Flatiron, to the displeasure of Harry Black and the building's contractors. In subsequent years, the edifice officially came to be known as the Flatiron Building, and the Fuller name was transferred to a newer 40-story structure at 597 Madison Avenue.
In the weeks before the official opening, the Fuller Company distributed six-page brochures to potential tenants and real-estate brokers. The brochures advertised the building as being "ready for occupancy" on October 1, 1902. The Fuller Company took the 19th floor for its headquarters. When completed, the Flatiron Building was much taller than others in the neighborhood; when New York City Fire Department officials tested the building's standpipes in November 1902, they found that "the 'flat-iron' building would be of great aid in fighting the fire" in any surrounding buildings. Following the building's completion, the surrounding neighborhood evolved from an entertainment district to a commercial hub. Initially, the building was topped by a flagpole, which was maintained by one man, "Steeplejack" Kay, for four decades. Henry Clay Frick expressed interest in purchasing the structure in 1904 for $5 million, but he ultimately withdrew his offer.
During the building's construction, Black had suggested that the "cowcatcher" retail space be installed at the northern tip of the building, occupying 93 square feet (8.6 m2) of unused space at the extreme northern end of the lot. This would maximize use of the building's lot and produce some retail income. Burnham initially refused to consider Black's suggestion, and, in April 1902, Black asked a draftsman at the Fuller Company to draw up plans for the retail space. Black submitted plans for the annex to the DOB in May 1902. The DOB rejected the initial plans because the walls were too thin, but the department approved a revised proposal that June, to Burnham's disapproval. The retail space in the "cowcatcher" was leased by United Cigar Stores.
Another addition to the building not in the original plan was the penthouse, which was constructed after the rest of the building had been completed. By 1905, the Fuller Company needed to expand its technical drawing facilities. As a result, the company filed plans for a penthouse with the New York City Department of Buildings that March. The penthouse would cost $10,000 and would include fireproof partitions and a staircase from the existing 20th floor. The penthouse, intended for use as artists' studios, was quickly rented out to artists such as Louis Fancher, many of whom contributed to the pulp magazines which were produced in the offices below.
New York, often called New York City or simply NYC, is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each of which is coextensive with a respective county. It is a global city and a cultural, financial, high-tech, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care, scientific output, life sciences, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, and is sometimes described as the world's most important city and the capital of the world.
With an estimated population in 2022 of 8,335,897 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. New York is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world.
New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists in approximately 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. The city was temporarily regained by the Dutch in July 1673 and was renamed New Orange; however, the city has been named New York since November 1674. New York City was the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island, and has been the largest U.S. city ever since.
Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022, the New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.16 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country, it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world. The city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. New York City is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023, New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates to live. New York City is home to the highest number of billionaires, individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world
The written history of New York City began with the first European explorer, the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. European settlement began with the Dutch in 1608 and New Amsterdam was founded in 1624.
The "Sons of Liberty" campaigned against British authority in New York City, and the Stamp Act Congress of representatives from throughout the Thirteen Colonies met in the city in 1765 to organize resistance to Crown policies. The city's strategic location and status as a major seaport made it the prime target for British seizure in 1776. General George Washington lost a series of battles from which he narrowly escaped (with the notable exception of the Battle of Harlem Heights, his first victory of the war), and the British Army occupied New York and made it their base on the continent until late 1783, attracting Loyalist refugees.
The city served as the national capital under the Articles of Confederation from 1785 to 1789, and briefly served as the new nation's capital in 1789–90 under the United States Constitution. Under the new government, the city hosted the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States, the drafting of the United States Bill of Rights, and the first Supreme Court of the United States. The opening of the Erie Canal gave excellent steamboat connections with upstate New York and the Great Lakes, along with coastal traffic to lower New England, making the city the preeminent port on the Atlantic Ocean. The arrival of rail connections to the north and west in the 1840s and 1850s strengthened its central role.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, waves of new immigrants arrived from Europe dramatically changing the composition of the city and serving as workers in the expanding industries. Modern New York traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II. Throughout its history, New York has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influence has made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States and the world. The economy in the 1700s was based on farming, local production, fur trading, and Atlantic jobs like shipbuilding. In the 1700s, New York was sometimes referred to as a breadbasket colony, because one of its major crops was wheat. New York colony also exported other goods included iron ore as a raw material and as manufactured goods such as tools, plows, nails and kitchen items such as kettles, pans and pots.
The area that eventually encompassed modern day New York was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically related Native Americans traditionally spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as Unami. Early European settlers called bands of Lenape by the Unami place name for where they lived, such as "Raritan" in Staten Island and New Jersey, "Canarsee" in Brooklyn, and "Hackensack" in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. Some modern place names such as Raritan Bay and Canarsie are derived from Lenape names. Eastern Long Island neighbors were culturally and linguistically more closely related to the Mohegan-Pequot peoples of New England who spoke the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language.
These peoples made use of the abundant waterways in the New York region for fishing, hunting trips, trade, and occasionally war. Many paths created by the indigenous peoples are now main thoroughfares, such as Broadway in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester. The Lenape developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, they were cultivating fields of vegetation through the slash and burn technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay. Historians estimate that at the time of European settlement, approximately 5,000 Lenape lived in 80 settlements around the region.
The first European visitor to the area was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian in command of the French ship La Dauphine in 1524. It is believed he sailed into Upper New York Bay, where he encountered native Lenape, returned through the Narrows, where he anchored the night of April 17, and left to continue his voyage. He named the area New Angoulême (La Nouvelle-Angoulême) in honor of Francis I, King of France of the royal house of Valois-Angoulême and who had been Count of Angoulême from 1496 until his coronation in 1515. The name refers to the town of Angoulême, in the Charente département of France. For the next century, the area was occasionally visited by fur traders or explorers, such as by Esteban Gomez in 1525.
European exploration continued on September 2, 1609, when the Englishman Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed the Half Moon through the Narrows into Upper New York Bay. Like Christopher Columbus, Hudson was looking for a westerly passage to Asia. He never found one, but he did take note of the abundant beaver population. Beaver pelts were in fashion in Europe, fueling a lucrative business. Hudson's report on the regional beaver population served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World. The beaver's importance in New York's history is reflected by its use on the city's official seal.
