System's photos on Flickr

www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/6796741230/

Magellanic Clouds and Gum Nebula with Zeiss Distagon 21mmF2.8 May 2010 Light Version by Hisayoshi Kato

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Two Magellanic Clouds and huge G-shaped red emission of Gum Nebula are in the frame.

The Magellanic Clouds were visible easily at the dark site, but they were lower than south pole in May. The right lower corner was around 8 degree above horizon at the end of the session, and stars floated and moved while exposure due to refraction effect of thick layer of air.

A researcher of galactic astronomy asked me something on the image of Messier 31, and he kindly suggested that something is visible in this Magellanic Clouds photo. I dug blue channel of the photo deeper, until I got some traces of Magellanic Bridge.

"The Magellanic System's Interactive Formations" by Putman ME 2000

www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AS00001.pdf

Equipment: Zeiss Distagon 21mmF2.8 for Contax Yashica and EOS 5Dmk2-sp2 by Seo san on EM-200 temma 2Jr. autoguided with FSQ-106ED, hiro-design off-axis guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar Autoguider, and PHD Guiding by Craig Stark

Exposure: 3 times x 1,680 seconds, 1 x 900 sec, 4 x 240 sec, and 4 x 60 seconds at F5.6 and ISO 1,600

Location: 1,200 feet above sea level at 30 25 22S 116 58 05E on Petruder Rock near Dalwallinu in Western Australia

View On Black

Vermont Rails by David Blazejewski

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Vermont Rail System's legendary septuagenarian diesel number 405 performs a photo runby with a three car Trains magazine charter special at the Jersey Girls Dairy at the Thompson Road crosding near MP B16.5 of Vermont Railway's Bellows Falls Subdivision (the ex Green Mountain Railroad née Rutland mainline).

This line traces its history back to 1849 when the Rutland Railroad's mainline from the Connecticut River town to Burlington opened by way of its namesake community. The venerable Alco RS-1 rolled out of the Schenectady plant in November 1951 as one of a half dozen of the model and served the erstwhile Class 1 until it shut down for good in 1961. While her siblings were scattered to the wind she never left her home state being picked up by Nelson Blount (founder of Steamtown) and then staying with the Green Mountain Railroad in freight service even after Steamtown left in 1983. She has remained in service on her home rails for 73 years and still occasionally is called up to freight duty, though now largely enjoys an easier life on excursion and passenger duty such as this.

Chester, Vermont

Saturday September 28, 2024

North North Temperate Zone Little Red Spot by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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On July 11, the Juno spacecraft once again swung near the turbulent Jovian cloud tops. On its seventh orbital closest approach this perijove passage brought Juno within 3,500 kilometers of the Solar System's largest planetary atmosphere. Near perijove the rotating JunoCam was able to record this stunning, clear view of one of Jupiter's signature vortices. About 8,000 kilometers in diameter, the anticyclonic storm system was spotted in Jupiter's North North Temperate Zone in the 1990s. That makes it about half the size of an older and better known Jovian anticyclone, the Great Red Spot, but only a little smaller than planet Earth. At times taking on reddish hues, the enormous storm system is fondly known as a North North Temperate Zone Little Red Spot.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran

Read more

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zircon

Bradford Station - Take Two by David Blazejewski

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Here's a belated Station Saturday offering.

On a rain soaked afternoon Vermont Rail System's Washington County Railroad train NPWJ (Newport to White River Junction) is southbound with two cars and two company red EMD GP38-2s, CLP 204 (blt. Oct. 1973 as SCL 528) and VTR 201 (blt. Dec. 1972 new for the VTR). The train is at about MP L77 on modern day WACR's Connecticut River Division Lyndonville Subdivision approaching the Waits River Road crossing. This is the former Boston and Maine Conn River Line main which dates from 1848 when the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad built north from White River Junction.

I'm not sure when the structure at left was built, but it is one of many surviving wooden depots along this route, in fact two still stand in this town alone! Prior to 1953 this was known as Piermont station (named for the the town in New Hampshire across the river) and Bradford station was 1.2 miles to the north. In July of that year the Bradford station was retired and sold, and this little station was renamed Bradford and would retain passenger service until 1965. Long since sold into private hands it appears to presently be used as office space.

To learn much more history see the lengthy caption with this post: flic.kr/p/2q6eXDS

Bradford, Vermont

Saturday June 22, 2024

Gritty Side of Longyearbyen #2 by Scott T.

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Coal mining has been a huge part of Svalbard's past. There were mines up in the mountains all around Longyearbyen. The mined coal was trasported to the harbor by these gravity powered cableway buckets. While no longer used, the system's towers, cables, and buckets are everywhere.

METRO by lensflare82

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Pushkinskaya (Russian: Пу́шкинская) is a station of the Saint Petersburg Metro. It first opened on 30 April 1956, under the original name of "Vitebskiy vokzal".

There is a monument in the station dedicated to the poet Alexander Pushkin sculpted by Mikhail Anikushin. This station was the first USSR metro station with memorial located under the ground.

The Metro system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is 86 metres below ground. Serving about 2 million passengers daily, it is also the 19th busiest metro system in the world.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Die Metro Sankt Petersburg ist die U-Bahn der russischen Millionenstadt Sankt Petersburg und zugleich eines der tiefst gelegenen U-Bahn-Systeme der Welt. Die erste Linie wurde am 15. November 1955 eröffnet. Zu Zeiten der Sowjetunion hieß sie nach dem damaligen Namen der Stadt Metro Leningrad. Das Metronetz besteht im Jahr 2013 aus fünf Linien mit insgesamt 113,6 km Streckenlänge und 67 Stationen. Täglich werden 2,8 Millionen und jährlich 1,02 Milliarden Fahrgäste befördert. Die Petersburger Metro gilt als eine der architektonisch schönsten der Welt.

Das Foto zeigt die Station "Pushkinskaya", durch die schlechten Lichtverhältnisse leider nicht in bester Qualität.

Thanks for watching :-) If you like it, feel free to hit the "Favourite"-button or leave a comment.

PDRR0038 by Stanley Short

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We finished up our recent trip down south with a day on the Pee Dee River Railroad. The weather could have been better, with clouds ,rain and wind, but we made the best of the situation. Here, we find the eastbound freight train approaching McColl, SC and the interchange with CSX. Power was two former CSX/SBD GP16's. Leader No. 1842 began life in Feb., 1952 as Seaboard Air Line GP7 No. 1795. It was rebuilt to a GP16 in June, 1982 at Seaboard System's Uceta Shop in Tampa, FL. I remember from back then that Seaboard System hoped to get another 10 years out of them with the rebuild. Well, 40 years later No. 1842 still carries on, and I think the rebuild could be judged a success.

DSC_2610 copyright 2: "A Wintery Test Flight" by columbia107

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RAF BAe Systems Typhoon FGR4 Typhoon T.3 (ZK303/AX) in 41 Squuadron colours, part of the BAe System's Test Fleet based at Warton Aerodrome on short finals on Runway 25 post another test run over the Irish Sea.

Zircon Crystal Macro by Martin Heigan

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A macro photo of a Brown Zircon Crystal from Madagascar.

Zircon Crystals and the age of Earth:

Zircon Crystals in a Nutshell - the simplified story of Zircon Crystals.

