View allAll Photos Tagged STERILITY
an inherently positive color, is associated with purity, virginity, innocence, light, goodness, heaven, safety, brilliance, illumination, understanding, cleanliness, faith, beginnings, sterility, spirituality, possibility, humility, sincerity, protection, softness, and perfection. ODC Shades of.
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London | Architecture | Night Photography | Bilbao Set | Guggenheim Set
Detail of the dream city lights colors and shapes in the bridge next to Guggenheim Bilbao city
La Salve Bridge in Bilbao, Spain. Originally designed by Juan Batanero in 1972, the bridge was recently updated with a red arch designed by French artist Daniel Buren.
La Salve is a quarter in the 2nd district of the city of Bilbao, Spain. It gains its name from the fact that sailors, returning from sea, would first see the tower of the Basilica of Begoña at this point as ships returned up the river Nervión, which runs through the city. According to folklore, they would start praying to the Virgin Begoña, the patron saint of the region, thanking her for protecting them during their time at sea.
Today, the main landmark of the area is La Salve Bridge , popular name for the Princes of Spain suspension bridge, built in the 1970's to provide a northern access over the river to the city. This bridge gained popularity when the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was built right under it, literally merging its structure into the museum's.
It represents the place where sailors could get a glimpse of the Begoña Basilica from the estuary, chanting a prayer to Virgin Mary, a pious custom recalled in a small monument.
There is a lift that takes visitors to the La Salve bridge, an important architectural landmark built in the 1970s. It is the North entrance to the city centre (from Begoña) through two arteries, Recalde and Mazarredo avenues.
Bilbao, is the largest city in the Basque Country in northern Spain and the capital of the province of Biscay (Basque: Bizkaia). The city has 354,145 inhabitants (2006) and is the most financially and industrially active part of Greater Bilbao, the zone in which almost half of the Basque Country’s population lives. Greater Bilbao’s 950,155 inhabitants are spread along the length of the Nervión River, whose banks are home also to numerous business and factories, which during the industrial revolution brought heightened prosperity to the region.
Bilbao is considered, by many Spanish people, as the ‘most British’ of all cities in the country. This is mainly due to its closeness, geographically, to England, which it is linked to by the ferry Pride of Bilbao, and also because Bilbao has always admired the city of London due to the eminently industrial characteristics of the latter’s economy during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The upper class of Bilbao, before falling into the trap of becoming casual fashion victims, used to dress in jackets and waistcoats in the style of the English during that era.
There is even a popular song – practically an anthem – which says, “an Englishman came to Bilbao to see the river and the sea, and on seeing the young Bilbao women no longer wished to leave.”
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_La_Salve
Color Psychology
Do different colors affect your mood? Colors often have different meanings in various cultures. And even in Western societies, the meanings of various colors have changed over the years.
Black is the color of authority and power. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless. Black also implies submission. Black outfits can also be overpowering, or make the wearer seem aloof or evil. Villains, such as Dracula, often wear black.
Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity. White reflects light and is considered a summer color. White is popular in decorating and in fashion because it is light, neutral, and goes with everything. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility.
The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing.
If you want to draw attention, use red. It is often where the eye looks first. Red is the color of energy. It's associated with movement and excitement. People surrounded by red find their heart beating a little faster and often report feeling a bit out of breath.
Ask people their favorite color and a clear majority will say blue. Much of the world is blue (skies, seas). Seeing the color blue actually causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming; but that isn't true of all shades of blue. Some shades (or too much blue) can send a cold and uncaring message.
The color of the sky and the ocean, blue is one of the most popular colors. It causes the opposite reaction as red.
Currently the most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Brides in the Middle Ages wore green to symbolize fertility. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth. However, seamstresses often refuse to use green thread on the eve of a fashion show for fear it will bring bad luck.
Cheerful sunny yellow is an attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more. It is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.
The color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic. However, because it is rare in nature, purple can appear artificial.
Solid, reliable brown is the color of earth and is abundant in nature. Light brown implies genuineness while dark brown is similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be sad and wistful. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors.
Pink symbolize spring, gratitude, appreciation, admiration, sympathy, femininity, health, love, sex, June, marriage, joy. The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing.
Orange has less intensity or aggression than red and is calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow.
Gray symbolized elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, old age, anachronism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, dust, entanglement, pollution, urban sprawl, strong emotions, balance, neutrality, mourning, formality, March.
Food for Thought
While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite.
Green, brown, and red are the most popular food colors. Red is often used in restaurant decorating schemes because it is an appetite stimulant.
The starkness of the contrast between the life in the deciduous woodland at Aber, and the sterility of the conifer plantation was stark, Maybe I am odd in that I think that they both have something
In 2013 my wife and I hike up a very steep trail to be awarded with this view. In 2016/2017 the park made a moderately graded slope to a viewing platform.
The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world.
The bright, vivid colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The mats produce colors ranging from green to red; the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids and on the temperature gradient in the runoff. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green. The center of the pool is sterile due to extreme heat.
The deep blue color of the water in the center of the pool results from the intrinsic blue color of water. The effect is strongest in the center of the spring, because of its sterility and depth.
I found this lovely oruwa outrigger on the long beach at Negombo, Sri Lanka. The technique used to build them is probably borrowed from the Pacific islands where people turned to deep-sea fishing much earlier in time than in Sri Lanka (or India).
One trend in today's world is that countries and their leaders are getting more nationalistic. Discussions about things like who invented the chess game, the wheel - or the outrigger canoe - may become infected rather than scientific. One Sri Lankan who is fully aware of this problem is Martin Wickramasinghe. In one of his books - Aspects of Sinhalese Culture - he comments upon that issue in this wonderful way:
"Only unprogressive nations, to hide the sterility of their souls, seek indigenous or supernational origins for their institutions and culture. Progressive nations borrow cultural elements from everywhere and assert their virile genius in remoulding and recreating them."
If you like to know more about this very special man, here are two links: www.martinwickramasinghe.org/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Wickramasinghe
I just love this scene so here's another angle.
CSXT's Troy Industrial Track is a six mile long branch line that connects with the Amtrak controlled Hudson Line just north of the Albany-Rensselaer station at the east end of the Livingston Avenue bridge. The former New York Central route is the last active rail line into the Collar City which at one point in the early 20th century was the fourth wealthiest city in the nation. The city once had lines radiating in four directions serving a grand Union Station downtown.
The four railroads that originally formed the Troy Union Railroad were the Rensselaer and Saratoga (D&H), Troy and Boston (B&M), Troy and Greenbush (NYC) and Schenectady and Troy (NYC). That's how the NYC ended up with half ownership of the TURR, and the others each had one quarter.
This surviving spur began as the Troy and Greenbush Railroad which was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to East Albany (now Rensselaer) on the east side of the Hudson River. It was the last link in an all-rail line between Boston and Buffalo and until bridges were built between Albany and Rensselaer, passengers crossed on ferries while the train went up to Troy, crossed the Hudson River, and came back down to Albany.
The Hudson River Railroad was chartered in 1846 to extend this line south to New York City and the full line opened in 1851. Prior to completion, the Hudson River leased the Troy and Greenbush and all would come into the hands of Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1864 who then three years later combined it with his New York Central Railroad to have the entire New York City to Buffalo route under his control. A decade after that Vanderbilt would gain control over the lines to Chicago uniting the famed 'water level route' under one banner that would grow to be one of the worlds greatest rail systems in the first half of the 20th Century.
The above information is courtesy of this site where you can learn more:
penneyvanderbilt.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/troy-greenbush-...
CSXT is the direct corporate successor of the New York Central by way of Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and CSXT in 1999. Despite occasional fear of the line's demise they continue to serve it three days a week with a local out of South Schenectady that travels via the Carmen Branch and the Hudson Line via West Albany hill and LAB to get to this branch.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s seen paused in South Troy just north of the Main Street crossing at MP 4.8 while the conductor walks over to Troy Pizza and Gyro to pick up a pie for the ride back home. I just love this scene with the tracks hugging the edge of South River Street along a block lined with ivy bedecked brick buildings...it's truly a throwback to railroading of another era and so vastly different than the sterility of modern class 1 mainlines.
Troy, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
(Tacsonia x Passiflora) - "Brazil meets Andes"
I nearly lost this vine 3 times so whilst it is not the best hybrid I have ever bred it has taken nearly 4 years from seed to flower.
It was difficult to photograph in the strong wind at 4+ metres above ground ( I was afraid the buds would be knocked off ). See photos of parents below:
Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton, North Yorkshire, was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire. The place name Jervaulx is first attested in 1145, where it appears as Jorvalle. The name is French for 'the Ure valley' and is perhaps a translation of the English 'Ure-dale', also known as Yoredale. The valley is now known as Wensleydale.
Initially a Savigniac foundation out of Normandy, the abbey was later taken over by the Cistercian order from Burgundy, and responsibility for it was taken by Byland Abbey. Founded in 1145 at Fors near Aysgarth, it was moved ten years later to a site a few miles away on the banks of the River Ure. In 1145, in the reign of King Stephen, Akarius Fitz Bardolph, who was Lord of Ravensworth, gave Peter de Quinciano, a monk from Savigny, land at Fors and Worton, in Wensleydale, to build a monastery of their order. The monastery there was successively called the Abbey of Fors, Jervaulx and Charity.
Monks were sent from Byland and after they had undergone great hardships because of the meagreness of their endowment and sterility of their lands Conan, son of Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, greatly increased their revenues and in 1156 moved their monastery to its better location in East Witton. Here the monks erected a new church and monastery, which, like most of the Cistercian order, was dedicated to St Mary. At the height of its prosperity the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses, a tradition that remains in Middleham to the present day. It was also the original home of Wensleydale cheese, originally made with ewes' milk.
The last abbot, Adam Sedbergh, joined the Pilgrimage of Grace and was hanged at Tyburn in June 1537, when the monastic property was forfeited to the king. The standing remains of the abbey include part of the church and claustral buildings and a watermill.
Wild ducks on the Bear Lake, Sovata, Romania
First mentioned in a 1597 document but recorded as a resort in 1850, Sovata is located at an altitute of 1,600 ft. in the forested region of Transylvania, Romania. Sovata features the heliothermal and salty Ursu (Bear) lake – unique in Europe, located in a depression of a salt mountain. The place where the lake is now was originally a pasture. The mineral waters here are highly prescribed in gynecological and sterility afflictions, rheumatic pains, peripheral nervous system and post-accidental motor diseases. Sovata has other salty lakes, such as Alunis, Black, Red and Green Lakes.
This photo was taken in Kelowna, BC Canada but could be anywhere in North America. My aim was to catch the sterility of this space. One of my favorite parts of the photo is the security camera hanging from the roof and hiding in the shadows. I have an older version of PS and am just learning how to use it. I whited out the signs on the posts and got rid of some other lights that would have taken away from my vision for this photo. I also erased any branding of the fuel company. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...
Looks great in the lightbox
I was asked to take part in a little photo project and since I like sleep deprivation; I liked the idea and the person who asked is a sweetheart, I had to do it.
I'm not completely happy with the result (the last picture is obviously missing a feather and it's a bit cliche) but since I was working in crunch mode, i guess that'll have to do.
the idea behind this was to make 4 self portraits representing the different season of a woman's life: spring/childhood, summer/fertility, fall/sexuality, winter/sterility.
This friday, in Milan there will be some sort of event and my pictures will be there, among many others.
If someone ends up going, let me know how they were printed. Since there's a pole dancer, I think someone may actually end up going.
Derek Jarman's cottage on the beach at Dungeness, Kent England.
Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was an English film director who made a famous garden on the shingle shore near Dungeness nuclear power station. Jarman believed that the Pilot Inn, nearby, provides “Simply the finest fish and chips in all England". The garden design style is postmodern and highly context-sensitive - a complete rejection of modernist design theory. He disliked the sterility of modernism; he despised its lack of interest in poetry, allusion and stories; he deplored the techno-cruelty exemplified in Dr. D. G. Hessayon's 'How to be an expert' series of garden books. Jarman's small circles of flint reminded him of standing stones and dolmens. He remarked that 'Paradise haunts gardens, and some gardens are paradises. Mine is one of them. Others are like bad children, spoilt by their parents, over-watered and covered with noxious chemicals.'
Wet weather = moribund butterfly = good photo opportunity.
Organic Farm near Llanidloes. The contrast between the landscape on this farm, and the sterility of its intensively farmed neighbours was very striking.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna stands at the intersection of biology and history, a scientist whose discoveries have irrevocably altered the course of human understanding. Her pioneering work on CRISPR gene editing has not only transformed molecular biology but has also raised profound ethical and philosophical questions about the very fabric of life. A Nobel laureate, she navigates these frontiers with both precision and an acute awareness of the weight of her discoveries. Her scientific vision is tempered by an almost preternatural sense of responsibility.
I photographed Doudna twice. The first time was on July 7, 2021, at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world outside was shrouded in fog, a thick marine layer that wrapped around Berkeley’s hills, rendering everything indistinct and softened. Inside, the normally bustling institute was eerily quiet. There were no students gathering in the hallways, no hurried footsteps of researchers moving between lab stations. It was a fitting setting for a scientist whose work feels as though it has emerged from the mist of scientific uncertainty to reveal something dazzlingly clear.
In that empty space, Doudna’s presence was striking. She moved with the quiet intensity of someone accustomed to deep thought, her mind constantly engaged in the grand puzzle of molecular biology. The discovery she had helped bring to light, CRISPR-Cas9, had given scientists an unprecedented ability to edit genes with ease and precision. For the first time in human history, we had the capacity to rewrite the very code of life. With CRISPR, the genome was no longer a fixed text but an editable manuscript, full of potential revisions and possibilities.
The implications were staggering. Within just a few years, researchers had already begun using CRISPR to correct genetic diseases in animal models, paving the way for future human therapies. In agriculture, scientists were engineering crops resistant to drought and disease, potentially revolutionizing global food security. Yet for all its promise, CRISPR was also a technology fraught with ethical and societal concerns. The ability to alter DNA brought with it the specter of unintended consequences: off-target effects, genetic inequalities, and the possibility of enhancement rather than just therapy.
Doudna was acutely aware of these challenges. She has often spoken of the moment when, after her team’s initial breakthroughs, she awoke from a dream in which someone had asked her to explain CRISPR to Adolf Hitler. The dream unsettled her—not because the science was flawed, but because its power could so easily be misused. Unlike many scientists, she did not shy away from this realization. Instead, she became one of the most vocal advocates for ethical guidelines and called for global discussions on how gene editing should be regulated.
The second time I photographed her was at her home. It was a more personal setting, where she stood alongside her husband, biochemist Jamie Cate. This session would result in her official Nobel portrait, an image meant to capture not only the scientist but the thinker—the human being at the center of one of biology’s most consequential breakthroughs. In this environment, away from the sterility of the lab, Doudna was quick to smile, yet just as quick to consider the larger implications of her work. CRISPR, in her mind, was not simply a tool of innovation. It was a force that demanded careful stewardship.
Few scientists can move so effortlessly between the precise world of molecular biology and the broad, messy conversations of bioethics, governance, and human destiny. But Doudna is one of them. She understands that the future of gene editing is not simply about what science can achieve, but about what it should achieve. This balance between the limitless potential of discovery and the necessity of caution defines her approach.
Even as CRISPR is being explored as a treatment for sickle cell disease, blindness, and certain cancers, she remains focused on ensuring that this technology does not outpace our ability to control it. She has advocated for a moratorium on heritable human genome editing, recognizing that the decision to alter the genetic blueprint of future generations is one that cannot be made lightly. The world may be racing toward a new era of genetic medicine. But if Doudna has her way, it will not be reckless.
Her legacy is still unfolding, but one truth is already apparent. The world she is shaping will look very different from the one she inherited. And as science advances, her voice will remain one of its most thoughtful, deliberate, and necessary guides. She is a scientist of precision, yes. But more importantly, she is a scientist of conscience.
I photographed Doudna twice—first on July 7, 2021, at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world outside was shrouded in fog, a thick marine layer that wrapped around Berkeley’s hills, rendering everything indistinct and softened. Inside, the normally bustling institute was eerily quiet. There were no students gathering in the hallways, no hurried footsteps of researchers moving between lab stations. It was a fitting setting for a scientist whose work feels as though it has emerged from the mist of scientific uncertainty to reveal something dazzlingly clear.
In that empty space, Doudna’s presence was striking. She moved with the quiet intensity of someone accustomed to deep thought, her mind constantly engaged in the grand puzzle of molecular biology. The discovery she had helped bring to light—CRISPR-Cas9—had given scientists an unprecedented ability to edit genes with ease and precision, a technique that, for the first time in human history, allowed us to rewrite the very code of life. With CRISPR, the genome was no longer a fixed text but an editable manuscript, full of potential revisions and possibilities.
The implications were staggering. Within just a few years, researchers had already begun using CRISPR to correct genetic diseases in animal models, paving the way for future human therapies. In agriculture, scientists were engineering crops resistant to drought and disease, potentially revolutionizing global food security. Yet for all its promise, CRISPR was also a technology fraught with ethical and societal concerns. The ability to alter DNA brought with it the specter of unintended consequences—off-target effects, genetic inequalities, the possibility of enhancement rather than just therapy.
Doudna was acutely aware of these challenges. She has often spoken of the moment when, after her team’s initial breakthroughs, she awoke from a dream in which someone had asked her to explain CRISPR to Adolf Hitler. The dream unsettled her—not because the science was flawed, but because its power could so easily be misused. Unlike many scientists, she did not shy away from this realization. Instead, she became one of the most vocal advocates for ethical guidelines, calling for global discussions on how gene editing should be regulated.
The second time I photographed her was at her home—a more personal setting where she stood alongside her husband, biochemist Jamie Cate. This session would result in her official Nobel portrait, an image meant to capture not only the scientist but the thinker, the human being at the center of one of biology’s most consequential breakthroughs. In this environment, away from the sterility of the lab, Doudna was quick to smile, yet just as quick to consider the larger implications of her work. CRISPR, in her mind, was not simply a tool of innovation; it was a force that demanded careful stewardship.
Few scientists can move so effortlessly between the precise world of molecular biology and the broad, messy conversations of bioethics, governance, and human destiny. But Doudna is one of them. She understands that the future of gene editing is not simply about what science can achieve, but about what it should achieve. This balance—between the limitless potential of discovery and the necessity of caution—defines her approach.
Even as CRISPR is being explored as a treatment for sickle cell disease, blindness, and certain cancers, she remains focused on ensuring that this technology does not outpace our ability to control it. She has advocated for a moratorium on heritable human genome editing, recognizing that the decision to alter the genetic blueprint of future generations is one that cannot be made lightly. The world may be racing toward a new era of genetic medicine, but if Doudna has her way, it will not be reckless.
