View allAll Photos Tagged System's

Shell Beach on Tern Island in the French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii.

 

Camera: Olympus OM-1

Lens: Olympus OM-System S Zuiko MC Auto-Zoom f/4 35-70mm.

Film: Kodak Ektachrome E100D Expired 10/20

Developer: The Darkroom

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S Roadster (2011-on) Engine 4700cc V8

ASTON MARTIN SET

 

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623759800132...

 

The V8 Vantage S was launched in both Roadster and Coupe form in January 2011 with the aim of feeling more sporty than the standard V8 Vantage, powered by the same 4.7 litre V8 but with improved intake airflow, new mufflers, and new programming that keeps the exhaust system’s bypass valves open longer.. The net result is a power increase of 10bhp to 430bhp. Engine output flows through a new single-clutch seven-speed Graziano automated manual to a limited-slip rear differential; the carbon fiber driveshaft spins in an aluminum torque tube. From there, power is applied to the pavement via a set of(285/35) Bridgestone Potenzas on 19-inch cast aluminum wheels. Bushings, springs, and dampers were stiffened for the S model and the steering rack is quicker than in the base model. A major differance is the inclusion of the Sportshift III transmission, a seven speed sequential manual gearbox as standard.

 

Thanks for 17.4 Million views

 

Shot at The Silverstone Classic 28th July 2013 Ref 95-095

  

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

CHARLESTON -- Governor Earl Ray Tomblin today, June 29, 2016, awarded $1,087,599.00 in STOP Violence Against Women Grant Program funds for twenty-eight (28) projects statewide. The purpose of these funds is to establish or enhance teams whose core members include victim service providers, law enforcement, and prosecution to improve the criminal justice system's response to violence against women. Grants provide personnel, equipment, training, technical assistance, and information systems for the establishment or enhancement of these teams. Additionally, statewide projects are funded to provide training and educational opportunities for all victim service providers, law enforcement, prosecution, and court personnel throughout the state.

STOP funds are awarded from the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of the U.S. Department of Justice. The funds are administered by the Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

CABELL

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc.$55,446.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Cabell County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Cabell County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, CONTACT of Huntington, and the Huntington Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

 

CALHOUN

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$19,799.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Calhoun County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, and the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms Emly S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

FAYETTE

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$32,671.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Fayette County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Fayette County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: Pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

GRANT

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Grant County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sony Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

GREENBRIER

 

Family Refuge Center$53,040.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Greenbrier County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Greenbrier County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, the Lewisburg Police Department, and the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

HARRISON

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$43,176.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Harrison County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Harrison County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence “HOPE, Inc.”, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Clarksburg Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission$46,429.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Kanawha County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Resolve Family Abuse Program, the Family Counseling Connection – REACH Program, Beginning My Empowerment Thru Emmanuel's Kingdom (BEMEEK) Outreach Program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Charleston Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Gale A. Teare

Phone: (304) 357-0499

Email: galeteare@kcso.us

 

MARION

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$51,078.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marion County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc.", the Marion County Sheriff's Department, and the Fairmont Police Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

  

MARSHALL

 

Marshall County Commission$25,259.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marshall County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marshall County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, and the Marshall County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Betsy Frohnapfel

Phone: (304) 845-0482

Email: bfrohnapfel@marshallcountywv.org

 

MINERAL

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mineral County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mineral County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$43,576.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mingo County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mingo County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Mingo County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$32,596.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Logan County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Logan County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

MONONGALIA

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$54,599.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monongalia County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monongalia County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, the Morgantown Police Department, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, and the Star City Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

Monroe

 

Family Refuge Center$23,825.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monroe County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, and the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyresourcecenter.org

 

NICHOLAS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$36,904.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Nicholas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Nicholas County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council and the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission$87,614.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Ohio County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Ohio County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, the YWCA Cultural Diversity and Community Outreach Program, and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: ssmith@wvocpa.org

 

POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $6,000.00

These funds provide for the enhancement of the Pocahontas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Pocahontas County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Refuge Center and the Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

PRESTON

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$35,643.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Preston County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Preston County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, and the Preston County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission$25,421.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Putnam County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, the Family Counseling Connection - REACH Program, and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: tcraigo@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$60,535.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Raleigh County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Raleigh County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Beckley Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Women's Aid in Crisis$16,767.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Randolph County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Randolph County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 626-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

 

ROANE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$17,398.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Roane County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Roane County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, the Spencer Police Department, and the Roane County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission$26,496.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Upshur County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Upshur County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Buckhannon Police Department.

  

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

  

STATEWIDE

 

West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute$39,284.00

These funds provide for the development and continuation of strengthening prosecution strategies and best practices as well as improve prosecution-based victim services in cases involving violence against women through training and the development of resources.

 

Contact:Ms. Sherry Eling

Phone: (304) 558-3348

Email: sherry.s.eling@wv.gov

 

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services$56,689.00

These funds provide for finalizing the development of an Advocate Guide and Protocol with participating correctional facilities in the state for service provision; convert training materials into e-learning resources; and work with Rape Crisis Centers on service implementation in order to work towards compliance with PREA requirements.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frontier.com

 

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals$54,104.00

These funds provide for updating and printing the Domestic Violence Benchbook; to provide the salary of a DV Case Coordinator for the pilot program of the Kanawha County Domestic Violence Court; to maintain the Domestic Violence Registry back-up internet site; and to provide continued training for court personnel in the area of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence.

 

Contact:Ms. Angela Saunders

Phone: (304) 558-0145

Email: Angela.saunders@courtswv.gov

 

West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence$43,763.00

These funds provide for the continued enhancement of the statewide domestic and sexual violence database; to provide training and technical assistance for STOP Teams and Domestic Violence Programs on cultural diversity and cultural competency; and to promote dating violence protocols.

 

Contact:Ms. Tonia Thomas

Phone: (304) 965-3552

Email: tthomas@wvcadv.org

  

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Serivces$64,121.00

These funds provide for training activities, the on-going development and capacity building of service providers to victims of sexual assault, dating violence and stalking crimes, and to provide training and resources for these programs in order to provide services to sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frountier.com

  

Division of Justice & Community Services contact:

 

Sarah J. Brown

Senior Justice Programs Specialist

Division of Justice and Community Services

1204 Kanawha Boulevard, East

Charleston, West Virginia 25301

Phone: (304) 558-8814, Extension 53337

Email: Sarah.J.Brown@wv.gov

  

Photos available for media use. All photos should be attributed “Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor.”

Vermont Rail System's Champlain Valley Dinner Train heads south at Thompsons Point Road in Charlotte on a hazy early-August evening in 2024. Leading the way out of Burlington was VTR 210, an EMD GP38-2 wearing a nice coat of VRS red and white paint.

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

Out of the Archives, now and then: In 1948, contractors were moving the earth to build Merriman Dam and Rondout Reservoir. The Delaware water supply system’s earthen dams are less flashy than some of the Catskill and Croton dams, but their construction was better suited to the valleys where they are located. These matching views look down the centerline of the dam, which is composed of layers and layers of soil and rock, and finally grass, rising 200 feet above the original valley floor.

 

Rondout receives water from three other Delaware system reservoirs, then sends it toward the City via the 85-mile long Delaware Aqueduct.

 

Photos taken June 2, 2021, and June 3, 1948.

 

(Image ID: 22KA4093; p026574)

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

The Humanities and Social Science Library of New York Public Library, more widely known as the library system's "Main Branch" or simply as New York Public Library, is the flagship building in the system and a prominent historic landmark in Midtown Manhattan. The branch, opened in 1911, is one of four research libraries in the library system.

 

The famous main reading room of the library (Room 315) is a majestic 78 feet (23.8 m) wide by 297 feet (90.5 m) long, with 52 feet (15.8 m) high ceilings. The room is lined with thousands of reference books on open shelves along the floor level and along the balcony, lit by massive windows and grand chandeliers, and furnished with sturdy wood tables, comfortable chairs, and brass lamps. It is also equipped with computers providing access to library collections and the Internet as well as docking facilities for laptops. Readers study books brought to them from the library's closed stacks. There are special rooms for notable authors and scholars, many of whom have done important research and writing at the Library. But the Library has always been about more than scholars, during the Great Depression, many ordinary people, out of work, used the Library to improve their lot in life (as they still do).[3]

 

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Source: Wikipedia

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

CHARLESTON -- Governor Earl Ray Tomblin today, June 29, 2016, awarded $1,087,599.00 in STOP Violence Against Women Grant Program funds for twenty-eight (28) projects statewide. The purpose of these funds is to establish or enhance teams whose core members include victim service providers, law enforcement, and prosecution to improve the criminal justice system's response to violence against women. Grants provide personnel, equipment, training, technical assistance, and information systems for the establishment or enhancement of these teams. Additionally, statewide projects are funded to provide training and educational opportunities for all victim service providers, law enforcement, prosecution, and court personnel throughout the state.