How tiny Zircon Crystals - Zirconium silicate (ZrSiO4) helped determine the age of Earth (at approximately 4.5 Billion years since the crust cooled) with Radiometric U-Pb (Uranium-Lead) dating.

Zircon Crystals trap Uranium Atoms in its crystal structure and naturally repels Lead. Once the crystal structure is formed, nothing is able to get out. Over time the isotopes of Uranium starts to transmutate into other elements in what is referred to as a decay chain. An Uranium Atom first transmutates to a Thorium Atom (which takes a few billion years). Thorium is far more unstable, and in less than a month it turns into Protactinium. Within a minute Protactinium atoms transmute again, and so on. At the end of the chain, the Uranium atoms finally decay into the stable element Lead (Pb), and will then remain Lead forever. As the decay rate and times of the transmutation are constant in the Universe, it is possible to calculate the age of the crystal with Radiometric dating. As Zircon Crystals are tough, it is the oldest geological time-capsules that survived in Earth's dynamic crust since it cooled. As nothing can get in or out of the Zircon Crystal structure, it is the most accurate way of geological dating. By comparing the dating of Zircon silicate crystals on Earth, from Moon samples and visiting Meteorites, Scientists have been able to calculate that Earth is 4.54 billion years old. The error margin is 50 million years, which is small considering the time-scale.

The spin-off from trying to date the Earth, was that the Scientist Clair Patterson discovered the high amount of toxic Lead in the environment, due to the use of Lead-based fuel, paint, etc. The body needs metals like Iron in the blood to transfer Oxygen through the body. The body assumes that Lead is a good metal, but Lead not only destroys cells, but blocks the signals of Neuroreceptors in the Brain (leading to madness). After a lifetime of persistence, Clair Patterson eventually won the case and the widespread use of Lead in everyday products were banned (which is why we now use unleaded fuel).

More interesting reading:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_lead_dating

earthsky.org/earth/this-zircon-crystal-is-the-oldest-piec...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_chain

Thank you to my best friend Sumarie for giving me this time-capsule of Earth and our Solar System's geological history. It is a gift of significance from someone special, that knows what I value.

Photo usage and Copyright:

Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.

Martin

-

[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Twitter]

[Facebook] [3D VFX & Mocap] [Science & Physics Page]

Life grows. by Pushkr

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"There's an internally recognized beauty of motion and balance on any man-healthy planet," Kynes said. "You see in this beauty a dynamic stabilizing effect essential to all life. Its aim is simple : to maintain and produce coordinated patterns of greater and greater diversity. Life improves the closed system's capacity to sustain life. Life-- all life--is in the service of life. Necessary nutrient are made available to life by life in greater and greater richness as the diversity of life increases. The entire landscape comes alive, filed with relationships and relationships within relationships.

(The Ecology of Dune by Frank Herbert)

Wall of Water by Jody Trappe

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Went to the Croton Dam this morning. It was snowing on the way up, but by the time we started shooting, the sun had broken out and the sky was a brilliant blue. It has rained hard for the last two days, making the water rage beyond belief. Standing this far away, my lens was still getting wet from the water spray. Getting another photographer in the pic shows you scale and just how big this dam and water spray are. It was a gorgeous site with the beautiful double rainbow on the left.

More shots below including the full rainbow...

The New Croton Dam, part of the New York City water supply system, stretches across the Croton River near Croton-on-Hudson, New York, about 22 miles (35 km) north of New York City. Construction began in 1892 and was completed in 1906. Designed by Alphonse Fteley (1837–1903), this masonry dam is 266 feet (81 m) broad at its base and 297 feet (91 m) high from base to crest. Its foundation extends 130 feet (40 m) below the bed of the river, and the dam contains 850,000 cubic yards (650,000 m3) of masonry. The engineers' tablet mounted on the headhouse nearest the spillway lists the spillway length as 1,000 feet (300 m) and the total length of the dam and spillway combined as 2,188 feet (667 m). At the time of its completion, it was the tallest dam in the world. New Croton Dam impounds up to 19 billion gallons (71.9 million m³) of water, a small fraction of the New York City water system's total storage capacity of 580 billion gallons.

Twin tail revealed in new Hubble image of Didymos-Dimorphos system following DART impact by European Space Agency

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Two tails of dust ejected from the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system are seen in new images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, documenting the lingering aftermath of the NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impact on 27 September 2022 at 01:14 CEST. Current data show that DART shortened Dimorphos’ original 11 hour and 55 minute orbit around Didymos by about 32 minutes.

Repeated observations from Hubble over the last several weeks have allowed scientists to present a more complete picture of how the system’s debris cloud has evolved over time. The observations show that the ejected material, or “ejecta,” has expanded and faded in brightness as time went on after impact, largely as expected. The twin tail is an unexpected development, although similar behavior is commonly seen in comets and active asteroids. The Hubble observations provide the best-quality image of the double-tail to date.

Following impact, Hubble made 18 observations of the system. Imagery indicates the second tail formed between 2-8 October 2022.

In this image, DART impacted the Didymos-Dimorphos system from the 10 o’clock direction.

The relationship between the comet-like tail and other ejecta features seen at various times in images from Hubble and other telescopes is still unclear, and is something the Investigation Team is currently working to understand. The northern tail is newly developed. In the coming months, scientists will be taking a closer look at the data from Hubble to determine how the second tail developed. There are a number of possible scenarios the team will investigate.

Credits: NASA, ESA, Jian-Yang Li (PSI), Joe Depasquale (STScI)

FZG: Nightshade by Jez Williams

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In the 23rd century, Formula Zero-Gravity (FZG) is the Sol system’s biggest spectator sport and Nightshade one of its rising stars. Now the enigmatic black-clad driver joins Team Mercedes-Benz and its sponsor John Player - the planet’s leading supplier of legal stimulants - in a new bid to conquer the circuit and claim the FZG Trophy. Will 2248 prove to be his breakthrough season?

264 Crossing Cuttingsville by David Blazejewski

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Here is a look back to another favorite shot from 2018 that I'd not shared before. This was from my first trip back to the old Green Mountain Railroad in decades after recently moving back to New England (though I've made many more since). I intercepted the Saturday unit slurry train (263) and followed it down to Bellows Falls then chased 264 back west up and over the mountains.

Here is westbound 264 crossing the famed Cuttingsville Trestle over the Mill River and VT Route 103 at about MP 40.7 on the modern day Vermont Rail System's Bellows Falls Subdivision, the former Rutland Green Mountain mainline. The 412 ft. long double- intersection Warren deck truss bridge was built in 1895 by Rochester Bridge and Iron Works.

Leading the train in VRS company red is Clarendon and Pittsford 204 an EMD GP38-2 blt. Oct. 1973 as SCL 528. And trailing can be seen the nose of the famous VTR 431 an EMD SD70M-2 blt. Dec. 2006 as FEC 101.

Wallingford, Vermont

Saturday July 28, 2018

FlanaryRon-NRHSExcursion-CopperCreek-11-84 by Ron Flanary

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An unlikely trio of units brings a northbound NRHS excursion over the Copper Creek Viaduct at Speers Ferry. The lead unit is a privately-owned F7A, painted in ACL purple and silver and lettered for the Charleston and Western Carolina. The next unit is an ex-Clinchfield F7B, Seaboard System's 119. But the last unit is a real gem: the late Glen Monhart's ACL E3, number 501. The old slant nosed EMC unit is now in the collection of the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, and it was a featured subject at the "Streamliners" event earlier this year.