The first Dutch fur trading posts and settlements were in 1614 near present-day Albany, New York, the same year that New Netherland first appeared on maps. Only in May 1624 did the Dutch West India Company land a number of families at Noten Eylant (today's Governors Island) off the southern tip of Manhattan at the mouth of the North River (today's Hudson River). Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. Later, the Dutch West Indies Company imported African slaves to serve as laborers; they were forced to build the wall that defended the town against English and Indian attacks. Early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City, resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. Holland sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.
On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. The colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. The first mayors (burgemeesters) of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year. By the early 1660s, the population consisted of approximately 1500 Europeans, only about half of whom were Dutch, and 375 Africans, 300 of whom were slaves.
A few of the original Dutch place names have been retained, most notably Flushing (after the Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (after Haarlem), and Brooklyn (after Breukelen). Few buildings, however, remain from the 17th century. The oldest recorded house still in existence in New York, the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, dates from 1652.
On August 27, 1664, four English frigates under the command of Col. Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, as part of an effort by King Charles II's brother James, Duke of York, the Lord High Admiral to provoke the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Two weeks later, Stuyvesant officially capitulated by signing Articles of Surrender and in June 1665, the town was reincorporated under English law and renamed "New York" after the Duke, and Fort Orange was renamed "Fort Albany". The war ended in a Dutch victory in 1667, but the colony remained under English rule as stipulated in the Treaty of Breda. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch briefly recaptured the city in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to England for what is now Suriname in November 1674 at the Treaty of Westminster.
The colony benefited from increased immigration from Europe and its population grew faster. The Bolting Act of 1678, whereby no mill outside the city was permitted to grind wheat or corn, boosted growth until its repeal in 1694, increasing the number of houses over the period from 384 to 983.
In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689 to 1691, before being arrested and executed.
Lawyers
In New York at first, legal practitioners were full-time businessmen and merchants, with no legal training, who had watched a few court proceedings, and mostly used their own common sense together with snippets they had picked up about English law. Court proceedings were quite informal, for the judges had no more training than the attorneys.
By the 1760s, the situation had dramatically changed. Lawyers were essential to the rapidly growing international trade, dealing with questions of partnerships, contracts, and insurance. The sums of money involved were large, and hiring an incompetent lawyer was a very expensive proposition. Lawyers were now professionally trained, and conversant in an extremely complex language that combined highly specific legal terms and motions with a dose of Latin. Court proceedings became a baffling mystery to the ordinary layman. Lawyers became more specialized and built their reputation, and their fee schedule, on the basis of their reputation for success. But as their status, wealth and power rose, animosity grew even faster. By the 1750s and 1760s, there was a widespread attack ridiculing and demeaning the lawyers as pettifoggers (lawyers lacking sound legal skills). Their image and influence declined. The lawyers organized a bar association, but it fell apart in 1768 during the bitter political dispute between the factions based in the Delancey and Livingston families. A large fraction of the prominent lawyers were Loyalists; their clientele was often to royal authority or British merchants and financiers. They were not allowed to practice law unless they took a loyalty oath to the new United States of America. Many went to Britain or Canada (primarily to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) after losing the war.
For the next century, various attempts were made, and failed, to build an effective organization of lawyers. Finally a Bar Association emerged in 1869 that proved successful and continues to operate.
By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. The Dutch West Indies Company transported African slaves to the post as trading laborers used to build the fort and stockade, and some gained freedom under the Dutch. After the seizure of the colony in 1664, the slave trade continued to be legal. In 1703, 42% of the New York households had slaves; they served as domestic servants and laborers but also became involved in skilled trades, shipping and other fields. Yet following reform in ethics according to American Enlightenment thought, by the 1770s slaves made up less than 25% of the population.
By the 1740s, 20% of the residents of New York were slaves, totaling about 2,500 people.
After a series of fires in 1741, the city panicked over rumors of its black population conspiring with some poor whites to burn the city. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 black and 4 white people, who over a period of months were convicted of arson. Of these, the city executed 13 black people by burning them alive and hanged the remainder of those incriminated.
The Stamp Act and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island in late 1776, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for loyalist refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's espionage and intelligence-gathering throughout the war.
New York was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin, with the Loyalists and Patriots accusing each other of starting the conflagration. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans lost their lives aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. The British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.
Starting in 1785 the Congress met in the city of New York under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York became the first national capital under the new Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York remained the national capital until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.
During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada. By 1835, New York had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
In 1842, water was piped from a reservoir to supply the city for the first time.
The Great Irish Famine (1845–1850) brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, and by 1850 the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population. Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department and the public schools, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents. In 1831, New York University was founded by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin as a non-denominal institution surrounding Washington Square Park.
This period started with the 1855 inauguration of Fernando Wood as the first mayor from Tammany Hall. It was the political machine based among Irish Americans that controlled the local Democratic Party. It usually dominated local politics throughout this period and into the 1930s. Public-minded members of the merchant community pressed for a Central Park, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it became the first landscape park in an American city.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city was affected by its history of strong commercial ties to the South; before the war, half of its exports were related to cotton, including textiles from upstate mills. Together with its growing immigrant population, which was angry about conscription, sympathies among residents were divided for both the Union and Confederacy at the outbreak of war. Tensions related to the war culminated in the Draft Riots of 1863 led by Irish Catholics, who attacked black neighborhood and abolitionist homes. Many blacks left the city and moved to Brooklyn. After the Civil War, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.
From 1890 to 1930, the largest cities, led by New York, were the focus of international attention. The skyscrapers and tourist attractions were widely publicized. Suburbs were emerging as bedroom communities for commuters to the central city. San Francisco dominated the West, Atlanta dominated the South, Boston dominated New England; Chicago dominated the Midwest United States. New York City dominated the entire nation in terms of communications, trade, finance, popular culture, and high culture. More than a fourth of the 300 largest corporations in 1920 were headquartered here.
In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan, and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx were established as two separate boroughs and joined with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge; the Borough of Queens was created from western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County in 1899); and the Borough of Richmond contained all of Richmond County. Municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished, and the county governmental functions were absorbed by the city or each borough. In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx County, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.
The Bronx had a steady boom period during 1898–1929, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression created a surge of unemployment, especially among the working class, and a slow-down of growth.
On June 15, 1904, over 1,000 people, mostly German immigrant women and children, were killed when the excursion steamship General Slocum caught fire and sank. It is the city's worst maritime disaster. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers. In response, the city made great advancements in the fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication, marking its rising influence with such events as the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first New York City Subway company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station thrived.