STOP funds are awarded from the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of the U.S. Department of Justice. The funds are administered by the Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

CABELL

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc.$55,446.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Cabell County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Cabell County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, CONTACT of Huntington, and the Huntington Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

 

CALHOUN

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$19,799.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Calhoun County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, and the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms Emly S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

FAYETTE

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$32,671.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Fayette County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Fayette County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: Pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

GRANT

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Grant County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sony Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

GREENBRIER

 

Family Refuge Center$53,040.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Greenbrier County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Greenbrier County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, the Lewisburg Police Department, and the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

HARRISON

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$43,176.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Harrison County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Harrison County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence “HOPE, Inc.”, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Clarksburg Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission$46,429.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Kanawha County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Resolve Family Abuse Program, the Family Counseling Connection – REACH Program, Beginning My Empowerment Thru Emmanuel's Kingdom (BEMEEK) Outreach Program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Charleston Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Gale A. Teare

Phone: (304) 357-0499

Email: galeteare@kcso.us

 

MARION

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$51,078.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marion County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc.", the Marion County Sheriff's Department, and the Fairmont Police Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

  

MARSHALL

 

Marshall County Commission$25,259.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marshall County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marshall County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, and the Marshall County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Betsy Frohnapfel

Phone: (304) 845-0482

Email: bfrohnapfel@marshallcountywv.org

 

MINERAL

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mineral County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mineral County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$43,576.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mingo County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mingo County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Mingo County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$32,596.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Logan County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Logan County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

MONONGALIA

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$54,599.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monongalia County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monongalia County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, the Morgantown Police Department, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, and the Star City Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

Monroe

 

Family Refuge Center$23,825.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monroe County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, and the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyresourcecenter.org

 

NICHOLAS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$36,904.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Nicholas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Nicholas County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council and the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission$87,614.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Ohio County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Ohio County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, the YWCA Cultural Diversity and Community Outreach Program, and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: ssmith@wvocpa.org

 

POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $6,000.00

These funds provide for the enhancement of the Pocahontas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Pocahontas County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Refuge Center and the Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

PRESTON

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$35,643.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Preston County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Preston County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, and the Preston County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission$25,421.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Putnam County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, the Family Counseling Connection - REACH Program, and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: tcraigo@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$60,535.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Raleigh County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Raleigh County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Beckley Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Women's Aid in Crisis$16,767.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Randolph County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Randolph County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 626-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

 

ROANE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$17,398.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Roane County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Roane County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, the Spencer Police Department, and the Roane County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission$26,496.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Upshur County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Upshur County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Buckhannon Police Department.

  

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

  

STATEWIDE

 

West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute$39,284.00

These funds provide for the development and continuation of strengthening prosecution strategies and best practices as well as improve prosecution-based victim services in cases involving violence against women through training and the development of resources.

 

Contact:Ms. Sherry Eling

Phone: (304) 558-3348

Email: sherry.s.eling@wv.gov

 

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services$56,689.00

These funds provide for finalizing the development of an Advocate Guide and Protocol with participating correctional facilities in the state for service provision; convert training materials into e-learning resources; and work with Rape Crisis Centers on service implementation in order to work towards compliance with PREA requirements.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frontier.com

 

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals$54,104.00

These funds provide for updating and printing the Domestic Violence Benchbook; to provide the salary of a DV Case Coordinator for the pilot program of the Kanawha County Domestic Violence Court; to maintain the Domestic Violence Registry back-up internet site; and to provide continued training for court personnel in the area of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence.

 

Contact:Ms. Angela Saunders

Phone: (304) 558-0145

Email: Angela.saunders@courtswv.gov

 

West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence$43,763.00

These funds provide for the continued enhancement of the statewide domestic and sexual violence database; to provide training and technical assistance for STOP Teams and Domestic Violence Programs on cultural diversity and cultural competency; and to promote dating violence protocols.

 

Contact:Ms. Tonia Thomas

Phone: (304) 965-3552

Email: tthomas@wvcadv.org

  

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Serivces$64,121.00

These funds provide for training activities, the on-going development and capacity building of service providers to victims of sexual assault, dating violence and stalking crimes, and to provide training and resources for these programs in order to provide services to sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frountier.com

  

Division of Justice & Community Services contact:

 

Sarah J. Brown

Senior Justice Programs Specialist

Division of Justice and Community Services

1204 Kanawha Boulevard, East

Charleston, West Virginia 25301

Phone: (304) 558-8814, Extension 53337

Email: Sarah.J.Brown@wv.gov

  

Photos available for media use. All photos should be attributed “Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor.”

This solar array near OSU's Trysting Tree golf course is part of the Oregon University System's "Solar by Degrees" program. OSU will be the first university to complete the solar array.

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

CHARLESTON -- Governor Earl Ray Tomblin today, June 29, 2016, awarded $1,087,599.00 in STOP Violence Against Women Grant Program funds for twenty-eight (28) projects statewide. The purpose of these funds is to establish or enhance teams whose core members include victim service providers, law enforcement, and prosecution to improve the criminal justice system's response to violence against women. Grants provide personnel, equipment, training, technical assistance, and information systems for the establishment or enhancement of these teams. Additionally, statewide projects are funded to provide training and educational opportunities for all victim service providers, law enforcement, prosecution, and court personnel throughout the state.

STOP funds are awarded from the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of the U.S. Department of Justice. The funds are administered by the Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

CABELL

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc.$55,446.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Cabell County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Cabell County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, CONTACT of Huntington, and the Huntington Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

 

CALHOUN

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$19,799.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Calhoun County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, and the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms Emly S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

FAYETTE

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$32,671.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Fayette County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Fayette County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: Pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

GRANT

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Grant County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sony Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

GREENBRIER

 

Family Refuge Center$53,040.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Greenbrier County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Greenbrier County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, the Lewisburg Police Department, and the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

HARRISON

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$43,176.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Harrison County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Harrison County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence “HOPE, Inc.”, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Clarksburg Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission$46,429.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Kanawha County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Resolve Family Abuse Program, the Family Counseling Connection – REACH Program, Beginning My Empowerment Thru Emmanuel's Kingdom (BEMEEK) Outreach Program, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Charleston Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Gale A. Teare

Phone: (304) 357-0499

Email: galeteare@kcso.us

 

MARION

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc."$51,078.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marion County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, the Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc.", the Marion County Sheriff's Department, and the Fairmont Police Department.

  

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

  

MARSHALL

 

Marshall County Commission$25,259.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Marshall County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Marshall County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, and the Marshall County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Betsy Frohnapfel

Phone: (304) 845-0482

Email: bfrohnapfel@marshallcountywv.org

 

MINERAL

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc.$17,683.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mineral County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mineral County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Center, and the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$43,576.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Mingo County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Mingo County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Mingo County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, Inc.$32,596.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Logan County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Logan County Prosecutor's Office, the Tug Valley Recovery Shelter, and the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

MONONGALIA

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$54,599.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monongalia County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monongalia County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, the Morgantown Police Department, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, and the Star City Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

Monroe

 

Family Refuge Center$23,825.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Monroe County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Refuge Center, and the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyresourcecenter.org

 

NICHOLAS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$36,904.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Nicholas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Nicholas County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council and the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission$87,614.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Ohio County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Ohio County Prosecutor's Office, the YWCA Family Violence Prevention Program, the YWCA Cultural Diversity and Community Outreach Program, and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: ssmith@wvocpa.org

 

POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $6,000.00

These funds provide for the enhancement of the Pocahontas County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Pocahontas County Prosecutor’s Office, the Family Refuge Center and the Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

PRESTON

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$35,643.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Preston County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Preston County Prosecutor's Office, the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, and the Preston County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission$25,421.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Putnam County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, the Family Counseling Connection - REACH Program, and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: tcraigo@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council$60,535.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Raleigh County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Raleigh County Prosecutor's Office, the Comprehensive Women’s Service Council, and the Beckley Police Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Women's Aid in Crisis$16,767.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Randolph County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Randolph County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 626-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

 

ROANE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center$17,398.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Roane County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Roane County Prosecutor's Office, the Family Crisis Intervention Center, the Spencer Police Department, and the Roane County Sheriff's Department.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission$26,496.00

These funds provide for the enhancement and the continuation of the Upshur County STOP Team to improve the criminal justice system's response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The core Team includes the Upshur County Prosecutor's Office, Women's Aid in Crisis, and the Buckhannon Police Department.

  

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

  

STATEWIDE

 

West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute$39,284.00

These funds provide for the development and continuation of strengthening prosecution strategies and best practices as well as improve prosecution-based victim services in cases involving violence against women through training and the development of resources.

 

Contact:Ms. Sherry Eling

Phone: (304) 558-3348

Email: sherry.s.eling@wv.gov

 

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services$56,689.00

These funds provide for finalizing the development of an Advocate Guide and Protocol with participating correctional facilities in the state for service provision; convert training materials into e-learning resources; and work with Rape Crisis Centers on service implementation in order to work towards compliance with PREA requirements.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frontier.com

 

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals$54,104.00

These funds provide for updating and printing the Domestic Violence Benchbook; to provide the salary of a DV Case Coordinator for the pilot program of the Kanawha County Domestic Violence Court; to maintain the Domestic Violence Registry back-up internet site; and to provide continued training for court personnel in the area of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence.

 

Contact:Ms. Angela Saunders

Phone: (304) 558-0145

Email: Angela.saunders@courtswv.gov

 

West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence$43,763.00

These funds provide for the continued enhancement of the statewide domestic and sexual violence database; to provide training and technical assistance for STOP Teams and Domestic Violence Programs on cultural diversity and cultural competency; and to promote dating violence protocols.