Late Night Layover by Matt Csenge

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San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) PCC car 1057 is seen stopped for a break on the Embarcadero. The car is painted in a Cincinnati Street Railway scheme worn by similar cars prior to the system's abandonment in 1952. The car was originally built by the St. Louis Car Co. in 1948 as Philadelphia Transportation Co. car 2138, and has been restored/rebuilt twice since being acquired by Muni in 1992.

Slovenia - Postojna Cave by Michael Kemper

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Slowenien - Höhlen von Postojna

Postojna Cave (Slovene: Postojnska jama; German: Adelsberger Grotte; Italian: Grotte di Postumia) is a 24.34 km (15.12 mi) long karst cave system near Postojna, southwestern Slovenia. It is the second-longest cave system in the country (following the Migovec System) as well as one of its top tourism sites. The caves were created by the Pivka River.

History

The cave was first described in the 17th century by the pioneer of study of karst phenomena, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, although graffiti inside dated to 1213 indicates a much longer history of use. In 1818, when the cave was being prepared for a visit by Francis I, the first Emperor of Austria-Hungary, a new area of the cave was discovered accidentally by Luka Čeč, a local man in charge of lighting lamps in the cave. In the 1850s, the Austrian-Czech geographer Adolf Schmidl published the first comprehensive scientific overview of the Postojna caves and the Pivka Basin, which became a standard reference point in the study of speleology.

First tourist guide and electric lighting

In 1819, Archduke Ferdinand visited the caves, this is when the caves became officially known as a tourist destination. Čeč became the first official tourist guide for the caves when the caves were opened to the public. Electric lighting was added in 1884, preceding even Ljubljana, the capital of Carniola, of which the cave was part at the time, and further enhancing the cave system's popularity.

In 1872, cave rails were laid along with first cave train for tourists. At first, these were pushed along by the guides themselves, later at the beginning of the 20th century a gas locomotive was introduced.

During World War I, Russian prisoners of war were forced to construct a bridge across a large chasm inside the cave.

Mid-century changes

During World War II, German occupying forces used the cave to store nearly 1,000 barrels of aircraft fuel, which were destroyed in April 1944 by Slovene Partisans. The fire burned for seven days, destroying a large section of the cave and blackening the entrance.

After 1945, the gas locomotive was replaced by an electric one. About 5.3 kilometres (3.3 mi) of the cave system are open to the public.

At the end of the 1990s it was one of world's most visited show caves, with nearly 1 million tourists per year.

21st-century tourism

In June 2015 and May 2017, the cave administration reported that cave divers managed to explore a further underwater section of the cave leading towards Planina Cave, thus lengthening the cave system from 20,570 m (67,490 ft) to 24,340 m (79,860 ft). The cave also houses the world’s first and only underground post office which initially opened in 1899.

Natural environment

Postojna Cave was carved by the Pivka River over millions of years. There are stalagmites, stalactites, and formations called curtains or draperies that look like folded curtains.

The cave system is 24.34 kilometers (15.12 mi) long and is made up of four caves interconnected through the same underground river. However, according to speleology rules, the passages and siphons connecting the caves must be walked or swum through by man for them to be considered one whole. Connecting two of the main cave systems will make this the longest cave system in Slovenia and one of the longest in all of Europe. There remain 400 meters (1,300 ft) between the two caves, which would make the cave system between 31,000 meters (102,000 ft) and 35,000 meters (115,000 ft) long.

The caves are also home to the endemic olm, the largest troglodytic amphibian in the world. The tour through the caves includes an aquarium with some olms in it. On January 30, 2016, a female olm at the cave began to lay over 50 eggs. This rare event led to global news about Postojna Cave and the olm. From the end of May to mid-July 2016, twenty-two baby olms successfully hatched.

Postojna Cave tour

While the cave system is 24 km long, only 5 km is open to the public. Of this, 3.5 km is traversed by a train that takes visitors through the cave; the remaining 1.5 km can be navigated on foot and with a guide. The whole tour takes about 1.5 hours.

The temperature inside the cave is around ten degrees Celsius (fifty degrees Fahrenheit).

Permanent exhibition

The exhibition "EXPO Postojna Cave Karst" was opened in April 2014. It is the largest permanent exhibition about the cave and karst phenomena around the world. The exhibition features interactive presentations about the history of the tourism-related development of the cave. Visitors learn about karst phenomena through projections of various material onto a three-dimensional model, discover the special features of the karst environment, and learn about historic events at Postojna Cave on the Wall of Fame. The exhibition is of interest to both the general public and experts. Children are interactively guided through the exhibition by an olm and a slenderneck beetle, and can ride a cave train by themselves.

(Wikipedia)

Die Höhlen von Postojna, slowenisch Postojnska jama (italienisch Grotte di Postumia, deutsch auch Adelsberger Grotte), eigentlich im ganzen Ausmaß Postojna-Höhlensystem (Postojnski jamski sistem), liegen in der Nähe der slowenischen Stadt Postojna (deutsch: Adelsberg, italienisch: Postumia). Im dortigen Karstgebiet befinden sich die zweitgrößten bekannten und für Touristen erschlossenen Tropfsteinhöhlen der Welt (nach der Jeita-Grotte im Libanon). Das gesamte Höhlensystem ist 24 Kilometer lang. Der erschlossene und ganzjährig für den Tourismus geöffnete Teil umfasst 5 km, wovon die Besucher 3,5 km mit einem Zug zurücklegen.

Beschreibung

Das Höhlensystem besteht aus drei Hauptebenen – auf der untersten fließt noch heute der Fluss Pivka. Mit der Höhle von Postojna durch den unterirdischen Lauf der Pivka zu einem Höhlensystem verbunden sind Pivka jama, Otoska jama, Magdalena jama, Črna jama und Planinska jama. In der Nähe des Höhlensystems von Postojna befinden sich noch zahlreiche andere Tropfsteinhöhlen, hier sind hervorzuheben die von der UNESCO als Weltnaturerbe geschützten Höhlen von Škocjan und in Italien die Grotta Gigante bei Triest.

In einem Becken im Eingangsbereich waren bis 2008 einige Exemplare des Grottenolms (Proteus anguinus) zu besichtigen; dieser blinde und besonders scheue Schwanzlurch kommt natürlicherweise nur in der Karstwelt des Dinarischen Gebirges vor, so auch in der Höhle von Postojna. Inzwischen wurden die in dem Becken gehaltenen Tiere in das „Vivarium Proteus“ überführt, welches sich 100 Meter vor dem Höhleneingang befindet. 2016 konnte in einem weiteren Vivarium in der Höhle erstmals beobachtet und gefilmt werden, wie insgesamt 21 Grottenolme aus ihren Eiern schlüpfen.

Insgesamt leben im Höhlensystem von Postojna 175 Tierarten. 115 davon sind troglobiont – sie kommen ausschließlich in Höhlen vor.