From 1918 to 1920, New York City was affected by the largest rent strike wave in its history. Somewhere between several 10,000's and 100,000's of tenants struck across the city. A WW1 housing and coal shortage sparked the strikes. It became marked both by occasional violent scuffles and the Red Scare. It would lead to the passage of the first rent laws in the nations history.
The city was a destination for internal migrants as well as immigrants. Through 1940, New York was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the rural American South. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the 1920s and the era of Prohibition. New York's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates were reduced after World War I disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression reduced the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Gilded Age barons. As the city's demographics temporarily stabilized, labor unionization helped the working class gain new protections and middle-class affluence, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls.
For a while, New York ranked as the most populous city in the world, overtaking London in 1925, which had reigned for a century.[58] During the difficult years of the Great Depression, the reformer Fiorello La Guardia was elected as mayor, and Tammany Hall fell after eighty years of political dominance.
Despite the effects of the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were built during the 1930s. Art Deco architecture—such as the iconic Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza— came to define the city's skyline. The construction of the Rockefeller Center occurred in the 1930s and was the largest-ever private development project at the time. Both before and especially after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the construction of bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Robert Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.
Returning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom. Demands for new housing were aided by the G.I. Bill for veterans, stimulating the development of huge suburban tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County. The city was extensively photographed during the post–war years by photographer Todd Webb.
New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading the United States ascendancy. In 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan. During the late 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses began to fall out of favor as the anti-urban renewal views of Jane Jacobs gained popularity. Citizen rebellion stopped a plan to construct an expressway through Lower Manhattan.
After a short war boom, the Bronx declined from 1950 to 1985, going from predominantly moderate-income to mostly lower-income, with high rates of violent crime and poverty. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.
The transition away from the industrial base toward a service economy picked up speed, while the jobs in the large shipbuilding and garment industries declined sharply. The ports converted to container ships, costing many traditional jobs among longshoremen. Many large corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs or to distant cities. At the same time, there was enormous growth in services, especially finance, education, medicine, tourism, communications and law. New York remained the largest city and largest metropolitan area in the United States, and continued as its largest financial, commercial, information, and cultural center.
Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and some population decline in the late 1960s. Street activists and minority groups such as the Black Panthers and Young Lords organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding improved city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the New York City blackout of 1977 and serial slayings by the Son of Sam.
The 1980s began a rebirth of Wall Street, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. Neighborhood restoration projects funded by the city and state had very good effects for New York, especially Bedford-Stuyvesant, Harlem, and The Bronx. The city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crime-fighting techniques on the part of the New York Police Department. In 1989, New York City elected its first African American Mayor, David Dinkins. He came out of the Harlem Clubhouse.
In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the nationwide fall of violent crime rates, the resurgence of the finance industry, and the growth of the "Silicon Alley", during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York was also able to attract more business and convert abandoned industrialized neighborhoods into arts or attractive residential neighborhoods; examples include the Meatpacking District and Chelsea (in Manhattan) and Williamsburg (in Brooklyn).
New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was a site of the September 11 attacks of 2001; 2,606 people who were in the towers and in the surrounding area were killed by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth. On November 3, 2014, One World Trade Center opened on the site of the attack. Hurricane Sandy brought a destructive storm surge to New York in the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan. It flooded low-lying areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Electrical power was lost in many parts of the city and its suburbs.
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"Daily Report: Twitter’s Fourth-Quarter Forecast Spooks Investors" by JIM KERSTETTER via NYT t.co/WmvETPDAan (via Twitter twitter.com/felipemassone/status/659361294089367552)
Nurse Mouse has been called to the castle. Princess Mouse has flu like symptoms. Oh, no!
Maileg Mice
Maileg suit case, black trunk, mug, green cabinet, gift bag as castle walls
Bedding made by me
Bed, dollhouse, bike, and mirrors - repainted by me
Jello, thermometer, spoon, medicine bottle - Target (Christmas gift from my husband - he picked them out and bought them on his own)
Rug - 1990s 1:12 dollhouse
Fl;oor - scrapbook paper
A number of photos showing Stagecoach North Scotlands Tullos (Aberdeen) depot on the morning of Thursday the 21st of December 2017. Seen here left to right are 53272 | 54254 | 53273.
©Jordan Adam
Do not use this photo without my written permission, Anyone caught uploading this photo without consent will be reported.
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(CC) Phillip Jeffrey. www.fadetoplay.com. Feel free to use this photo. I request that you link back to the original picture on Flickr and credit as shown above.
Week 31 chemo complete: Cancer levels dropped again
I had my monthly big blood test about a week and a half ago, and I’m pleased to report that my cancer levels (igG) are lower again.
My Cancer levels (normal range is 6.7 - 15.2 igG).
Sept 12.9
Aug 14.8
July 15.7
My Beta 2 Globulin (protein where my cancer resides) also dropped. Normal range is 1.8 - 4.8 g/L.
Sept 9.2
Aug 10.7
July 11.4
This photo taken at Wreck Beach represents my attitude right now. Although there was a steady rain falling, it didn’t matter. I’m in a happy mood, enjoying life, and focused on positivity each day.
To recap: On Sunday September 14th, I completed Cycle 8 Week 3. I have multiple myeloma and anemia, a rare cancer of the blood plasma. It is treatable, but incurable. On Sept 21th I begin my ninth 28 day treatment cycle, 21 days on (Pomalyst chemo pill), then 7 days off. I take dexamethasone, an oral steroid, every Monday.
I’m feeling great and my chemo treatment will continue indefinitely as long as my cancer levels remain low and stable. Thank you for your continual encouragement.
Diesel Traction Group's D1015 'Western Champion' arrives at Kidderminster Town station to work its first trip of the day to Bridgnorth on the Severn Valley Railway. It was confirmed in May 2022 that a replacement MD538 engine had been successfully installed [B end]. 'The Champ' will also have the engine at The A end replaced and installation is expected later this year. In the interim, 1015 will continue to operate on the SVR.
All images on this site are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed written permission of the photographer. All rights reserved – Copyright Don Gatehouse
This is a weater report from SW Iceland.
The first snow in the mountains came on monday morning. The temp is like around freezzzing, ...we are talking about 0°C or 32°F. Brrrrrrr.
Light wind from NE and clear sky.
This is the view around sunset, frozen swamp and snow nearby....Lrg.plz...
Sony RX1 User Report.
I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.
The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.
Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.
It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).
Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features
The Price
First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:
Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.
Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.
You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”
In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.
35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2
The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.
While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...
I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.
As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.