 

Contact:Ms. Tonia Thomas

Phone: (304) 965-3552

Email: tthomas@wvcadv.org

  

West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Serivces$64,121.00

These funds provide for training activities, the on-going development and capacity building of service providers to victims of sexual assault, dating violence and stalking crimes, and to provide training and resources for these programs in order to provide services to sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Nancy Hoffman

Phone: (304) 366-9500

Email: wvfris@frountier.com

  

Division of Justice & Community Services contact:

 

Sarah J. Brown

Senior Justice Programs Specialist

Division of Justice and Community Services

1204 Kanawha Boulevard, East

Charleston, West Virginia 25301

Phone: (304) 558-8814, Extension 53337

Email: Sarah.J.Brown@wv.gov

  

Photos available for media use. All photos should be attributed “Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor.”

The mainline railroad track in the DeLand area was constructed by the Plant System's Jacksonville Tampa & Key West Railway in 1886. The JT&KW constructed a spur from its mainline to downtown DeLand and built a depot on South Amelia Avenue. The JT&KW was taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line in 1902, and the DeLand ACL depot was relocated to West Michigan Avenue after the old JT&KW depot burned in 1911. Today's DeLand Amtrak depot is located not on the downtown spur but right at the CSX mainline (A-line).

 

Meanwhile, the Orange Ridge, DeLand & Atlantic Railroad had been established in 1880. It eventually ran west to the St. John's River, and the depot shown here at Stetson College likely was at the eastern end of the ORD&A line, near the college's main buildings on DeLand's Minnesota Avenue. The ORD&A was renamed the DeLand and St. Johns River Railroad in 1886, and was absorbed by the aforementioned Jacksonville Tampa & Key West Railway in 1890. Photo courtesy of Florida Electronic Library

 

Prostorný tříkomorový batoh HIT 150 na všestranné použití – do města, do školy, na kratší výlety, popřípadě i na sport. Tento batoh primárně doporučujeme pro každodenní nošení od 2. stupně základních škol.

 

Rozměry/Dimensions: 46x31x22

Materiál/Material: 100% Nylon

Hmotnost/Weight: 1,18kg

Nosnost/Load: 9kg

 

Ergonomicky tvarovaný zádový systém s hliníkovou výztuží a polstrované a délkově nastavitelné ramenní popruhy zajistí pohodlné každodenní nošení. Zadní komora tohoto batohu je užší, určená převážně pro umístění složek, dokumentů nebo jiných písemností. Do této zadní komory lze v případě vyjmutí hliníkové výztuhy také umístit v neoprenovém obalu notebook do maximální velikosti 15,4" .

 

Prostřední komora je širší a nabízí tak více prostoru pro uložení různých věcí nebo dokumentů. Přední komora tohoto batohu je nejprostornější a svou velikostí je ideální pro uschování většiny objemnějších věcí. V této přední komoře jsou dvě praktické, zipem uzavíratelné kapsy. Jedna ze síťoviny, druhá klasická. Nechybí zde polstrovaná kapsa na mobil, iPod a jednoduchý organizér na tužky. Na jedné straně přední komory je podélná kapsa na zip, do které můžete pohodlně umístit 0,75l láhev s pitím nebo jiné drobnosti, které chcete mít po ruce.

 

Přední část batohu nabízí další hlubokou kapsu se síťovanou kapsičkou a karabinou na klíče. Do batohu se Vám tak vejdou všechny potřebné věci.

 

Na jednom z ramenních popruhů batohu je kapsička na mobil nebo MP3 přehrávač s průvlekem na sluchátka. Batoh je doplněn o reflexní plochy, úchyt na přenášení batohu v ruce, dno je chráněno zpevněným pogumovaným materiálem.

 

Engine: Four cylinder diesel

 

Generator was used at the State Canal system's Waterford, New York facility.

 

Photo courtesy of Auctions International.

Fitting a length of pipe for the system's trunk line.

A group photo of Secretary-General António Guterres (fifth from left in front) and participants of the biannual session of the UN System’s Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Simplified map shows the route of the Orange Belt Railway (blue line) and its rail connections in central Florida in 1890. These include the Florida Central & Peninsular Railway (green line), a predecessor of the Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL), and also railroads of the Plant System (red lines).

 

At Sanford, Orange Belt Railway passengers and freight could be transferred to the Plant System's Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway and go on to Jacksonville, or transfer to the Plant System's South Florida Railroad and go south. There was also a connection to the Plant System's South Florida Railroad at Trilby. The Orange Belt Railway tracks crossed the Florida Central & Peninsular Railway's tracks at Lacoochee. Courtesy Tom Pavluvcik

 

Warehouse Project Party @ Laboratorio Crash, Bologna, Italy.

 

www.facebook.com/WHPLAYGARDEN/timeline

 

"The mission was to reinforce the hardcore underground, without useless concessions to mainstream or empties "star system's" dynamics.

Pour 2015, le look de la Ducati Multistrada a un peu changé. Mais sous les apparences, la moto, une référence dans le secteur du tourisme sportif sur deux roues, a subi une véritable mutation. C’est la toute première bécane à être dotée d’un moteur où l’ouverture des valves est variable de manière indépendante pour les valves d’aspiration et pour les valves d’expiration (suis pas sûr qu’on dise vraiment comme ça). Bien plus loin que ce que Honda avait déjà réalisé avec son système VTEC, sur la VFR 800 et sur la Crossrunner, où l’on passe de deux à quatre valves actives par cylindre dès un certain régime de rotation du moteur. Non, là, chez Ducati, tout est variable, et en continu.

Le système s’appelle DVT, ce qui veut dire Desmodromic (en référence à la distribution desmodromique, sans ressort, propre à Ducati) Variable Timing. Traduit en français-jargon, c’est: fasature desmodromique et variable des valves. Vite, une aspirine! Pour faire plus simple, on est ainsi assuré d’avoir la bonne ouverture de ces dites valves quel que soit le régime de rotation du moteur. Autrement dit, plus de chevaux et de couple sur toute la plage (on parle toujours de mécanique), un moteur plus économe et moins polluant, qui satisfait déjà aux normes Euro 4.

  

www.wbayer.com/

 

www.flickr.com/wbayercom

 

www.facebook.com/wbayercom

The massive J79 engines can be seen clearly in this image, along with the vertical control surfaces and profiled lower fuselage. I used Studio 2.0’s flat silver rubber colour for the Valkyrie’s BF Goodrich silver-coated heat-protected tires, and I included the anti-skid braking system’s small sensing wheel.

Sgt. Tyler J. Fox adjusts his M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System's wind and elevation knobs in preparation of an unknown distance qualification range August 18 at Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory, Australia, during Exercise Koolendong 14. The range focused on increasing scout sniper's long range precision firing capabilities. The Marines challenged themselves with the M40 A5, M110 SASS and the M107 SASR. The Marines are with Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and are currently deployed in part of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin. The rotational deployment of U.S. Marines affords an unprecedented combined training opportunity with our Australian allies, and improves interoperability with our forces. Fox, a Winamac, Indiana native, is a scout sniper with the battalion and chief scout for the platoon. (Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Joey S. Holeman, Jr./ Released)

Written at around the same time as his novella Green Mars, this is an early version of his future Solar System. It's set later than his other books and has advances such as artificial gravity, which I'm fairly sure hasn't been in his books since.

A strange plot, as the new, ninth, Master of a revered one man orcherstra machine known as the Holywelkin Orchestra takes his strange artifact on a tour of the solar system's homan colonies, starting with the outermost, where he's based.

Mysterious happenings and possible sabotage persist and a strange secretive sect called the Greys may be responsible. But contact with their leaders may also throw light on the background of the Orchestra.

 

A slow read, as the plot is teased out over the course of the long, multi-planet tour, reaching even closer to the sun than Mercury, where great, advanced technologies power civilisation.

Somewhat opaque at times but a worthwhile read.

 

He signed my copy some years ago, describing the book as 'my strange child'.

And it has tapirs in it!

Carol Raymond, Dawn deputy principal investigator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., speaks during a news briefing to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's year-long visit to the asteroid Vesta, Thursday, June 23, 2011, at NASA headquarters in Washington. Dawn's visit to Vesta will be the first prolonged encounter with a main belt asteroid and the first trip to a protoplanet, a large body that almost became a planet. Observations will help us understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history. The mission is expected to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

I'm certainly an aficionado of antique electrical equipment, and in many cities the streetcar system's substation buildings have survived long after the streetcars they once powered were gone. Take for example the Pittsburgh Railways Island Substation located at the corner of Island Ave. and Bouquet Street in the McKees Rocks neighborhood. Further interest is created by the fact that it was built on the side of steep hill. As an added bonus it's directly across the street from a neat old shortline railroad shop, currently used by the Pittsburgh & Ohio Central RR.

Big mall at Kameari, Tokyo.

 

This panorama is made from this and that panoramas. It' s some concept verification. I found that HaPaLa system's string must be same length in both panos (of course.)

 

Please enjoy in the interactive viewer! (thanks to fieldOfView and Aldo)

And small but quick interactive viewer is here (Wrapr Beta)

 

[edited] I puted more mild version on ViewAt.org .

 

- SLR camera and lens: Nikon D80 /w Sigma 8mm fisheye

- panoramic head: handheld (with Simon's "HaPaLa 3")

- 4 pan (Philopod pitch variation [datails]) 3EX(2EV) each.