Entstehung

Das Höhlensystem von Postojna ist der obere Teil des stark durch den Karst geprägten Einzugsgebietes der Ljubljanica und mindestens seit dem frühen Pleistozän durch die Pivka, den Hauptabfluss des Pivka-Beckens und ihre unterirdischen Zuflüsse geschaffen worden. Datierungen der im Höhlensystem abgelagerten Sedimente ergaben ein Alter von bis zu 0,9 Millionen Jahren. Die Entstehung der Höhlen hängt damit zusammen, dass am Südwestrand des Pivka-Beckens der wenig wasserdurchlässige eozäne Flysch im Untergrund des Beckens gegen mächtige Kalksteineinheiten der Kreide grenzt, die einen oft sehr reinen Kalkstein aufweisen, der ungleich stärker durch Wasser erodiert wird als die Sandsteine und Tonsteine des Flyschs.

Das zunächst oberflächlich abfließende Wasser drang entlang von Klüften und Störungszonen in das Kalkgestein vor und führte durch Lösungsprozesse zur Entstehung von Höhlen, die eine schwerkraftbedingte Verlagerung des Gewässernetzes in den Untergrund bewirkten. Unterstützt wurde dieser Ablauf durch tektonische Vorgänge, die zum Absinken und Aufsteigen der geologischen Einheiten gegeneinander führten, so dass das Wasser sich ständig neue Wege suchen musste. Die jeweils aktiven Höhlenabschnitte wurden darüber hinaus durch die von der Pivka und ihren Vorgängerflüssen mitgeführten Sand-, Kies- und Geröllmassen korrasiv erweitert.

Der Verlauf der Höhlengänge des Postojna-Höhlensystems zeigt zwei Hauptrichtungen. Ein großer Teil der langgestreckten Hohlräume verläuft deutlich in Nordwest-Südost-Richtung und damit parallel zu tektonischen Störungen im Höhlengebiet. Ein zweiter Teil steht etwa senkrecht dazu und ist stärker verzweigt als der andere Teil.

Erschließung und Nutzung der Höhlen

Für das Jahr 1213 ist der erste Besuch in der Höhle belegt. Im 16. Jahrhundert erreichten die Besuche einen ersten Höhepunkt. Im Jahre 1689 beschrieb Johann Weichard von Valvasor die „Adelsberger Grotte“, die er selbst in Teilen erkundet hatte, in seinem Werk Die Ehre dess Hertzogthums Crain. 1818 wurde das erste Licht installiert, Wege wurden angelegt und neue Teile der Höhle entdeckt. Im Jahre 1819 erfolgte die offizielle Freigabe für den Besucherandrang, und der Habsburger Erzherzog Ferdinand stattete der Höhle einen Besuch ab. Es zeigte sich früh, dass für die Besichtigung eine Sicherung der Wege und eine bessere Übersicht erforderlich war. Dafür setzte sich der Ingenieur Alois Schaffenrath ein und legte 1821 einen Höhlenplan vor. Seine hervorragenden Kenntnisse vom Höhlensystem fanden 1834 in einer gedruckten Beschreibung beim Verlag Kleinmayr in Laibach ihren Niederschlag. Von ihm stammt auch eine Graphik, die den Eingang zur Höhle und die umgebende Landschaft zeigt.

Um die Erschließung in dieser Zeit war auch der Naturforscher Franz Graf von Hohenwart bemüht. Im Jahre 1824 fanden die ersten Tanzveranstaltungen in einem etwa 500 Meter vom Eingang entfernten Höhlenteil statt, der heute Kongresna Dvorana („Kongresshalle“) genannt wird. Nach Fertigstellung der Eisenbahn Wien–Laibach–Triest im Jahre 1857 erhöhte sich die Zahl der Besucher beträchtlich. Am 9. März dieses Jahres besuchten Kaiser Franz Joseph I. und Kaiserin Elisabeth die Höhle und wurden im damals so genannten Dom mit Musik und Gesang und einer großen Volksmenge in Nationaltracht begrüßt. Da dieser Teil der Grotte erst frisch entdeckt worden war, wurde er zu diesem Anlass als Franz-Joseph-und-Elisabeth-Grotte benannt. Die erste Höhlenbahn wurde im Jahre 1872 angelegt. Damals bestand die Bahn nur aus zwei Wagen, sogenannten „Faeton“. Die Höhlenführer schoben diese, besetzt mit jeweils vier Gästen, mit Muskelkraft durch die Höhle.

Im Jahre 1884 wurde elektrisches Licht installiert, das in den Jahren 1901 und 1928 modernisiert wurde. Im Jahre 1914 wurden Lokomotiven mit Verbrennungsmotor eingesetzt, die 1959 durch eine elektrische Bahn ersetzt wurden.

Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wurde in der Grotte ein gut frequentiertes Postamt eingerichtet – allein beim Fest zum Saisonauftakt 1904 verkaufte man hier 13.800 Postkarten. Im März 1915 wurde dieses offizielle Postamt durch das k.u.k. Feldpostamt 81 ersetzt. Zur Erinnerung an dieses Postamt wurde im Jahr 2013 von der österreichischen und der slowenischen Post eine Gemeinschaftsbriefmarke herausgegeben.

Im Ersten Weltkrieg wurde die so genannte „Russische Brücke“ von russischen Kriegsgefangenen zur Erschließung weiterer Höhlenbereiche gebaut. Der Berliner Komponist Helmuth Sommer (1911–1993) schrieb während der Kriegsgefangenschaft im damaligen Jugoslawien das Werk Jugoslawische Skizzen. Im ersten Satz seiner 'Balkanskizzen' über die Grotten von Postojna gelingt es ihm eindrucksvoll, die Stimmung in der Grotte wiederzugeben.

In den 1960er-Jahren fanden in den Höhlen Dreharbeiten zu den Kinofilmen Winnetou 2. Teil und Die Nibelungen statt. Am 12. September 1965 wurde der IV. Internationale Speläologische Kongress in der Kongresna Dvorana abgehalten. 1968 wurden die heute noch bestehenden Wege angelegt.

Im Jahr 2008 lag die Besucherzahl bei 548.442.

2017 gaben die Betreiber bekannt, dass in den vergangenen 200 Jahren insgesamt 38 Millionen Menschen die Höhle besucht haben.

Im Jahr 2013 wurde zum 800. Jahrestag der Besuche in den Höhlen eine 2-Euro-Gedenkmünze herausgegeben.

(Wikipedia)

Resonance Renaissance by Bob

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ODC 1 ~ Emotional Resonance for 07.04.13

Day 186 ~ 365: the 2013 edition

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. Frequencies at which the response amplitude is a relative maximum are known as the system's resonant frequencies, or resonance frequencies. At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations, because the system stores vibrational energy.

Stewart J. Cort by smiles7

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Another great footer.

M/V Stewart J. Cort was the first 1000-foot vessel on the Great Lakes when she entered service for Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1972. Her bow and stern sections, built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, were joined together and called “Stubby” for the trip to the Great Lakes. At Erie Marine, Erie, Pennsylvania, “Stubby” was cut apart and joined with the midbody built there. The Cort is the only 1000-footer with pilot house forward. All crew accommodations are also forward. Her self-unloading system’s shuttle boom is contained within the after cabin structure.

Hot Fire Test of SLS Rocket Core Stage by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a hot fire test, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines fired for a little more than one minute and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. The hot fire is part of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the Space Launch System’s core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the Moon.