Her legacy is still unfolding, but one truth is already apparent: the world she is shaping will look very different from the one she inherited. And as science advances, her voice will remain one of its most thoughtful, deliberate, and necessary guides. She is a scientist of precision, yes—but more importantly, she is a scientist of conscience.
8/104
Freestyle. PRESS L PLEASE
I went to the doctors yesterday and as I was waiting for the doctor to show up I was looking around the room at the white walls the harsh fluorescent lights and how clean everything seemed to be. I decided to shoot with fluorescent light last night and heres the result!
Three Chaney The Guard fence caps representing Chaney Fence cover gate posts on a chain link fence. Chaney The Guard was the company’s affable looking mascot, and was also seen on advertising signage installed on the fences. It’s a shame such attention to detail seen decades ago has long given way to austere corporate sterility.
10/24/2024
Arnold, MO
I love these scruffy little urban backwaters with which, I was pleased to find, the South Wales valleys are still amply provided. One deplores the visual sterility of much of the rest of modern Britain, where life has become an experience in sensory deprivation. Orange poppies, which I assume to be garden-escapes, proliferate in these alleys, and the pretty Maidenhair Spleenwort finds anchorage in the mortar of the walls. My delight remains undiminished by the occasional encounter with a dead rat. We are at Miskin, between Mountain Ash and Penrhiwceiber; the railings on the right are those of its Edwardian school. This was my second attempt at this shot: the first, on a sunny day, suffered from the difficult lighting conditions; I returned for the flatter light of a dull day.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna stands at the intersection of biology and history, a scientist whose discoveries have irrevocably altered the course of human understanding. Her pioneering work on CRISPR gene editing has not only transformed molecular biology but has also raised profound ethical and philosophical questions about the very fabric of life. A Nobel laureate, she navigates these frontiers with both precision and an acute awareness of the weight of her discoveries. Her scientific vision is tempered by an almost preternatural sense of responsibility.
I photographed Doudna twice. The first time was on July 7, 2021, at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world outside was shrouded in fog, a thick marine layer that wrapped around Berkeley’s hills, rendering everything indistinct and softened. Inside, the normally bustling institute was eerily quiet. There were no students gathering in the hallways, no hurried footsteps of researchers moving between lab stations. It was a fitting setting for a scientist whose work feels as though it has emerged from the mist of scientific uncertainty to reveal something dazzlingly clear.
In that empty space, Doudna’s presence was striking. She moved with the quiet intensity of someone accustomed to deep thought, her mind constantly engaged in the grand puzzle of molecular biology. The discovery she had helped bring to light, CRISPR-Cas9, had given scientists an unprecedented ability to edit genes with ease and precision. For the first time in human history, we had the capacity to rewrite the very code of life. With CRISPR, the genome was no longer a fixed text but an editable manuscript, full of potential revisions and possibilities.
The implications were staggering. Within just a few years, researchers had already begun using CRISPR to correct genetic diseases in animal models, paving the way for future human therapies. In agriculture, scientists were engineering crops resistant to drought and disease, potentially revolutionizing global food security. Yet for all its promise, CRISPR was also a technology fraught with ethical and societal concerns. The ability to alter DNA brought with it the specter of unintended consequences: off-target effects, genetic inequalities, and the possibility of enhancement rather than just therapy.
Doudna was acutely aware of these challenges. She has often spoken of the moment when, after her team’s initial breakthroughs, she awoke from a dream in which someone had asked her to explain CRISPR to Adolf Hitler. The dream unsettled her—not because the science was flawed, but because its power could so easily be misused. Unlike many scientists, she did not shy away from this realization. Instead, she became one of the most vocal advocates for ethical guidelines and called for global discussions on how gene editing should be regulated.
The second time I photographed her was at her home. It was a more personal setting, where she stood alongside her husband, biochemist Jamie Cate. This session would result in her official Nobel portrait, an image meant to capture not only the scientist but the thinker—the human being at the center of one of biology’s most consequential breakthroughs. In this environment, away from the sterility of the lab, Doudna was quick to smile, yet just as quick to consider the larger implications of her work. CRISPR, in her mind, was not simply a tool of innovation. It was a force that demanded careful stewardship.
Few scientists can move so effortlessly between the precise world of molecular biology and the broad, messy conversations of bioethics, governance, and human destiny. But Doudna is one of them. She understands that the future of gene editing is not simply about what science can achieve, but about what it should achieve. This balance between the limitless potential of discovery and the necessity of caution defines her approach.
Even as CRISPR is being explored as a treatment for sickle cell disease, blindness, and certain cancers, she remains focused on ensuring that this technology does not outpace our ability to control it. She has advocated for a moratorium on heritable human genome editing, recognizing that the decision to alter the genetic blueprint of future generations is one that cannot be made lightly. The world may be racing toward a new era of genetic medicine. But if Doudna has her way, it will not be reckless.
Her legacy is still unfolding, but one truth is already apparent. The world she is shaping will look very different from the one she inherited. And as science advances, her voice will remain one of its most thoughtful, deliberate, and necessary guides. She is a scientist of precision, yes. But more importantly, she is a scientist of conscience.
Wet weather = moribund butterfly = good photo opportunity.
Organic Farm near Llanidloes. The contrast between the landscape on this farm, and the sterility of its intensively farmed neighbours was very striking.
“What in water did Bloom, waterlover, drawer of water, watercarrier, returning to the range, admire?
Its universality: its democratic equality and constancy to its nature in seeking its own level: its vastness in the ocean of Mercator’s projection: its unplumbed profundity in the Sundam trench of the Pacific exceeding 8000 fathoms: the restlessness of its waves and surface particles visiting in turn all points of its seaboard: the independence of its units: the variability of states of sea: its hydrostatic quiescence in calm: its hydrokinetic turgidity in neap and spring tides: its subsidence after devastation: its sterility in the circumpolar icecaps, arctic and antarctic: its climatic and commercial significance: its preponderance of 3 to 1 over the dry land of the globe: its indisputable hegemony extending in square leagues over all the region below the subequatorial tropic of Capricorn: the multisecular stability of its primeval basin: its luteofulvous bed: its capacity to dissolve and hold in solution all soluble substances including millions of tons of the most precious metals: its slow erosions of peninsulas and islands, its persistent formation of homothetic islands, peninsulas and downwardtending promontories: its alluvial deposits: its weight and volume and density: its imperturbability in lagoons and highland tarns: its gradation of colours in the torrid and temperate and frigid zones: its vehicular ramifications in continental lakecontained streams and confluent oceanflowing rivers with their tributaries and transoceanic currents, gulfstream, north and south equatorial courses: its violence in seaquakes, waterspouts, Artesian wells, eruptions, torrents, eddies, freshets, spates, groundswells, watersheds, waterpartings, geysers, cataracts, whirlpools, maelstroms, inundations, deluges, cloudbursts: its vast circumterrestrial ahorizontal curve: its secrecy in springs and latent humidity, revealed by rhabdomantic or hygrometric instruments and exemplified by the well by the hole in the wall at Ashtown gate, saturation of air, distillation of dew: the simplicity of its composition, two constituent parts of hydrogen with one constituent part of oxygen: its healing virtues: its buoyancy in the waters of the Dead Sea: its persevering penetrativeness in runnels, gullies, inadequate dams, leaks on shipboard: its properties for cleansing, quenching thirst and fire, nourishing vegetation: its infallibility as paradigm and paragon: its metamorphoses as vapour, mist, cloud, rain, sleet, snow, hail: its strength in rigid hydrants: its variety of forms in loughs and bays and gulfs and bights and guts and lagoons and atolls and archipelagos and sounds and fjords and minches and tidal estuaries and arms of sea: its solidity in glaciers, icebergs, icefloes: its docility in working hydraulic millwheels, turbines, dynamos, electric power stations, bleachworks, tanneries, scutchmills: its utility in canals, rivers, if navigable, floating and graving docks: its potentiality derivable from harnessed tides or watercourses falling from level to level: its submarine fauna and flora (anacoustic, photophobe), numerically, if not literally, the inhabitants of the globe: its ubiquity as constituting 90 percent of the human body: the noxiousness of its effluvia in lacustrine marshes, pestilential fens, faded flowerwater, stagnant pools in the waning moon.”
— James Joyce (Ulysses)
the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. December 2017
more shots here:
More factions and stuff...
Also, I wrote up a backstory that combines a couple of ideas, you guys should check it out-
My basic idea for the backstory, if you have suggestions please elaborate-
In 2002 a routine signal sent out by NASA received a response....
The response was a request to land. Unbeknownst to earth, the were a number of ships in orbit, appearing to be no more technologically advanced then theirs. The “Urags”, a rough translation of what they introduced themselves by, were allowed clearance to land in the Atlantic Ocean around 100 miles east of D.C.
During the first encounter between Urags and humans, the humans were greeted with humanoid creatures, looking to be slightly reptilian. The ambassadors, clad in suits were hospitable and peaceful, and were welcomed into the United States. For the most part they were accepted, but a handful of xenophobes were strongly opposed to such measures.
Later, in a direct address to the President, the Urags explained their arrival. Due their dwindling gene-pool and sudden sterility, they had come to earth as a desperate plea for help. With the dawn off the Urags, (also respectfully called off-worlders), many conflicts around the world ceased on the recent circumstances. Approximately 2.1 million Urags were guaranteed asylum in the US, Russia, Britain, and other members of the UN.
15 years later (2017)-
Urag “half-breeds” or have begun appearing as early as 2005, and for an unknown reason, have accelerated growth. This sparks outrage in many, speifically human religious groups. However, earth itself has been going through a political revolution, with almost all standing armies being replaced by Military Contractors and mercenaries.
Skip forward 2 more years (2019)-
The Urag religion, and some of its principles anger many. The more radical sects of earth’s 3 monotheistic religions declare a “Holy War” against the Off-Worlders.
On January 1st 2020, Mercenaries from the corrupt megacorpation, ARMCORE, or just CORE, back Radicals in an all out assault of the Urags. They destroy places of worship and brutally murder much of the clergy. The uprising of intolerance causes the once-peaceful Urags to use violence. The Urags threaten to activate their destructive weaponry against the earth....
July 2020-
Despite Urag threats, ARMCORE declares all out war, and with its high-stake in the US government they are forced to join the fray. This prompts the Urags to activate their weapons and send much of the world into a nearly apocalyptic state....
So, with that, the factions I have come up with are so-
ARMCORE- A corrupt megacorpation which provides troops and weapons to anti-Urag opposition.
Urag Church- Encompasses approximately a third of all Urag forces, they dislike humans but will collaborate with some factions.
"The Glorious"- Facist Urag faction content with killing of the entire human race. They are brutal and effective, and have been nicknamed "Space Nazis".
(name pending)- A large mercenary army, trained in peacekeeping, contains both Urags and humans. They are trying to preserve earth, at the cost of having to fight both sides of the conflict...(AKA the good guys/the new USDF)
Oh, and for all you haters, this isn't USDF, im not trying to restart USDF, as much as I am attempting to create a new theme, with as good a story line and group input as possible.
Derek Jarman's cottage on the beach at Dungeness, Kent England.
Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was an English film director who made a famous garden on the shingle shore near Dungeness nuclear power station. Jarman believed that the Pilot Inn, nearby, provides “Simply the finest fish and chips in all England". The garden design style is postmodern and highly context-sensitive - a complete rejection of modernist design theory. He disliked the sterility of modernism; he despised its lack of interest in poetry, allusion and stories; he deplored the techno-cruelty exemplified in Dr. D. G. Hessayon's 'How to be an expert' series of garden books. Jarman's small circles of flint reminded him of standing stones and dolmens. He remarked that 'Paradise haunts gardens, and some gardens are paradises. Mine is one of them. Others are like bad children, spoilt by their parents, over-watered and covered with noxious chemicals.'
It was only later readers of Milton, says Appelbaum, who thought of "apple" as "apple" and not any seed-bearing fruit. For them, the forbidden fruit became synonymous with the malus pumila. As a widely read canonical work, Paradise Lost was influential in cementing the role of apple in the Fall story.
This month marks 350 years since John Milton sold his publisher the copyright of Paradise Lost for the sum of five pounds.
His great work dramatizes the oldest story in the Bible, whose principal characters we know only too well: God, Adam, Eve, Satan in the form of a talking snake — and an apple.
Except, of course, that Genesis never names the apple but simply refers to "the fruit." To quote from the King James Bible:
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
"Fruit" is also the word Milton employs in the poem's sonorous opening lines:
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe
But in the course of his over-10,000-line poem, Milton names the fruit twice, explicitly calling it an apple. So how did the apple become the guilty fruit that brought death into this world and all our woe?
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The short and unexpected answer is: a Latin pun.
In order to explain, we have to go all the way back to the fourth century A.D., when Pope Damasus ordered his leading scholar of scripture, Jerome, to translate the Hebrew Bible into Latin. Jerome's path-breaking, 15-year project, which resulted in the canonical Vulgate, used the Latin spoken by the common man. As it turned out, the Latin words for evil and apple are the same: malus.
In the Hebrew Bible, a generic term, peri, is used for the fruit hanging from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, explains Robert Appelbaum, who discusses the biblical provenance of the apple in his book Aguecheek's Beef, Belch's Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections.
"Peri could be absolutely any fruit," he says. "Rabbinic commentators variously characterized it as a fig, a pomegranate, a grape, an apricot, a citron, or even wheat. Some commentators even thought of the forbidden fruit as a kind of wine, intoxicating to drink."
A detail of Michelangelo's fresco in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel depicting the Fall of Man and expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Wikipedia
When Jerome was translating the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," the word malus snaked in. A brilliant but controversial theologian, Jerome was known for his hot temper, but he obviously also had a rather cool sense of humor.
"Jerome had several options," says Appelbaum, a professor of English literature at Sweden's Uppsala University. "But he hit upon the idea of translating peri as malus, which in Latin has two very different meanings. As an adjective, malus means bad or evil. As a noun it seems to mean an apple, in our own sense of the word, coming from the very common tree now known officially as the Malus pumila. So Jerome came up with a very good pun."
The story doesn't end there. "To complicate things even more," says Appelbaum, "the word malus in Jerome's time, and for a long time after, could refer to any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. A pear was a kind of malus. So was the fig, the peach, and so forth."
Which explains why Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco features a serpent coiled around a fig tree. But the apple began to dominate Fall artworks in Europe after the German artist Albrecht Dürer's famous 1504 engraving depicted the First Couple counterpoised beside an apple tree. It became a template for future artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder, whose luminous Adam and Eve painting is hung with apples that glow like rubies.
Enlarge this image
Eve giving Adam the forbidden fruit, by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Wikipedia
Milton, then, was only following cultural tradition. But he was a renowned Cambridge intellectual fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, who served as secretary for foreign tongues to Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth. If anyone was aware of the malus pun, it would be him. And yet he chose to run it with it. Why?
Appelbaum says that Milton's use of the term "apple" was ambiguous. "Even in Milton's time the word had two meanings: either what was our common apple, or, again, any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. Milton probably had in mind an ambiguously named object with a variety of connotations as well as denotations, most but not all of them associating the idea of the apple with a kind of innocence, though also with a kind of intoxication, since hard apple cider was a common English drink."
It was only later readers of Milton, says Appelbaum, who thought of "apple" as "apple" and not any seed-bearing fruit. For them, the forbidden fruit became synonymous with the malus pumila. As a widely read canonical work, Paradise Lost was influential in cementing the role of apple in the Fall story.
But whether the forbidden fruit was an apple, fig, peach, pomegranate or something completely different, it is worth revisiting the temptation scene in Book 9 of Paradise Lost, both as an homage to Milton (who composed his masterpiece when he was blind, impoverished and in the doghouse for his regicidal politics) and simply to savor the sublime beauty of the language. Thomas Jefferson loved this poem. With its superfood dietary advice, celebration of the 'self-help is the best help' ideal, and presence of a snake-oil salesman, Paradise Lost is a quintessentially American story, although composed more than a century before the United States was founded.
What makes the temptation scene so absorbing and enjoyable is that, although written in archaic English, it is speckled with mundane details that make the reader stop in surprise.
Take, for instance, the serpent's impeccably timed gustatory seduction. It takes place not at any old time of the day but at lunchtime:
"Mean while the hour of Noon drew on, and wak'd/ An eager appetite."
What a canny and charmingly human detail. Milton builds on it by lingeringly conjuring the aroma of apples, knowing full well that an "ambrosial smell" can madden an empty stomach to action. The fruit's "savorie odour," rhapsodizes the snake, is more pleasing to the senses than the scent of the teats of an ewe or goat dropping with unsuckled milk at evening. Today's Food Network impresarios, with their overblown praise and frantic similes, couldn't dream up anything close to that peculiarly sensuous comparison.
It is easy to imagine the scene. Eve, curious, credulous and peckish, gazes longingly at the contraband "Ruddie and Gold" fruit while the unctuous snake-oil salesman murmurs his encouragement. Initially, she hangs back, suspicious of his "overpraising." But soon she begins to cave: How can a fruit so "Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste," be evil? Surely it is the opposite, its "sciental sap" must be the source of divine knowledge. The serpent must speak true.
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck'd, she eat:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost.
But Eve is insensible to the cosmic disappointment her lunch has caused. Sated and intoxicated as if with wine, she bows low before "O Sovran, vertuous, precious of all Trees," and hurries forth with "a bough of fairest fruit" to her beloved Adam, that he too might eat and aspire to godhead. Their shared meal, foreshadowed as it is by expulsion and doom, is a moving and poignant tableau of marital bliss.
Meanwhile, the serpent, its mission accomplished, slinks into the gloom. Satan heads eagerly toward a gathering of fellow devils, where he boasts that the Fall of Man has been wrought by something as ridiculous as "an apple."
Except that it was a fig or a peach or a pear. An ancient Roman punned – and the apple myth was born.
The first tale in the Bible tells of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. This was in consequence for having tasted the “forbidden fruit” of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Christian iconography and popular culture represent the fruit as an apple. But a careful reading of the passage leads one to the conclusion that, in fact, the actual fruit is never mentioned in the book. How, then, did the apple become this symbol of temptation and sin?
A standard version of Genesis 3:3-5 says:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
According to Robert Appelbaum’s book Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections, the confusion may be due to a sort of joke of St. Jerome, who first translated the Bible into the vulgar Latin. (This version is still known as “The Vulgate” even today.) It turns out that the Latin words for apple, and for evil, are the same: malus. According to Appelbaum, the Hebrew word, peri, which was used to refer to the fruit in the Bible, can refer to any type of fruit, a fig, a pomegranate, a grape, or even a peach or a lemon. Some Bible commentators even believe that the forbidden fruit may have been a drink that produced an intoxication in those who drank it. Hence they gained “knowledge of good and evil.”
St. Jerome translated “peri” with the word “malus.” It’s an adjective meaning “evil,” though as a noun, it means “apple,” from trees known even today as Malus pumila. However, as Appelbaum points out, malus may refer not only to the apple, but to any fruit with seeds: pears are a species of malus, as are figs, peaches, and others.In religious iconography, there was no clear consensus for several centuries on exactly what type of fruit it was from this tree of which humanity’s first parents couldn’t eat. Michelangelo painted a fig tree in the Sistine Chapel. Durer depicted an apple tree, as did Lucas Cranach, the Elder. But another Appelbaum hypothesis in explaining the apple’s preeminence over other seeded fruits comes from the English poet, John Milton. His Paradise Lost was published in 1667. For Milton, the semantic ambiguity of the malus should not have been a mystery, versed as he was in ancient languages like Latin and Hebrew. Appelbaum notes that it’s possible Milton appreciated St. Jerome’s joke as a reference to intoxication or drunkenness from apple cider, popular in his own time. Paradise Lost refers on a couple of occasions to the fruit of this problematic tree and refers to it as an apple.
Another possible explanation may come from the Golden Apple of Discord. In Greek mythology, this was the work of the goddess Eris, (a temptress, as Satan had been for the Hebrews). According to the myth, Eris was angry at having not been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Tetis (parents of the great warrior Achilles). She presented the wedding guests with a golden apple which would reveal who among them was “the most beautiful of all.” Three goddesses fought amongst themselves: Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty; Hera, the guardian of the home and childbearing and wife of the great Zeus; and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom. To settle the dispute, Zeus consulted a Trojan shepherd and mortal, Paris, to choose from among the three goddesses which was the most beautiful. The three goddesses tried to bribe him in turn with new gifts. Finally, Paris decided for Aphrodite, who had promised him the love of the most beautiful woman of all. This was none other than Helena. Helena’s abduction by Paris is the mythical origin of the Trojan War. And thus the apple is also at the center of the most epic dispute in Greek civilization.
The Apple and the Heart
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Romanesque iconography more frequently used the apple as the forbidden fruit. The lengthy list of images in the three studied countries represents a significant part of our corpus. Among them, one can cite in Spain, Amandi, Añes, Avilés, the Bible of Burgos, the Bible of San Isidoro, Covet, Estany, Estibaliz, Frómista, Loarre, Mahamud, Peralada (figure 6), Porqueras, Rebolledo de la Torre, San Pablo del Campo, Sangüesa, Santillana del Mar, and Uncastillo. In France, Airvault, Andlau, Arles, Aulnay, the Bible of Corbie, the Bible of Marchiennes, the Bible of Souvigny, Cahors, Chalon-sur-Saône, Chauvigny (Figure 3), Cluny, Courpiac, Esclottes, Guarbecque, Hastingues-Arthous, the Hortus Deliciarum, Lescure, Mauriac (in the Auvergne), Melay, Moirax, Montpezat, Neuilly-en-Donjon, Nîmes, Poitiers (Sainte-Radegonde Church), Provins, Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire, Saint-Gaudens, the Sauve-Majeure, Targon, Tavant, Thuret, Toirac, Varax, Verdun, and Vézelay. In Italy, Galliano, Modena (figure 4), Parma, Pisa, Sant’Angelo in Formis, and Sovana.
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Over subsequent centuries, the apple was continually present in the iconography of the original sin. [45] For illustrative purposes, note that in the Gothic...[45] It was frequently used as the forbidden fruit in literature, particularly in the twelfth century by Marie de France, [46] Marie de France, Yonec, v. 152, in Les Lais de Marie...[46] in the thirteenth century by Robert de Boron, [47] Le Roman du Graal: manuscrit de Modène, ed. Bernard...[47] and in the fifteenth century by Sebastian Brandt. [48] Sebastian Brandt, La Nef des fous [Das Narrenschiff],...[48] In paroemiology, this seems to be the meaning of a proverb from the beginning of the thirteenth century: “mieux vaut pomme donnée que mangée” (better an apple given than eaten). [49] Joseph Morawski, ed., Proverbes français antérieurs...[49] In hagiography, the apple is the forbidden fruit in, for example, the Cantigas de Santa María. [50] Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa María, 353,...[50] An interesting case also appears in the breviary: the Hail Mary—appearing in the twelfth century from a passage in the New Testament [51] Luke, I, 28, 42. Henri Leclercq, “Marie, mère de Dieu,”...[51]—refers only to a “fruit,” but an anonymous commentator from Northern France specifies at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century that it concerns the “fruit of the apple tree.” [52] Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Gall. 34,...[52] Anchored in Western imaginations ever since, the apple has even replaced the fig among modern scholars, in parallel to the cultural process that saw the heart where previously there had been the liver. [53] See Hasenohr, Prier au Moyen Âge: n. 38. Regarding...[53]
Figure 3. - Capital at the entranceway to the choir of the church
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The reasons behind this almost unanimous choice are unclear, however. We may allude to the more or less widespread presence of the apple throughout all of Western Europe. We may observe the old Celtic symbolism of the apple as the fruit of knowledge. We may recall its symbolic capital as a sign of power, wealth, lies, lust, discord, and transgression. [54] Michel Pastoureau, “Bonum, malum, pomum. Une histoire...[54] We may suppose that just as the garden of Hesperides recalls the Garden of Eden (both sheltering a snake that defends the sacred tree), the apple tree “with fruits of gold” in the Greek myth influenced the medieval interpretation of the biblical account. We may thus argue the ancient association between this tree and Eden, which led to naming the carob the “apple of Paradise” in Hebrew. [55] L. Ginzberg, Les Légendes des juifs, 219, n. 70.[55] We may also consider the authority of Saint Augustine, who hesitantly accepted the possibility of the apple being the fruit of sin, perhaps influenced by the existence of thirty different varieties of apples in the Roman world at the time. [56] Augustine, La Genèse au sens littéral en douze livres...[56] We may wonder especially whether in popular medieval etymology there was not certain confusion between the words malum “badly” and malum “apple” as well as between malus “malicious” and malus “apple tree;” these phonetic identities may have had semantic implications indicating the evil character of the fruit. [57] Among the transformations affecting the Roman world...[57]
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The increasing popularity of the apple in this role was perhaps also related to its round shape and red color, which drew it closer to the heart, being the organ that was linked to the blood of Christ and that Christianity and its doctrine perceived as the center of the human being. In this sense, the precedents were strong; the doubt surrounding the identity of the forbidden fruit reflected another, more ancient doubt regarding the central organ of the body in the diverse cultures that, in a more or less direct way, provided the foundations for medieval Christian culture. Whereas the Egyptians perceived the heart as the center of the human being, [58] The Book of the Dead, ed. and trans. E. A. Wallis Budge,...[58] the Hebrews attributed sacred powers to the liver, while regarding the heart as the seat of feelings and wisdom, and the source of life. [59] See, for example, Genesis, 20:5; Job, 9:4; Proverbs,...[59] The two organs fought for the role of the principle of life among the Babylonians [60] Alexandre Piankoff, Le “Cœur” dans les textes égyptiens...[60] and Greeks. [61] In mythology, the liver is the central element in the...[61]
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In the third century BC, the medical school in Alexandria established the physiological model that went on to prevail throughout the following two millennia: the brain was attributed with neurological sensitivity, movement, and functions, the heart with enthusiasm and the vital spirit. [62] Mary J. Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of...[62]
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Isidore of Seville affirmed that in the heart “lies all concern and the source of knowledge, [as] with the heart we understand, and with the liver we love.” [63] Isidore of Seville, Seville’s Etymologies: The complete...[63] Sharing his opinion, more than five centuries later, Hildegard of Bingen considered the attribute of the heart to be knowledge and that of the liver to be sensitivity. [64] Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et curae, II, 1–12, ed....[64] For her, the heart was the point of contact between the body and the soul, the terrestrial and the divine; it was “almost the essence of the body [since it] governs it,” being the residence of the soul. [65] Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, I, 4, 16, ed. A. Führkötten...[65] It is thus not by chance that she imagined the forbidden fruit to be an apple. [66] Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, III, 2, 21, ed. Führkötten...[66] For Saint Bernard, the heart was the seat of faith. [67] Bernard of Clairvaux, In Nativitate Beatae Mariae,...[67] For his adversary, Pierre Abélard, when God wants to examine the feelings of men, he probes their hearts. [68] Pierre Abélard, Ethics, ed. and trans. D. E. Luscombe...[68] Chrétien de Troyes considered the heart to be the place where mystical union occurs with our purest self, [69] Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès, vv. 708–716, trans. Micha,...[69] since this organ is the seat of love, [70] Chrétien de Troyes, vv. 4302–4306, trans. Micha, 1...[70] memory, [71] Chrétien de Troyes, Le Conte du Graal ou le Roman de...[71] and life. [72] Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès, vv. 3668–3673, trans. Micha,...[72] Vincent of Beauvais regarded the heart as the principal “spiritual organ.” [73] Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale, I, 32 (Graz:...[73] The evolution in the hierarchy of meanings did not affect the importance attributed to the heart: while troubadours and courtly love previously spoke of “the hearing of the heart,” the eye and the heart were later associated. [74] Guy Paoli, “La relation œil-cœur. Recherches sur la...[74] At the start of the thirteenth century, a poem established the relationship between the heart and the phallus, between feeling and sexuality, by telling the story of a character killed by the husbands of his mistresses, who tore off these two organs and gave them to their adulterous wives to eat. [75] Lai d’Ignauré, trans. Danielle Régnier-Bohler, in Le...[75]
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The new collective feeling in relation to the heart was present in the idioms that were forming. From the Classical Latin cor, synonymous with “memory” (also with “thought,” “intelligence,” and “heart” [76] This is still the meaning of the word for Saint Augustine...[76]) were derived “recorder” in French, ricordari in Italian, and recordar in Castilian and Portuguese. Although the heart as the center of memory appears in the root of the Castilian and Portuguese words decorar, this link is even more explicit in the phrases par cœur in French (appearing in around 1200), de cor in Portuguese (dating to the thirteenth century), and by heart in English (attested around 1374 and based on the acceptance of herte as “memory,” which existed from the start of the twelfth century [77] Rey, Dictionnaire historique, 1:442; José Pedro Machado,...[77]). However, the heart was not only regarded as the seat of memory. In English, it was associated with courage (towards 825), emotions (1050), love (about 1175), and character (1225). [78] The Oxford English Dictionary, 5:159.[78] In medieval Italian, the heart (core prior to 1250, then cuore) was reputed as being the center of feelings, emotions, and thoughts. [79] Manlio Cortelazzo and Paolo Zolli, Dizionario etimologico...[79]
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Most often, the association occurred between the organ and a feeling, thought to derive from it directly, as attested in various Western languages: curage in French (appearing in 1080, then written as courage and used as a synonym of cœur “heart” until the seventeenth century), coraggio (prior to 1257) in Italian, coraje in Castilian and coragem in Portuguese (both from the fourteenth century), herzhaftigleit in German (from the fifteenth century derived from herz “heart,” written herza in the eighth century), and courage in English (around 1500, written as corage in around 1300). English presents an interesting case, showing the psychocultural hesitation between the liver and heart as the seat of positive feelings: the compound liver-heartedness, literally “without liver or heart,” designates the idea of “cowardly.” Further evidence of the moral importance attached to this organ is found in the word cordial, which initially carried the neutral meaning of “relative to the heart” and later acquired the positive sense of “nice” and “pleasant,” not only in French, English, Castilian, and Portuguese, but also in Italian (cordial) and in German (herzlich).
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The symbolic value of the heart in the twelfth century was also seen in Jewish culture. Whereas the Pirkei Rabbi Nathan, a text predating the tenth century, establishes several comparisons between the parts of the universe and parts of the human body without even citing the heart, in the second half of the twelfth century, Maimonides considered it the center of the human body. [80] Samuel S. Kottek, “Microcosm and Macrocosm According...[80] He was probably influenced by Aristotle, for whom the human body developed from the heart, which was a very influential idea after the Christian rediscovery of the Stagirite. Thus, some Romanesque representations of the creation of Adam depict him coming to life not by a “breath on the face” (in faciem eius spiraculum vitae) as the Bible states, [81] Genesis, 2:7.[81] but by the hand of God touching his heart. This is the case, for example, in a manuscript from the abbey of Saint-Martial de Limoges, [82] Breviarium ad usum S. Martialis Lemovicensis (Paris:...[82] which was illuminated in around the year 1100, as well as in a relief carved a few years later on the northern facade of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
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The importance of the heart in Romanesque culture also transpires in its growing metaphorical use. On the political level, it became the “king” of the human body in the same way as the king is the “heart” of the social body. [83] Jacques Le Goff, “Head or Heart? The Political Use...[83] On the literary level, the rhetorical figure of the heart spread like a book in which an ordinary individual, saint, or even Christ could write their amorous (including erotic) and spiritual emotions. [84] On the evolution of this metaphor, see Ernst Robert...[84] On the architectural level, the cruciform design of churches situated the altar—the place where the mystery of the incarnation was reproduced—in the position occupied by the heart. [85] It is no coincidence that in Medieval French, the same...[85] On the liturgical level, the Christianization of the Holy Grail rendered it the receptacle holding the blood of Christ, symbolically transforming it into a heart. [86] Begoña Aguiriano, “Le cœur dans Chrétien,” Senefiance...[86] On the geographical level, in the same way as the heart was the center of the human body, the sepulcher of the Lord was the heart of the world, according to a sermon by Peter the Venerable. [87] Peter the Venerable, In laudem sepulcri Domini, PL,...[87] On the linguistic level, from the thirteenth century, the word designated the center of something in French and Italian, as it did later in English (beginning of the fourteenth century) and Castilian (sixteenth century). [88] This meaning was applied to the city by Aristotle in...[88] In this cultural context, when the Abbess of Bingen declared that Adam made of clay was merely an empty body before being filled with a heart, liver, lungs, stomach, and internal organs by God, [89] Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et curae, II, 20, ed. Kaiser,...[89] she seemingly established a hierarchy of organs. Thus, the growing importance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in spirituality from the twelfth century seems to have been the conclusion of a long process in which this organ gained in medical and symbolic value. [90] Jean-Vincent Bainvel, “Cœur sacré de Jésus (dévotion...[90]
Exegetical Doubt
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An interesting example of the rivalry between the fig and the apple in terms of the symbolic function of forbidden fruit is seen in the sculptures on the western facade of the small rural Castilian church of San Quirce, close to Burgos, which was completed in 1147. Here, eleven modillions illustrate several episodes of the myth of Adam, from the creation of protoplasm to the judgment of Cain, while in between them, ten metopes depict scenes that are sometimes difficult to relate to those of the modillions, although each stage of the cycle is identified by inscriptions. [91] These inscriptions are now almost illegible, but they...[91] The ensemble forms an iconographic discourse with two aspects: the subject is evil, as much at its origin (original sin) as in some of its manifestations (sex, death, and bodily impurity).
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This latter topic is visible on the two metopes at each end, where the artist depicts a man defecating. This was not a simple curiosity or obscenity, as the placement of these scenes is significant: the first being compared with the sin of Adam and the second with that of Cain. In fact, an inscription close to the representation of the original sin illuminates the link between the events depicted on the metope and modillion: MALA CAGO. No doubt, the man who speaks and acts in this way is both the paradisiacal Adam who has just eaten the forbidden fruits as well as the symbol of all human beings, his “posthumous sons,” as defined in a contemporaneous sermon. [92] Julien of Vézelay, Sermons, XV, ed. and trans. Damien...[92] However, the exact interpretation of the inscription poses an important problem.
28
A few decades ago, historiography considered this a pun, as the individual excretes both “apples” and “evils.” [93] Pérez de Urbel and Whitehill, “La iglesia románica...[93] This interpretation is based on three elements: the facade’s inscription, a capital inside the church on the same subject that undoubtedly depicts an apple, and finally, the ancient roots of the tradition perceiving the forbidden food of Paradise in this fruit. However, on the modillion’s scene, the forbidden fruits rather resemble figs, an impression reinforced by a nonformalistic reasoning. Indeed, the fig traditionally had an explicitly sexual character, while the apple, though related to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had a more sensual, rather than explicitly sexual connotation. This is shown, for example, in an Icelandic saga from the thirteenth century in which the love philter is an apple, or even in some mythologies, where the rejuvenating and beautifying virtues attributed to the fruit remain in the etymology of “pomade,” a scented, cosmetic, and curative substance with apple. [94] See Pastoureau, “Bonum, malum, pomum;” Rey, Dictionnaire...[94]
29
The fig’s association with sexuality is seemingly expressed during the third quarter of the twelfth century in the iconographic design of the doorway of Barret Church in Poitou. Here, the three capitals on each side establish a spatial and symbolic relationship, which was very common in the Romanesque imagination. Looking at them, starting with the capital closest to the entry on the left-hand side, the first represents the original sin with the fig as the fruit, the second depicts a character in a very obscene pose, and the third, which is double, shows an eagle on one side and a monster devouring a sheep on the other. Symmetrically, on the right-hand side, the first capital depicts lions leaning against each other, the second, two doves embracing, and the final one, a centaur and a dove. The message seems rather evident: sin (that is to say, the fig and sex) leads to unnatural and erotic acts, thus to the death of the soul, which is devoured by the demon (eagle and monster); on the other hand, those who join Christ (the lion) will be innocent (doves), embracing peace and purity, thus calming the animal that exists in every human being (centaurs).
30
Indeed, the sexual meaning of the fig was accepted within traditional culture and did not disappear with its Christianization. Throughout the centuries, the fig tree was associated with Dionysus, and, at least in its Roman version, Bacchus. The image of the god was always carved in the wood of the fig tree, with a basket of figs being the most sacred object at the festivals that celebrated him, the Bacchanalia. As the protector of orchards, particularly of the fig tree, Dionysus was confused with his son, Priapus, born of Aphrodite. In the processions paying homage to this god of fertility, who was endowed with a disproportionately large penis, there was a large phallus carved in the wood of the fig tree, the leaves of which were also seen as an ithyphallic symbol. [95] Brosse, Mythologie des arbres, 290–291. The fig’s sexual...[95] This notion of sexual exuberance is also found in a version of an episode of the Dionysus myth by the Christian apologist Clement of Alexandria (around 150–250). [96] Clement of Alexandria, Protreptique, II, 34, 3–4, ed....[96] In a similar manner, although he calls the liver iecur and not ficatum, Isidore of Seville implicitly makes this link by affirming that in this organ “lies pleasure and concupiscence. [97] Isidore of Seville, Seville’s Etymologies, XI, I, 125,...[97]
31
The popular gesture of “making the fig” should also be mentioned here, associated with the fruit through its name and shape. This association is observed in Castilian, in which two words (higo/higa) appeared at the same time, in around 1140. [98] Joan Corominas, Diccionario critico etimológico de...[98] This gesture assumed “an obvious sexual connotation” [99] Jean-Claude Schmitt, La Raison des gestes dans l’Occident...[99] in the popular tradition of several societies, and even in the medieval West, where it can either denote the female sex organ (predominant meaning), its state of excitation (in this case, the tip of the thumb between the index and middle fingers imitates a swollen clitoris), copulation (the thumb is the penis between the vaginal lips), or a phallus (rarer meaning). [100] Desmond Morris et al., Os gestos: suas origens e significado...[100] It is probably with this latter meaning that formerly, in Bavaria, a young man confirmed his intention to marry by sending a silver or gold fig to his lover, who could refuse the demand by returning the gift or accept it by returning a silver heart. [101] José Leite de Vasconcelos, A figa (Porto: Araújo e...[101] The far la fica was an aggressive and derogatory gesture frequently used by Italians in the Middle Ages, not only on a daily basis, but also in emotionally charged situations. In 1162, angry with the Milanese who had forced his wife to mount a mule backwards, thus facing the tail of the animal—a very ancient position signifying contempt—Frederick I Barbarossa seized the city and, on penalty of death, forced the prisoners to remove a fig from the anus of a mule with their teeth. [102] Quoted by Leite de Vasconcelos, A figa, 80; by Jerome...[102] The inhabitants of Pistoia had carved into their castle of Carmignano two large arms with hands making the sign of the fig towards the enemy city of Florence—which, humiliated, went on to conquer the place in 1228. [103] Giovanni Villani, Cronica, VI, 5, ed. Ignazio Moutier...[103] In Dante, a robber condemned to Hell makes the sign of the fig against God Himself. [104] Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Inferno, XXV, 1–3,...[104] The gesture and expression ficha facere are found, with the same derisory meaning, in all Romanesque cultures, and even outside of them. [105] Leite de Vasconcelos, A figa, 42–56, 72, 76–81, and...[105] Although this gesture has a talismanic function, that of casting off the evil eye and other dangers, this seems to be precisely due to its sexual connotation, that of warding off sterility in life. [106] Leite de Vasconcelos, A figa, 27–41, 57–59, and 91...[106]
32
In this sense, the scene of the paramount sin depicted on the third modillion at San Quirce, in addition to adopting the ancient interpretation of the original sin as a sexual sin, [107] See Martin Elze, Tatian und seine Theologie (Göttingen:...[107] prepared the observer to encounter, three metopes along and just after the expulsion from Paradise, a representation of the carnal relationship of protoplasm. [108] Pérez de Urbel and Whitehill (“La iglesia románica...[108] Thus, according to our hypothesis, the word malum would not have been used here with its specific meaning of “apple,” but rather in the broader sense of “fruit with pulp” (as opposed to nux, “fruit with hard skin”), [109] Although the former meaning was eventually enforced...[109] so that the pun of the inscription would signify “to expel evils and fruits.” Whether conscious or not of the inscription’s ambiguity, the sculptor at San Quirce thus revealed the interesting coexistence of two exegetical traditions, that of the apple, present in the representation of the original sin inside the church, and that of the fig, visible on its facade. An even more meaningful coexistence if it is accepted that a single artist carved both the capital and the modillion. [110] A situation that de Lojendio (Castilla 1) regards as...[110]
33
This exegetical doubt is not an isolated case appearing in a monastic community in the center of Castile. The formation of the French word “pomme” provides an interesting indication in this context. Although, from the beginning of the fifth century, the Latin word pomum (“fruit” in a generic sense) gained the specific meaning of “fruit of the apple tree” in Northern Italy and the majority of the Ibero-Romance area—a meaning preserved in the Provençal and Catalan poma—Italian, Castilian, Portuguese, and Galician eventually favored the traditional form malum, from which they derived mela, manzana, maçã and mazá, respectively. [111] Both the Spanish word manzana (attested in 1112 as...[111] Pomum preserved its broad sense in these four languages in the form pomo (poma in the case of Galician). By the same evolution, the collective forms pomario in Italian and pomar in Castilian, Portuguese, Provençal, and Galician derived from the Classical Latin pomarium.
34
In contrast, the medieval Latin of Gaul had used, from the end of the eighth century, the word pomarius to denote the apple tree, from which derived the vernacular name of this specific fruit (pume) from the generic term (pomum) in 1080. [112] The word appeared in the Chanson de Roland as pume;...[112] At the same date appeared the French word verger (orchard), denoting land planted with various fruit trees, taken from the Latin viridiarum (from viridis, “green”). Faced with these facts, it is not absurd to assume that the French linguistic evolution unconsciously avoided the supposedly negative character of this fruit, as expressed through the word malum. Furthermore, the apple is a positive symbol in Celtic culture, [113] Françoise Le Roux and Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc’h,...[113] which was heavily present in the territory of the future France, particularly in the context of the “folkloric reaction” of the twelfth century. [114] Jacques Le Goff, “Culture cléricale et traditions folkloriques...[114]
35
In accordance with its archetypical character as the fruit par excellence, the word was used in the formation of many syntagms, and even, around 1256, in the curious expression “pomme de paradis” (apple of paradise) denoting the banana. [115] Rey, Dictionnaire historique. It is interesting to...[115] Although in terms of vocabulary, we note a French resistance to the association of the apple with the fruit of sin, in terms of iconography, as seen above, such identification was established without problem. This was also the case in popular literary works, such as the first French theatrical text from the middle of the twelfth century or a sermon from the same time. [116] Respectively Le Mystère Adam: Ordo representationis...[116] Similarly, in this and the subsequent century, there were various love stories generally beginning with a betrayal (hearts metaphorically devoured) and ending with the death of the two protagonists (one of them literally devouring the other’s heart without realizing it [117] Accounts collected in Régnier-Bohler, ed., Le Cœur...[117]). To a certain extent, these stories consciously or unconsciously rewrote the drama of the original demise: betraying the confidence of the Creator (“from the tree . . . you will not eat”) by eating the apple/heart (“the knowledge of good and evil”), the human being was the cause of his own perdition (“the day you eat of it, you will surely die”), as Adam and Eve had hearts full of arrogance (“you will be like gods” [118] Genesis, 2:17; 3:5. On the close relationship between...[118]).
The Tree and Androgyny
36
This search for the identity of the Romanesque forbidden fruit must still consider the tree in relation to the primordial couple. The position of these three elements provides some important information. One of the symbolic and physical solutions used was to portray the primi parentes on the same side of the tree, with Eve always being closer to it (figure 4). The most common composition placed the tree between Adam and Eve, as already found on the sarcophagus of San Justo de la Vega in Leon, dated to the end of third century or the beginning of the fourth century and currently held in the archaeological museum of Madrid. It would be simplistic to think that this position on both sides of the tree simply responded to the desire for symmetry in Romanesque art, [119] As considered Guerra, Simbología románica, 107.[119] because the form is almost always a fragment of the contents that emerged. [120] Gerardus Van Der Leeuw, La Religion dans son essence...[120] In the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, this scheme probably referred to two very pressing questions related to the contemporary phenomenon of the sacralization of marriage.
Figure 4. - Relief on the western façade of Modena Cathedral (Emilia-Romagna), circa 1100.
37
On the one hand, by placing Adam and Eve at an equal distance from the tree, the iconography referred to a certain social egalitarianism and moral leveling between man and woman, even if the snake is almost always turned towards the woman. The side occupied by each character varied. We have already considered the position of Eve on the right-hand side of the tree as an “iconographic tradition,” a scheme with only three exceptions, in Saint-Antonin, Bruniquel, and Lescure. [121] Jean-Claude Fau, “Découverte à Saint-Antonin (Tarn-et-Garonne)...[121] In fact, the woman appears on the left in several other cases: for example on the sculptures in Anzy-le-Duc, Airvault, Butrera, Cergy, Cervatos, Covet, Embrun, Gémil, Girona, Lavaudieu, Lescar, Loarre, Luc-de-Béarn, Mahamud, Manresa, Moirax, Montcaret, Peralada (figure 6), Saint-Étienne-de-Grès, Saint-Gaudens, Sangüesa, San Juan de la Peña, Toirac, Verona, and Vézelay. Similarly, on the frescos in Aimé, Fossa, and San Justo in Segovia, on the illuminations of the Bible of Burgos, the Exultet 3 of Troia, and the Hortus Deliciarum, on a metal medallion from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, and on the mosaics in Monreale and Trani.
38
In addition, the central position of the tree, separating Adam and Eve, insinuated a rupture of the initial unity, at least on the psychological level. The tree, that is to say knowledge, revealed the existence of contradictory traits in human beings, made in the image and resemblance of God, the androgyne par excellence. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female created he them:” [122] Genesis, 1:27.[122] this is why the human being was initially double, and thus, inherently complete and microcosmic. [123] There were several types of microcosmic man in the...[123] Removing Eve from the rib of Adam was a surgery of separation, because they were formed from the same bones, they were “one flesh.” [124] Genesis, 2:23–24.[124] In this manner, the sacred text was interpreted from first half of the first century, initially by the Jew, Philo of Alexandria, and subsequently by Ambroise, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Isidore, the pseudo-Remigius of Auxerre, Guibert of Nogent, Pierre Lombard, Bernard, and others, who all regarded Eve as the image of the woman from within man. [125] Michel Planque, “Ève,” in Dictionnaire de spiritualité...[125]
39
Augustine, in particular, implicitly recognized the androgyny of the first man when he said that the devil “cannot tempt us only by the means of this animal part, which appears in a single man as an image or a model of woman.” [126] Augustine, Del Genesis contra los maniqueos [De Genesi...[126] Following a reasoning based on that of Saint Paul, he saw Adam-Eve as the complementarity of spirit and flesh, a comparison that was adopted by many thinkers in the Romanesque period. Since in the Bible, “Adam” was originally the generic name denoting a human being (Genesis, 1:19) and only later became the name of a person (Genesis, 3:17), Augustine interpreted the word “man” (Genesis, 1:26) as “human nature.” [127] Augustine, De Trinitate, I, 7, PL, vol. 42, col. 8...[127] Saint Anselme, who was very influential in the twelfth century, agreed that “Adam” should initially include Adam and Eve. [128] Anselm of Canterbury, La Conception virginale et le...[128] While trying to explain how Adam’s prohibition of the fruit also implied Eve, Petrus Comestor stated that it was transmitted to the woman through man; [129] Petrus Comestor, Historia scholastica, 15, PL, vol....[129] thus implicitly suggesting the unity of the two individuals, and the androgyny of the being to whom it was forbidden to eat the fruit.
40
While the medieval Church did not formally accept the divine and the androgyny of Adam, it was still familiar with it. It is thus found in a text from the New Testament: “There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Jesus Christ.” [130] Galatians, 3:28.[130] This appeared in an apocryphal text: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor female . . . then will you enter the kingdom [of God].” [131] Il Vangelo di Tommaso, 22, trans. Mario Erbetta (Casale...[131] This was a noncontemptible part of the thought of Clement of Alexandria [132] In a piece of literature that is today lost, Hypotyposes,...[132] (around 150–215), Origen [133] According to him, based on Luke, 20:36, there will...[133] (185–254), Gregory of Nyssa [134] Gregory of Nyssa, La Création de l’homme [De opificio...[134] (around 330–390) and, through them, of Johannes Scotus Eriugena [135] Johannes Scotus Eriugena, Periphyseon, IV, PL, vol....[135] (around 810–870). It undoubtedly belonged to the cultural and psychological milieu of the first Christian centuries. [136] Wayne A. Meeks, “The Image of the Androgyne: Some Uses...[136]
41
While the androgyne of Eden had disappeared, it was because of sin. For some thinkers, the human being henceforth became aware of its duplicity, since that time it was broken and characterized by the genitals, which was visible proof of the original sin: sexus comes from sectio (“cut,” “separation”), a term derived from secare “to cross,” which only assumed a specifically sexual meaning in the Middle Ages. [137] Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis,...[137] It is thus not by chance that Adam said “me” for the first time after the sin. [138] “Mulier, quam dedisti mihi sociam, dedit mihi de ligno,...[138] Although, undeniably, the original sin and sex were closely linked, the way in which events had transpired was the subject of debate. [139] Emmanuele Testa, Il peccato di Adamo nella Patristica...[139] One stream of thought interpreted the sin as a sexual offence: for example, the Jew Philon and some Church fathers, including Clement of Alexandria and Saint Ambrose. [140] Philo of Alexandria, De opificio mundi, 151–152, trans....[140] In the Romance period, the majority of theologists from the school of William of Champeaux (1070–1121) also considered that this sin involved concupiscence, although Guillaume himself saw it as an act of disobedience in which sensualitas managed to dominate ratio. [141] Odon Lottin, “Les théories du péché originel au XIIe...[141]
42
Another group reversed the question, seeing sex rather as a consequence of the sin. The Physiologus, an influential allegorical, zoological treatise translated into Latin in the fifth century, stated that the elephant and its partner, which “personified” Adam and Eve, were unaware of intercourse until the female had eaten the fruit of the Mandragora officinarum and given it to the male: “because of that, they had to leave Paradise.” [142] El Fisiólogo: bestiário medieval, 20, ed. Francis J....[142] The main proponent of this train of thought was Saint Augustine, according to whom the human being before the sin practiced sex without concupiscence. [143] Augustine, La Genèse au sens littéral [De Genesi ad...[143] The error of the first couple would then have been one of pride, which led to the error of disobedience and then to carnal error. [144] In the first part of his interpretation, Augustine...[144] Another proponent of this idea was Johannes Scotus Eriugena in the eighth century, who considered that before the sin, the human being was only one, and that the resulting division of the sexes would cease in the eternal life. [145] Johannes Scotus Eriugena, Periphyseon, V, 20, PL, vol....[145] His thought continued to exert a certain influence; in the fourteenth century, it led Meister Eckhart to regard “any division” to be “bad as such,” thus perceiving the number two as the sign of the fall. [146] Meister Eckhart, Commentaire de la Genèse, 88 and 90,...[146] The Romanesque representations of the initial sin hesitated in choosing between these theological positions. Showing a preference for the second, several images accorded sexual attributes to Adam and Eve just after the ingestion of the fruit: for Adam, generally a beard [147] For Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et curae, II, 5–7,...[147] (figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), seldom a penis (figure 5), and for Eve, usually breasts (figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). A minority of images seem to attribute the initial sin to a sexual act, an iconographic and theological concept that was perhaps expressed for the first time on the bronze door of Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany between 1011 and 1015. [148] William Tronzo, “The Hildesheim Doors: An Iconographic...[148] Here, Adam appears to the left of the tree and behind him is another tree on which a small dragon is standing. Eve is to the right, close to another tree with the snake. The fruit is the apple, one in right hand of Adam and the other in the right hand of Eve, being stretched out towards Adam. There is another apple in the left hand of Eve, whose folded arm merges with her vagina. A similar illustration was used in Rebolledo de la Torre in 1186. In the Alardus Bible, the snake that gives the fruit to Eve is at the height of her vagina, recalling a male sexual organ about to penetrate her. The southernmost façade of the Church of Santa María in Sangüesa in Navarre, which dates from the second half of the twelfth century, seems to portray the same design. Here, the scene of sin is situated immediately below the personification of Lust, showing a woman whose naked breasts are attacked by toads and snakes. [149] Despite the great diversity of iconographical material...[149] This association between lust and the original sin was not uncommon; as Sangüesa was on St. James’s Way, the most travelled road by Occitans and Italians, we may hypothesize that its iconographic message expressed the opinion of many pilgrims on the subject. In this sense, this image from Navarre ratified at least two other images known to these pilgrims.
43
The first image from Provence, dated to the second quarter of the twelfth century, is located a few kilometers from Tarascon in Saint-Etienne-du-Grès, on the tympanum of Saint-Gabriel’s chapel, where Daniel appears next to the original sin (prefiguration of Christ, the new Adam) with lions (a common symbol of lust): an opposition of scenes suggesting the sexual signification of the sin. As already mentioned, it is true that the contrast between the two scenes did not necessarily mean that the artist interpreted the sin “as a vulgar sin of lust, but its consequence was to introduce turmoil and even shame into a domain that had emerged wholly pure from the hands of the Creator.” [150] Gérard de Champeaux and Sébastien Sterckx, Introduction...[150] However, the authors of this comment—a longstanding phenomenon in medieval art studies—seem inclined towards adapting the intentions of the Romanesque artist to the theologically correct reading, rather than considering other interpretative possibilities beyond the domain of ecclesiastical culture. It is significant, for example, that on the same area of the tympanum, the two scenes are chronologically inversed, first portraying Daniel and then the sin.
44
The second image from Italy figures on the mosaic of Otranto (1163–1165). The branches of the forbidden tree pass between the legs of the characters, insinuating the sexual nature of the sin. This seems all the more evident given that Adam and Eve are each situated in a circle, rendering the characters isolated, separated, and autonomous entities in their respective domains, domains most certainly resulting from the primordial androgyne being cut in two. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that the forbidden fruit is represented as the fig (with its strong sexual connotation, as already seen) and illustrated in a suggestive way by the mosaic artist, the priest Pantaleon: the thinner part of the fig held by Eve is facing downwards and placed between her breasts, as though forming a third breast; the fig in Adam’s hand is in the inverse position, reminding us of the male genitals. [151] The same sexual presentation appeared towards the end...[151]
Figure 5. - Illumination from the in Troia (Puglia), Archivio Capitulario, middle of the eleventh century.
Figure 6. - Capital in the western gallery of the monastery cloister
45
Taking the geographical distribution of the Romanesque images into account, we see that the function attributed to the fig as the forbidden fruit was mainly expressed in the cultural milieu related to the Greco-Judaic world, while the apple appeared in association with the Romano-Christian world. This is perhaps due the specific links established in these cultural areas between each fruit and a bodily organ. In the images where the fig is used, Eve is often portrayed with the fruit on the right-hand side of the tree, like the liver in the human body. [152] In this regard, I evidently mean a statistical trend,...[152] In the images with the apple, the tendency is for Eve and the fruit to appear on the left-hand side, just like the heart in the body (figures 3 and 6). In both instances, the forbidden fruit was the symbol of the rupture of the unity of Eden and the birth of the disjointed humanity that characterizes history.
Notes
[1]
On the methodological issues affecting the construction and analysis of an iconographic corpus, some good comments have been made by Jérôme Baschet in “Inventivité et sérialité des images médiévales. Pour une approche iconographique élargie,” Annales HSS 51 (1996): 93–133.
[2]
Genesis, 2:16–17; 3:1–12.
[3]
Jeremiah, 1:14. Jerome, Expositio quattuor Evangeliorum, Patrologia Latina (PL), vol. 30, col. 549d–550a.
[4]
Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, XV, 7, trans. Bernard Maruani and Albert Cohen-Arazi (Paris: Verdier, 1987), 1:183 [Midrash Rabbah, Genesis trans. Harry Freedman and Maurice Simon, 2 vols. (London: Soncino Press, 1939)]; Genesis Rabbah I (Genesis 1–11), trans. Luis Vegas Montaner (Estella: Verbo Divino, 1994), 188–189 [Genesis Rabbah I, trans. Samuel Rapaport (London: Routledge, 1907)].
[5]
Following the interpretation of Marcel Durliat, Pyrénées romanes (La-Pierre-Qui-Vire: Zodiaque, 1978), 42.
[6]
Vita Adae, 36–42: “The ‘Vita Adae’,” ed. J. H. Mozley, The Journal of Theological Studies (1929): 121–149 (English manuscripts); “La Vie latine d’Adam et Ève,” ed. Jean-Pierre Pettorelli, Archivum latinitatis Medii Aevi (1998): 5–104 (German manuscripts); 2 Henoc 22:8: Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch, trans. Francis I. Andersen, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, 2 vols. (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1983–1985), 1:92–221; L’Évangile de Nicodème, 19, ed. André Vaillant (Geneva, Paris: Droz, 1968), 59–61.
[7]
In this instance, the capital over the door of Miègeville, dated to around 1100–1118, does not depict the scene of the sin, but rather that of the expulsion from Paradise, where the fruit behind Adam and Eve (the couple being situated between God on one side and an angel on the other) is the grapevine.
[8]
Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, XV, 7 and XIX, 5, trans. Maruani and Cohen-Arazi, [trans. Freedman and Simon], 184 and 217; Genesis Rabbah I, trans. Vegas Montaner, 190–225. Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch, XXXII, 3–6, trans. Ephraim Isaac, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:28. Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, 4–8, trans. Harry E. Gaylord, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:667; Apocalypse of Abraham, XXXIII, 7, trans. Ryszard Rubinkiewicz and Horace G. Lunt, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:700. In the first century AD, Eliezer ben Hurcanus’s Chapters only specifies that “Noah found a grapevine coming from the Garden of Eden:” Los Capítulos de Rabbí Eliezer, XXIII, 4, trans. Miguel Pérez Fernandez, (Valencia: Institución San Jerónimo, 1984), 174. Louis Ginzberg nevertheless believes that this text probably alludes to a fragment from the tree of knowledge: Les Légendes des juifs [1909], trans. Gabrielle Sed-Rajna (Paris: Éd. du Cerf, 1997), 1:302, n. 59. According to the same author (Les Légendes des juifs, 219, n. 70), “the oldest and widespread opinion identifies the forbidden fruit with the grape, which traces back to an ancient mythological idea considering wine to be the beverage of the gods.”
[9]
David Romano, “Jueus a la Catalunya carolingia i dels primers comtes (876–1100),” in Exposiciò dins la formació de l’Europa medieval (Girona: Ajuntament de Girona, 1985), 113–119. Hilário Franco Júnior, “Le pouvoir de la parole: Adam et les animaux dans la tapisserie de Gérone,” Médiévales 25 (1993): 113–128.
[10]
Arturo Graf, Il Mito del Paradiso terrestre (1892; reprint, Rome: Edizioni del Graal, 1982), 65; Gioacchino Volpe, Movimenti religiosi e sette ereticali nella società medievale italiana: secoli XI–XIV fourth ed. (Florence: Sansoni, 1972), 17–40; Cinzio Violante, La Società milanese nell’età precomunale (Bari: Laterza, 1974), 220–231. Priests in Spain in the seventh century offered a bunch of grapes to believers during the Eucharist, which could also be a reaction against the idea of the grapevine as the forbidden fruit (third Council of Braga [675], prologue and canon 1: Concílios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, ed. and trans. José Vives (Barcelona and Madrid: CSIC, Instituto Enrique Florez, 1963), 371–373).
[11]
Michel Tardieu, Trois Mythes gnostiques: Adam, Éros et les animaux d’Égypte dans un écrit de Nag Hammadi (II, 5) (Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1974), particularly 88–89, 142–144, and 166–169.
[12]
Paul Deschamps, “Notes sur la sculpture romane en Bourgogne,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1922): 61–80.
[13]
Deschamps, “Notes sur la sculpture.”
[14]
Joseph de Ghellinck, “L’eucharistie au XIIe siècle en Occident,” in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1913), vol. 5, col. 1233–1302. Iconography was also influenced by the phenomenon in which the Crucified was depicted as a bunch of grapes, as seen on the thirteenth-century metal relief on the door of the Church of Sion in Switzerland. This was reproduced by Erich Neumann, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, trans. Ralph Mannheim (1955; reprint, Princeton (N. J.): Princeton University Press, 1972), pl. 114.
[15]
Roger Dion, Histoire de la vigne et du vin en France des origines au XIXe siècle (Paris: author publication, 1959), 245–247.
[16]
Auguste Gaudel, “Péché originel,” in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, vol. XII-1, col. 441 [quotation back-translated from the French].
[17]
Jacques Brosse, Mythologie des arbres (Paris: Plon, 1989), 299–300. The purity attributed to the olive rendered the olive tree the tree of life par excellence, as seen above, n.5.
[18]
Robert Saint-Jean and Jean Nougaret, Vivarais-Gévaudan romans (La Pierre-Qui-Vire: Zodiaque, 1991), 157–158. La Nuit des temps, 75.
[19]
Genesis, 3:7.
[20]
John, 1:48. This relationship between the fig and knowledge can be traced back to classical paganism: Plato, for example, called this fruit “the friend of philosophers,” according to Éloïse Mozzani, Le Livre des superstitions: mythes, croyances et légendes (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1995), 746.
[21]
Matthew, 21:19. Paul Sébillot, Le Folklore de France, vol. 6, La Flore (1906; reprint, Paris: Imago, 1985), 21; Mozzani, Le Livre des superstitions, 746.
[22]
Stuttgart Psalter, around 810 (Stuttgart: Württembergische Landes-bibliothek, Cod. Bibl. 172o 23, fol. 8).
[23]
Midrash Rabbah, Genesis XV, 7, trans. Maruani and Cohen-Arazi, 185; Génesis Rabbah I, trans. Vegas Montaner, 190–191.
[24]
Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypse), xx, 4–5, trans. M. D. Johnson, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:281; Apocalisse di Mosè, trans. Liliana Rosso Ubigli, in Apocrifi dell’Antico Testa-mento, ed. Paolo Sacchi (Turin: UTET, 1989), 2:429; Vida de Adán y Eva (Apocalipsis de Moises), trans. Natalio Fernández Marcos, in Apocrifos del Antiguo Testamento, ed. Alejandro Diez Macho (Madrid: Cristiandad, 1982), 2:330.
[25]
Testament of Adam 3c, trans. Stephen E. Robinson, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 1:994; Testamento de Adán III, 4 (R II), trans. F. J. Martínez Fernández, in Apocrifos del Antiguo Testamento, 5:433.
[26]
Il Combattimento di Adamo, 40, ed. and trans. A. Battista and B. Bagatti (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1982), 110.
[27]
Theodoret of Cyrus, Quaestiones in Genesim, II, 28, Patrologia Graeca (PG), vol. LXXX, col. 125 c.
[28]
Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem, I, 2, 2, ed. Ernst Kroymann (Turnhout: Brepols, 1954), 443. Corpus christianorum. Series latina, 1; Hugh of Saint Victor, Adnotationes elucidatoriae in Pentateuchon, Patrologia Latina (PL), vol. CLXXV, col. 42 a-b; Pierre Comestor, Historia scholastica, 23, PL, vol. CXCVIII, col. 1073 b-c. Even at the end of the Middles Ages, several authors still thought in this manner: Meister Eckhart, Commentaire de la Genèse, 97 and 205, ed. and trans. Fernand Brunner et al. (Paris: Éd. du Cerf, 1984), 360 and 518. L’Œuvre latine de Maître Eckhart, 1.
[29]
Das Tristan-Epos Gottfrieds von Strassburg, v. 17944, ed. Wolfgang Spiewok (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1989), 251. Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters, 75.
[30]
Beryl Smalley, “Andrew of Saint-Victor, Abbot of Wigmore: A Twelfth-Century Hebraist,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 10 (1938): 358–373; Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983), 149–172 and 179–180; Esra Shereshevsky, “Hebrew Traditions in Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica,” The Jewish Quarterly Review 59 (1968–1969): 268–289.
[31]
Brosse, Mythologie des arbres, 285–286.
[32]
Jean Beleth, Summa de ecclesiasticis officiis, 125, ed. Herbert Douteil (Turnhout: Brepols, 1976), 239–241; Gervase of Tilbury, Otia Imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor, trans. S. E. Banks and J. W. Binns (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). In the thirteenth century, the theme appeared in several well-known texts, such as La Queste del Saint Graal, ed. Albert Pauphilet (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1980), 210ff. and Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend: Legenda aurea, vulgo Historia Lombardica dicta, LXVIII, ed. Theodor Graesse (1846; reprint, Osnabrück: Otto Zeller, 1969), 303–304.
[33]
Exodus, 29:13, 22; Leviticus, 3:4, 10, 15; 4:9; 7:4; 8:16, 25; 9:10, 19.
[34]
Tobit, VI, 7.
[35]
Hesiod, Théogonie, v. 524, ed. and trans. Paul Mazon, thirteenth reprint (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1996), 51. Coll. des Universités de France [Theogony, trans Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classics, 1914)].
[36]
Anacreon, “Fragment 33,” vv. 28, 32, in Carmina Anacreontea, ed. Martin L. West (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1984), 25.
[37]
Horace, Odes, IV, 1, 12, ed. and trans. François Villeneuve (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1927), 152 [The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace, trans. Sidney Alexander (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999)].
[38]
Plato, Timée, 71 a, d, ed. and trans. Albert Rivaud (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1985), 198 [Timaeus and Critias, ed. Thomas K. Johansen, trans. Desmond Lee (London: Penguin, 1977)].
[39]
In the Romanesque period, there was at least one allusion to the Latin Cupid (called only Amores) sending an arrow to the heart: Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès, v. 455, trans. Alexandre Micha (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1982) [Cliges, trans. W. W. Comfort (London: Everyman’s Library, 1914)]. A medieval collection of classical mythology, written between 875 and 1075, says that the gods sent an eagle to punish Prometheus by attacking his heart (not the liver, as Hesiod declared): Premier Mythographe du Vatican, I, 1, 3, ed. Nevio Zorzetti, trans. Jacques Berlioz (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1995), 2. The transposition of the symbolic role of the liver to the heart became so ingrained that modern scholars have more than once taken one for the other, as, for example, the translator of Horace, Odes, ed. and trans. Villeneuve, n.36 or that of Anacreon, Odes, trans. Frédéric Matthews (Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1927), 91.
[40]
Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda aurea, XXV, ed. Graesse, 120. Eve
James Joyce describing the element 'Water'. It's no wonder he danced.
An iteration.
If this had been the only thing he had ever written, I would love him forever for it:
"What in water did Bloom, waterlover, drawer of water, watercarrier, returning to the range, admire?
Its universality: its democratic equality and constancy to its nature in seeking its own level: its vastness in the ocean of Mercator’s projection: its unplumbed profundity in the Sundam trench of the Pacific exceeding 8000 fathoms: the restlessness of its waves and surface particles visiting in turn all points of its seaboard: the independence of its units: the variability of states of sea: its hydrostatic quiescence in calm: its hydrokinetic turgidity in neap and spring tides: its subsidence after devastation: its sterility in the circumpolar icecaps, arctic and antarctic: its climatic and commercial significance: its preponderance of 3 to 1 over the dry land of the globe: its indisputable hegemony extending in square leagues over all the region below the subequatorial tropic of Capricorn: the multisecular stability of its primeval basin: its luteofulvous bed: its
capacity to dissolve and hold in solution all soluble substances
including millions of tons of the most precious metals: its slow
erosions of peninsulas and islands, its persistent formation of homothetic islands, peninsulas and downwardtending promontories: its alluvial deposits: its weight and volume and density: its imperturbability in lagoons and highland tarns: its gradation of colours in the torrid and temperate and frigid zones: its vehicular ramifications in continental lakecontained streams and confluent oceanflowing rivers with their tributaries and transoceanic currents, gulfstream, north and south equatorial courses: its violence in seaquakes, waterspouts, Artesian wells, eruptions, torrents, eddies, freshets, spates, groundswells, watersheds, waterpartings, geysers, cataracts, whirlpools, maelstroms, inundations, deluges, cloudbursts: its vast circumterrestrial ahorizontal curve: its secrecy in springs
and latent humidity, revealed by rhabdomantic or hygrometric
instruments and exemplified by the well by the hole in the wall at
Ashtown gate, saturation of air, distillation of dew: the simplicity of its composition, two constituent parts of hydrogen with one constituent part of oxygen: its healing virtues: its buoyancy in the waters of the Dead Sea: its persevering penetrativeness in runnels, gullies, inadequate dams, leaks on shipboard: its properties for cleansing, quenching thirst and fire, nourishing vegetation: its infallibility as paradigm and paragon: its metamorphoses as vapour, mist, cloud, rain, sleet, snow, hail: its strength in rigid hydrants: its variety of forms in loughs and bays and gulfs and bights and guts and lagoons and atolls and archipelagos and sounds and fjords and minches and tidal estuaries and arms of sea: its solidity in glaciers, icebergs, icefloes: its docility in working hydraulic millwheels, turbines, dynamos, electric power stations, bleachworks, tanneries, scutchmills: its utility in canals, rivers, if navigable, floating and graving docks: its potentiality derivable from harnessed tides or watercourses falling from level to level: its submarine fauna and flora (anacoustic, photophobe), numerically, if not literally, the inhabitants of the globe: its ubiquity as constituting 90% of the human body: the noxiousness of its effluvia in lacustrine marshes, pestilential fens, faded flowerwater, stagnant pools in the waning moon.
Having set the halffilled kettle on the now burning coals, why did he return to the stillflowing tap?"
'Ulysses', Chapter: 'Ithaca', P.624 (1922 Text), James Joyce
I met her at a tattoo/piercing studio. My wife decided to treat herself to new ear piercings and earrings for her birthday. Friends had recommended a piercer at Dark Canal, a studio in nearby Napanee Ontario. Meet Karen.
My wife has spent her adult life with piercings done with a sewing needle and ice cube in her dorm at university, so Dark Canal was a new experience for both of us. {No, I didn’t get pierced or tattooed; I was just along for the ride.)
Karen’s warm, friendly manner was apparent from the get-go as she took us into the adjoining piercing room with a dentist-type chair and macrame wall hanging. When she realized that my wife didn’t have a fully-formed concept of what she wanted, Karen was very helpful and spent a good deal of time getting to know us and figuring out what would be good options. We then spent some time in the adjoining room, looking at the jewelry and making a decision. The chosen earrings were then taken to an adjoining room to be autoclaved for sterility. While the machine was at work, Karen and my wife finalized the decision regarding placement of the new piercings. I was impressed by the cleanliness of the place and by multiple layers of disinfectant applied prior to marking the locations with a small, disposable felt-tip pen. Karen was gloved throughout and explained all the precautions she was taking. Piercing needles and all the materials used were taken from sealed packets with lables designating sterility.
Compared to the consultation, the actual piercing was done quickly and my wife explained she barely felt a pinch. The earring insertion was equally quick and painless.
I had asked if I could take a few photos and was told that was fine. In fact, once the new earrings were in and disinfectant was cleaned off, Karen took a few photos for her own records. My wife told Karen about my Human Family photo project and told her to expect to get a portrait request from me and Karen was fine with that. After moving the chair out of the way, I simply posed her with the cabinet drawers holding the piercing supplies in the background.
Karen has an interesting background. She is a Registered Nurse with a Remote Nursing certificate. She did remote nursing for 10 years in northern British Columbia where she had few other health-care resources to draw on in the community. Her husband used to be a Paramedic who now does the tattooing at Black Canal. Karen said that she loves her job which allows her to meet a wide variety of people, each having a different story to tell. She particularly enjoys consulting with her clients in order to ensure that they wind up with the most positive experience possible. Like tattooing, each piercing may have a special meaning to her client. It is not uncommon for clients to get tattoos or piercings to commemmorate losses. Some who are trauma survivors get them to reclaim their body through experiencing a voluntary controlled experience of pain.
Karen mentioned that her oldest client was an 82 year old widow who had spent her married life respecting her husbands wishes that she not get pierced. Now that she was on her own, she was free to act for herself. “When she looked in the mirror and first saw her piercing, tears flowed down her cheeks.”
My wife told Karen that she had been a bit self-conscious about coming into a studio, likely revolving around a much younger population. Karen said “Not at all. Age is a gift not everyone is lucky enough to be given.” Her comment was beautifully expressed. Regarding age, Karen added "Women get stronger and stronger with age, don't you think?"
When I invited her to share a comment with the project she thought for a moment and said “Enjoy riding life’s wave.”
If you are ever in the Kingston area and are considering a piercing, I highly recomment Karen at Black Canal Tattooing in nearby Napanee. www.blackcanaltattoocompany,com
Thank you, Karen, for participating in my photo project. You are my 943rd submission to The Human Family Group.
You can see more street portraits of strangers and read their stories by visiting The Human Family.
"What in water did Bloom, waterlover, drawer of water, watercarrier, returning to the range, admire?
Its universality: its democratic equality and constancy to its nature in seeking its own level: its vastness in the ocean of Mercator’s projection: its unplumbed profundity in the Sundam trench of the Pacific exceeding 8000 fathoms: the restlessness of its waves and surface particles visiting in turn all points of its seaboard: the independence of its units: the variability of states of sea: its hydrostatic quiescence in calm: its hydrokinetic turgidity in neap and spring tides: its subsidence after devastation: its sterility in the circumpolar icecaps, arctic and antarctic: its climatic and commercial significance: its preponderance of 3 to 1 over the dry land of the globe: its indisputable hegemony extending in square leagues over all the region below the subequatorial tropic of Capricorn: the multisecular stability of its primeval basin: its luteofulvous bed: its
capacity to dissolve and hold in solution all soluble substances
including millions of tons of the most precious metals: its slow
erosions of peninsulas and islands, its persistent formation of homothetic islands, peninsulas and downwardtending promontories: its alluvial deposits: its weight and volume and density: its imperturbability in lagoons and highland tarns: its gradation of colours in the torrid and temperate and frigid zones: its vehicular ramifications in continental lakecontained streams and confluent oceanflowing rivers with their tributaries and transoceanic currents, gulfstream, north and south equatorial courses: its violence in seaquakes, waterspouts, Artesian wells, eruptions, torrents, eddies, freshets, spates, groundswells, watersheds, waterpartings, geysers, cataracts, whirlpools, maelstroms, inundations, deluges, cloudbursts: its vast circumterrestrial ahorizontal curve: its secrecy in springs
and latent humidity, revealed by rhabdomantic or hygrometric
instruments and exemplified by the well by the hole in the wall at
Ashtown gate, saturation of air, distillation of dew: the simplicity of its composition, two constituent parts of hydrogen with one constituent part of oxygen: its healing virtues: its buoyancy in the waters of the Dead Sea: its persevering penetrativeness in runnels, gullies, inadequate dams, leaks on shipboard: its properties for cleansing, quenching thirst and fire, nourishing vegetation: its infallibility as paradigm and paragon: its metamorphoses as vapour, mist, cloud, rain, sleet, snow, hail: its strength in rigid hydrants: its variety of forms in loughs and bays and gulfs and bights and guts and lagoons and atolls and archipelagos and sounds and fjords and minches and tidal estuaries and arms of sea: its solidity in glaciers, icebergs, icefloes: its docility in working hydraulic millwheels, turbines, dynamos, electric power stations, bleachworks, tanneries, scutchmills: its utility in canals, rivers, if navigable, floating and graving docks: its potentiality derivable from harnessed tides or watercourses falling from level to level: its submarine fauna and flora (anacoustic, photophobe), numerically, if not literally, the inhabitants of the globe: its ubiquity as constituting 90% of the human body: the noxiousness of its effluvia in lacustrine marshes, pestilential fens, faded flowerwater, stagnant pools in the waning moon.
Having set the halffilled kettle on the now burning coals, why did he return to the stillflowing tap?"
'Ulysses', Chapter: 'Ithaca', P.624 (1922 Text), James Joyce
“What in water did Bloom, waterlover, drawer of water, watercarrier, returning to the range, admire?
Its universality: its democratic equality and constancy to its nature in seeking its own level: its vastness in the ocean of Mercator’s projection: its unplumbed profundity in the Sundam trench of the Pacific exceeding 8000 fathoms: the restlessness of its waves and surface particles visiting in turn all points of its seaboard: the independence of its units: the variability of states of sea: its hydrostatic quiescence in calm: its hydrokinetic turgidity in neap and spring tides: its subsidence after devastation: its sterility in the circumpolar icecaps, arctic and antarctic: its climatic and commercial significance: its preponderance of 3 to 1 over the dry land of the globe: its indisputable hegemony extending in square leagues over all the region below the subequatorial tropic of Capricorn: the multisecular stability of its primeval basin: its luteofulvous bed: its capacity to dissolve and hold in solution all soluble substances including millions of tons of the most precious metals: its slow erosions of peninsulas and islands, its persistent formation of homothetic islands, peninsulas and downwardtending promontories: its alluvial deposits: its weight and volume and density: its imperturbability in lagoons and highland tarns: its gradation of colours in the torrid and temperate and frigid zones: its vehicular ramifications in continental lakecontained streams and confluent oceanflowing rivers with their tributaries and transoceanic currents, gulfstream, north and south equatorial courses: its violence in seaquakes, waterspouts, Artesian wells, eruptions, torrents, eddies, freshets, spates, groundswells, watersheds, waterpartings, geysers, cataracts, whirlpools, maelstroms, inundations, deluges, cloudbursts: its vast circumterrestrial ahorizontal curve: its secrecy in springs and latent humidity, revealed by rhabdomantic or hygrometric instruments and exemplified by the well by the hole in the wall at Ashtown gate, saturation of air, distillation of dew: the simplicity of its composition, two constituent parts of hydrogen with one constituent part of oxygen: its healing virtues: its buoyancy in the waters of the Dead Sea: its persevering penetrativeness in runnels, gullies, inadequate dams, leaks on shipboard: its properties for cleansing, quenching thirst and fire, nourishing vegetation: its infallibility as paradigm and paragon: its metamorphoses as vapour, mist, cloud, rain, sleet, snow, hail: its strength in rigid hydrants: its variety of forms in loughs and bays and gulfs and bights and guts and lagoons and atolls and archipelagos and sounds and fjords and minches and tidal estuaries and arms of sea: its solidity in glaciers, icebergs, icefloes: its docility in working hydraulic millwheels, turbines, dynamos, electric power stations, bleachworks, tanneries, scutchmills: its utility in canals, rivers, if navigable, floating and graving docks: its potentiality derivable from harnessed tides or watercourses falling from level to level: its submarine fauna and flora (anacoustic, photophobe), numerically, if not literally, the inhabitants of the globe: its ubiquity as constituting 90 percent of the human body: the noxiousness of its effluvia in lacustrine marshes, pestilential fens, faded flowerwater, stagnant pools in the waning moon.”
— James Joyce (Ulysses)
the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. December 2017
more shots here:
This is one of my 'memory photos', a composite of 3 photos taken on the same morning with the same camera / lens. Two of the photos were taken in motion on the BART and the third photo was taken in the SFO airport.
Modern travel is a wonder of speed and efficiency that also involves a lot of waiting and a bit of bland sterility. I love looking out at the colorful neighborhoods with the locals living a normal speed life and wondering what it would be like to stay.
Trip to San Francisco, CA.
Just one more frame of this scene before we move on down the line.
CSXT's Troy Industrial Track is a six mile long branch line that connects with the Amtrak controlled Hudson Line just north of the Albany-Rensselaer station at the east end of the Livingston Avenue bridge. The former New York Central route is the last active rail line into the Collar City which at one point in the early 20th century was the fourth wealthiest city in the nation. The city once had lines radiating in four directions serving a grand Union Station downtown.
The four railroads that originally formed the Troy Union Railroad were the Rensselaer and Saratoga (D&H), Troy and Boston (B&M), Troy and Greenbush (NYC) and Schenectady and Troy (NYC). That's how the NYC ended up with half ownership of the TURR, and the others each had one quarter.
This surviving spur began as the Troy and Greenbush Railroad which was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to East Albany (now Rensselaer) on the east side of the Hudson River. It was the last link in an all-rail line between Boston and Buffalo and until bridges were built between Albany and Rensselaer, passengers crossed on ferries while the train went up to Troy, crossed the Hudson River, and came back down to Albany.
The Hudson River Railroad was chartered in 1846 to extend this line south to New York City and the full line opened in 1851. Prior to completion, the Hudson River leased the Troy and Greenbush and all would come into the hands of Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1864 who then three years later combined it with his New York Central Railroad to have the entire New York City to Buffalo route under his control. A decade after that Vanderbilt would gain control over the lines to Chicago uniting the famed 'water level route' under one banner that would grow to be one of the worlds greatest rail systems in the first half of the 20th Century.
The above information is courtesy of this site where you can learn more:
penneyvanderbilt.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/troy-greenbush-...
CSXT is the direct corporate successor of the New York Central by way of Penn Central in 1968, then Conrail in 1976, and CSXT in 1999. Despite occasional fear of the line's demise they continue to serve it three days a week with a local out of South Schenectady that travels via the Carmen Branch and the Hudson Line via West Albany hill and LAB to get to this branch.
CSXT local L020 has 17 cars trailing two ACSES equipped ex Chessie GP40-2s seen paused in South Troy just north of the Main Street crossing at MP 4.8 while the conductor walks over to Troy Pizza and Gyro to pick up a pie for the ride back home. I just love this scene with the tracks hugging the edge of South River Street along a block lined with ivy bedecked brick buildings...it's truly a throwback to railroading of another era and so vastly different than the sterility of modern class 1 mainlines.
Troy, New York
Friday October 25, 2024
Sometimes, I wonder about the currents or movements within myself...I question my spirituality...are these just fantasy's of my own making? Because of such questions, I'm constantly looking for identification from the potpourri of everything that surrounds me. Such confirmation is found in the books that are placed in my path, which are like little threads of light...that lead me off the well worn trail...into the grass. I like tall grass...that makes me think about the new territory, I might be encountering. What, I have found is that these new paths...are new to me...but they are not new.
Maybe that is why, one of my companions for testing my own spiritual authenticity, has been Thomas Merton. We all are making this journey...but some of us tread new paths and discover a wonder or light....that is felt so deeply but so very difficult to articulate.
-rc
/*******************************************
If there is a clear thread running through these early notes on the Russians, it is Merton’s admiration for their theological creativity, their willingness to make mistakes “in order to say something great and worthy of God.” “One wonders,” Merton muses, “if our theological cautiousness is not after all the sign of a fatal coldness of heart, an awful sterility born of fear, or of despair.”40 But there is also a clear enthusiasm for the Russians’ willingness to say something great and worthy about humanity. “Reading such things,” he confesses, “one is struck with compunction. Look at us! What are we doing? What have I done?”41
-Pramuk, Christopher. Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton (p. 12). Liturgical Press. Kindle Edition.
I have not posted much since the last flickr fiasco. I still check my photostream every day but the lack of activity has been very discouraging. I now get my photographic conversation fix on Facebook. Maybe I will try posting something evderyday to see if things ever improve here.
We bought this cabinet card at a local antique show last week. I must say there are several things about it that puzzle me. It is giving me vibes of an amateur or unskilled itinerant photographer. An older woman sits in what I think is a farm yard. She holds a white flower on a long stem in her left hand and a book in her right hand. A table and chair have moved outside. A large book rests on the table and a stuffed rag-dog sits on the ground. What does it all mean?
I posted a detail of the cover and a facebook poster discovered that it is "Know Thyself: The Science of Life; or Self-Preservation". It is described as a Medical Treatise on Nervous and Physical Debility, Spermatorrhea, Impotence, and Sterility with Practical Observations on the Treatment of Diseases of the Generative Organs" - 1881. I found this a mystery until I learned that this book was used by 19th century midwifes.
Does anyone else find this as strange as I do?
Name: Judy Xiong
Hometown: New York, New York
Likes: My family, helping others, the serenity that comes from being perfectly organized
Dislikes: deceptive people, my day planner, the sterility that comes from being perfectly organized.
Why I should be picked for Maxine’s My New BFF 5:
Because I'm seeking actual friendship & real connections instead of just the flimsy ones I've formed via my work as a corporate events planner. Up until now so much of my life has been about scheduling things to perfection but I've recently realized that a life worth living can't be simply planned to perfection but instead has to be lived in embracing what each day brings.
What I admire about Maxine is how her assertiveness & strength of character shines in a way that commands respect but doesn't intimate the ones she cares about most and I'm hoping that by potentially becoming her BFF that it's something I can learn to channel within my own self.
Faceclaim: Brenda Song
Hit 'L' to view on large,.
An affluent looking town with an overgrown house/clinic in the centre. Apparently Dr Anna is still alive, over 100 years old and being cared for in nursing home accommodation. Her name and her husband's were apparently above the door of the Urological clinic they ran down in the lower levels of the basement. The house is a split level affair, with clinical and waiting / administration spaces on the ground and lower ground floors with an opulent house on the floors above. Dr Anna was clearly a well dressed lady judging by the amount of swanky old clothing and bags still there and the furniture. Not to mention the hobbies and travels they clearly had judging by the items left behind. Her husband died in a car crash sometime in the 90s and the home has been left to rot.
Another month, another tour. The Benzine tour no doubt on the name. On tour with Camerashy, Wiffsmiff23 and FlashandBlur. Countless hours driving, some iconic places visited and efficient Police and Security encountered and hid from. Not to mention lots of places sealed, trashed or locked down.
My blog:
timster1973.wordpress.com
Also on Facebook
www.Facebook.com/TimKniftonPhotography
online store: www.artfinder.com/tim-knifton
I'm fast becoming the king of repetitive redundancy with these shots from Imperial, that I keep taking at Imperial. It gets repetitious and redundant for sure. To celebrate the redundant repetition of shots I do over and over here, taken from Imperial, repeatedly from this place, here is H GALMEM9 15A, with a repetitively redundant set of orange decorated locomotives showcasing the finest in corporate sterility. What a waste of film, or zeros and ones, really.
4/15/2024
Imperial, MO
Taken with a drone, this view looks straight down upon precise lines of Alstom Metropolis EMU sets where driverless passenger trains wait their turn for service on the Northwest Metro line between Tallawong, where this scene was captured, and Chatswood in New South Wales, Australia, on February 5, 2022.
Judges’ Comments: The factory-like precision of this drone photograph beautifully captures the standardization that has taken hold within the rail industry over the last fifty years. A stark and exceptional portrait of stored EMU commuter equipment speaks to the scale and character of modern railroading; and also the sterility and industrial nature of an industry where the relentless march of technological advancement has eliminated many aspects of individuality and personality.
Read more about the 2023 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards: railphoto-art.org/awards-2023/
...patterns and textures meet happily to offer warmth, cozyness and some interest against the sterility that very often white carries.
It has been a great canvas on which our moods can colour our environment, adjusting to seasons as well and offering the chance for a place that evolves and changes easily.
Derek Jarman Garden Prospect Cottage
Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was an English film director who made a famous garden on the shingle shore near Dungeness nuclear power station. Jarman believed that the Pilot Inn, nearby, provides “Simply the finest fish and chips in all England". The garden design style is postmodern and highly context-sensitive - a complete rejection of modernist design theory. He disliked the sterility of modernism; he despised its lack of interest in poetry, allusion and stories; he deplored the techno-cruelty exemplified in Dr. D. G. Hessayon's 'How to be an expert' series of garden books. Jarman's small circles of flint reminded him of standing stones and dolmens. He remarked that 'Paradise haunts gardens, and some gardens are paradises.
In this picture you see my sweet ex soul mate lying in a hospital bed after an appendectomy. He had always demanded a lot of attention (according to his theory, I owed him everything just because he sincerely loved me), and during his stay in a hospital was particularly peevish about me not devoting enough of myself to him (in every possible sense). I looked at him during the first visit and realized that now, in broad daylight coming into the room thru a huge window and in the sterility of the hospital environment, his lordly demeanour was so visible that it was almost impossible to look at him.
Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton, 14 miles north-west of the city of Ripon, was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, England, dedicated to St Mary in 1156. It is a Grade I listed building.
The place name Jervaulx is first attested in 1145, where it appears as Jorvalle. The name is French for 'the Ure valley' and is perhaps a translation of the English 'Ure-dale', also known as Yoredale. The valley is now called Wensleydale.
Initially a Savigniac foundation out of Normandy, the abbey was later taken over by the Cistercian order from Burgundy and responsibility for it was taken by Byland Abbey. Founded in 1145 at Fors near Aysgarth, it was moved ten years later to a site a few miles away on the banks of the River Ure. In 1145, in the reign of King Stephen, Akarius Fitz Bardolph, who was Lord of Ravensworth, gave Peter de Quinciano, a monk from Savigny, land at Fors and Worton, in Wensleydale, to build a monastery of their order. The monastery there was successively called the Abbey of Fors, Jervaulx and Charity. Grange, 5 miles (8 km) west-north-west of Aysgarth, a hamlet in the township of Low Abbotside in the parish of Aysgarth, is the original site of Fors Abbey. After it was abandoned it was known by the name of Dale Grange and now by that of the Grange alone.
Serlo, then Abbot of Savigny, disapproved of the foundation, since it had been made without his knowledge and consent. He refused to supply it with monks from his abbey because of the great difficulties experienced by those he had previously sent to England. Therefore in a general chapter he proposed that it be transferred to the Abbey of Belland (Byland), which was closer and would be able to provide the assistance required by the new foundation. Monks were sent from Byland and after they had undergone great hardships because of the meagreness of their endowment and sterility of their lands Conan, son of Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, greatly increased their revenues and in 1156 moved their monastery to its better location in East Witton. Here the monks erected a new church and monastery, which, like most of the Cistercian order, was dedicated to St Mary. At the height of its prosperity the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses, a tradition that remains in Middleham to the present day. It was also the original home of Wensleydale cheese, originally made with ewes' milk. In 1279 Abbot Philip of Jervaulx was murdered by one of his monks. His successor, Abbot Thomas, was initially accused of the crime, but a jury later determined that he was not to blame, and another monk fled under outlawry.
According to John Speed, at the Dissolution it was valued at £455 10s. 5d. The last abbot, Adam Sedbergh, joined the Pilgrimage of Grace and was hanged at Tyburn in June 1537, when the monastic property was forfeited to the king.
The pulpitum screen with part of the stalls can now be seen at St Andrew's Church, Aysgarth, and a window was reused at St Gregory's parish church in Bedale.
As the monasteries kept people employed and from starving, the regional disturbances were occasioned by desperation, and, as the monastic system was not diocesan or provincial to make a swift transition within the nationalized episcopal system, there was no immediate resolution to tenant sufferings. Jervaulx, Byland and other Cistercian houses were as much attached to Savigny and Citeaux Abbey in the Duchy of Burgundy as Richmondshire and the Honour of Richmond generally were to the Duchy of Brittany, both establishments based in France but cut off owing to the Hundred Years' War and especially after the loss of the Pale of Calais.
The standing remains of the abbey include part of the church and claustral buildings and a watermill. The lordship of East Witton, including the site of the abbey, was granted by Henry VIII to Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and Margaret, his wife, the king's niece, and after passing through various hands the property came into the possession of the Bruce family, one of whom was created Earl of Ailesbury in 1805. The estate was purchased from the trustees of Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury, in 1887 by S. Cunliffe Lister Esq. of Swinton Park for £310,000. It was purchased by Major and Mrs W. V. Burdon in 1971. Their youngest son, Ian, now runs the abbey, the ruins of which are open to the public.
North Yorkshire is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber and North East regions of England. It borders County Durham to the north, the North Sea to the east, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the south-east, South Yorkshire to the south, West Yorkshire to the south-west, and Cumbria and Lancashire to the west. Northallerton is the county town.
The county is the largest in England by land area, at 9,020 km2 (3,480 sq mi), and has a population of 1,158,816. The largest settlements are Middlesbrough (174,700) in the north-east and the city of York (152,841) in the south. Middlesbrough is part of the Teesside built-up area, which extends into County Durham and has a total population of 376,663. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Harrogate (73,576) and Scarborough (61,749). For local government purposes the county comprises four unitary authority areas — York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and North Yorkshire — and part of a fifth, Stockton-on-Tees.
The centre of the county contains a wide plain, called the Vale of Mowbray in the north and Vale of York in the south. The North York Moors lie to the east, and south of them the Vale of Pickering is separated from the main plain by the Howardian Hills. The west of the county contains the Yorkshire Dales, an extensive upland area which contains the source of the River Ouse/Ure and many of its tributaries, which together drain most of the county. The Dales also contain the county's highest point, Whernside, at 2,415 feet (736 m).
North Yorkshire non-metropolitan and ceremonial county was formed on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. It covered most of the North Riding of Yorkshire, as well as northern parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire, northern and eastern East Riding of Yorkshire and the former county borough of York. Northallerton, as the former county town for the North Riding, became North Yorkshire's county town. In 1993 the county was placed wholly within the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
Some areas which were part of the former North Riding were in the county of Cleveland for twenty-two years (from 1974 to 1996) and were placed in the North East region from 1993. On 1 April 1996, these areas (Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton borough south of the River Tees) became part of the ceremonial county as separate unitary authorities. These areas remain within the North East England region.
Also on 1 April 1996, the City of York non-metropolitan district and parts of the non-metropolitan county (Haxby and nearby rural areas) became the City of York unitary authority.
On 1 April 2023, the non-metropolitan county became a unitary authority. This abolished eight councils and extended the powers of the county council to act as a district council.
The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority held its first meeting on 22 January 2024, assumed its powers on 1 February 2024 and the first mayor is to be elected in May 2024.
The geology of North Yorkshire is closely reflected in its landscape. Within the county are the North York Moors and most of the Yorkshire Dales, two of eleven areas in England and Wales to be designated national parks. Between the North York Moors in the east and the Pennine Hills. The highest point is Whernside, on the Cumbrian border, at 2,415 feet (736 m). A distinctive hill to the far north east of the county is Roseberry Topping.
North Yorkshire contains several major rivers. The River Tees is the most northerly, forming part of the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham in its lower reaches and flowing east through Teesdale before reaching the North Sea near Redcar. The Yorkshire Dales are the source of many of the county's major rivers, including the Aire, Lune, Ribble, Swale, Ure, and Wharfe.[10] The Aire, Swale, and Wharfe are tributaries of the Ure/Ouse, which at 208 km (129 mi) long is the sixth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river is called the Ure until it meets Ouse Gill beck just below the village of Great Ouseburn, where it becomes the Ouse and flows south before exiting the county near Goole and entering the Humber estuary. The North York Moors are the catchment for a number of rivers: the Leven which flows north into the Tees between Yarm and Ingleby Barwick; the Esk flows east directly into the North Sea at Whitby as well as the Rye (which later becomes the Derwent at Malton) flows south into the River Ouse at Goole.
North Yorkshire contains a small section of green belt in the south of the county, which surrounds the neighbouring metropolitan area of Leeds along the North and West Yorkshire borders. It extends to the east to cover small communities such as Huby, Kirkby Overblow, and Follifoot before covering the gap between the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough, helping to keep those towns separate.
The belt adjoins the southernmost part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the Nidderdale AONB. It extends into the western area of Selby district, reaching as far as Tadcaster and Balne. The belt was first drawn up from the 1950s.
The city of York has an independent surrounding belt area affording protections to several outlying settlements such as Haxby and Dunnington, and it too extends into the surrounding districts.
North Yorkshire has a temperate oceanic climate, like most of the UK. There are large climate variations within the county. The upper Pennines border on a Subarctic climate. The Vale of Mowbray has an almost Semi-arid climate. Overall, with the county being situated in the east, it receives below-average rainfall for the UK. Inside North Yorkshire, the upper Dales of the Pennines are one of the wettest parts of England, where in contrast the driest parts of the Vale of Mowbray are some of the driest areas in the UK.
Summer temperatures are above average, at 22 °C. Highs can regularly reach up to 28 °C, with over 30 °C reached in heat waves. Winter temperatures are below average, with average lows of 1 °C. Snow and Fog can be expected depending on location. The North York Moors and Pennines have snow lying for an average of between 45 and 75 days per year. Sunshine is most plentiful on the coast, receiving an average of 1,650 hours a year. It reduces further west in the county, with the Pennines receiving 1,250 hours a year.
The county borders multiple counties and districts:
County Durham's County Durham, Darlington, Stockton (north Tees) and Hartlepool;
East Riding of Yorkshire's East Riding of Yorkshire;
South Yorkshire's City of Doncaster;
West Yorkshire's City of Wakefield, City of Leeds and City of Bradford;
Lancashire's City of Lancaster, Ribble Valley and Pendle
Cumbria's Westmorland and Furness.
The City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council formed the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority in February 2024. The elections for the first directly-elected mayor will take place in May 2024. Both North Yorkshire Council and the combined authority are governed from County Hall, Northallerton.
The Tees Valley Combined Authority was formed in 2016 by five unitary authorities; Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Borough both of North Yorkshire, Stockton-on-Tees Borough (Uniquely for England, split between North Yorkshire and County Durham), Hartlepool Borough and Darlington Borough of County Durham.
In large areas of North Yorkshire, agriculture is the primary source of employment. Approximately 85% of the county is considered to be "rural or super sparse".
Other sectors in 2019 included some manufacturing, the provision of accommodation and meals (primarily for tourists) which accounted for 19 per cent of all jobs. Food manufacturing employed 11 per cent of workers. A few people are involved in forestry and fishing in 2019. The average weekly earnings in 2018 were £531. Some 15% of workers declared themselves as self-employed. One report in late 2020 stated that "North Yorkshire has a relatively healthy and diverse economy which largely mirrors the national picture in terms of productivity and jobs.
Mineral extraction and power generation are also sectors of the economy, as is high technology.
Tourism is a significant contributor to the economy. A study of visitors between 2013 and 2015 indicated that the Borough of Scarborough, including Filey, Whitby and parts of the North York Moors National Park, received 1.4m trips per year on average. A 2016 report by the National Park, states the park area gets 7.93 million visitors annually, generating £647 million and supporting 10,900 full-time equivalent jobs.
The Yorkshire Dales have also attracted many visitors. In 2016, there were 3.8 million visits to the National Park including 0.48 million who stayed at least one night. The parks service estimates that this contributed £252 million to the economy and provided 3,583 full-time equivalent jobs. The wider Yorkshire Dales area received 9.7 million visitors who contributed £644 million to the economy. The North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales are among England's best known destinations.
York is a popular tourist destination. A 2014 report, based on 2012 data, stated that York alone receives 6.9 million visitors annually; they contribute £564 million to the economy and support over 19,000 jobs. In the 2017 Condé Nast Traveller survey of readers, York rated 12th among The 15 Best Cities in the UK for visitors. In a 2020 Condé Nast Traveller report, York rated as the sixth best among ten "urban destinations [in the UK] that scored the highest marks when it comes to ... nightlife, restaurants and friendliness".
During February 2020 to January 2021, the average property in North Yorkshire county sold for £240,000, up by £8100 over the previous 12 months. By comparison, the average for England and Wales was £314,000. In certain communities of North Yorkshire, however, house prices were higher than average for the county, as of early 2021: Harrogate (average value: £376,195), Knaresborough (£375,625), Tadcaster (£314,278), Leyburn (£309,165) and Ripon (£299,998), for example.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added for North Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
Unemployment in the county was traditionally low in recent years, but the lockdowns and travel restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the economy during much of 2020 and into 2021. The UK government said in early February 2021 that it was planning "unprecedented levels of support to help businesses [in the UK] survive the crisis". A report published on 1 March 2021 stated that the unemployment rate in North Yorkshire had "risen to the highest level in nearly 5 years – with under 25s often bearing the worst of job losses".
York experienced high unemployment during lockdown periods. One analysis (by the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership) predicted in August 2020 that "as many as 13,835 jobs in York will be lost in the scenario considered most likely, taking the city's unemployment rate to 14.5%". Some critics claimed that part of the problem was caused by "over-reliance on the booming tourism industry at the expense of a long-term economic plan". A report in mid June 2020 stated that unemployment had risen 114 per cent over the previous year because of restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic.
Tourism in the county was expected to increase after the restrictions imposed due the pandemic are relaxed. One reason for the expected increase is the airing of All Creatures Great and Small, a TV series about the vet James Herriot, based on a successful series of books; it was largely filmed within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The show aired in the UK in September 2020 and in the US in early 2021. One source stated that visits to Yorkshire websites had increased significantly by late September 2020.
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) bisects the county stopping at Northallerton,Thirsk and York. Passenger service companies in the area are London North Eastern Railway, Northern Rail, TransPennine Express and Grand Central.
LNER and Grand Central operate services to the capital on the ECML, Leeds Branch Line and the Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line. LNER stop at York, Northallerton and on to County Durham or spur over to the Tees Valley Line for Thornaby and Middlesbrough. The operator also branch before the county for Leeds and run to Harrogate and Skipton. Grand Central stop at York, Thirsk Northallerton and Eaglescliffe then over to the Durham Coast Line in County Durham.
Northern operates the remaining lines in the county, including commuter services on the Harrogate Line, Airedale Line and York & Selby Lines, of which the former two are covered by the Metro ticketing area. Remaining branch lines operated by Northern include the Yorkshire Coast Line from Scarborough to Hull, York–Scarborough line via Malton, the Hull to York Line via Selby, the Tees Valley Line from Darlington to Saltburn via Middlesbrough and the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby. Last but certainly not least, the Settle-Carlisle Line runs through the west of the county, with services again operated by Northern.
The county suffered badly under the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Places such as Richmond, Ripon, Tadcaster, Helmsley, Pickering and the Wensleydale communities lost their passenger services. Notable lines closed were the Scarborough and Whitby Railway, Malton and Driffield Railway and the secondary main line between Northallerton and Harrogate via Ripon.
Heritage railways within North Yorkshire include: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, between Pickering and Grosmont, which opened in 1973; the Derwent Valley Light Railway near York; and the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The Wensleydale Railway, which started operating in 2003, runs services between Leeming Bar and Redmire along a former freight-only line. The medium-term aim is to operate into Northallerton station on the ECML, once an agreement can be reached with Network Rail. In the longer term, the aim is to reinstate the full line west via Hawes to Garsdale on the Settle-Carlisle line.
York railway station is the largest station in the county, with 11 platforms and is a major tourist attraction in its own right. The station is immediately adjacent to the National Railway Museum.
The main road through the county is the north–south A1(M), which has gradually been upgraded in sections to motorway status since the early 1990s. The only other motorways within the county are the short A66(M) near Darlington and a small stretch of the M62 motorway close to Eggborough. The other nationally maintained trunk routes are the A168/A19, A64, A66 and A174.
Long-distance coach services are operated by National Express and Megabus. Local bus service operators include Arriva Yorkshire, Stagecoach, Harrogate Bus Company, The Keighley Bus Company, Scarborough & District (East Yorkshire), Yorkshire Coastliner, First York and the local Dales & District.
There are no major airports in the county itself, but nearby airports include Teesside International (Darlington), Newcastle and Leeds Bradford.
The main campus of Teesside University is in Middlesbrough, while York contains the main campuses of the University of York and York St John University. There are also two secondary campuses in the county: CU Scarborough, a campus of Coventry University, and Queen's Campus, Durham University in Thornaby-on-Tees.
Colleges
Middlesbrough College's sixth-form
Askham Bryan College of agriculture, Askham Bryan and Middlesbrough
Craven College, Skipton
Middlesbrough College
The Northern School of Art, Middlesbrough
Prior Pursglove College
Redcar & Cleveland College
Scarborough Sixth Form College
Scarborough TEC
Selby College
Stockton Riverside College, Thornaby
York College
Places of interest
Ampleforth College
Beningbrough Hall –
Black Sheep Brewery
Bolton Castle –
Brimham Rocks –
Castle Howard and the Howardian Hills –
Catterick Garrison
Cleveland Hills
Drax Power Station
Duncombe Park – stately home
Eden Camp Museum –
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway –
Eston Nab
Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo –
Helmsley Castle –
Ingleborough Cave – show cave
John Smith's Brewery
Jorvik Viking Centre –
Lightwater Valley –
Lund's Tower
Malham Cove
Middleham Castle –
Mother Shipton's Cave –
National Railway Museum –
North Yorkshire Moors Railway –
Ormesby Hall – Palladian Mansion
Richmond Castle –
Ripley Castle – Stately home and historic village
Riverside Stadium
Samuel Smith's Brewery
Shandy Hall – stately home
Skipton Castle –
Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications –
Studley Royal Park –
Stump Cross Caverns – show cave
Tees Transporter Bridge
Theakston Brewery
Thornborough Henges
Wainman's Pinnacle
Wharram Percy
York Castle Museum –
Yorkshire Air Museum –
The Yorkshire Arboretum
When i told my work mates that I was going on holiday to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan some thought I was mad! I enjoy exploring different cultures - not the sterility of the cruise ships for me!
Almaty is a modern city and this church is very pretty.
See www.flickr.com/photos/87039642@N00/2216547407/ for another picture of it.
Character Creation
Maxima is a character appearing in comics published by DC Comics. In her original incarnation, she was a morally ambiguous queen from the planet Almerac who is known for searching for mates among Earth's superhuman male population to be wedded as her king, and became obsessed with Superman for a time. She has also worked as a superheroine member of the Justice League.
Outside of comics, Maxima has appeared in the live-action series Smallville and Supergirl, respectively portrayed by Charlotte Sullivan and Eve Torres Gracie.
Publication history
Maxima first appeared in Action Comics #645 (September 1989) and was created by writer Roger Stern and artist George Pérez.
Maxima was created by writer Roger Stern and artist George Pérez as a powerful female antagonist for Superman, but one who would also harbor a strong romantic interest in him. The character was conceived during the period of the late eighties and early nineties, when comic book specialty stores were dominated by X-Men related titles. Aside from the conspicuous visual similarities to Marvel's Jean Grey, Maxima's creators also borrowed elements from other popular X-book characters such as Magneto, Nightcrawler and Professor X. Her first appearance was in Action Comics #645, published by DC Comics in September 1989.
Jerry Ordway on Maxima's transition from 'Panic In The Sky' to the Justice League
Buoyed by their success against Brainiac, Superman would be predisposed to leading another super-team – namely the Justice League, which my buddy Dan Jurgens was planning to take over. There was one problem though – Dan wanted to use Maxima as a member of the new League, and I’d kind of planned to have her take over the helm of the now leaderless Warworld. Who else could I use, in order to free up Maxie for Dan? A quick call to the-New Gods editor Jonathan Peterson and we were given the okay to install Orion of the New Gods as ruler of Warworld! See how the cross-continuity works? You think coordinating is easy?
Dan Jurgens on whether it was always planned for Maxima to join the Justice League when she did her face turn in 'Panic In The Sky'
It was more of an afterthought in that when she was first introduced, I thought she was a really interesting - potentially interesting sort of character. So, as we were doing the story I wanted to put her on the other side of things with the idea that I'd use her again at some point, but I don't think I had really thought so far as, you know, putting her in the Justice League. But again...she had attitude, and in the DCU, there weren't a lot of characters with attitude at that time. I just found her interesting. I think a lot of what we were doing is slowly building up a cadre of characters in the superman books that were worthwhile to use and worth having around.
Charlotte Sullivan on playing Maxima in Smallville
My opening line as Maxima makes me laugh and go red - it was, ‘I came when I saw your KRYPTONIAN beacon.’ I just thought I had to play it out funny. Of course, I was bashful. There was a certain element of shyness that crept up inside of me with having to say those things, wearing that costume, and knowing that it would be seen by millions of people.
Origin
Maxima once ruled a vast intergalactic empire centered on her homeworld of Almerac. For thousands of years, her ancestors had intermarried with races from other worlds, breeding for strength, for speed, and for power. Representing the apex of Almeracian eugenics, Maxima resolved to continue in the same tradition of her people. To that end, she became obsessed with expanding her galactic reach and, most importantly, securing a suitable mate to father an heir to her glorious realm.
When Sazu, her personal handmaiden, intercepted a subspace transmission detailing the astonishing feats of Superman in the gladiatorial games of Mongul's Warworld, Maxima was sure she had found her man. Without further delay, she set out to make the Man of Steel her husband. But despite Maxima's beauty and power, Superman consistently eluded her for various reasons. As a result, Maxima's admiration turned to rage, and she became his enemy.
The day of the Krypton Man
Initially, Maxima sent her royal advisor, Sazu, along with a near perfect duplicate of herself to seduce Superman on his adopted home planet of Earth. Despite Sazu's attempts to extinguish the warrior queen's growing fascination with Krypton's last son, Maxima soon traveled to Earth herself. After first engaging Superman in battle to test his mettle, the Almeracian aristocrat managed to obtain some privacy for the two of them by luring her prospective mate beneath the waves at the bottom of Metropolis Harbor.
There, Maxima revealed that she could bring new life to Krypton's lost race by giving to Superman what no earth woman could -- children. While the Man of Steel expressed among other things that he had no desire to father despots, it was soon revealed that an ancient artifact called the Eradicator was interfering. Earth's champion had been reformatted in favor of the sentient program's own cold, cerebral, and unemotional matrix.
Not knowing where this attitude of dismissal was coming from, Maxima ceased making advances at Superman during this initial encounter, stating: "Sazu was right, you are unworthy of the bloodline, but not because you are overly merciful. Far from it. You have become heartless, passionless. Whatever fire that once lurked within has been eradicated, replaced with a presence of horrible sterility. I'll not find a mate in so cold a knave!" Ultimately, these rocky beginnings set a precedent for the type of rapport that Maxima and Superman would have in future confrontations.
Panic in the Sky
As time passed, Maxima's fury towards Superman abated when Brainiac gained control over Warworld, and used the engine of destruction to wreak havoc on her home planet of Almerac. To save her people from complete annihilation, the Warrior Queen pretended to ally herself with the powerful telepath, and acted as his chief officer. As the cosmically powered Brainiac proceeded towards Earth to engage Superman and a host of other heroes in battle, Maxima took advantage of the chaos and flipped over to the side of the heroes. As soon as Brainiac's direct connection in the heart of Warworld was severed, Maxima lobotomized him.
Justice League
Although the Earth was saved at the conclusion of the Panic in the Sky crisis, Almerac was left in ruins. As a result, Maxima made it an even higher priority to find a suitable mate to help her restore her empire. To that end, she decided to remain on Earth. At the time, the Justice League's ranks were suffering the sudden loss of the Silver Sorceress, the mysterious departure of J'onn J'onzz, and the terminated membership of L-Ron. Soon, Maxima found herself helping the remaining League defeat the Weapons Master.
Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord was working furiously behind the scenes to secure the team's funding by dealing with the UN. Immediately following their success in the field, the shrewd businessman took advantage of the small moral victory he sensed within the group and recruited Maxima. Much to Superman's dismay, Maxima's agreement to be with the League was first and foremost a means to keep an eye on her top prospect. She was formally made a member of the team in Justice League of America vol. 2 #63.