- software: ptgui, Photoshop and enfuse on MS-Windows XP

 

See where this picture was taken. [?]

[MAP by ALPSLAB]

 

NASA Space Launch System's Chris Crumbly chats space with Raisbeck Aviation High School students.

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

S135-E-007544 (12 July 2011) --- With his feet secured on a restraint on the space station remote manipulator system's robotic arm or Canadarm2, NASA astronaut Mike Fossum (lower right side of frame) holds the Robotics Refueling Mission payload, which was the focus of one of the primary chores accomplished on a six and a half hour spacewalk on July 12. Dextre, , also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator or SPDM, is holding the CTC-2, delivered by HTV-2, in the upper left corner of the photo. NASA astronauts Fossum and Ron Garan performed the six-hour, 31-minute spacewalk, which represents the final scheduled extravehicular activity during shuttle missions. Photo credit: NASA

 

Because the rising reputation of wood beams, and with them the issues of transforming contractors, who wouldn't have enough experience, and evidently this will be the greatest wrongdoer for the harm to them. Flashing: sheet metallic or different materials put in right into a roof system's varied joints and valleys to stop water seepage. For instance, when you're up on the roof (say cleansing gutters or some such factor) you possibly can have any individual toss you up a hose and run water down the vent stack. After I do any overview, the first thing I like to do is visit the corporate website and provides out the date they registered their domain. They supply restore of parts like garage door hinges, storage door rollers, and springs.

  

Contact Us:

roofingdowneyca.com

(562) 297-0007

8247 Firestone Boulevard

CA 90241

Hey, I’m Richard. I’m the one behind GamingSetups.com and this is my gaming setup

 

TV(s)/Display(s):

 

Samsung 46″ Class 5000 Series 1080p LED HDTV (UN46C5000)

 

Sound/Home Theater System(s):

 

Onkyo HT-S3300 – 5.1-Channel Home Theater

 

Console(s):

 

Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect

 

Entertainment Center

 

Nova by South Shore Furniture

 

Accessories:

 

4 LED Light Strip Kit (Cool White)

Guitar Hero World Tour Drum and Guitar controllers (missing from photos)

Two Guitar Hero Legends Guitar controller (missing from photos)

 

Games:

 

Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3, Green Day: Rock Band

Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock, Band Hero

Guitar Hero Van Halen, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero Metallica

Skate, Skate 2, Skate 3

Fight Night Round 3, Fight Night Round 4, Fight Night Champion

Halo Wars, Halo 3

Stoked

Dirt

NHL 07

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

NCAA Football 09

NBA Live 09

Fable II

PGR 4

Pure / LEGO Batman: The Videogame

 

Fantastic Pets (Kinect)

Kinectimals (Kinect)

Your Shape Fitness Evolved (Kinect)

Kinect Adventures (Kinect)

 

The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000. A study that was completed in 2011 found that a total of 1,283 geysers have erupted in Yellowstone, 465 of which are active during an average year. These are distributed among nine geyser basins, with a few geysers found in smaller thermal areas throughout the Park. The number of geysers in each geyser basin are as follows: Upper Geyser Basin (410), Midway Geyser Basin (59), Lower Geyser Basin (283), Norris Geyser Basin (193), West Thumb Geyser Basin (84), Gibbon Geyser Basin (24), Lone Star Geyser Basin (21), Shoshone Geyser Basin (107), Heart Lake Geyser Basin (69), other areas (33). Although famous large geysers like Old Faithful are part of the total, most of Yellowstone's geysers are small, erupting to only a foot or two. The hydrothermal system that supplies the geysers with hot water sits within an ancient active caldera. Many of the thermal features in Yellowstone build up sinter, geyserite, or travertine deposits around and within them.

 

The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera, and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to the Yellowstone Plateau's high elevation the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. Because of the high temperatures of the water in the features it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs.

 

Prehistoric Native American artifacts have been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that the early people used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits". The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm. The first white man known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone". Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial smokestacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up".

 

The heat that drives geothermal activity in the Yellowstone area comes from brine (salty water) that is 1.5–3 miles (7,900–15,800 ft; 2,400–4,800 m) below the surface. This is actually below the solid volcanic rock and sediment that extends to a depth of 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900 to 1,800 m) and is inside the hot but mostly solid part of the pluton that contains Yellowstone's magma chamber. At that depth the brine is superheated to temperatures that exceed 400 °F (204 °C) but is able to remain a liquid because it is under great pressure (like a huge pressure cooker).

 

Convection of the churning brine and conduction from surrounding rock transfers heat to an overlaying layer of fresh groundwater. Movement of the two liquids is facilitated by the highly fractured and porous nature of the rocks under the Yellowstone Plateau. Some silica is dissolved from the fractured rhyolite into the hot water as it travels through the fractured rock. Part of this hard mineral is later redeposited on the walls of the cracks and fissures to make a nearly pressure-tight system. Silica precipitates at the surface to form either geyserite or sinter, creating the massive geyser cones, the scalloped edges of hot springs, and the seemingly barren landscape of geyser basins.

 

There are at least five types of geothermal features found at Yellowstone:

 

Fumaroles: Fumaroles, or steam vents, are the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. They have so little water that it all flashes into steam before reaching the surface. At places like Roaring Mountain, the result is loud hissing of steam and gases.

Geysers: Geysers such as Old Faithful are a type of geothermal feature that periodically erupt scalding hot water. Increased pressure exerted by the enormous weight of the overlying rock and water prevents deeper water from boiling. As the hot water rises it is under less pressure and steam bubbles form. They, in turn, expand on their ascent until the bubbles are too big and numerous to pass freely through constrictions. At a critical point the confined bubbles actually lift the water above, causing the geyser to splash or overflow. This decreases the pressure of the system and violent boiling results. Large quantities of water flash into tremendous amounts of steam that force a jet of water out of the vent: an eruption begins. Water (and heat) is expelled faster than the geyser's recharge rate, gradually decreasing the system's pressure and eventually ending the eruption.

Hot springs: Hot springs such as Grand Prismatic Spring are the most common hydrothermal features in the park. Their plumbing has no constrictions. Superheated water cools as it reaches the surface, sinks, and is replaced by hotter water from below. This circulation, called convection, prevents water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption. Many hot springs give rise to streams of heated water.

Mudpots: Mudpots such as Fountain Paint Pots are acidic hot springs with a limited water supply. Some microorganisms use hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell), which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source. They convert the gas into sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay.

Travertine terraces: Travertine terraces, found at Mammoth Hot Springs, are formed from limestone (a rock type made of calcium carbonate). Thermal waters rise through the limestone, carrying high amounts of dissolved carbonate. Carbon dioxide is released at the surface and calcium carbonate deposited as travertine, the chalky white rock of the terraces. These features constantly and quickly change due to the rapid rate of deposition.

Geyser basins

 

The Norris Geyser Basin 44°43′43″N 110°42′16″W is the hottest geyser basin in the park and is located near the northwest edge of Yellowstone Caldera near Norris Junction and on the intersection of three major faults. The Norris-Mammoth Corridor is a fault that runs from Norris north through Mammoth to the Gardiner, Montana, area. The Hebgen Lake fault runs from northwest of West Yellowstone, Montana, to Norris. This fault experienced an earthquake in 1959 that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale (sources vary on exact magnitude between 7.1 and 7.8; see 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake). Norris Geyser Basin is so hot and dynamic because these two faults intersect with the ring fracture zone that resulted from the creation of the Yellowstone Caldera of 640,000 years ago.

 

The Basin consists of three main areas: Porcelain Basin, Back Basin, and One Hundred Springs Plain. Unlike most of other geyser basins in the park, the waters from Norris are acidic rather than alkaline (for example, Echinus Geyser has a pH of ~3.5). The difference in pH allows for a different class of bacterial thermophiles to live at Norris, creating different color patterns in and around the Norris Basin waters.

 

The Ragged Hills that lie between Back Basin and One Hundred Springs Plain are thermally altered glacial kames. As glaciers receded the underlying thermal features began to express themselves once again, melting remnants of the ice and causing masses of debris to be dumped. These debris piles were then altered by steam and hot water flowing through them. Madison lies within the eroded stream channels cut through lava flows formed after the caldera eruption. The Gibbon Falls lies on the caldera boundary as does Virginia Cascades.

 

Algae on left bacteria on right at the intersection of flows from the Constant & Whirlgig Geysers at Norris Geyser Basin

The tallest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser,[11] is located in Norris Basin. Unlike the slightly smaller but much more famous Old Faithful Geyser located in Upper Geyser Basin, Steamboat has an erratic and lengthy timetable between major eruptions. During major eruptions, which may be separated by intervals of more than a year (the longest recorded span between major eruptions was 50 years), Steamboat erupts over 300 feet (90 m) into the air. Steamboat does not lie dormant between eruptions, instead displaying minor eruptions of approximately 40 feet (12 m).

 

Norris Geyser Basin periodically undergoes a large-scale, basin-wide thermal disturbance lasting a few weeks. Water levels fluctuate, and temperatures, pH, colors, and eruptive patterns change throughout the basin. During a disturbance in 1985, Porkchop Geyser continually jetted steam and water; in 1989, the same geyser apparently clogged with silica and blew up, throwing rocks more than 200 feet (61 m). In 2003 a park ranger observed it bubbling heavily, the first such activity seen since 1991. Activity increased dramatically in mid-2003. Because of high ground temperatures and new features beside the trail much of Back Basin was closed until October. In 2004 the boardwalk was routed around the dangerous area and now leads behind Porkchop Geyser.