Credit: NASA

#NASA #space #moon #Mars #NASAMarshall #msfc #sls #spacelaunchsystem #nasasls #rockets #exploration #engineering #explore #rocketscience #artemis #SSC #StennisSpaceCenter

More about Artemis

More about SLS

749.262-2_-_31.12.2021-_-Rail System s.r.o. Hanzalík_trať číslo 193 Malovičky - Malovice u Netolic (SEx 11963) by Lubomír Podlaha

Redwood Trail, Spring Morning by G Dan Mitchell

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Lush spring vegetation along a trail through coastal redwood forest, Northern California.

Early one June morning this year we parked the car and strolled along a trail into a coast redwood grove that is close enough to the Pacific that you pass people hiking to the water and you encounter fog forming over the coast hills. Not all redwood forests are this moist, but here the conditions create especially lush growth, and on this morning the drifting fog softened the light and muted more distant subjects, though it still had a bit of a directional quality.

On this visit I thought a lot about the difference between what the camera records and what the eye and mind see in the redwoods. When opening files from photography in the redwoods, the colors often seem more dull than the memory. Several possible explanations exist, but I’ve long had an idea about how our visual system accommodates different kinds of lighting, essentially normalizing them in ways that aren’t captured by the camera. This time I made a point of stopping and thinking long and hard about the way the colors looked to me while walking through the forest, and I realized that our visual system’s normalization process compensates for the bluish light and tells us that the colors are warmer than they objectively are. To my mind, it is more important that a photograph express what I saw in the place than it is that it achieve some standard of objective color balance that essentially lies about what I experienced… and what you see here is true to my experience in the redwoods.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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PF 2022. :-)

North Thetford by David Blazejewski

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Just another from this fun rainy summer Saturday chasing Vermont Rail System's Washington County Railroad train NPWJ (Newport to White River Junction) south along the old Conn River Line.

A pair of company red EMDs, GP38-2s CLP 204 (blt. Oct. 1973 as SCL 528) and VTR 201 (blt. Dec. 1972 new for the VTR) have two cars in tow as they pass an old barn approaching the Bridge Road crossing near the site of the long gone North Thetford station at MP L87.8 on modern day WACR's Connecticut River Division Lyndonville Subdivision. This is the former Boston and Maine Conn River Line main which dates from 1848 when the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad built north from White River Junction.

Thetford, Vermont

Saturday June 22, 2024

Not Easy To Love by Citizen of the Galaxy

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Pity that poor creation, the EMU passenger car. Obstesibly a subway train set loose on the main line, these workhorses of many an urban commuter rail system toil away in anonymity, serving the bulk of the system's travelers, while capturing none of the reverence given to their locomotive hauled counterparts.

On 24 August 1981, still relatively new in its career, Jersey Arrow III car no. 1437 and five others comprising train 3616, from a fleet of 100 married pairs and 30 single cars built in 1977-78, prepare to begin their journey from the South Amboy station on the New York & Long Branch electrified territory, bound for Penn Station. Over forty years later, the fleet still rolls on.

Memorial Hospital Miramar, Medical Office Building 1, 1901 SW 172nd Avenue, Miramar, Florida, USA / Built: 2005 / Floors: 4 by Urban Florida Photographer

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Since its inception in 1953, Memorial Healthcare System has been a leader in providing high-quality healthcare services to South Florida residents. Moving health forward to meet the needs of the community, Memorial is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the nation and highly regarded for its exceptional patient- and family-centered care that creates the Memorial experience. Memorial's patient, physician and employee satisfaction rates are some of the most admired in the country, and the system is recognized as a national leader in quality healthcare.

Memorial Regional Hospital is the flagship facility of the healthcare system and is one of the largest hospitals in Florida.

Memorial Regional Hospital offers extensive and diverse health care services that include Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute featuring renowned surgeons, Memorial Cancer Institute treating more inpatients than any other in Broward County, and Memorial Neuroscience Institute providing innovative technology and world-class physicians.

Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital South are both located in Hollywood, Florida, and offer our community a variety of medical and surgical services. Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial provides a comprehensive array of pediatric services and is the leading children's hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Memorial Hospital West, Memorial Hospital Miramar and Memorial Hospital Pembroke serve the communities of western Broward County and others in South Florida. Memorial Home Health Services, Memorial Manor nursing home and a variety of ancillary healthcare facilities round out the system's wide-ranging health services.

Memorial has a reputation as one of Florida's leading healthcare systems and is supported by a distinguished medical staff. In fact, the vast majority of physicians are board certified, or board qualified in their specialties and have been trained at many of the nation's finest medical schools and hospitals. Because of its distinguished medical staff and services, Memorial moves health forward for patients from South Florida and beyond.

As Memorial continues to lead in providing the next level of healthcare, many prestigious awards have been earned throughout the system. The accolades include Modern Healthcare magazine's Best Places to Work in Healthcare, Florida Trend magazine's Best Companies to Work for in Florida, 100 Top Hospitals, Consumer Choice Award, Best-Run Hospital, Best Nursing Staff, Best Pediatric Hospital and Best Maternity Hospital. The health care system was also honored by the American Hospital Association with the "Living the Vision" award and the "Foster G. McGaw" award for which Memorial was selected from more than 5,000 hospitals as the national model for improving the health of the community.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

Memorial Hospital West, 703 N Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA / Built: 1996 / Floors: 7 by Urban Florida Photographer

Blue Skies And Red Locos by David Blazejewski

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The Canadian Pacific Railway had been operating in the state of Vermont for 115 years when they finally retrenched in 1996 and sold the Newport and Lyndonville Subs to Iron Roads Railways which created the new Northern Vermont Railway which took over on September 28th of that year. The Iron Roads system was bankrupt within a half dozen years and the NV ceased to exist with the Lyndonville Sub and the former Boston and Maine Conn River Mainline between Newport and White River Junction being purchased by the State of Vermont and contracted to Vermont Rail System's Washington County Railroad Subsidiary. The WACR is now at the two decade mark operating the 103 mile line while the Newport Sub north into Canada passed to succesors Montreal, Maine and Atlantic and then Central Maine and Quebec until remarkably returning to the CP fold in 2020 when they purchased the CMQ.

Recently VRS and CP have been pooling power, with one unit from each running thru between White River Junction, VT and Farnham, QC on an up and back every other day schedule. This harkens back to the B&M pool power days so with a bit of imagination one can pretend this is train 904 headed down from Newport to hand off to the B&M.

CPKC GP20C-ECO 2280 and VTR GP38-2 209 lead train NPWJ south past a small farm near MP L42 a couple miles north of St. Johnsbury Yard as they follow the Passumpsic River toward its confluence with the mighty Connecticut.

Saint Johnsbury, Vermont

Friday August 11, 2023

Almaty tramway (closed): Tatra T3DC # 1027 by Amir Nurgaliyev

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Ex. NVS # 126 from Schwerin arrived in Almaty in 2004 in the years of the system's slight revival after the 90s. As all other Schweriners, it contained a second cabless twin car. The latter was in service until 2006 and 1027 was the last of the operating multiple-units here. The head car was running through the next years until the arrival of ex-Berliners in 2013.

[AET / АЭТ] Tatra T3DC # 1027

Baitursynov koshesi, Almaty, KZ 🇰🇿

156 8

Since its inception in 1953, Memorial Healthcare System has been a leader in providing high-quality healthcare services to South Florida residents. Moving health forward to meet the needs of the community, Memorial is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the nation and highly regarded for its exceptional patient- and family-centered care that creates the Memorial experience. Memorial's patient, physician and employee satisfaction rates are some of the most admired in the country, and the system is recognized as a national leader in quality healthcare.