Design is about making choices
When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.
So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.
In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.
In use
So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.
Snapshots
As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.
I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.
To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.
Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.
Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.
How I shoot with the RX1
Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.
Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.
So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).
Working within constraints.
The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.
To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.
Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.
I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.
But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.
Pro Tip: Focusing
Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.
Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.
Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.
Carrying.
I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.
Or for NPR, anyway. Susie An, a reporter with National Public Radio, acquiring nat sound out at Chicago's Millennium Park. Since the temps won't climb out of single digits today, she thought a story on the Museum of Modern Ice would be apropos.
3.100 for the 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100strangers.com/
Whilst out for a walk this morning by local canal came across local PCSO who had been called to report of an injured Buzzard.I know the PCSO well and he is a trained falconer.Buzzard was conveyed to vets for checkup and I was able to secure a couple of images.
iPhone shot a couple of days ago of my antique restoration project. Spring is here and the landscaping has started, Between that and the sanding I am getting muscles like I've never had :-). much better on black
More photos and full report here: www.proj3ctm4yh3m.com/urbex/2015/03/09/urbex-the-royal-ho...
The Royal Hospital Haslar was founded in 1753 and was designed and built by Theodore Jacobsen between 1946-1961. When it was constructed it was both the largest hospital and brick built building in England. Britain's first Naval Hospital which span a huge area on the coastline of Gosport is also the site of a massive unmarked grave site with an estimated 7,785 buried sailors...
LEAH GARCHIK writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I am informed by ADDA DADA , who never misses a party, that the winner of the Hunky Jesus Contest was TWERKING JESUS. And "Why carry your cross when you can ride it?" is what REBECCA ZITO when she spotted a cyclist so accessorized.'
In Wednesday's Leah Garchik column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Dancing-in-t... ............................................................................................SISTER's of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE's 35th Annual HUNKY JESUS & FOXY MARY fun....The best thing about the Sister's show were the Marijuana 4/20 folks who incorrectly wandered into the Sister's party space...They were like "OMG, This is like , OZ, man."
Yes, it was.
Probably because it was the Sister's 35th Anniversary and it was an homage to the Wizard of Oz. The lawn in front of the stage was filled with red-paper poppies. There were several 'Cowardly Lions", many "Glenda the Good Witch", a couple of 'Bad Witches" including one on a bike...a very young 6-year old Judy Garland passing out Giradelli Chocolate, an awesome Scarecrow of indeterminate sex, a few Tin Men (and one obviously Tin Woman), and even a couple of 'munchkins'...yes, real little people. Though, ADDA DADA is happy to report that there were no Flying Monkeys.
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Breastfeeding is best for babies, but for those who are fed with infant formula, Nestlé Health Science has a hypoallergenic range for the dietary management of cow’s milk allergy.
Report on the scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76 under the command of Captain George S. Nares ...
Edinburgh :Neill,1880-1895.
Hereford in Herefordshire
Hereford means the ford used by the army. The Saxons arrived in this part of England in the 7th century and a settlement grew up at the ford. Saxon Hereford also had a mint and a weekly market. Hereford was able to resist a Danish attack in 914. About 1050 a castle was built in Hereford. However the town was burned by the Welsh in 1055.
After the Norman conquest many Frenchmen came to settle in Hereford. The town grew northwards and the market was moved to a new position north of the old town. In Medieval Hereford the main industry making wool. The wool was woven then it was fulled. That means the wool was cleaned and thickened by being pounded in a mixture of clay and water. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills. The Normans set about rebuilding Hereford cathedral.
Bishop Thomas Cantilupe died in 1282. He was buried in Hereford and in 1320 he was canonised (declared a saint). Soon people reported miracles at his shrine and many pilgrims visited the town to see it adding to the prosperity of the town.
In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Hereford strongly supported the king. Nevertheless in September 1642 a parliamentary force took Hereford but they withdrew in December. A small royalist army then held the town but they fled in April 1643 when a superior parliamentary force came. However Hereford soon changed hands again when the parliamentarians left and a royalist army arrived.
A parliamentary army laid siege to the town in July 1645 but they were unable to take Hereford. They withdrew in September. However by then the king was losing the war. In December the parliamentarians took Hereford by trickery. Some of their soldiers dressed as laborers and took shovels and picks. They went to Bysters Gate. When it was opened they took control and let in more parliamentary soldiers. Hereford was soon taken.
In the 18th century Hereford remained a quiet market town. In 1757 it had a population of 5,592. There was little manufacturing industry although it was known for glove making. However in the 1720's Daniel Defoe visited Hereford but he was not impressed, he called it 'mean built and very dirty!'.
At the end of the 18th century all the gates around Hereford were demolished as they restricted traffic. Wye Bridge Gate and Friars Gate went in 1782. St Owens Gate went in 1786, Eign Gate followed in 1787, Bysters Gate and Widemarsh Gate were demolished in 1798.
Information gained from www.localhistories.org/hereford.html
This Photograph shows 2 Green Boxcars with FRA Reporting Marks: GINX 102017 and GINX 102005 (both of which have some sort of Black Plastic Cover over their Roofs) identifies the Owner as CHICKASHA OF GEORGIA LLC. See:
This Photograph shows a NS Train passing Control Point Spring near the Mercedes Benz Stadium, not far from Centennial Olympic Park in Downtown Atlanta. I took this Photograph from the top of the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW Bridge, of a Norfolk Southern Train passing under the M L K Jr Drive Bridge going away from me, passing Switch/Signal Control Box "SPRING".
Since I was in Atlanta for a Family Wedding and was unfamiliar with the area (in lieu of the Train Number), I will supply the Roster Numbers of the three Norfolk Southern Locomotives to Identify the Train. The Locomotive Numbers were as follows: the Lead Locomotive was Number 9453, a GE Dash 9-44CW (Norfolk Southern Designation D9-44CW), the second Locomotive was Number 4056 a GE AC44C6M (Rebuilt from a NS Dash 9-40C with AC traction and GE widenose & cab) and the third Locomotive was Number 3677 a GE ET44AC. All three Locomotives were rated at 4,400 Horse Power.
Photographs of the three Locomotives appear (in my Photostream) in several preceding Photos (click on the Right Arrow to go back several Photos to see the Locomotives
The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Daily Telegraph published a full report on the tragedy, and the inquest into the deaths in its edition of 6th September 1882.
We reported a few days ago a sad bathing occurrence at Croyde, North Devon, by which three young gentlemen lost their lives.
They were visitors to the place, and belonged to a school of lads in London.
On Sunday last, a week after the occurrence - two of the bodies were picked up, and yesterday J. H. Toiler, Esq., held an inquest on them at the King's Arms Inn, Georgeham.
Thomas Heddon, a lodging-house-keeper, of Croyde, in the parish of Georgeham, said he had that day seen a body and identified it as that of Havelock McGeorge, a lad thirteen years of age, who had been staying with him, in charge of Miss Hardie. Deceased resided at No.5, Lansdowne Road, Wimbledon.
On Sunday morning last, between seven and eight o'clock, he went out on the beach to see if he could find any bodies. He saw something on the shore at high water, and on going to the spot found it was the body of Havelock McGeorge. The body was in the water, and was quite naked. He took charge of the body and took it to the mortuary with the assistance of two other men. He should say the deceased came to his death by drowning.
On Monday, the 28th August, the morning when the lads bathed, there was a heavy ground sea on.
Thomas Staddon, a labourer, of Croyde, said he had that morning seen the body of a lad whom be recognised as that of Herbert Maconaghey. He was about thirteen years of age he had heard, but he looked fifteen.
On Sunday evening last, about half-past five o'clock, he went out to look for the bodies. He was in company with James Lovering, and they saw a body, in a deep gully on the shore, which he afterwards recognized as that of Herbert Maconaghey.
He had it removed to the mortuary.
Death, he should say, was caused by drowning.
Mary Ellen Hardie said she resided at 5, Lansdowne-road, Wimbledon, and was governess to Miss Palmer
The deceased were staying with her at Croyde, and she last saw them alive on Monday, 28th August, about quarter-past ten in the morning.
They were leaving the house to go upon the sands. Seven of them went out together, but only four came back again. She thought they were going out to play. Besides the two whose bodies were found, that of Charles Binney was missing.
They had bathed every morning during the six weeks they had been at Croyde.
Mr. Flinch, who represented the friends of the deceased, said that where the lads bathed was not dangerous, but the ground sea took them to Glover's Pool, and there they were drowned.
He hoped the jury would make a recommendation to have a board placed near Glover's Pool.
He further stated that he should have wished the eldest of the seven boys (Cornford) to have been present, but he was too unwell to attend.
He would have told them that Maconoghey was in no danger, and that he lost his life while trying to save one of the deceased. He called out to Cornford, "You save one boy, and I'll save another."
The Coroner advised the jury as to their verdict, which was that the deceased met with their death accidentally while bathing, and they recommended a board to be placed on the sands, warning visitors only to bathe at half-tide.
The three unfortunate lads were not brothers, as has been stated, nor were they related to each other in any way.
Messrs. Symons and Son, of Barnstaple, made two coffins for the deceased lads, whose bodies will he interred in Georgeham Cemetery,Devon. The three friends were buried together.
1900 was when Postman's Park became the location for George Frederic Watts's Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, a memorial to ordinary people who died while saving the lives of others and who might otherwise be forgotten.
This takes the form of a loggia and long wall housing ceramic memorial tablets.
The Heroic act by Herbert took place 138 years ago & is a good reminder of all the people who are making sacrifices at present.
Carrick Castle has long been believed to sit on the site of a former Royal hunting lodge, used by the Kings of Scots. The castle that replaced the hunting lodge was built in the 1400s (15th century). Various websites give earlier dates than this - which would appear to be wrong! In general, all major Scottish castles are found in records pertaining to the period of the wars with England in the 14th century and Carrick does not appear in these records, which suggests that whatever building was here prior to 1368, was of little or no military significance.
I have found two entirely different versions of the early history of the castle. Nigel Tranter states that it was the Lamonts, who originally owned much of the Cowal peninsula (until the Campbells took it off them by either fair means or foul) and who built this castle. In this instance he tells us, the Campells appear to have obtained Carrick by fair means (presumably by marriage) in the early 16th century, when it passed to the Campbells of Ardkinglas. The Campbells were certainly resident here by 1511, when Robert Campbell of Carrick is recorded as a witness to a grant made by his chief, Archibald Earl of Argyll.
Tranter is not entirely correct in saying that ownership passed to the Campbells of Ardkinglas. The Earl of Argyll became the owner and the Campbells of Ardkinglas became the Hereditary Captains of the castle.
The second version, by a no less reputable source - namely the team of archaeologists that excavated the site in the 1990s, is that the castle was indeed built in the late 14th century, but by the Campbells of Loch Awe themselves, later the Earls of Argyll.
In my view, Tranter for once is probably wrong and that while the Lamonts may once have owned or held the lands of Carrick, they no longer did when the castle was built. What is more, there is evidence to suggest that it was not the Lamonts that the Campbells obtained Carrick from anyway, but the Stewarts.
The Stewart powerbase until the mid 14th century was based around Bute, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Cowal, but when King David Bruce died childless in 1371 and John Stewart changed his name to Robert and became King Robert II (by virtue of his mother being King Robert Bruce's daughter Marjorie), the Stewarts at once had far more important matters to attend to than the mountains and bogs of Argyll. The Campbell rise to prominence was greatly aided by the Stewart's elevation to the crown. The Stewarts relied heavily on the Campbells and other local supporters to maintain their authority in their former territories, so it would seem likely that the Stewarts may have granted Cowal to the Campbells.
Either way, in 1532, Duncan Campbell is recorded as Captain of Carrick, and 1562 John Campbell was likewise. In 1685, John Campbell of Carrick was summoned to Edinburgh on account of the young Earl of Argyll's invasion of that year. In the laird's absence, his great lands were harried by the opposition, and it is reported that they took away 119 horses, 330 cattle, and 188 sheep. In 1715, Sir John Campbell of Carrick was one of the signatories to 'The Resolve', at Inverary, which 'resolved' to defend King George's person and government from the Jacobites. The property later passed to the Murrays, Earls of Dunmore.
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this illumination occurs.
The lower the Sun is beneath the horizon, the dimmer the twilight (other factors such as atmospheric conditions being equal). When the Sun reaches 18° below the horizon, the twilight's brightness is nearly zero, and evening twilight becomes nighttime. When the Sun again reaches 18° below the horizon, nighttime becomes morning twilight. Owing to its distinctive quality, primarily the absence of shadows and the appearance of objects silhouetted against the lit sky, twilight has long been popular with photographers and painters, who often refer to it as the blue hour, after the French expression l'heure bleue.
By analogy with evening twilight, the word twilight is also sometimes used metaphorically, to imply that something is losing strength and approaching its end. For example, very old people may be said to be "in the twilight of their lives". The collateral adjective for twilight is crepuscular, which may be used to describe the behavior of animals that are most active during this period.
Twilight is defined according to the solar elevation angle θs, which is the position of the geometric center of the Sun relative to the horizon. There are three established and widely accepted subcategories of twilight: civil twilight (nearest the horizon), nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight (farthest from the horizon).
Civil twilight is the time when the geometric center of the Sun is between the horizon and 6° below the horizon.
Civil twilight is the period when enough natural light remains that artificial light in towns and cities is not needed. In the United States' military, the initialisms BMCT (begin morning civil twilight, i.e., civil dawn) and EECT (end evening civil twilight, i.e., civil dusk) are used to refer to the start of morning civil twilight and the end of evening civil twilight, respectively. Civil dawn is preceded by morning nautical twilight and civil dusk is followed by evening nautical twilight.
Under clear weather conditions, civil twilight approximates the limit at which solar illumination suffices for the human eye to clearly distinguish terrestrial objects. Enough illumination renders artificial sources unnecessary for most outdoor activities. At civil dawn and at civil dusk sunlight clearly defines the horizon while the brightest stars and planets can appear. As observed from the Earth (see apparent magnitude), sky-gazers know Venus, the brightest planet, as the "morning star" or "evening star" because they can see it during civil twilight.
Lawmakers have enshrined the concept of civil twilight. Such statutes typically use a fixed period after sunset or before sunrise (most commonly 20–30 minutes), rather than how many degrees the Sun is below the horizon. Examples include when drivers of automobiles must turn on their headlights (called lighting-up time in the UK), when hunting is restricted, or when the crime of burglary is to be treated as nighttime burglary, which carries stiffer penalties in some jurisdictions.
The period may affect when extra equipment, such as anti-collision lights, is required for aircraft to operate. In the US, civil twilight for aviation is defined in Part 1.1 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) as the time listed in the American Air Almanac.
Nautical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 12° and 6° below the horizon.
Before nautical dawn and after nautical dusk, sailors cannot navigate via the horizon at sea as they cannot clearly see the horizon. At nautical dawn and nautical dusk, the human eye finds it difficult, if not impossible, to discern traces of illumination near the sunset or sunrise point of the horizon (first light after nautical dawn but before civil dawn and nightfall after civil dusk but before nautical dusk).
Sailors can take reliable star sightings of well-known stars, during the stage of nautical twilight when they can distinguish a visible horizon for reference (i.e. after astronomic dawn or before astronomic dusk).
Under good atmospheric conditions with the absence of other illumination, during nautical twilight, the human eye may distinguish general outlines of ground objects but cannot participate in detailed outdoor operations.
Nautical twilight has military considerations as well. The initialisms BMNT (begin morning nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dawn) and EENT (end evening nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dusk) are used and considered when planning military operations. A military unit may treat BMNT and EENT with heightened security, e.g. by "standing to", in which everyone assumes a defensive position.
Astronomical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 18° and 12° below the horizon.[3][4][2] During astronomical twilight, the sky is dark enough to permit astronomical observation of point sources of light such as stars, except in regions with more intense skyglow due to light pollution, moonlight, auroras, and other sources of light. Some critical observations, such as of faint diffuse items such as nebulae and galaxies, may require observation beyond the limit of astronomical twilight. Theoretically, the faintest stars detectable by the naked eye (those of approximately the sixth magnitude) will become visible in the evening at astronomical dusk, and become invisible at astronomical dawn.
Observers within about 48°34' of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date of the year between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk. This also occurs for most observers at higher latitudes on many dates throughout the year, except those around the summer solstice. However, at latitudes closer than 8°35' (between 81°25’ and 90°) to either Pole, the Sun cannot rise above the horizon nor sink more than 18° below it on the same day on any date, so this example of twilight cannot occur because the angular difference between solar noon and solar midnight is less than 17°10’.
Observers within 63°47'50" of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date between the month of the autumnal equinox and the month of vernal equinox between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk, i.e., from September 1 to March 31 of the following year in the Northern Hemisphere and from March 1 to September 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
The nighttime/twilight boundary solar midnight's latitude varies depending on the certain month:
In the months of January or July, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°54' North or South, because in the months of January or July the Sun's declination is less than 23°06' from the Equator;
In the months of February or August, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 54°02' North or South, because in the months of February or August the Sun's declination is less than 17°58' from the Equator;
In the months of March or September before the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 63°47' North or South, because in the months of March or September before the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 8°13' from the Equator;
During the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 72°00' North or South, because during the equinoxes the Sun is crossing the Equator line;
In the months of March or September after the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 67°45' North or South, because in the months of March or September after the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 4°15' from the Equator;
In the months of April or October, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 57°09' North or South, because in the months of April or October the Sun's declination is less than 14°51' from the Equator;
In the months of May or November, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 50°03' North or South, because in the months of May or November the Sun's declination is less than 21°57' from the Equator;
In the months of June or December, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°34' North or South, because in the month of June the Sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer (about 23°26' North) and in the month of December the Sun crosses the Tropic of Capricorn (about 23°26' South).
At latitudes greater than about 48°34' North or South, on dates near the summer solstice (June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere or December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), twilight can last from sunset to sunrise, since the Sun does not sink more than 18 degrees below the horizon, so complete darkness does not occur even at solar midnight. These latitudes include many densely populated regions of the Earth, including the entire United Kingdom and other countries in northern Europe and even parts of central Europe. This also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, but occurs on December 21. This type of twilight also occurs between one day and the next at latitudes within the polar circles shortly before and shortly after the period of midnight sun. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is on June 21st, while the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is on December 21st.
Civil twilight: between about 60°34' and 65°44' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Alaska,Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Faroe Islands and Shetland. In the southern hemisphere this includes parts of the Southern Ocean and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. When civil twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
Nautical twilight: between about 54°34' and 60°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere this includes the center of Alaska, Russia, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Scotland, Norway, Sweden,Finland, Lithuania, and Denmark. In the southern hemisphere this includes the southernmost point of South America, and Ushuaia in Argentina. When nautical twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
Astronomical twilight: between about 48°34' and 54°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Isle of Man, Aleutian Islands, United Kingdom, Belarus, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bellingham, Washington, Orcas Island, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, Paris, France, Luxembourg, Guernsey, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. In the southern hemisphere this includes the center of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Bouvet Island, Heard Island, Falkland Islands. It also includes El Calafate and Río Gallegos in Argentina, and Puerto Natales in Chile. When astronomical twilight lasts all night, this does not constitute a white night. This phenomenon is known as the grey nights, nights when it does not get dark enough for astronomers to do their observations of the deep sky.
In Arctic and Antarctic latitudes in wintertime, the polar night only rarely produces complete darkness for 24 hours each day. This can occur only at locations within about 5.5 degrees of latitude of the Pole, and there only on dates close to the winter solstice. At all other latitudes and dates, the polar night includes a daily period of twilight, when the Sun is not far below the horizon. Around winter solstice, when the solar declination changes slowly, complete darkness lasts several weeks at the Pole itself, e.g., from May 11 to July 31 at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. North Pole has the experience of this from November 13 to January 29.
Solar noon at civil twilight during a polar night: between about 67°24' and 72°34' north or south.
Solar noon at nautical twilight during a polar night: between about 72°34' and 78°34' north or south.
Solar noon at astronomical twilight during a polar night: between about 78°34' and 84°34' north or south.
Solar noon at night during a polar night: between approximately 84°34' and exactly 90° north or south.
At latitudes greater than 81°25' North or South, as the Sun's angular elevation difference is less than 18 degrees, twilight can last for the entire 24 hours. This occurs for one day at latitudes near 8°35’ from the Pole and extends up to several weeks the further toward the Pole one goes. This happens both near the North Pole and near the South Pole. The only permanent settlement to experience this condition is Alert, Nunavut, Canada, where it occurs from February 22–26, and again from October 15–19.
The duration of twilight depends on the latitude and the time of the year. The apparent travel of the Sun occurs at the rate of 15 degrees per hour (360° per day), but sunrise and sunset happen typically at oblique angles to the horizon and the actual duration of any twilight period will be a function of that angle, being longer for more oblique angles. This angle of the Sun's motion with respect to the horizon changes with latitude as well as the time of year (affecting the angle of the Earth's axis with respect to the Sun).
At Greenwich, England (51.5°N), the duration of civil twilight will vary from 33 minutes to 48 minutes, depending on the time of year. At the equator, civil twilight can last as little as 24 minutes. This is true because at low latitudes the Sun's apparent movement is perpendicular to the observer's horizon. But at the poles, civil twilight can be as long as 2–3 weeks. In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, twilight (if there is any) can last for several hours. There is no astronomical twilight at the poles near the winter solstice (for about 74 days at the North Pole and about 80 days at the South Pole). As one gets closer to the Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Sun's disk moves toward the observer's horizon at a lower angle. The observer's earthly location will pass through the various twilight zones less directly, taking more time.
Within the polar circles, twenty-four-hour daylight is encountered in summer, and in regions very close to the poles, twilight can last for weeks on the winter side of the equinoxes. Outside the polar circles, where the angular distance from the polar circle is less than the angle which defines twilight (see above), twilight can continue through local midnight near the summer solstice. The precise position of the polar circles, and the regions where twilight can continue through local midnight, varies slightly from year to year with Earth's axial tilt. The lowest latitudes at which the various twilights can continue through local midnight are approximately 60.561° (60°33′43″) for civil twilight, 54.561° (54°33′43″) for nautical twilight and 48.561° (48°33′43″) for astronomical twilight.
Winlaton Mill is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is not to be confused with Winlaton to the northwest which now comprises the southern part of Blaydon. The village is halfway between Gateshead to the northeast and Rowlands Gill to the southwest. Statistically Winlaton Mill is part of the ward of Winlaton and High Spen which contains part of Blaydon, High Spen and other outlying villages. The village is on the A694 which joins the A1 at Swalwell and contains the Red Kite Pub and Restaurant. Winlaton Mill is near the River Derwent which may suggest its name.
Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The county is largely urbanised. It had a population of 1.14 million in 2021. After Newcastle (300,125) the largest settlements are the city of Sunderland (170,134), Gateshead (120,046), and South Shields (75,337). Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to either the Tyneside or Wearside conurbations, the latter of which also extends into County Durham. Tyne and Wear contains five metropolitan boroughs: Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, and is covered by two combined authorities, North of Tyne and North East. The county was established in 1974 and was historically part of Northumberland and County Durham, with the River Tyne forming the border between the two.
The most notable geographic features of the county are the River Tyne and River Wear, after which it is named and along which its major settlements developed. The county is also notable for its coastline to the North Sea in the east, which is characterised by tall limestone cliffs and wide beaches.
In the late 600s and into the 700s Saint Bede lived as a monk at the monastery of St. Peter and of St. Paul writing histories of the Early Middle Ages including the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Roughly 150 years ago, in the village of Marsden in South Shields, Souter Lighthouse was built, the first electric structure of this type.
The Local Government Act 1888 constituted Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland as county boroughs (Newcastle had "county corporate" status as the "County and Town of Newcastle upon Tyne" since 1400). Tynemouth joined them in 1904. Between the county boroughs, various other settlements also formed part of the administrative counties of Durham and of Northumberland.
The need to reform local government on Tyneside was recognised by the government as early as 1935, when a Royal Commission to Investigate the Conditions of Local Government on Tyneside was appointed. The three commissioners were to examine the system of local government in the areas of local government north and south of the river Tyne from the sea to the boundary of the Rural District of Castle Ward and Hexham in the County of Northumberland and to the Western boundary of the County of Durham, to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the existing arrangements with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency, and to make recommendations.
The report of the Royal Commission, published in 1937, recommended the establishment of a Regional Council for Northumberland and Tyneside (to be called the "Northumberland Regional Council") to administer services that needed to be exercised over a wide area, with a second tier of smaller units for other local-government purposes. The second-tier units would form by amalgamating the various existing boroughs and districts. The county boroughs in the area would lose their status. Within this area, a single municipality would be formed covering the four county boroughs of Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth, South Shields and other urban districts and boroughs.
A minority report proposed amalgamation of Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jarrow, Felling, Gosforth, Hebburn and Newburn into a single "county borough of Newcastle-on-Tyneside". The 1937 proposals never came into operation: local authorities could not agree on a scheme and the legislation of the time did not allow central government to compel one.
Tyneside (excluding Sunderland) was a Special Review Area under the Local Government Act 1958. The Local Government Commission for England came back with a recommendation to create a new county of Tyneside based on the review area, divided into four separate boroughs. This was not implemented. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed a Tyneside unitary authority, again excluding Sunderland, which would have set up a separate East Durham unitary authority.
The White Paper that led to the Local Government Act 1972 proposed as "area 2" a metropolitan county including Newcastle and Sunderland, extending as far south down the coast as Seaham and Easington, and bordering "area 4" (which would become Tees Valley). The Bill as presented in November 1971 pruned back the southern edge of the area, and gave it the name "Tyneside". The name "Tyneside" proved controversial on Wearside, and a government amendment changed the name to "Tyne and Wear" at the request of Sunderland County Borough Council.
Tyne and Wear either has or closely borders two official Met Office stations, neither located in one of the major urban centres. The locations for those are in marine Tynemouth where Tyne meets the North Sea east of Newcastle and inland Durham in County Durham around 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Sunderland. There are some clear differences between the stations temperature and precipitation patterns even though both have a cool-summer and mild-winter oceanic climate.
Tyne and Wear contains green belt interspersed throughout the county, mainly on the fringes of the Tyneside/Wearside conurbation. There is also an inter-urban line of belt helping to keep the districts of South Tyneside, Gateshead, and Sunderland separated. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
Although Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986, several joint bodies exist to run certain services on a county-wide basis. Most notable is the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, which co-ordinates transport policy. Through its passenger transport executive, known as Nexus, it owns and operates the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system, and the Shields ferry service and the Tyne Tunnel, linking communities on either side of the River Tyne. Also through Nexus, the authority subsidises socially necessary transport services (including taxis) and operates a concessionary fares scheme for the elderly and disabled. Nexus has been an executive body of the North East Joint Transport Committee since November 2018.
Other joint bodies include the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, which was created from the merger of the Tyne and Wear Archives Service and Tyne and Wear Museums. These joint bodies are administered by representatives of all five of the constituent councils. In addition the Northumbria Police force covers Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
There have been occasional calls for Tyne and Wear to be abolished and the traditional border between Northumberland and County Durham to be restored.
Tyne and Wear is divided into 12 Parliamentary constituencies. Historically, the area has been a Labour stronghold; South Shields is the only Parliamentary constituency that has never returned a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons since the Reform Act of 1832.
Newcastle and Sunderland are known for declaring their election results early on election night. Therefore, they frequently give the first indication of nationwide trends. An example of this was at the 2016 European Union referendum. Newcastle was the first large city to declare, and 50.6% of voters voted to Remain; this proportion was far lower than predicted by experts. Sunderland declared soon after and gave a 62% vote to Leave, much higher than expected. These two results were seen as an early sign that the United Kingdom had voted to Leave.
Offshore Group Newcastle make oil platforms. Sage Group, who produce accounting software, are based at Hazlerigg at the northern end of the Newcastle bypass. Northern Rock, which became a bank in 1997 and was taken over by Virgin Money in November 2011, and the Newcastle Building Society are based in Gosforth. The Gosforth-based bakery Greggs now has over 1,500 shops. The Balliol Business Park in Longbenton contains Procter & Gamble research and global business centres and a tax credits call centre for HMRC, and is the former home of Findus UK. The Government National Insurance Contributions Office in Longbenton, demolished and replaced in 2000, had a 1 mile (1.6 km) long corridor.
Be-Ro and the Go-Ahead Group bus company are in central Newcastle. Nestlé use the former Rowntrees chocolate factory on the east of the A1. BAE Systems Land & Armaments in Scotswood, formerly Vickers-Armstrongs, is the main producer of British Army tanks such as the Challenger 2. A Rolls-Royce apprentice training site is next door.[18] Siemens Energy Service Fossil make steam turbines at the CA Parsons Works in South Heaton. Sir Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and developed an important local company. Domestos, a product whose main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, was originated in Newcastle in 1929 by William Handley, and was distributed from the area for many years.
Clarke Chapman is next to the A167 in Gateshead. The MetroCentre, the largest shopping centre in Europe, is in Dunston. Scottish & Newcastle was the largest UK-owned brewery until it was bought by Heineken and Carlsberg in April 2008, and produced Newcastle Brown Ale at the Newcastle Federation Brewery in Dunston until production moved to Tadcaster in September 2010. At Team Valley are De La Rue, with their largest banknote printing facility, and Myson Radiators, the second largest in the UK market. Petards make surveillance equipment including ANPR cameras, and its Joyce-Loebl division makes electronic warfare systems and countermeasure dispensing systems such as the AN/ALE-47. Sevcon, an international company formed from a part of Smith Electric, is a world leader in electric vehicle controls. AEI Cables and Komatsu UK construction equipment at Birtley.
J. Barbour & Sons make outdoor clothing in Simonside, Jarrow. SAFT Batteries make primary lithium batteries on the Tyne in South Shields. Bellway plc houses is in Seaton Burn in North Tyneside. Cobalt Business Park, the largest office park in the UK, is at Wallsend, on the former site of Atmel, and is the home of North Tyneside Council. Swan Hunter until 2006 made ships in Wallsend, and still designs ships. Soil Machine Dynamics in Wallsend on the Tyne makes Remotely operated underwater vehicles, and its Ultra Trencher 1 is the world's largest submersible robot.
The car dealership Evans Halshaw is in Sunderland. The car factory owned by Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK between North Hylton and Washington is the largest in the UK. Grundfos, the world's leading pump manufacturer, builds pumps in Sunderland. Calsonic Kansei UK, formerly Magna, make automotive instrument panels and car trim at the Pennywell Industrial Estate. Gestamp UK make automotive components. Smith Electric Vehicles originated in Washington. The LG Electronics microwave oven factory opened in 1989, closed in May 2004, and later became the site of the Tanfield Group. Goodyear Dunlop had their only UK car tyre factory next to the Tanfield site until its 2006 closure. BAE Systems Global Combat Systems moved to a new £75 million factory at the former Goodyear site in 2011, where they make large calibre ammunition for tanks and artillery.
The government's child benefit office is in Washington. Liebherr build cranes next to the Wear at Deptford. The outdoor clothing company Berghaus is in Castletown. Vaux Breweries, who owned Swallow Hotels, closed in 1999. ScS Sofas are on Borough Road. There are many call centres in Sunderland, notably EDF Energy at the Doxford International Business Park, which is also the home of the headquarters of the large international transport company Arriva and Nike UK. Rolls-Royce planned to move their production of fan and turbine discs to BAE Systems' new site in 2016.
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