 

North of Norris, Roaring Mountain is a large, acidic hydrothermal area (solfatara) with many fumaroles. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the number, size, and power of the fumaroles were much greater than today. The fumaroles are most easily seen in the cooler, low-light conditions of morning and evening.

 

The Gibbon Geyser Basin 44°41′58″N 110°44′34″W includes several thermal areas in the vicinity of the Gibbon River between Gibbon Falls and Norris. The most accessible feature in the basin is Beryl Spring, with a small boardwalk right along the Grand Loop Road. Artists' Paintpots is a small hydrothermal area south of Norris Junction that includes colorful hot springs and two large mudpots.

 

The Monument Geyser Basin 44°41′03″N 110°45′14″W has no active geysers, but its 'monuments' are siliceous sinter deposits similar to the siliceous spires discovered on the floor of Yellowstone Lake. Scientists hypothesize that this basin's structures formed from a hot water system in a glacially dammed lake during the waning stages of the Pinedale Glaciation. The basin is on a ridge reached by a very steep one-mile (1.6 km) trail south of Artists' Paint Pots. Other areas of thermal activity in Gibbon Geyser Basin lie off-trail.

 

South of Norris along the rim of the caldera is the Upper Geyser Basin 44°27′52″N 110°49′45″W, which has the highest concentration of geothermal features in the park. This complement of features includes the most famous geyser in the park, Old Faithful Geyser, as well as four other predictable large geysers. One of these large geysers in the area is Castle Geyser which is about 1,400 feet (430 m) northwest of Old Faithful. Castle Geyser has an interval of approximately 13 hours between major eruptions, but is unpredictable after minor eruptions. The other three predictable geysers are Grand Geyser, Daisy Geyser, and Riverside Geyser. Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin are also within the boundaries of Upper Geyser Basin.

 

The hills surrounding Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin are reminders of Quaternary rhyolitic lava flows. These flows, occurring long after the catastrophic eruption of 640,000 years ago, flowed across the landscape like stiff mounds of bread dough due to their high silica content.

 

Evidence of glacial activity is common, and it is one of the keys that allows geysers to exist. Glacier till deposits underlie the geyser basins providing storage areas for the water used in eruptions. Many landforms, such as Porcupine Hills north of Fountain Flats, are made up of glacial gravel and are reminders that 70,000 to 14,000 years ago, this area was buried under ice.

 

Signs of the forces of erosion can be seen everywhere, from runoff channels carved across the sinter in the geyser basins to the drainage created by the Firehole River. Mountain building is evident on the drive south of Old Faithful, toward Craig Pass. Here the Rocky Mountains reach a height of 8,262 feet (2,518 m), dividing the country into two distinct watersheds.

 

Midway Geyser Basin 44°31′04″N 110°49′56″W is much smaller than the other basins found alongside the Firehole River. Despite its small size, it contains two large features, the 200-by-300-foot-wide (60 by 90 m) Excelsior Geyser which pours over 4,000 U.S. gallons (15,000 L; 3,300 imp gal) per minute into the Firehole River. The largest hot spring in Yellowstone, the 370-foot-wide (110 m) and 121-foot-deep (37 m) Grand Prismatic Spring is found here. Also in the basin is Turquoise Pool and Opal Pool.

 

Lower Geyser Basin

Blue spring with steam rising from it; irregular blotches of red and orange residue are on the banks, along with dead tree trunks.

Silex Spring at Fountain Paint Pot

 

Farther north is the Lower Geyser Basin 44°32′58″N 110°50′09″W, which is the largest geyser basin in area, covering approximately 11 square miles. Due to its large size, it has a much less concentrated set of geothermal features, including Fountain Paint Pots. Fountain Paint Pots are mud pots, that is, a hot spring that contains boiling mud instead of water. The mud is produced by a higher acidity in the water which enables the spring to dissolve surrounding minerals to create an opaque, usually grey, mud. Also there is Firehole Spring, Celestine Pool, Leather Pool, Red Spouter, Jelly spring, and a number of fumaroles.

 

Geysers in Lower Geyser Basin include Great Fountain Geyser, whose eruptions reach 100 to 200 feet (30–61 m) in the air, while waves of water cascade down its sinter terraces., the Fountain group of Geysers (Clepsydra Geyser which erupts nearly continuously to heights of 45 feet (14 m), Fountain Geyser, Jelly Geyser, Jet Geyser, Morning Geyser, and Spasm Geyser), the Pink Cone group of geysers (Dilemma Geyser, Labial Geyser, Narcissus Geyser, Pink Geyser, and Pink Cone Geyser), the White Dome group of geysers (Crack Geyser, Gemini Geyser, Pebble Geyser, Rejuvenated Geyser, and White Dome Geyser), as well as Sizzler Geyser.

 

Clepsydra Geyser erupting. July 2019

Fountain Paint Pots

White Dome Geyser

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Several pools of blue water in ashen rock basin.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Blackened basin with orange streaks; steam is rising from it with fir trees in the background.

Overflow areas of Silex springs

 

The West Thumb Geyser Basin 44°25′07″N 110°34′23″W, including Potts Basin to the north, is the largest geyser basin on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. The heat source of the thermal features in this location is thought to be relatively close to the surface, only 10,000 feet (3,000 m) down. West Thumb is about the same size as another famous volcanic caldera, Crater Lake in Oregon, but much smaller than the great Yellowstone Caldera which last erupted about 640,000 years ago. West Thumb is a caldera within a caldera.

 

West Thumb was created approximately 162,000 years ago when a magma chamber bulged up under the surface of the earth and subsequently cracked it along ring fracture zones. This in turn released the enclosed magma as lava and caused the surface above the emptied magma chamber to collapse. Water later filled the collapsed area of the caldera, forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake. This created the source of heat and water that feed the West Thumb Geyser Basin today.

 

The thermal features at West Thumb are not only found on the lake shore, but extend under the surface of the lake as well. Several underwater hydrothermal features were discovered in the early 1990s and can be seen as slick spots or slight bulges in the summer. During the winter, the underwater thermal features are visible as melt holes in the icy surface of the lake. The surrounding ice can reach three feet (one yard) in thickness.

 

Perhaps the most famous hydrothermal feature at West Thumb is a geyser on the lake shore known as Fishing Cone. Walter Trumbull of the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition described a unique event while a man was fishing adjacent to the cone: "...in swinging a trout ashore, it accidentally got off the hook and fell into the spring. For a moment it darted about with wonderful rapidity, as if seeking an outlet. Then it came to the top, dead, and literally boiled." Fishing Cone erupted frequently to the height of 40 feet (12 m) in 1919 and to lesser heights in 1939. One fisherman was badly burned in Fishing Cone in 1921. Fishing at the geyser is now prohibited.

 

Early visitors would arrive at West Thumb via stagecoach from the Old Faithful area. They had a choice of continuing on the stagecoach or boarding the steamship Zillah to continue the journey by water to Lake Hotel. The boat dock was located near the south end of the geyser basin near Lakeside Spring.

 

Backcountry Geyser Basins

The Heart Lake 44°18′00″N 110°30′56″W, Lone Star 44°24′50″N 110°49′04″W, and Shoshone Geyser Basins 44°21′16″N 110°47′57″W are located away from the road and require at least several miles of hiking to reach. These areas lack the boardwalks and other safety features of the developed areas. As falling into geothermal features can be fatal, it is usually advisable to visit these areas with an experienced guide or at the very least, travelers need to ensure they remain on well-marked trails.

 

The Heart Lake Geyser Basin contains several groups of geysers and deep blue hot springs near Heart Lake in the south-central portion of Yellowstone, southeast of most of the main geyser basins. Lying in the Snake River watershed east of Lewis Lake and south of Yellowstone Lake, Heart Lake was named sometime before 1871 for Hart Hunney, a hunter. Other explorers in the region incorrectly assumed that the lake's name was spelled 'heart' because of its shape. The Heart Lake Geyser Basin begins a couple miles from the lake and descends along Witch Creek to the lakeshore. Five groups of hydrothermal features comprise the basin, and all of them contain geysers, although some are dormant.

 

Between Shoshone Lake and Old Faithful is the Lone Star Geyser Basin, of which the primary feature is Lone Star Geyser, named for its isolation from the nearby geysers of the Upper Geyser Basin. The basin is reachable on foot or bicycle via a 3 mile road that is closed to vehicles.

 

The Shoshone Geyser Basin, reached by hiking or by boat, contains one of the highest concentrations of geysers in the world – more than 80 in an area 1,600 by 800 feet (490 by 240 m). Hot springs and mudpots dot the landscape between the geyser basin and Shoshone Lake.

 

Hot Spring Basin is located 15 miles (24 km) north-northeast of Fishing Bridge and has one of Yellowstone's largest collections of hot springs and fumaroles. The geothermal features there release large amounts of sulfur. This makes water from the springs so acidic that it has dissolved holes in the pants of people who sit on wet ground and causes mounds of sulfur three feet (1 m) high to develop around fumaroles. The very hot acidic water and steam have also created voids in the ground that are only covered by a thin crust.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Because of the huge amount of geothermal vents, travertine flourishes. Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas.

 

The thermal features at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron are primarily mud pots and fumaroles because the area is situated on a perched water system with little water available. Fumaroles or "steam vents" occur when the ground water boils away faster than it can be recharged. Also, the vapors are rich in sulfuric acid that leaches the rock, breaking it down into clay. Because no water washes away the acid or leached rock, it remains as sticky clay to form a mud pot. Hydrogen sulfide gas is present deep in the earth at Mud Volcano and is oxidized to sulfuric acid by microbial activity, which dissolves the surface soils to create pools and cones of clay and mud. Along with hydrogen sulfide, steam, carbon dioxide, and other gases explode through the layers of mud.

 

A series of shallow earthquakes associated with the volcanic activity in Yellowstone struck this area in 1978. Soil temperatures increased to nearly 200 °F (93 °C). The slope between Sizzling Basin and Mud Geyser, once covered with green grass and trees, became a barren landscape of fallen trees known as "the cooking hillside".

 

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

 

While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the first Secretary of the Interior to supervise the park being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee the management of Yellowstone for 30 years between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, the administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.

 

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 sq mi (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Well over half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one-third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles.

 

Teton County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 23,331. Its county seat is Jackson. Its west boundary line is also the Wyoming state boundary shared with Idaho and the southern tip of Montana. Teton County is part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.

 

Teton County contains the Jackson Hole ski area, all of Grand Teton National Park, and 40.4% of Yellowstone National Park's total area, including over 96.6% of its water area (largely in Yellowstone Lake).

 

Wyoming is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. With a population of 576,851 in 2020, Wyoming is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest by area, with the second-lowest population density after Alaska. The state capital and most populous city is Cheyenne, which had an estimated population of 63,957 in 2018.

 

Wyoming's western half consists mostly of the ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains; its eastern half consists of high-elevation prairie, and is referred to as the High Plains. Wyoming's climate is semi-arid in some parts and continental in others, making it drier and windier overall than other states, with greater temperature extremes. The federal government owns just under half of Wyoming's land, generally protecting it for public uses. The state ranks sixth in the amount of land—-and fifth in the proportion of its land—-that is owned by the federal government. Its federal lands include two national parks (Grand Teton and Yellowstone), two national recreation areas, two national monuments, and several national forests, as well as historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges.

 

Indigenous peoples inhabited the region for thousands of years. Historic and currently federally recognized tribes include the Arapaho, Crow, Lakota, and Shoshone. Part of the land that is now Wyoming came under American sovereignty via the Louisiana Purchase, part via the Oregon Treaty, and, lastly, via the Mexican Cession. With the opening of the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail, vast numbers of pioneers travelled through parts of the state that had once been traversed mainly by fur trappers, and this spurred the establishment of forts, such as Fort Laramie, that today serve as population centers. The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails in 1867 with a route through southern Wyoming, bringing new settlers and the establishment of founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne. On March 27, 1890, Wyoming became the union's 44th state.

 

Farming and ranching, and the attendant range wars, feature prominently in the state's history. Today, Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona. Its agricultural commodities include barley, hay, livestock, sugar beets, wheat, and wool.

 

Wyoming was the first state to allow women the right to vote (not counting New Jersey, which had allowed it until 1807), and the right to assume elected office, as well as the first state to elect a female governor. In honor of this part of its history, its most common nickname is "The Equality State" and its official state motto is "Equal Rights". It is among the least religious states in the country, and is known for having a political culture that leans towards libertarian conservatism. The Republican presidential nominee has carried the state in every election since 1968.

Cars driving over ponding water around the Eastridge Mall in San Jose, CA. All this rain was due to a stalled atmospheric river storm system, the same system that brought us damaging winds and rain during the overnight hours. This day, the atmospheric river had stalled and actually inched back up north into the South Bay giving us round 2 of the rainy, unsettled weather. Some road ways were partially flooded around my area due to the deluge. This atmospheric river would finally head east heading into Thursday with leftover showers (and possible t-storms). Things would finally calm down by Friday. Stay safe out there, everyone! (Footage taken Wednesday afternoon, January 27, 2021)

 

*Weather forecast/update: A strong Pacific storm, or atmospheric river, was expected to bring periods of moderate to heavy rain to the region. This system was forecast to arrive by Tuesday (Jan 26) & was to bring periods of heavy rain & high winds. This will likely result in an increased risk of mudslides over steep terrain, debris flow over wildfire burned areas, as well as localized ponding of water in low-lying areas. Up to 3 inches of rain was expected in urban areas & 3-7 inches possible over higher terrain. The entire area from Napa south thru Monterey & San Benito Counties would get a good soaking from this atmospheric river. Latest model guidance suggests the coastal slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains & Big Sur look to be the primary target of the heaviest rain. On top of this, a high wind watch was also in effect during the period. South winds 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50-60 mph are possible. North Bay, San Francisco Bay Shoreline, East Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, and the South Bay will all be affected. Timing of the strongest winds are forecast to happen Tuesday evening thru Wednesday morning as this strong system’s cold front sweeps thru. Damaging winds can blow down trees & power lines which may result in power outages… Stay tuned to the latest forecast for the most up-to-date weather info online…

SF MUNI PCC No. 1052 rolls along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

This streetcar is painted to commemorate Los Angeles Railway (LARy). Los Angeles ran PCC streetcars from 1937 to 1963.

San Diego got California’s first PCCs, beating LARy by a few weeks, but LARy got bragging rights when Shirley Temple, then America’s biggest child star, unveiled its first PCCs on March 23, 1937.

The Deco PCCs immediately caught LA’s attention, especially when compared to the spindly and odd-looking streetcars that then dominated LARy. The nascent Los Angeles Railway Company was purchased in 1898 by Henry E. Huntington, nephew of Collis P. Huntington, one of the “Big Four” magnates who built the mighty Southern Pacific Railroad, long the dominant force in California politics. Huntington built LARy into a strong urban system, with as many as 20 lines and 1,250 streetcars, largely serving central Los Angeles on narrow gauge (3’6″, same as San Francisco’s cable cars) track.

The average Angeleno knew LARy as the “Yellow Car” system, for the color of its cars. Its counterpart, Pacific Electric (PE), started by Huntington in 1901 and known as the “Red Car” system, was more of an interurban operation with a few PCCs on its line from downtown LA to Burbank and Glendale. The two-tone yellow cars had a simple livery compared to the flashy PCC paint scheme. The LARy streetcars never even carried their owner’s logo, even though the company had an attractive one.

Henry Huntington died in 1927, ten years before LARy got its first PCCs. But the seeds of the system’s future problems had already been planted, as Southern California was starting to become the most automobile-oriented place in the world. LARy did see an incredible spike in ridership during World War II, largely caused by people who already owned automobiles being forced back onto transit by gasoline and tire rationing.

At the peak of patronage, in January 1945, the Huntington estate sold LARy to the consortium of oil, tire, and bus interests managed by National City Lines (NCL). The simple two-tone yellow paint scheme gave way to the standard NCL “fruit salad” livery modeled by streetcar No. 1080, and an era in Los Angeles streetcar history ended.

Yet, Los Angeles’ meticulously maintained narrow gauge PCCs outlasted their standard gauge PE counterparts, and even after leaving LA, many of the LARy cars soldiered on for decades more in their second home–Cairo, Egypt.

And even with his streetcar empire almost completely disappeared, Henry E. Huntington’s legacy is still extensive in Southern California, including the fabulous Huntington Library in San Marino and the city of Huntington Beach.

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

I admit I disliked fuji when it started. From the X100 to the XPro1, the camera system, despite its completely seducing color science output, was completely out of sync with my practice in terms of autofocus speed and file. Now the X system has matured into something that I find very hard to match for mirrorless camera photography.

  

The XT1 comes to solve pretty much all the problems I had with the system: AF and Camera Operations (once u get used to the nobs, hard to go back to menus) are reliable and quick, Lightroom 5.7 renders the file beautifully (with Classic Chrome) and the viewfinder is bigger than that of a full frame dSLR. Not only the camera is now a great camera, the lens system is superb in its consistency: the 14, 23 and 56 are great highly recommended lenses and perform equally marvellously in sharpness, colors and BOKEH while also looking darn good with the Fuji design language. Image quality wise, you get clean files at most of the modern ISOs 200-6400 (you can push the 6400 raw up to 12800 if u want without much penalty or color shifts).

  

The running cost of ownership is also even more interesting. The body goes for around 1K$ and the rest of the "super prime lenses" (you'd want to shoot prime with this one) go for 1k$ or less each. You can get yourself up and running for less than a full frame camera with equivalent quality lenses.The XT1 ain't still sunshine and rainbow though: It requires the extra grip to enjoy shooting with it, it is not light, the battery lasts as much as a film roll, you can't use exposure compensation on "manual" mode to shift the auto-ISO values, the RAW files are HUGE 30-40mb a piece, low-light AF works fast as long as you have a contrast zone to hunt for but then you also have a magnificent manual focus experience. Classic Chrome (also available in LR 5.7) redefines the fuji photography experience by offering a raw file free of color distorsions and true of natural colors as well as a butt load of great micro-contrast off the file.

  

All in all, I have to say that I fell in love with it. It is truly the best enthusiast mirrorless system I've come across and it's now well matured.

 

If you use a full frame dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want the premium lenses or the full frame IQ but can't afford the steep 2K$ per lens or 2-4K$ per body, also if you want to sacrifice the extensive "flash system" that dSLRs have.

 

If you are using a crop sensor dSLR: switching to fuji will depend if you want to keep investing in photography lenses and equipment and don't have to shoot unpredictable fast moving subjects, like birdies.

 

If you use a Sony: switching to fuji will depend if you are fed up with the teenage identity crisis unpredictability of the system's evolution (new tech = new "test" camera = no "conclusion" camera = less lenses for existing cameras = change the name). The A7 system will flourish to lead the mirrorless trend one day but before that day comes, you have at least until 2016.

 

If you use a m43 camera: switching to fuji will depend if are willing to drop a bunch of practical technical features: super fast AF (fuji is DARN FAST but m43 cameras are INSTANT FAST), video (I don't shoot video) or image stabilisation or clinical sharpness (fuji images are sharp! but not as pixel sharp as m43... I mean no camera is as pixel sharp as the m43 an) or the touchscreen af point selection... all this for an upgrade in image aesthetics that's a compromise of m43 compactness (somewhat) and passionated lens designs (m43's got good lenses but no "omg wow what the heck" lenses, sorry)

 

If you shoot film: This is IT. Film nobs, Film look, Film grain, Film output… on digital. This is fujifilm making a camera with the color science they apply on their negatives, all of it.

The Los Angeles Surge Hospital, a temporary facility in Los Angeles that will expand access to additional beds and expand ICU capacity for patients who contract COVID-19. Dignity Health and Kaiser Permanente will partner with the State of California and the County of Los Angeles to open the facility, which will be located on the campus of the former St. Vincent Medical Center in central Los Angeles.

 

The Los Angeles Surge Hospital is expected to open April 13. It will open in phases, ramping up to accept more patients as physicians and staff are hired and supplies and equipment are secured, up to a projected capacity of 266 beds when fully operational.

 

Dignity Health and Kaiser Permanente, two of California’s largest not-for-profit healthcare systems, are providing expertise in establishing the Los Angeles Surge Hospital and will oversee management at the facility. Operational support will not diminish either healthcare system’s existing frontline capacity.

 

The Makerspace Eight Speaker Super Surround Sound System’s Enveloping Surround Sound Synthesizer (MESSSSSESSS) takes stereo recordings and distributes sound to the eight speakers in an entirely fair and user configurable way, thereby eliminating the need for a “front of the room.” Now listeners can be arbitrary distributed throughout a room, and can even be oriented in random directions, while still receiving an enveloping surround sound experience!

 

Check out the blog post: milwaukeemakerspace.org/2012/09/arduino-surround-sound-sy...

Shown with SCC President G. Michael Mikota are SCC students named to the SC Technical College System's 2021 Phi Theta Kappa All-State Academic Team. From left: Al'Valon Allen and Melissa Poole.

The New York City steam system is a district heating system which takes steam produced by steam generating stations and carries it under the streets of Manhattan to heat, cool, or supply power to high rise buildings and businesses. Some New York businesses and facilities also use the steam for cleaning and disinfection.

 

The New York Steam Company began providing service in lower Manhattan on March 3, 1882. Today, Consolidated Edison operates the largest commercial steam system in the world. The organization within Con Edison that is responsible for the system's operation is known as Steam Operations, providing steam service to over 1,700 customers and serving commercial and residential establishments in Manhattan from Battery Park to 96th Street uptown on the West side and 89th Street on the East side of Manhattan. Roughly 24 billion pounds (11,000,000 t) of steam flow through the system every year.

 

(Source: Wikipedia)

 

Taken by: Emiel Dekker (emield.myportfolio.com/)

The Tincer branch runs into an area where planned housing developments have not yet taken place; note that the reserved tracks have not yet been paved to this system's normal impeccable standards!

Prestige Electricians has years of experience installing residential security cameras. We work with surveillance system’s top brands and equipment. Our electricians can install both wired and wireless camera systems for your home or office. Wired Home Security Cameras: These types of cameras do not require internet or wifi for them to function. They are all wired to an electrical outlet and the camera DVR system. Certain DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) are capable of recording up to months worth of footage Call us and speak with a technician today to see what type of cameras you need for your home. We are your local and trusted security camera installers.

 

visit for more information: www.prestigeelectricians.com/services/home-surveillance-c...

The River Tummel is a river in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Water from the Tummel is used in the Tummel hydro-electric power scheme, operated by SSE.

 

As a tributary of the River Tay, the Tummel is included as part of the River Tay Special Area of Conservation. The designation notes the river system's importance for salmon, otters, brook lampreys, river lampreys and sea lampreys.

 

Discharging from Loch Rannoch, it flows east to a point near the Falls of Tummel, where it bends to the southeast, a direction which it maintains until it falls into the River Tay, just below Logierait, after a course of 58 miles (93 km) from its source in Stob Ghabbar (3,565 ft (1,087 m)). Its only considerable affluent is the Garry, 24 miles (39 km) long, an impetuous river which issues from Loch Garry (2.5 mi (4.0 km) and 1,334 ft (407 m) above sea level). Some 2 miles from its outlet from Loch Rannoch the river expands into Dunalastair Water (or Dunalastair Reservoir), a man made loch formed by a weir, part of the Tummel Hydro Electric power scheme. About midway in its course the Tummel expands into Loch Tummel, between which and the confluence with the Garry occur the Pass and Falls of the Tummel, which are rather in the nature of rapids, the descent altogether amounting to 15 ft (4.6 m). Loch Tummel was previously 4.43 km (2.75 mi) long and 39 m (128 ft) deep, but with the construction of the Clunie Dam in 1950, the water level was raised by 4.5 metres, and Loch Tummel is now approximately 11 km (7 mi) long.

 

The scenery throughout this reach is most picturesque, culminating at the point above the eastern extremity of the loch, known as the "Queen's View" (Queen Victoria made the view famous in 1866, although it is said to have been named after Queen Isabel, wife of Robert the Bruce). The chief places of interest on the river are Kinloch Rannoch; Dunalastair, a rocky hill in well-wooded grounds, the embellishment of which was largely due to Alexander Robertson of Struan, the Jacobite and poet, from whom the spot takes its name (the stronghold of Alexander); Foss; Faskally House (beautifully situated on the left bank); Pitlochry; and Ballinluig.

 

The ancient name of the river, in its upper reaches at least, was the Dubhag.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

 

Valparaiso's V-Line system's Orange Line route started out as an express bus route that connected Valparaiso University to South Shore Line's Dune Park station. It was designed to synch up with eastbound trains, so it made the trip once every two hours. Then, earlier this year (2009) somebody in the city of Valparaiso realized that Orange Line buses spent hours sitting idle in between runs, so they decided to put them to use. And so, the Red Line route was born. For most part, it follows a route that's basically a combination of Green Line and Yellow Line routes. Unlike Green Line and Yellow Line routes, it runs on Sunday, so on Sundays, it is the only route that provides service to the sections of Valparaiso outside Valparaiso University's immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, because Red Line buses are also Orange Line buses, the Red Line route only runs once every two hours, which limits the riders' ability to use it. According to the bus drivers I talked to, Red Line route doesn't get much traffic while Orange Line very much does. Make of it what you will.

The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware. Released with a catalog of twelve launch titles, with an additional ten games announced for 1982, approximately 125 titles in total were published as ROM cartridges for the system between 1982 and 1984. River West Brands currently owns the ColecoVision brand name.

 

Coleco licensed Nintendo's Donkey Kong as the official pack-in cartridge for all ColecoVision consoles, and this version of the game was well received as a near-perfect arcade port, helping to boost the console's popularity. By Christmas of 1982, Coleco had sold more than 500,000 units,[3][4] in part on the strength of its bundled game.[5] The ColecoVision's main competitor was the arguably more advanced but less commercially successful Atari 5200.[6][7][8]

 

The ColecoVision was distributed by CBS Electronics outside of the United States, and was branded the CBS ColecoVision.

 

Sales quickly passed one million in early 1983,[9] before the video game crash of 1983. By the beginning of 1984, quarterly sales of the ColecoVision had dramatically decreased.[10]

 

Over the next 18 months, the Coleco company ramped down its video game division, ultimately withdrawing from the video game market by the end of the summer of 1985.[11][12] The ColecoVision was officially discontinued by October 1985.[13] Total sales of the ColecoVision are uncertain but were ultimately in excess of 2 million units, as sales had reached that number by the spring of 1984,[14] while the console continued to sell modestly up until its discontinuation the following year.

 

In 1986, Bit Corporation produced a ColecoVision clone called the Dina, which was sold in the United States by Telegames as the Telegames Personal Arcade.

 

The main console unit consists of a 14x8x2 inch rectangular plastic case that houses the motherboard, with a cartridge slot on the right side and connectors for the external power supply and RF jack at the rear. The controllers connect into plugs in a recessed area on the top of the unit.

 

The design of the controllers is similar to that of Mattel's Intellivision—the controller is rectangular and consists of a numeric keypad and a set of side buttons. In place of the circular control disc below the keypad, the Coleco controller has a short, 1.5-inch joystick. The keypad is designed to accept a thin plastic overlay that maps the keys for a particular game. Each ColecoVision console shipped with two controllers.

 

All first-party cartridges and most third-party software titles feature a twelve-second pause before presenting the game select screen. This delay results from an intentional loop in the console's BIOS to enable on-screen display of the ColecoVision brand. Companies like Parker Brothers, Activision, and Micro Fun bypassed this loop, which necessitated embedding portions of the BIOS outside the delay loop, further reducing storage available to actual game programming.

 

Technical specifications

 

* CPU: Zilog Z80A @ 3.58 MHz

* Video processor: Texas Instruments TMS9928A

o 256x192 resolution

o 32 sprites

o 16 colors

* Sound: Texas Instruments SN76489A

o 3 tone generators

o 1 noise generator

* VRAM: 16 KB

* RAM: 8 KB

* Storage: Cartridge: 8/16/24/32 KB

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision

Largo is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, in the United States. The population was 10,709 at the 2010 census.

 

Largo is located just east of the Capital Beltway (I-95/495) and is home to Prince George's Community College and Largo High School. Six Flags America amusement park (formerly known as Wild World and Adventure World) is to the east in Mitchellville, and FedExField, the Washington Redskins' football stadium, is across the Capital Beltway in Summerfield. Watkins Regional Park in Kettering just to the east of Largo (operated by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) has an old-fashioned carousel, miniature train ride, miniature golf, the Old Maryland Farm, a very large playground, and animals on display.

 

Since the transit system's expansion in late 2004, Largo Town Center has served as the eastern end of the Blue Line of the Washington Metro.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largo,_Maryland

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

 

Storm chasing overnight around town, driving safely. Very strong & gusty southerly winds & heavy rain were observed as this strongly awaited atmospheric river/storm system’s main cold front made ‘landfall’ in the Bay Area. This was indeed the strongest storm so far this season for the region. Conditions outside looked like a tropical storm! Certainly, this was a stormy night for the region. The Sierras were also looking at feet of snowfall before all this is said & done. This evening was just the 1st part of the storm. More heavy rain & wind was in store for the state over the next day or two as this atmospheric river was forecast to inch back north towards the South Bay the very next day... Things would finally die down by Friday. Stay safe out there, everyone! (Video taken Wednesday, January 27, 2021)

 

*Weather forecast/update: A strong Pacific storm, or atmospheric river, was expected to bring periods of moderate to heavy rain to the region. This system was forecast to arrive by Tuesday (Jan 26) & was to bring periods of heavy rain & high winds. This will likely result in an increased risk of mudslides over steep terrain, debris flow over wildfire burned areas, as well as localized ponding of water in low-lying areas. Up to 3 inches of rain was expected in urban areas & 3-7 inches possible over higher terrain. The entire area from Napa south thru Monterey & San Benito Counties would get a good soaking from this atmospheric river. Latest model guidance suggests the coastal slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains & Big Sur look to be the primary target of the heaviest rain. On top of this, a high wind watch was also in effect during the period. South winds 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50-60 mph are possible. North Bay, San Francisco Bay Shoreline, East Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, and the South Bay will all be affected. Timing of the strongest winds are forecast to happen Tuesday evening thru Wednesday morning as this strong system’s cold front sweeps thru. Damaging winds can blow down trees & power lines which may result in power outages… Stay tuned to the latest forecast for the most up-to-date weather info online…

Many trash bins falling over due to the storm. Very strong & gusty southerly winds & rain were observed as this strongly awaited atmospheric river/storm system’s main cold front made ‘landfall’ in the Bay Area. This was indeed the strongest storm so far this season for the region. Conditions outside looked like a tropical storm! Certainly, this was a stormy night for the region. The Sierras were also looking at feet of snowfall before all this is said & done. This evening was just the 1st part of the storm. More heavy rain & wind was in store for the state over the next day or two as this atmospheric river was forecast to inch back north towards the South Bay the very next day... Things would finally die down by Friday. Stay safe out there, everyone! (Video taken Tuesday nearing midnight, ‎January ‎26, ‎2021)

 

*Weather forecast/update: A strong Pacific storm, or atmospheric river, was expected to bring periods of moderate to heavy rain to the region. This system was forecast to arrive by Tuesday (Jan 26) & was to bring periods of heavy rain & high winds. This will likely result in an increased risk of mudslides over steep terrain, debris flow over wildfire burned areas, as well as localized ponding of water in low-lying areas. Up to 3 inches of rain was expected in urban areas & 3-7 inches possible over higher terrain. The entire area from Napa south thru Monterey & San Benito Counties would get a good soaking from this atmospheric river. Latest model guidance suggests the coastal slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains & Big Sur look to be the primary target of the heaviest rain. On top of this, a high wind watch was also in effect during the period. South winds 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50-60 mph are possible. North Bay, San Francisco Bay Shoreline, East Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, and the South Bay will all be affected. Timing of the strongest winds are forecast to happen Tuesday evening thru Wednesday morning as this strong system’s cold front sweeps thru. Damaging winds can blow down trees & power lines which may result in power outages… Stay tuned to the latest forecast for the most up-to-date weather info online…

From Wikipedia...

 

The MV Kalakala (pronounced kah-lah-kah-lah)[1] was a ferry that operated on Puget Sound from 1935 until her retirement in 1967.

 

Kalakala was notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling, and luxurious amenities. The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists, and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. The ship is known as the world's first streamlined vessel for its unique art deco styling..

 

She was constructed in 1926 as Peralta for the Key System's ferry service on San Francisco Bay. On 6 May 1933 Peralta burned as a result of an arson fire at the terminal where she was moored, resulting in the complete destruction of her superstructure. The hull was still intact and on 12 October 1933 the vessel was sold to the Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC), also known by its marketing name, the "Black Ball Line". PSNC funded a refit to restore the vessel as a ferry.

 

In November 1934, William Thorniley, publicist for PSNC and president of the Olympic Peninsula Travel Association, named the new ferry Kalakala, which was said to mean "bird" in the Pacific Northwest Native American trade language Chinook Jargon.[3][4][5][6] Thorniley launched a national promotional campaign beginning with large billboard signs that simply said "KALAKALA!" Later, they said "KALAKALA, Seattle, WA" and featured a picture of the vessel as well.

 

The new bridge and wheelhouse were built entirely out of copper, from fear that the steel used in the rest of the vessel would interfere with the ship's compass.[7] Set back from her streamlined superstructure for aesthetics, it was impossible to see the bow of the vessel from the bridge. As visibility also depended on round portholes rather than a fully-glazed wheelhouse, she was known for being difficult to handle when docking.

 

Kalakala was well known for a heavy shaking vibration that ran throughout the vessel when in operation. This was probably due to poor alignment of the engines in the original construction of the vessel. When the propeller was replaced with a new 5-bladed version in 1956, the vibration was reduced by 40%.[8] Although the company wished the vessel to be known as the Silver Swan, the vessel soon attracted other, less complementary nicknames, including the Silver Slug, Silver Beetle, Galloping Ghost of the Pacific Coast, and, among Seattle's Scandinavian community, Kackerlacka, which means "cockroach"

 

In February 1946, Kalakala was issued Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license #001 for the first commercial radar syste

 

The Kalakala moored at Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma, Washington in November 2007.

 

After her retirement in 1967, the vessel was sold to a seafood processing company and towed to Alaska to work as a factory ship. After working as a crabbing ship for a couple of years, the Kalakala was beached in Kodiak, Alaska in 1970 and used to process shrimp.

 

Peter Bevis discovered the rusting hulk on a fishing trip in 1984. The Kalakala had been turned into a cannery and the internal structure had been reworked to create a building with cement floors, drywall, and ceiling tiles. After complicated financial negotiations and hard work, they managed to refloat her and tow her back to Seattle in 1998. The vessel has since been a source of controversy as her owners were unable to raise sufficient funds to refurbish the vessel or even to keep her moored in Seattle's Union Bay.

 

The vessel was sold in 2004 to a private investor, who moved her to an anchorage in Neah Bay provided by the Makah people. Soon after arriving at Neah Bay the Kalakala was evicted by the Makah, who also brought a lawsuit against the owners. The vessel has since been relocated to Tacoma, Washington.

 

In February 2008, Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues announced his intention to acquire additional vintage ferry vessels and to restore them and the Kalakala as either ferries powered by wind and solar technologies or as museums. The Kalakala was scheduled for work on its hull and superstructure in dry dock in 2010,[11] but this never happened. After six years in Tacoma, the Kalakala began listing, and officials worried of environmental damage the ferry might pose.[12] The state had also passed a state law focusing on the removal of abandoned and/or neglected vessels in Washington state waterways so pressure is being applied to the owner to do something with the Kalakala.

 

Artistic projects

 

Several art projects arose from their fascination with the Kalakala, including a full-length album of solo cello compositions recorded onboard the vessel in November 2003, called "Songs From a Parallel Universe." There is also an as-yet unreleased film, also filmed on the Kalakala, about the "Ghost Dance."

 

There was also a live concert featuring the Icelandic band múm, Serena Tideman and Eyvind Kang, on board the Kalakala.

 

A temporary "pirate radio" station broadcasting from the Kalakala is featured in the 2005 documentary film "Pirate Radio."

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