Memorial Regional Hospital is the flagship facility of the healthcare system and is one of the largest hospitals in Florida.

Memorial Regional Hospital offers extensive and diverse health care services that include Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute featuring renowned surgeons, Memorial Cancer Institute treating more inpatients than any other in Broward County, and Memorial Neuroscience Institute providing innovative technology and world-class physicians.

Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital South are both located in Hollywood, Florida, and offer our community a variety of medical and surgical services. Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial provides a comprehensive array of pediatric services and is the leading children's hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Memorial Hospital West, Memorial Hospital Miramar and Memorial Hospital Pembroke serve the communities of western Broward County and others in South Florida. Memorial Home Health Services, Memorial Manor nursing home and a variety of ancillary healthcare facilities round out the system's wide-ranging health services.

Memorial has a reputation as one of Florida's leading healthcare systems and is supported by a distinguished medical staff. In fact, the vast majority of physicians are board certified, or board qualified in their specialties and have been trained at many of the nation's finest medical schools and hospitals. Because of its distinguished medical staff and services, Memorial moves health forward for patients from South Florida and beyond.

As Memorial continues to lead in providing the next level of healthcare, many prestigious awards have been earned throughout the system. The accolades include Modern Healthcare magazine's Best Places to Work in Healthcare, Florida Trend magazine's Best Companies to Work for in Florida, 100 Top Hospitals, Consumer Choice Award, Best-Run Hospital, Best Nursing Staff, Best Pediatric Hospital and Best Maternity Hospital. The health care system was also honored by the American Hospital Association with the "Living the Vision" award and the "Foster G. McGaw" award for which Memorial was selected from more than 5,000 hospitals as the national model for improving the health of the community.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

bcpa.net/RecInfo.asp?URL_Folio=514013140010

www.mhs.net/locations/memorial-west

Navajo Bridge by Thaddeus Roan

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Bridgepixing the Navajo Bridge, built 1929, over the Colorado River in Marble Canyon, east of the Grand Canyon. This historic bridge (on the right) is now a pedestrian only Footbridge after its twin (on the left) was built in 1995. Located near the site of the historic Lee's Ferry, this bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River's Marble Canyon near Lee's Ferry in the U.S. state of Arizona. Apart from the Glen Canyon Bridge a few miles upstream at Page, Arizona, it is the only roadway crossing of the river and the Grand Canyon for nearly 1000 km (600 mi). Spanning Marble Canyon, the bridge carries northbound travelers to southern Utah and to the otherwise inaccessible portions of Arizona north of the Colorado River, such as the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Prior to the construction of the first Navajo Bridge, the only river crossing from Arizona to Utah was at nearby Lee's Ferry, where the canyon walls are low and getting vehicles onto the water is relatively convenient. The ferry offered only unreliable service, however, as adverse weather and flooding regularly prevented its operation.

Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. It was paid for by the nascent Arizona State Highway Commission (now the Arizona Department of Transportation) in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the eastern landing is on the Navajo Nation. The steel spandrel bridge design was constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. The bridge is 834 feet in length, with a maximum height of 467 feet from the canyon floor. Its roadway offers an 18 foot surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). During the design phase, a wider roadway was considered, but ultimately rejected, as it would have required a costly third arch to be added to the design, and the vehicles of the time did not necessitate the wider road.

In 1990, however, it was decided that the current traffic flow was too great for the original bridge, and that a new solution was needed. The sharp corners in the roadway on each side of the bridge's approach had become a safety hazard due to low visibility, and the deficiency in the original design's width and load capacity specifications were becoming problematic. The bridge had also become part of the US Federal Highway System's Route 89ALT, and it did not meet the required standards of such a road.

Deciding on a solution was difficult, due to the many local interests. Issues included preservation of sacred Navajo land, endangered plant species in Marble Canyon, and the possibility of construction pollution entering the river. The original proposal called for merely widening and fortifying the bridge, but this was ultimately rejected since this could not possibly bring it up to current federal highway standards. Replacement was then the only option, and it was eventually decided to entirely discontinue automobile use of the original bridge. A new bridge would be built immediately next to the original and have a considerably similar visual appearance, but would conform to modern highway codes.

The new steel arch bridge was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and was completed in September of 1995, at a cost of approximately $15 million dollars.

The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed nearby to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

(Wikipedia)

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Spots Jupiter’s Great Red Spot by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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Images of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot reveal a tangle of dark, veinous clouds weaving their way through a massive crimson oval. The JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno mission snapped pics of the most iconic feature of the solar system’s largest planetary inhabitant during its Monday (July 10) flyby. The images of the Great Red Spot were downlinked from the spacecraft’s memory on Tuesday and placed on the mission’s JunoCam website Wednesday morning.

This enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was created by citizen scientist Jason Major using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Jason Major

Read more

EC Commissioner Breton visits ESTEC by European Space Agency

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European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton coming face to the face with the atomic clocks at the heart of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system.

On Tuesday 7 September ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher took Commissioner Breton on a tour of ESA’s European Space Technology and Research Centre, ESTEC, at Noordwijk in the Netherlands.

Seen from left to right: Internal Market Cabinet Member Fabrice Comptour; ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher; Commissioner Breton and Andrea Contellessa, heading ESA’s Galileo Space Segment Management Office.

They looked in at ESTEC’s Navigation Laboratory, which includes the complete navigation module of a Galileo satellite, kept in cleanroom conditions for technical experiments and trouble shooting.

On the left side sits Galileo’s passive hydrogen maser atomic clock, sufficiently accurate that it would lose only one second over three million years. To the right is a rubidium atomic clock, which would only lose three seconds in one million years. Each satellite carries two each of these two clock types for maximum redundancy.

Commissioner Breton also inspected the six Galileo ‘Batch 3’ satellites currently being tested for space at ESTEC’s Test Centre, the largest satellite test facility in Europe. Two of these Galileo satellites are due for launch later this year.

About Galileo

The Galileo system is operated by the EU Agency for the Space Programme, EUSPA, based in Prague. ESA and EUSPA are partnering on respectively the development and operations of Galileo.

ESA is in charge of the design, development, procurement and qualification of Galileo satellites and their associated ground infrastructure on behalf of the European Union, the system’s owner.

Credits: ESA-G. Porter

Dawn Mission: New Orbit, New Opportunities by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is maneuvering to its lowest-ever orbit for a close-up examination of the inner solar system’s only dwarf planet.

In early June, Dawn will reach its new, final orbit above Ceres. Soon after, it will begin collecting images and other science data from an unprecedented vantage point. This orbit will be less than 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface of Ceres -- 10 times closer than the spacecraft has ever been.

Dawn will collect gamma ray and neutron spectra, which help scientists understand variations in the chemical makeup of Ceres’ uppermost layer. That very low orbit also will garner some of Dawn’s closest images yet.

This picture is one of the first images returned by Dawn in more than a year, as Dawn moves to its lowest-ever and final orbit around Ceres. Dawn captured this view on May 16, 2018 from an altitude of about 270 miles (440 kilometers).

Image credit: Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Read more

Memorial Hospital West, 703 N Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA / Built: 1996 / Floors: 7 by Urban Florida Photographer

Hua Lamphong Station by Iwate Itinerary by Paul

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A quick reminder between archive picture sets that I live in Thailand now and I shall bring you a couple more pictures of my new life before taking you back in time to the UK.