Maxima and Amazing Man
Eventually, Ultraa, Maxima's betrothed from childhood, followed her to Earth after hearing that Maxima was seeking to mate with one called 'Superman'. As a clear sign that she still had feelings for the Man of Steel, she rejected the Almeracian warlord on the grounds that since coming to Earth, she had become familiar with mercy and unselfishness.
Maxima came to an understanding over Superman's dismissal of her, but she was still determined to find a worthy mate to father her children. She entered a romance with Captain Atom and followed him into battle as part of the Extreme Justice team (Extreme Justice #0). While on the team her relationship with Captain Atom deteriorated, so she became romantically involved with another teammate, Amazing Man. Neither of these relationships, nor her subsequent pursuit of Aquaman, ever worked out for various reasons.
Superman Revenge Squad
Unfortunately, the series of failed relationships and Maxima's own superiority complex caused lingering resentment over her rejection by the man she had always wanted most, Superman, to flare up with a vengeance. She returned to villainy and entered a partnership with the so-called Superman Revenge Squad, a group of super-villains who all harbored extreme grudges against the Man of Steel and were determined destroy him. Ultimately the Revenge Squad was unsuccessful, and Maxima's involvement with it became a black mark on her career, which had otherwise been on an impressive path to redemption.
Our Worlds at War
Fickle though she was, Maxima never once backed down from a fight, even at the very end. During the Our Worlds at War story arc in 2001, the seemingly unstoppable world-destroying being known as Imperiex attacked and leveled Almerac. Maxima apparently gave her own life in Man of Steel #117 so that Earth, her adopted home, would not suffer the same terrible fate. Her remains were never found, but she has not been seen since.
Powers and Abilities
As an Almeracian of Royal descent, Maxima's immense powers stem from having been the product of gene therapy and generations of selective breeding.
Super Strength
Maxima possesses a level of superhuman strength that puts her in Wonder Woman's and Superman's class; she routinely exhibits the ability to lift/press thousands of tons with minimal effort. In addition, her psionic abilities allow her to further augment her physical prowess beyond those in her tier. During Doomsday's first battle with the Justice League, other than Superman, Maxima was the only other League member able to trade blows with the creature.
Enhanced Stamina
Based on her first account to Superman, Maxima comes from a hearty star-spanning people who wage war tirelessly. Her own family spent thousands of years conquering, and assimilating only the strongest survivors from carefully selected worlds with rich genetic stock. Accordingly, Maxima continued the same progression of striving without exhaustion through sheer force of will and psychic discipline. Her stamina has been credited specifically as being the attribute that allowed her to gain victory over Hank King in a telepathic duel.
Super Speed
Maxima's first appearances demonstrated a degree of speed in combat that went well into the hypersonic. In Action Comics No. 651, Superman observed Maxima using her telekinesis to pilot Sazu back to her orbiting spaceship at escape velocity while rocketing there herself. Superman flew in to intercept, but instead of getting Maxima to break from her straight escape trajectory, the fiery monarch engaged Earth's Mightiest Hero head on in a game of chicken. As the two were about to pass one another, she reached out, grabbed his arm, and performed a judo throw on the Man of Steel. On another occasion, while observing Jay Garrick fight at super speed in Justice League America No. 78, Maxima remarked that he was fighting at a level of skill and intensity that would make a warrior of Almerac proud. Finally, Maxima and Superman traded blows for the last time out in space during the Our Worlds At War event. The lead-up to this last encounter is noteworthy since earlier, Superman and Kyle Rayner were doing a quick circuit of the solar system. Before their warm-up was interrupted by Maxima, Superman made mention of the sun being unblocked by Earth's atmosphere while doing loop-de-loops around the young Green Lantern.
Teleportation
Maxima has been seemingly conservative with the use of this powerful skill in combat. By contrast, the Warrior Queen has shown no qualms teleporting those she has deemed beneath her. That being said, she has demonstrated the capacity to forego her bloodlust, and use her teleportation strategically when more is on the line. When she first appeared on Earth in the flesh, she employed this ability in more of a theatrical way as a means to instill fear in her servant, Sazu.
In Action Comics No. 645, when Maxima could not find Earth's Champion at the Daily Planet, she quickly teleported herself, Sazu, and Malcolm to Metropolis City Hall, and held Mayor Berkowitz hostage with the goal of coaxing Superman out of hiding. During the "Panic In the Sky!" story arc, while governing her passions closely by maintaining the ruse of an Alliance with Brainiac, she used this ability to retreat when Matrix Supergirl, and Draaga ceased being mind-slaves in the middle of a heated battle.
She has shown the ability to teleport herself or others in and out of a battle over interstellar distances. In Justice League America No. 66, while she was attempting to win Superman's heart as a Justice League member, Maxima complied with Earth's judicial process by teleporting Sazu back to Metropolis. Maxima mentioned that Sazu was teleported to Earth from a prison on a distant planet. This feat is especially noteworthy since in earlier appearances, both Maxima and Sazu have stated that Earth is a backwater world far from established star routes. Moreover, in Superman Man of Steel No. 115, Adam Strange used his Zeta-Beam technology to teleport Superman and himself from Earth's solar system to Almeracian space. The Savior of Rann mentioned a distance traveled of 100 trillion light years.
Forcefield Projection
Maxima can generate defensive force-field bubbles to shield herself, and or others. This skill allows her to travel unaffected by the intense pressures of the ocean's depths, or the vacuum of outer space. She can also use this skill for offense by trapping an opponent and constricting the space inside the shield, crushing them, or letting the air run out.
In Aquaman No. 41, Power Girl attempted an underwater ambush on Maxima's shield as the King of Atlantis was being psionically assaulted inside. Maxima's shield didn't drop, but Kara's surprise attack winded the Almeracian warrior briefly. Although Aquaman took the opportunity to mention that Maxima's force bubble wouldn't be able to hold up to the pounding of Power Girl's punches, Maxima's shield was more solid for Kara's second punch.
In Superman No. 159, Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner and Superman were investigating the disappearance of Pluto when Maxima showed up with what appeared to be an army of Almeracians. Contrary to what Superman thought was an invasion of his solar system, Maxima was in fact leading a mass exodus away from her devastated home world. By creating a psionic highway, the Empress of Almerac provided intergalactic transport for the remnants of her people to rendezvous with Grayven.
Ferrokinesis
Maxima has exhibited immense telekinetic control over metals at the molecular level. She can cause metal to melt with a thought, or rearrange the molecules of scraps into anything she chooses, such as weapons or armor. In Justice League America No. 63, Maxima used her psionic power over metal to breach the hull of a wrecked interstellar craft that was submerged at the bottom of Manhattan's East River.
Three more examples of her ferrokinesis are in the following three books. Extreme Justice No. 6, Maxima used this ability to isolate herself atop a massive metal tower. When Captain Atom ascended the tower to try and reason with her, Maxima restrained him with metal tendrils that she animated in a liquid-like fashion out of the structure around her. In Justice League America No. 73, Dr. Destiny was responsible for making several Justice League members act very much out of character. The rogue heroes were capturing, torturing, and maiming super-villains. When one of the prison ships that they were using to capture super-villains attacked Maxima, she focused her ferrokinesis into a beam, and disassembled the ship into its separate components without incinerating the men inside. Later, in the same story-arc told in Justice League America No. 75, Maxima directed this ability on the Red Tornado, easily pulling him apart.
Matter Manipulation
In addition to metals, Maxima has demonstrated the ability to alter other inorganic matter with a thought. The full extent of Maxima's skill in this area is unknown. In Action Comics #645, Maxima's entourage coordinated a rendezvous with a fashion designer. Ultimately, none of Maxima's attendants expected to pay for anything, so the designer and her company of models were rudely escorted out of the meeting room. Soon afterward, while barefoot, and wearing a small bathrobe, she transmuted what little she had on into one of the ensembles she had just seen: a power suit jacket, blouse, black skirt, high heels, and a gold chain choker. She also did this in Justice League America No. 66, when at the request of Superman to be more conservatively dressed, Maxima transmuted the typical light armor that she usually wore into a green suit jacket and skirt.
Optical Force Beams
When firing her molecular telekinesis out of her eyes, Maxima has shown the ability to control the level of physical damage she causes to an attacker. She can focus her optic beams to deliver immense concussive force, or emulate searing heat vision. Among others, Maxima has shown that she can stagger Captain Marvel, Power Girl, and even Superman on several occasions with her eye-beams. At times, her eye-beams have been dubbed 'Psi-bolts' by her opponents despite the evidence of receiving physical damage only.
Mind Bolts
The powerful Almeracian Mind Bolt, Psi-bolt, or Psychic Blast is a favorite of those in the Royal House. This skill is typically depicted as emanating from an Almeracian's forehead. Unlike the optical force beams, the Mind Bolt targets an opponent's mind directly by delivering pain, unconsciousness, brain damage, or even death. Regardless of all his physical strength and Mother Box enhanced defenses, Orion was quickly rendered paralyzed when Maxima turned this deadly power on him during the 'Panic In The Sky' event in Superman No. 65. At the conclusion of the same story arc in Superman No. 66, Maxima was in the process of killing Brainiac using this ability, but Superman intervened just before it was too late. Brainiac was left in a lobotomized state.
Telepathy
Maxima can communicate with other intelligent beings telepathically. She has used this skill as a probe to 'hear' a target's thoughts, and pinpoint their location. On several occasions, she has used this ability to find Superman in Metropolis; nearly exposing his secret identity in one case. In Superman Man of Tomorrow No. 10, Maxima discovered that Superman had been split into two beings. To verify that what she was seeing wasn't a trick, Maxima employed a mental probe. She uncovered that both Superman Red, and Superman Blue had virtually identical minds and the same surface memories.
In Justice League No. 68, an ancient alien called Chaq encountered the JLA and revealed that he had purchased Earth and its entire solar system several hundred thousand years ago. According to Maxima, picking a fight with Chaq over the property deed would awaken powerful intergalactic governing bodies capable of subjugating Earth. Knowing who they were up against, Maxima enticed Chaq by offering to pay 800 trillion sentees (the well known currency of over 200 worlds) for the rights to the deed. While she was negotiating with the ancient alien, Maxima communicated instructions telepathically to Guy Gardner. Completely unaware that Guy's yellow power ring was being used to help pull off a scam, Chaq left Earth and gave up the deed after finding what looked like a deposit of 800 trillion sentees in his cargo hold.
Enhanced Empathy
For those times when Maxima may encounter an undisciplined mind that lacks coherent thought, she has demonstrated the ability to overcome this obstacle by using particularly strong telepathic skill in the area of 'hearing' emotions. During the 'Death of Superman' story arc, she was able to track Doomsday without the benefit of a previous encounter. Maxima described Doomsday's mind as harboring nothing more than hate, death and bloodlust personified.
Aside from its uses in tracking opponents, this ability has also allowed her to better understand the hidden motives of those around her. Having been bred as a warrior, Maxima's ability to sense emotions has helped her to more fully assess when to use tact and when to use force. In Justice League America No. 102, Maxima sensed a greater darkness behind Obsidian's pessimistic mood. Two issues later, Obsidian tried to commit suicide.
Mind Control
Maxima has the ability to subject others to her mind control abilities. In several appearances, she has shown the capacity to bend masses of people to her will. In Action Comics No. 730, while a member of the Superman Revenge Squad, Maxima was battling the Man of Steel in a scrapyard. She threw a car at a loaded ferry crossing Metropolis Harbor, causing the ship to sink. After Superman rescued the ship's full compliment of passengers, their eyes went blank. The crowd began attacking the Man of Steel by way of Maxima's mind control. In Justice League Quarterly No. 17, she altered a crack dealing pimp's mind by removing his capacity for violence, and erasing his ability to lie. In Justice League America Annual No. 6, the magical being Eclipso was about to initiate a plan that would allow him to possess all of the members of the JLA by first capturing J'onn J'onzz. However, the opportunity to first possess Maxima presented itself as Starman, who was eclipsed at the time, sensed the Warrior Queen's rage and approached her with a cursed gem. As soon as Maxima was possessed, Eclipso exclaimed,
"I feared the martian's absence would stall my plans...but the powers of this body are incredible! The powers of this mind...intoxicating!"
Sure enough, the Almeracian's mind control powers proved powerful enough to enslave Wonder Woman.
Hypnotic Gaze
The Empress of Almerac has the ability to paralyze an opponent with her gaze. Against enemies with greater willpower, this skill has shown to be particularly effective as a lead in to another attack. In Action Comics No. 645, her duplicate used this skill on Lois Lane, and the staff at the Daily Planet, leaving them all standing around like zombies. Later that morning, Clark arrived and got Lois to snap out of her trance by shaking her and shouting. During Maxima's first face to face encounter with Superman, she used this skill to freeze the Man of Steel, leaving him more susceptible to her illusion casting. Despite her rather unfocused and irrational behavior in Aquaman No. 41, during a melee with Doctor Polaris, she lured him into her stare. Dolphin took advantage, and delivered an uppercut to his jaw while he was still disoriented.
Illusion Casting
Maxima has shown the ability to project powerful illusions into the minds of others. In Action Comics No. 651, Maxima cast the illusion into Superman's mind that he was a warlord on the Almeracian Queen's home world. The overriding presence of the Eradicator in Superman's mind at the time exposed the false reality for what it was. In Superman Man of Tomorrow No. 10, Maxima used her illusions against Dana Dearden, an obsessed Superman fan called Obsession. In the illusion, Superman had separated into four differently colored supermen. As the Empress of Almerac wanted Superman for herself, she showed each of the supermen disintegrating into powder. The ruse helped implant the suggestion into Obsession's mind that her love would bring Superman to an early end, and so she fled.
Suspended Animation
Maxima's constitution combined with her mental control is such that she can suspend her own vital functions temporarily. Despite being in a state of suspended animation, she has demonstrated the ability to be completely aware of potential danger around her. Near the end of her first encounter with the Man of Steel in Action Comics No. 651, Maxima halted her breathing and heartbeat to appear dead. Superman could not detect a pulse with his super-senses. When Maxima sensed that he was close enough, she woke up quickly and paralyzed him.
Astral Combat
In Extreme Justice No. 18, Maxima took the point by assembling her finest psychic disciples to engage Brainwave II in combat on the astral plane. While the Queen of Almerac was employing a coordinated assault with her forces, Henry King Jr. relied more on raw power and intimidation by raising twisted manifestations of himself called 'Ego Warriors'. This feat is especially notable since in the real world, although Maxima's and Brainwave's physical bodies were in Florida, the physical bodies of Maxima's psychic warriors were nowhere to be seen. Moreover, while still living out her sentence of exile from Almerac, Maxima had none of her entourage with her on Earth for this occasion.
As the battle progressed, the tide was turning against Maxima's forces, and in the end, the Warrior Queen was the last Almeracian standing. Brainwave appeared to be feeding off of a supernatural power source; a familiar whose face was that of the original deceased Brainwave. Eventually, Maxima deduced that the familiar was in fact a manifestation of Henry's strong feelings of guilt associated with receiving his father's mentalist powers added to his own; powers that had once been used for evil. In order to have more witnesses to the truth that she had discovered, Maxima brought Zan, Jayna and Blue Beetle into the astral plane. Finally, Maxima confronted Brainwave with the truth of the source of his madness, and the overriding presence of Henry's father vanished.
Invulnerability
Thanks to her Almeracian physiology, Maxima is nearly impervious to injury. Bullets bounce off her, missiles or lasers won't leave a scratch, and nuclear bombs are unable to harm her. Her level of resistance to physical harm approaches that of a Kryptonian. In addition, as Maxima is able to boost her constitution and physical strength attributes by channeling her psionic powers internally, her resistance to physical harm also increases. During the Death of Superman story arc, besides the Man of Steel himself, Maxima was the only Justice League member durable enough to fight Doomsday evenly. In Superman No. 159, the Man of Steel used his X-Ray vision on Maxima to find weaknesses he could exploit with pressure point attacks. Although he connected with a two finger jab to her midsection, the Warrior Queen quickly shook off the attack and kept fighting.
Self Duplication
Whether inside her vast intergalactic empire, or abroad, Maxima's high profile status can be both a blessing and a curse. As such, the Empress of Almerac has shown a preference for using simulacra that are virtually identical to her. Each simulacrum possesses powers similar to her, and are able to act in situations when she cannot be present. However, these proxies appear to be less invulnerable, and according to Superman, more restrained than the original Maxima. At the end of Action Comics No. 645, it is revealed that the Maxima on Earth at the time was indeed a simulacrum. This duplicate was atomized by Sazu's optical force beams. In Extreme Justice No. 10, Maxima was a approached by Captain Atom to organize a wedding shower for his then fiancee, Plastique. At the party, Maxima heard Carol Ferris scream in an adjacent room, so she burst through the door. No sooner had she entered the room than she was ambushed by Star Sapphire. In the next issue, Extreme Justice No. 11, Maxima appeared cut in two pieces on the floor. Her torso and lower body were left smouldering where Star Sapphire had sliced her with a sword. During a break in the fight that ensued, Plastique was able to examine the dead body. The corpse was already starting to lose cohesion. Soon, the real Maxima appeared on the scene to the surprise of everyone at the bridal shower. What appeared to be a lifeless flesh and blood Almeracian on the floor was in fact a mere vessel for Maxima's psychic consciousness.
Flight
By applying her telekinesis as a means for propulsion, Maxima is able to "fly". She has shown the ability to maneuver herself, other beings, or objects through the air at escape velocity. Having served on several incarnations of the Justice League, she was often counted on to provide flight for those teammates who were not gifted with the ability to fly. During the 'Our Worlds at War' event, Maxima also demonstrated that she was able to fly through space as her psionic highway carried the remnants of her people over interstellar distances below her.
Telekinesis
In Justice League America No. 65, despite having been drained from a previous encounter with Starbreaker, Maxima closed numerous fissures on her home world by re-shifting continental plates together telekinetically.
Mental Defense
When Brainiac had seized control of Warworld, and used the planet to boost his telepathic abilities to cosmic levels, Maxima was still able to plot behind his back and resist becoming one of his mind-slaves.
Possession
Maxima has displayed the ability to place her own psychic consciousness into her simulacrums. The full extent of her skill in this area is unknown.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: N/A
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Action Comics #645 (September 1989)
Created by: Roger Stern (writer)
George Pérez (artist)
First appearance:
The Unfolded Garment
Embracing Subjectivity
Pierced Assemblage on Photogram
What is Philosophy?
Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari
Their book is a profound and careful interrogation of what it might mean to be a 'friend of wisdom', but it is also a devastating attack on the sterility of what has become, when 'the only events are exhibitions and the only concepts are products which can be sold'. Philosophy, they insist, is not contemplation, reflection or communication, but the creation of concepts
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