Bangkok railway station (Thai: สถานีรถไฟกรุงเทพ), unofficially known as Hua Lamphong station (Thai: สถานีหัวลำโพง), is the main railway station in Bangkok, Thailand. It is in the center of the city in the Pathum Wan District, and is operated by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

The station was opened on 25 June 1916 after six years of construction. The site of the railway station was previously occupied by the national railway's maintenance centre, which moved to Makkasan in June 1910. At the nearby site of the previous railway station a pillar commemorates the inauguration of the Thai railway network in 1897.

The station was built in an Italian Neo-Renaissance-style, with decorated wooden roofs and stained glass windows. The architecture is attributed to Turin-born Mario Tamagno, who with countryman Annibale Rigotti (1870–1968) was also responsible for the design of several other early 20th century public buildings in Bangkok. The pair designed Bang Khun Phrom Palace (1906), Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in the Royal Plaza (1907–15) and Suan Kularb Residential Hall and Throne Hall in Dusit Garden, among other buildings.

There are 14 platforms, 26 ticket booths, and two electric display boards. Hua Lamphong serves over 130 trains and approximately 60,000 passengers each day. Since 2004 the station has been connected by an underground passage to the MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) subway system's Hua Lamphong MRT Station.

The station is also a terminus of the Eastern and Oriental Express luxury trains.

The station is scheduled to be closed in 2019, when it will be converted into a museum. The State Railway of Thailand plans to move Bangkok's central station to Bang Sue Central Station.

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Since its inception in 1953, Memorial Healthcare System has been a leader in providing high-quality healthcare services to South Florida residents. Moving health forward to meet the needs of the community, Memorial is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the nation and highly regarded for its exceptional patient- and family-centered care that creates the Memorial experience. Memorial's patient, physician and employee satisfaction rates are some of the most admired in the country, and the system is recognized as a national leader in quality healthcare.

Memorial Regional Hospital is the flagship facility of the healthcare system and is one of the largest hospitals in Florida.

Memorial Regional Hospital offers extensive and diverse health care services that include Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute featuring renowned surgeons, Memorial Cancer Institute treating more inpatients than any other in Broward County, and Memorial Neuroscience Institute providing innovative technology and world-class physicians.

Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital South are both located in Hollywood, Florida, and offer our community a variety of medical and surgical services. Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial provides a comprehensive array of pediatric services and is the leading children's hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Memorial Hospital West, Memorial Hospital Miramar and Memorial Hospital Pembroke serve the communities of western Broward County and others in South Florida. Memorial Home Health Services, Memorial Manor nursing home and a variety of ancillary healthcare facilities round out the system's wide-ranging health services.

Memorial has a reputation as one of Florida's leading healthcare systems and is supported by a distinguished medical staff. In fact, the vast majority of physicians are board certified, or board qualified in their specialties and have been trained at many of the nation's finest medical schools and hospitals. Because of its distinguished medical staff and services, Memorial moves health forward for patients from South Florida and beyond.

As Memorial continues to lead in providing the next level of healthcare, many prestigious awards have been earned throughout the system. The accolades include Modern Healthcare magazine's Best Places to Work in Healthcare, Florida Trend magazine's Best Companies to Work for in Florida, 100 Top Hospitals, Consumer Choice Award, Best-Run Hospital, Best Nursing Staff, Best Pediatric Hospital and Best Maternity Hospital. The health care system was also honored by the American Hospital Association with the "Living the Vision" award and the "Foster G. McGaw" award for which Memorial was selected from more than 5,000 hospitals as the national model for improving the health of the community.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

bcpa.net/RecInfo.asp?URL_Folio=514013140010

www.mhs.net/locations/memorial-west

A Powerful Star by David Cartier, Sr.

52 22

... Our Sun that is, it's winds both evaporating the essence of this icy visitor from the solar system's distant edge and decorating the subpolar skies of Earth thru it's interaction with our magnetic field. Comet Hyakutake, fading away as it headed back out to deep space, after a short but spectacular appearance.( The comet is at the lower right hand corner of the photo, below the Aurora.

Taken at Tok, Alaska, with a Praktica LTL3 and a 29mm f2.8 lens, on Fuji 800 print film.

Where it all Began. by Kane Gledhill

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[ Follow me using your iPhone ] - [ Twitter ] - [ My Website ] - [ Photography Workshops ]

[ The Best Camera: iPhone Photos ]

** Check out our new South East Queensland Meetup group here **

About

I've been a photographer all my life.

But I've only been shooting digital for about 3 years, and this is where it all began (well kinda).

I'd been talking to David de Groot via Flickr Mail for a few months, and then when we finally met in person we shot some cityscapes together at this location. See the resulting image here.

Well fast track a few years, and David and I are still good friends, and as you may know we're hosting Photography Workshops.

We have a 'Brisbane at Dusk' workshop at this location on Saturday 20th June. Follow this link to book your spot.

Oh, you may have noticed. I FINALLY bought myself a new camera ;)

I've always believed its best to 'out-grow' your equipment before upgrading (it makes you work harder), and I feel I've pushed the 50D to its limits.

Enjoy.

- Canon 5D Mark II.

- ISO 100, f9, 288 seconds, 18mm.

- Canon 17-40 f/4 L Lens.

- Tripod.

- Cokin p121s Grad.

Processing

- Off Camera

- Moon added in Photoshop 6.0.

- Credit for Moon image: jpstanley.

About Earth

Earth (or the Earth) is the third planet from the Sun, and the fifth-largest and the densest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet, or by its Latin name, Terra.

Home to millions of species including humans, Earth is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist. The planet formed 4.54 billion years ago, and life appeared on its surface within a billion years. Since then, Earth's biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and other abiotic conditions on the planet, enabling the proliferation of aerobic organisms as well as the formation of the ozone layer which, together with Earth's magnetic field, blocks harmful solar radiation, permitting life on land. The physical properties of the Earth, as well as its geological history and orbit, have allowed life to persist during this period. Without intervention, the planet could be expected to continue supporting life for between 0.5 and 2.3 billion years, after which the rising luminosity and expansion of the Sun—as a result of the gradual but inexorable depletion of its hydrogen fuel—would eventually eliminate the planet's biosphere.

NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

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This is the final view taken by the JunoCam instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft before Juno's instruments were powered down in preparation for orbit insertion. Juno obtained this color view on June 29, 2016, at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter.

After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, Juno successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 p.m. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 4.

To read the full article, click here.

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights, click here.

749.262-2_-_31.12.2021-_-Rail System s.r.o. Hanzalík_trať číslo 193 Malovice u Netolic - Holečkov (PMD) by Lubomír Podlaha

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Ensure Leaving Your Sole Solo Soul’s Sole Mark To See On Seashores Sea To Shining Sea - IMRAN™ by IMRAN® 14 MILLION Views! No AI Pics

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Ensure Leaving Your Sole Solo Soul’s Sole Mark To See On Seashores Sea To Shining Sea - IMRAN™

Even though we are often never alone - whether through work or relationships, family or friends - there is one thing we alone possess and must travel alone... our incredibly unique path across the oceans of times. Think about it.

Out of the literally infinite combinations of possibilities in the known universe, we are absolutely the only ones to have traveled our individual journey across the space time continuum. No matter who comes into or goes out of our lives.

We are the only ones who can, and who must, choose to be shining stars in the heavens of human greatness — from the decisions we make today, the actions we take, right here, right now. Those choices, every minute, every day, starting this very moment, set the course of our walk through life on this planet’s star-walk through the cosmos.

We bear sole responsibility to ensure we walk on the seashore separating the sands that have already passed through our hourglass, and the limitless oceans of possibility alongside us, leaving us a chance to still carve our own path, craving leaving a meaningful mark, on the sandy beach that still lies awaiting ahead.

Our soul, solo traveler temporarily riding the solar system’s journey through a brief eternity, bears sole responsibility to leave a meaningful mark of soles that can be seen along the seashores, from sea to shining sea.

Come along, my precious fellow-traveller through time and I will guide your path when you need me to. But get ready to explore farther than you imagined.

Dare to bare your soul, my dear. Hold my hand and press your sole into the sand. Leave your mark, everywhere, my beloved, forever,.... But step on it.... for time and tide wait for no man, or woman.

#Florida #TampaBay #ApolloBeach #philosophy #inspiration #lifecoach #leadership #mindfulness #spirituality #IMRAN #legacy #greatness #gratitude #NoFilter #NoEdit #SOOC #iPhone

Rolling Up To Round Barn Road by David Blazejewski

25

Just another simple little sunlit wedge shot from this chase going into the album.

The Canadian Pacific Railway had been operating in the state of Vermont for 115 years when they finally retrenched in 1996 and sold the Newport and Lyndonville Subs to Iron Roads Railways which created the new Northern Vermont Railway which took over on September 28th of that year. The Iron Roads system was bankrupt within a half dozen years and the NV ceased to exist with the Lyndonville Sub and the former Boston and Maine Conn River Mainline between Newport and White River Junction being purchased by the State of Vermont and contracted to Vermont Rail System's Washington County Railroad Subsidiary. The WACR is now at the two decade mark operating the 103 mile line while the Newport Sub north into Canada passed to succesors Montreal, Maine and Atlantic and then Central Maine and Quebec until remarkably returning to the CP fold in 2020 when they purchased the CMQ

Recently VRS and CP have been pooling power, with one unit from each running thru between White River Junction, VT and Farnham, QC on an up and back every other day schedule. This harkens back to the B&M pool power days so with a bit of imagination one can pretend this is train 904 headed down from Newport now in the capable hands of a B&M crew.

CPKC GP20C-ECO 2280 and VTR GP38-2 209 lead train NPWJ approaching the Round Barn Road crossing at MP D2.3 just south of Wells River on the former B&M Conn River Mainline.

Newbury, Vermont

Friday August 11, 2023

TGV Duplex - Dragon de Calais en gare de Calais-Ville. by Christophe Chabot

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Les TGV Duplex sont des rames électriques TGV de la SNCF, mises en service de 1995 à 2012. Comme leur nom l'indique, elles sont constituées de voitures à deux niveaux. La circulation à l'intérieur de la rame s'effectue par le niveau supérieur, offrant ainsi plus de calme aux voyageurs installés dans le niveau inférieur de chaque voiture. L'étage inférieur de la voiture-bar n'est pas accessible aux voyageurs, car il est occupé par des équipements électriques. Les rames Duplex ont, pour une même longueur, une capacité de transport supérieure de 133 places à celle des TGV Réseau : une rame, composée de 8 voitures (200 mètres de longueur), dispose ainsi de 182 places en 1re classe et 328 en 2de classe, soit un total de 510 places. Par ailleurs, 634 places (uniquement de 2de classe) sont disponibles en aménagement « Ouigo ».

La conception de ces rames a été très poussée, en particulier dans le domaine de la réduction des masses (par l'emploi de l'aluminium au lieu de l'acier pour la structure des caisses, sauf les motrices), afin de respecter la règle de 17 tonnes à l'essieu obligatoire sur les lignes à grande vitesse françaises.

une rame hybride avait été créée à la suite d'un accident en 2003, une motrice Réseau ayant alors remplacé son homologue Duplex. De la fin janvier 2009 à septembre 2012, la rame 255 a circulé également avec cette configuration, à la suite de l'incendie en ligne d'une de ses motrices le 10 janvier 2009 à Pont-de-Veyle ; cela s'est aussi produit pour la rame 204 en 2008 (utilisation de la motrice 28003 précitée), la rame 290 de 2013 à 2015 (à la suite de l'incendie d'une de ses motrices le 23 septembre 2013, en gare de Lyon-Part-Dieu16), puis sur d'autres rames (comme les 218, 234 et 201) par la suite.

Source :

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV_Duplex

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Translation / Traduction 🇬🇧 UK

The TGV Duplex is a French high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It is unique among TGV trains in that it features bi-level carriages. The Duplex inaugurated the third generation of TGV trainsets. It was specially designed to increase capacity on high-speed lines with saturated traffic. With two seating levels and a seating capacity of 508 passengers, the Duplex increases the passenger capacity. While the TGV Duplex started as a small component of the TGV fleet, it has become one of the system's workhorses.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF_TGV_Duplex

Memorial Hospital Miramar, Medical Office Building 1, 1901 SW 172nd Avenue, Miramar, Florida, USA / Built: 2005 / Floors: 4 by Urban Florida Photographer

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Since its inception in 1953, Memorial Healthcare System has been a leader in providing high-quality healthcare services to South Florida residents. Moving health forward to meet the needs of the community, Memorial is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the nation and highly regarded for its exceptional patient- and family-centered care that creates the Memorial experience. Memorial's patient, physician and employee satisfaction rates are some of the most admired in the country, and the system is recognized as a national leader in quality healthcare.

Memorial Regional Hospital is the flagship facility of the healthcare system and is one of the largest hospitals in Florida.

Memorial Regional Hospital offers extensive and diverse health care services that include Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute featuring renowned surgeons, Memorial Cancer Institute treating more inpatients than any other in Broward County, and Memorial Neuroscience Institute providing innovative technology and world-class physicians.

Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital South are both located in Hollywood, Florida, and offer our community a variety of medical and surgical services. Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial provides a comprehensive array of pediatric services and is the leading children's hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Memorial Hospital West, Memorial Hospital Miramar and Memorial Hospital Pembroke serve the communities of western Broward County and others in South Florida. Memorial Home Health Services, Memorial Manor nursing home and a variety of ancillary healthcare facilities round out the system's wide-ranging health services.

Memorial has a reputation as one of Florida's leading healthcare systems and is supported by a distinguished medical staff. In fact, the vast majority of physicians are board certified, or board qualified in their specialties and have been trained at many of the nation's finest medical schools and hospitals. Because of its distinguished medical staff and services, Memorial moves health forward for patients from South Florida and beyond.

As Memorial continues to lead in providing the next level of healthcare, many prestigious awards have been earned throughout the system. The accolades include Modern Healthcare magazine's Best Places to Work in Healthcare, Florida Trend magazine's Best Companies to Work for in Florida, 100 Top Hospitals, Consumer Choice Award, Best-Run Hospital, Best Nursing Staff, Best Pediatric Hospital and Best Maternity Hospital. The health care system was also honored by the American Hospital Association with the "Living the Vision" award and the "Foster G. McGaw" award for which Memorial was selected from more than 5,000 hospitals as the national model for improving the health of the community.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites: