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GP40 #4048, GP40-2 #4344 and a D&H GP39-2 are the power for eastbound D&H train TV98 at William St in Buffalo, NY on Jan. 18, 1986. (bo1282a)
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, left, as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) to the International Space Station with Commander Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the United States, Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe of Israel, and Mark Pathy of Canada aboard, Friday, April 8, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Ax-1 mission is the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. López-Alegría, Connor, Pathy, Stibbe launched at 11:17 a.m. from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin their 10-day mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as preparations for launch continue, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for Sept. 3 at 2:17 p.m. EDT. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
GP40-2's #4293 & 4385 bring C&O train DT-41 into Conrail's Niagara Falls, NY yard on Sept. 1, 1984.(BO1261)
Manicomio di R. i did a revisit during my holiday.
This clinic was built in the end of the 19th century. It was first used as a hospital for the mentally ill and later it was used as a military academy.
The building we visited was known as the building where also people were treated with electroshock therapy and operations to the nervous system.
I can imagine a lot of pain and suffering within these walls.
the clinic closed it’s doors in the end of the 20th century when many of these asylums had to close their doors.
Revisited this location in August 2014
St. George, UT
Kevin discovered this yard on his travels to St. George. These are some pictures of their equipment.
An old Mack MR Heil FL. Pretty nice truck.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as teams configure systems for rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is foregoing a launch opportunity on Tues. Sept. 27 and continues to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian. The NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen at sunrise atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as preparations for launch continue, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for Nov. 14 at 12:07 a.m. EST. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
“Frigid and mysterious, Pluto is the outermost planet of our solar system. Whirling through space at an average of 3,600,000,000 miles from the Sun, Pluto takes more than 248 years to complete its orbit. Because so little is known about the yellowish ninth planet, it has been appropriately named for the mythological god of the dark underworld. If man eventually reaches Pluto he conceivably could use it as an outpost to search for other planets and life beyond our solar system.”
To me, a brilliant depiction of the mysterious unknowns ‘out there’. From the wonderful romantic, nostalgic & inviting glow/aura/halo of Pluto…with the hint of an unknown surface/atmospheric feature at the terminator, to the scattered smaller bodies/dwarf planets beyond. The dense, ‘full-frame’ stellar, nebular & galactic vista beyond is so evocative & beckoning, isn’t it? Superb. Masterful artistic license employed by Mr. Wilson during his time with/work for World Book Encyclopedia. I often tout black and white, but this must’ve been eye-popping in color.
I’ll refrain from a “Pluto demotion” rant & instead go to my tried, true, tiresome & pointless refrain: brilliant artwork, pretty much all gone, like it (THEY) never happened (WERE HERE). Reality, I get it, it’s unrealistic to honor, remember & ‘eulogize’ the plethora of ‘space’ artists. Too bad there isn’t an online central repository. Sad & disappointing.
I know there are WAY WAY worse things to lament...like the precipitous descent & near/imminent demise of humankind...but other than that, or actually...in addition to that, you, me, we...will never see the color version of this. It probably doesn't even exist anymore, although there is a chance that Mr. Wilson's family may have it. They seemed to have really recognized and honored his legacy. What a novel concept.
I would’ve loved to have seen this in color.
Lined up at the new location of Graysons Thermals systems in Tyseley, these E400s are all receiving there Euro 6 Particulate trap/fan upgrade. As many as 15 buses can be here in a day - I suspect NXWM are supplying most of their workload at the moment. The location is very difficult to find and is not unit you find addresses for online!
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
The last locomotives purchased by the L&N were SD50s, but they were all delivered in Seaboard gray. They did, however, retain some of the L&N subtleties such as nose mounted headlights and marker lights. For a kid like me in '83, they were a real shock. Seeing these big matched sets pulling exhaustingly long coal trains was the final end of the Louisville & Nashville railroad forever. They always seemed to come in sets of three and always followed by a mile of coal hoppers. I have built a Seaboard SD50 before, but it passed back into the brick long ago. I knew this time around I would have to do it right and build a 3 unit lashup of these 3500 hp brutes. I'll get back to you on that mile long string of hoppers.
So to my annoyance, Bryan has sold all my Canon gear and bought all Nikon stuff *rolls eyes*. The reason being, is that he wants to use the awesome 14-24mm landscape lens from Nikon, and since I needed a full frame camera anyways, he bought the D700 to go along with it.
This was taken with my new 35mm f/1.4 lens from Nikon. I love the lens, but hate using the Nikon body. I only hold the camera with my right hand to take photos, and because my hands are so tiny, I can't reach any of the dials on the Nikon camera. It is meant to be held with two hands, but since I have one hand on a doll all the time.... well you get the picture...
Anyways, I've missed using a full frame camera... I hate using cropped sensors. This lens also has nicer bokeh than the Canon 35 mm f/1.4 and has more aperature blades. The bokeh is much smoother on this lens. Love the lens, but hate the body... what can you do?
(From sse.jpl.nasa.gov)
This is a montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows: the Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10, the Venus image by Magellan, the Earth and Moon images by Galileo, the Mars image by Mars Global Surveyor, the Jupiter image by Cassini, and the Saturn, Uranus and Neptune images by Voyager. Pluto is not shown as no spacecraft has yet visited it.
The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars) are roughly to scale to each other; the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other.
Actual diameters are given below: Sun 1,390,000 km Mercury 4,879 km Venus 12,104 km Earth 12,756 km Moon 3,475 km Mars 6,794 km Jupiter 142.984 km Saturn 120,536 km Uranus 51,118 km Neptune 49,528 km Pluto 2,390 km
For more information on the Planets, a good place to start is the Planets section of the NASA Solar System Exploration Home Page at sse.jpl.nasa.gov
Title:
Silence.
B♭ (B Flat)
A Novel by Mitsushiro Nakagawa
日本語のあらすじ等は下の方にあります😃
一部分の公開を更新しました。今回が最後です😃
“Synopsis”
A Palestinian group from Gaza hacks into North Korea’s cryptocurrency system, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars. Their true goal is not money—but to recreate the lost homeland of Gaza on American soil.
Amid the backdrop of hardline Republican immigration policies and a growing wave of xenophobia, a quiet plan begins to take shape: the gradual collapse of America from within.
During a speech at Madison Square Garden, Republican presidential candidate Justin Bradford is shot. Almost simultaneously in Los Angeles, former president Owen Reed is attacked at a rally for Democratic hopeful Ryan Bennett.
Two assassinations—mirroring one another—ignite a nation’s deepest divide. Yet, against all odds, Justin survives. His blood type is one in 2.5 million: the Bombay Blood Group.
The only person who can donate such blood is Anaya Patel, a community art facilitator working in Brooklyn. Her blood, stored in the Bellevue Hospital Blood Bank, is used for an emergency transfusion that saves the candidate’s life.
Jack Vance, an agent of the U.S. Secret Service, suspects a Gaza-based network behind the attacks. Together with Cameron Bartlett, the FBI Director of the Los Angeles Field Office, and Veronica Reeves, a senior investigator from New York, he begins to uncover a vast conspiracy.
Their investigation leads them to Rafi Gannam, a former architecture student at the Islamic University of Gaza, who has infiltrated redevelopment sites across Los Angeles and New York—embedding C4 explosives deep within beams and structural cores.
His targets: new residential districts where agents of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) live—symbols of “the order America built.”
Veronica urges the President to pursue dialogue to prevent further destruction, but President Grant M. Ranford refuses to listen.
Meanwhile, the recovering Justin and his Democratic rival Ryan appear on national television, calling for unity beyond political divisions.
Their words of reason, however, are drowned out when Grant takes the stage in Iowa, defiantly declaring: “We will never bow to terror.”
Among the crowd, Rafi’s operatives have already taken their positions.
As chaos erupts and the stage collapses, Amir Nasser—once Rafi’s comrade, haunted by the memory of his sister’s death in Gaza—tries desperately to halt the chain of destruction.
But Rafi’s conviction remains unshaken.
Under the twilight beneath the Williamsburg Bridge, amid the city’s fading noise, the two men part ways.
It is the boundary between prayer and vengeance, between hope and nothingness.
“Characters”
Anaya Patel – 25, Community Art Facilitator
Arjun Singh – 26, Anaya’s boyfriend, Luminatech Innovations
Mika Sato – 25, Anaya’s friend, Community Art Facilitator
Justin Bradford – 27, Republican Presidential Candidate
Eleanor Blake – 26, Justin’s fiancée
President Grant M. Langford – 61, Incumbent Republican President
Vice President Charles “Chuck” Baines – 64, Incumbent Republican Vice President
Ryan Bennett – 30, Democratic Presidential Candidate
Sophia Bennett – 30, Ryan’s wife
Owen Reed – 65, Former Democratic President
Jack Vance – 45, Secret Service, Former FBI Los Angeles Field Office
Ben Holloway – 30, Jack’s colleague
Darryl Ross – 29, Jack’s colleague
Elijah Kane – 28, Jack’s colleague
Marcus Dane – 45, FBI Los Angeles Field Office
Cameron Bartlett – 55, FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Field Office Director
Tom Caldwell – 38, FBI Technical Unit, Marcus’s subordinate
Veronica Reeves – 41, FBI Special Agent
Alexander Harris – 52, FBI New York Field Office, Field Office Director
Elliot Chen – 36, Technology Unit Chief
Alicia Monroe – 58, FBI Director
Zakaria Haddad – 51, Gaza Strip, Palestine; Former Islamic University Engineering Professor, New York Team
Amir Nasser – 23, Gaza Strip, Palestine; Former Islamic University Electronics Engineering, New York Team
Rafi Gannam – 32, Gaza Strip, Palestine; Islamic University, Architecture, New York Team
Rohan Shah – 29, Gaza Strip, Palestine; Islamic University, Architecture, New York Team
Majid Hamza – 47, Gaza Strip, Palestine; University of Palestine, Information Technology, Los Angeles Team
Samira Hammad – 28, Gaza Strip, Palestine; University of Palestine, Engineering, Los Angeles Team
Saeed Kabari – 35, Gaza Strip, Palestine; University of Palestine, Business Administration, Los Angeles Team
Reem Nasser – 30, Gaza Strip, Palestine; University of Palestine, Media Studies, Los Angeles Team
Noah Levi – 55, Israel, residing in Tel Aviv, Jewish
B♭ will be released worldwide on February 29, 2026.
Recently, director Ridley Scott remarked that streaming films and series have become dull.
I agree.
If you have two hours to spare for such stories, I ask for only two minutes of your time.
Two minutes with my novel will outlast those two hours.
I am confident of that.
Stay tuned.
Mitsushiro
October 9th, 2025
P.S.
Micchan — the man who challenges Netflix. 😃
( iPhone 13 Pro shot )
Motosuka Beach. Kujukuri Beach. Sanmu City. Chiba Prefecture. Japan. October 9, 2025. … 0.9 / 10
(Photo of the day. Unpublished.)
Images.
Taylor Swift … This Love
youtu.be/PfJzQuqWSSE?si=TrtL4Mb-uN2dNmML
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🌟 My New Novel: "B♭" (B Flat)
This is the 20th installment! 😄
The following is still in the first draft stage. I will revise it further.
•The order of the content being shared is random.
•This will be the final time I share partial excerpts.
The full novel will be released on February 28, 2026.
Please look forward to it! 😃
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My new novel
B♭ (B Flat)
English translation by GPT-5, in collaboration with Mitsushiro Nakagawa
“Jack, look at your phone. Another message just came through. The IP address traces to a branch of the New York Public Library near Grand Central — via the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.”
It was a FaceTime from Ben. He was standing by in the NYPD Midtown South command post just beside the Garden. Despite everything that was happening, Ben’s voice was calm.
Jack slid his finger across his iPhone and read the short line that appeared. The characters lay down carelessly, yet somehow they gave the sentence a shape.
— There’s an arched ceiling in the underground concourse of Grand Central. Come there. Jack Vance. And don’t come alone — though, of course, you won’t be alone. —
The message struck at the inside of Jack’s chest like a ringing.
The car threaded north along Vanderbilt Avenue and came up at the southern lip of Grand Central. The city had not quite woken; the damp that hid in the canyon between buildings carried the metallic smell of morning. Jack let off the gas and eased the black SUV to the curb, almost sliding it along. As the tires brushed the edge of the pavement, the remaining beads of rain on the road leapt up into streaks of light.
He pushed open the heavy door and stepped out. His shoes hit the cobbles a beat later. Once he turned to look down the street behind him, the red reflection of a siren flashed through a shop window and briefly lit the faces of passersby, whitening them for a single instant.
Weaving through that cut of light, Jack made for the stairs that led down to the concourse. The service door groaned with a slight metallic protest. Inside, a low hum, like the breathing of a subway, filled the space. A cold breath struck his cheeks, and from the depths of the HVAC ducts a distant station announcement blurred toward him.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jack took the stairs of Grand Central two at a time. The amber lighting flowed across his soles; his footsteps linked together like the heartbeat of the terminal.
The iron handrail was cold, passing a faint tremor into his fingertips. From far down the stairs other footsteps layered over one another, keeping an old rhythm that led downward. The arched ceiling drew the air in gently; the lights spread a thin film of glow.
The concourse smelled of damp; the old brick walls seemed unable to forget past rains and exhaled them faintly. The floor tiles were dulled by years of feet; hairline cracks ran through them, where little memories of the city had gathered. Jack walked without attending to these things. His gaze was naturally drawn to the darkness at the far end of the corridor. The usual stream of commuters hurried past.
Weathered signs and bulletin boards clung to the walls like pillows for torn flyers. A cleaner dragged her mop in a single ribbon; beyond it, a lone bench sat as if sketching a pale loneliness.
The air that moved through the passage felt to Jack like the slow pulse of a city’s vein. He felt his breath fall into the same beat and kept walking.
Light touched the tiles at his feet and shadows stretched and swayed. The faint metallic noise of an escalator sounded somewhere far away; the gust from the stairs cooled the heat that had gathered in his body. The scent of the city, the underground damp, and the faint warmth of old lamps mixed; time began to melt slowly.
Stopping, Jack rubbed his palms and let his eyes roam. The hum all around carried a peculiar echo that blurred one’s sense of direction. He told himself he was only looking for “it,” somewhere in the concourse.
As he moved again, a high metallic scrape suddenly sliced the air. His neck muscles twitched and a tautness ran through the soles of his feet. Reflexively he froze; at the edge of his vision a receiver quivered.
Its cord, knotted with the weight of years, twisted; dusty metal glinted dully. A telephone that should have been unused rang out abruptly, like a festival bell — an alien note within the city’s hush. The sound was low but it made the air itself tremble.
Jack turned to it slowly. The heavy underground air seemed to press against the backs of his knees. All he heard was his own breathing and the faint vibration of the receiver. People flowed past as if nothing had happened: a mother led a child by the hand, an old man refolded his newspaper and tucked it under his arm, and moved on.
The receiver was calling to Jack. The call came from a tear in silence, spreading slowly like ink trembling on the reverse side of an old map. He reached out without speaking and picked up the handset. The metal was cold; that cold dropped reality onto his palm.
“…Jack.”
The voice was low but distinct. Its timbre made time seem to slip backward just a touch. He recognized the voice from online footage; yet unlike the voice heard on television, here it carried not a blade but the color of a distant sunset.
Through the receiver Jack felt the corridor’s edges, the bench’s solitude, the small scrap of paper on the floor trickle into the pauses of the conversation. The voice let the city’s details slide in through the window of speech.
“What’s up, Amir? Sounding a little low.” Jack’s voice was quiet and heavy, like a stone dropped to ground. Through the handset he heard Amir’s small nasal laugh.
“Sometimes you get down — you’re only human.”
The voice was calm and remote. It was not the public mask Amir sometimes wore, but something honed in shadow. During the call the brief chatter of a passing parent and child snapped into the line and then was gone.
“Listen carefully to what I’m going to say. Well, you’re probably recording.”
“Likewise,” Jack replied.
Amir’s words fell smoothly through the receiver, making tiny ripples on the tiled floor of the underground. The noise around them blurred once and then resolved again: the mother’s footsteps, the mop’s scrape, the distant clink of a vending machine — all intersecting with the rhythm of speech.
“I’m out of the team. The reason? I don’t want to watch more people die. That’s it.”
Jack felt the receiver’s pulse under his fingers. The voice tried on calm but Jack could hear a tremor beneath. The lights in the concourse blurred slightly with each of Amir’s sentences.
“Are you asking me to believe that? Your professor Zakaria says don’t talk like that — he went out in a big way.” Amir fell silent and let out an exhale that sounded like a laugh as if to shrug something off. At the corridor’s edge a child sucking on candy made a tiny wet sound that filled the space between words.
“So what now? Heartbroken?” Jack asked.
“Something like that. This detonator will destroy many buildings yet.”
That phrase punched through the little room inside the receiver. For an instant the light underground clouded faintly. Yet the corridor moved on as always; no one turned. The anomaly existed only in sound.
“Tell me exactly where, how many, what mechanism — brief. Don’t mix in jokes.” Jack’s tone chilled like ice cracking. Amir tried to explain calmly, but Jack listened more to the weight behind the words than to their particulars. In the pauses, the phone booth’s shadow stretched and traced a thin black groove across the floor.
“We weren’t trained terrorists, not professionals. The information was distributed piece by piece. Think of how betrayal would happen — like how I can call you now.” Amir’s voice was careful; not fearful. Jack pressed the receiver to his ear and felt the city’s everyday noises woven into the fabric of the explanation. An old woman adjusting her bag at the corridor’s edge, the faint opening of a shutter somewhere distant — the beginnings of small workdays.
“We infiltrated about five years ago. We planted C4 in the core of buildings that were being built then. Rafi studied architecture, so he knew where to place it. You’ve seen the collapse a million times online, you know how it looks. To detonate, you need an old phone that reads a ‘mute reader’ QR code. Along with it is a tablet I made myself. I embedded C4 into two-thirds of its battery. The tablet has old fingerprint authentication — the kind from a long time ago. I made two of them. One is in Los Angeles, one in New York.”
“So there are two detonators?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t the only one from the electronics department. Also, the phones that read the QR code are ancient, too specialized — they never caught on.”
“How do you trigger it?”
“There’s a special QR code placed on a site. You hold the phone up and read it. The QR is a 3D layer. The code rises in relief, deciphers itself, converts into a detonation code, and sends it by radio.”
“Radio? Not Wi‑Fi?”
“If it were Wi‑Fi you’d shut it down quickly. I modified the tablet. It’s not Wi‑Fi — it uses FM radio, like pirate radio.”
“We can jam the frequency.”
Amir laughed for a long moment before speaking.
“I set the app so the frequency can be changed arbitrarily. I also set it so that any signal sent to jam the frequency triggers the detonation. So either way, boom.”
Jack was silent for a little while, then asked,
“Where is the QR code located?”
“I don’t know. Everything was compartmentalized. Hardware production, QR placement, activation method. By scattering the flow, it seemed designed to deter betrayal.”
Silence fell again between them. Amir lifted his eyes from the ground and said,
“Jack, I’d tell you if I knew. Only those holding a mute reader would know. Today, that’s…”
“Just Rafi?”
“That’s right.”
Silence spread between them. The call hovered like thin ice. Jack’s breathing returned slowly to the present. The underground light was narrow but it marked him clearly.
“Why are you talking?”
“Like I said. I’m tired of people dying.”
“You knew you’d talk and yet Rafi let you go unharmed? Sounds too neat to be true.”
“Maybe I’m just making it up to dupe you.”
“Jack, take it easy. Amir, don’t move.”
Veronica’s composed voice cut into the call.
“Jack, he’s quite handsome in person.”
Amir, who was standing on the opposite side of the wall from Jack, holding a receiver himself, smiled at that.
The joke across the handset dried the damp air of the concourse a little. They were tracing different faces of the same space with their fingers.
Jack tightened his grip on the receiver and nodded softly. The nod felt like a small signal matched to the city’s beat and also like the announcement of yet another endless season.
Light in the corridor flowed slowly; shadows folded and layered; the conversation seeped into the tiles and sank.
Jack looked around slowly. The NYPD officers who routinely guarded Grand Central from terror stood at the entrances. Under Veronica’s orders, they had all focused on keeping Amir within range. Red and green laser dots from M4 carbines with Picatinny rails marked Amir’s feet. Likely the red came from the terminal’s NYPD contingent and the green from Veronica’s team. Two squads had lined up their sights to contain his movement. Of course, the sights were not on Amir’s forehead.
Suddenly a sharp smack of sound struck the receiver.
“Amir, who are you?” It was Ana.
Amir’s eyes widened for an instant then he recovered.
“Was I followed? Miss Patel. And who are you? Getting in Jack’s way.”
He shrugged with his thumb and pointed to his own feet, where the red and green laser dots rested. Ana stepped forward in her voice.
“Please. Come with Jack.”
Jack added, “For now, get arrested. We’ll hear the details with Veronica.”
Veronica said nothing; Jack assumed she nodded. He switched the receiver in his hand.
Amir laughed.
“If I were to say yes and surrender, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now, would we? Look — trains are coming in. Watch your crosshairs.”
The concourse swelled with people in the early morning. New York breathed around the terminal. The stream of humanity was the city’s pulse, its very blood flow; warmth surged through the concourse.
When Ana shifted her gaze for a moment to that tide of people, she spoke calmly and gently.
“Please. To Jack.”
Amir’s smile fell when he met her look. He accepted Ana’s gaze and said,
“Do you remember the morning at the exhibition when we first met? That wasn’t an accident. I went there to kill you.”
Ana’s eyes went white. Life drained from her gaze; the surrounding clamor carried her away and it vanished. Then, softly, she said, why?
“If you disappear, Bombay Blood in America will be just Justin and me.”
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Across the nation television networks switched to breaking news. Anchors’ voices trembled as they searched for words; the screen held still images of the scene. Smartphone notifications chimed all at once, but what arrived felt less like words than an announcement of silence.
Social feeds filled in an instant; everyone stared at the frozen time on their screens.
“What is going on…?” Hands halted midreach as people watched the images. On distant street corners, in cafés, in offices, faces of people holding their breath were shown.
An old woman on a park bench gripped her bag; a mother with a child went speechless; a driver tightened his hands on the wheel. Silence took the city’s clamor, the suburbs’ stillness, the open fields of the countryside and wrapped them all together in a single deep breath.
Emergency responses began within government agencies. Phones rang; red alarms flashed on screens. A presidential aide lost words and the pen in his hand trembled. Hallways inside the White House fell quiet; only footsteps echoed.
Words could not be pinned down; fear and confusion spread like a chain. Emergency teams moved; experts began analysis. Reports, communications, camera footage — every piece of information crossed and re-crossed — yet the four had slipped through all eyes of surveillance.
Their silence left no record, but it scored a sure claw mark on the world’s timeline.
City, state, nation, the world — all inhaled together and froze in the same instant.
The four shadows completed their mission at the center of the world without being recognized, then dissolved as shadows into the curtain of night.
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My new novel:
B♭ (B-flat)
There’s still more to come. 😃
(This is not the final draft.)
Set in New York City.
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Soundtrack.
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack/pl.u-47...
For japanese
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack-for-jap...
Note: I gave a brief explanation of this novel in the following video:
youtu.be/3w65lqUF-YI?si=yG7qy6TPeCL9xRJV
iTunes Playlist Link::
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b/pl.u-47DJGhopxMD
For japanese
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack-for-jap...
My new novel:
B♭ (B-flat)
Notes
1. "Bombay Blood Type (hh type)"
•Characteristics: A rare blood type that lacks the usual ABO antigens — cannot be classified as A, B, or O.
•Discovery: First identified in 1952 in Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay).
•Prevalence: Roughly 1 in 10,000 people in India; globally, about 1 in 2.5 million.
•Transfusion Compatibility: Only compatible with blood from other Bombay type donors.
2. 2024 Harvard University Valedictorian Speech – The Power of Not Knowing
youtu.be/SOUH8iVqSOI?si=Ju-Y728irtcWR71K
3. Shots Fired at Trump Rally
youtu.be/1ejfAkzjEhk?si=ASqJwEmkY-2rW_hT
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Title.
無音。
僕の新しい小説
B♭ （ビーフラット） ……. Mitsushiro Nakagawa
“あらすじ”
北朝鮮の仮想通貨システムをハッキングし、数億ドルを奪取したガザ出身のパレスチナ人グループが、アメリカ合衆国へ密かに潜入する。
彼らの目的は、失われた祖国ガザを、アメリカの地に「復元」することだった。
共和党による強硬な移民政策と、国内にくすぶる排外感情を利用し、アメリカ社会を内側から崩壊させる計画が静かに進行していく。
共和党大統領候補ジャスティン・ブラッドフォードがマディソン・スクエア・ガーデンで演説中に狙撃され、ほぼ同時刻、ロサンゼルスでは前大統領オーウェン・リードもまた、民主党候補ライアン・ベネットの集会で撃たれる。
国家を二分する双方向の暗殺。だが、ジャスティンは奇跡的に生還する。
彼の血液型は、世界でわずか250万人に一人といわれる「ボンベイブラッド」。
その希少な血を提供できたのは、ブルックリンで活動するコミュニティアート・ファシリテーター、アナヤ・パテルだった。
彼女の血液はベルビュー病院の血液バンクに保存されており、緊急輸血によって、候補者の命はかろうじて繋がれた。
シークレットサービスのジャック・バンスは、テロの背後にガザ出身の組織が関与していることを察知し、FBIロサンゼルス支局長官キャメロン・バートレット、ニューヨーク支局の特別捜査官ヴェロニカ・リーブスと共に捜査を進める。
やがて彼らは、イスラム大学で建築学を学んだラフィ・ガンナムが、ロサンゼルスやニューヨークの再開発現場に潜入し、梁や構造体の中枢にC4爆薬を仕込んでいた事実に辿り着く。
標的は、ICE（移民・関税執行局）やERO（執行・送還作戦部門）の職員が暮らす新興住宅街——すなわち、「アメリカが築いた秩序」そのものだった。
ヴェロニカは、これ以上の破壊を防ぐため、大統領への対話を進言するが、現職のグラント・ランフォード大統領は耳を貸さない。
一方、命を取り留めたジャスティンと民主党候補ライアンは、テレビを通じて国民に訴えかけ、分断を乗り越えようとする。
だが、その理性の声を嘲笑うかのように、グラントはアイオワ州での演説を強行し、「テロには屈しない」と宣言する。
その会場には、すでにラフィの仲間が率いる工作チームが潜入していた。
崩壊する会場の惨状を前に、仲間の一人アミール・ナッセルは、かつてガザで妹を失った記憶に引き裂かれ、破壊の連鎖を止めようとする。
だが、ラフィの信念は揺るがない。
ウィリアムズバーグ橋の下、夕暮れの喧騒のなか、二人は決別する。
それは、祈りと報復、希望と虚無の境界線だった——。
“登場人物”
アナヤ・パテル ２５歳 コミュニティアート・ファシリテーター
アルジュン・シン ２６歳 アナヤの恋人・ルミナテック・イノベーションズ社
佐藤 ミカ ２５歳 アナの友人・コミュニティアート・ファシリテーター
ジャスティン・ブラッドフォード ２７歳 共和党大統領候補
エリノア・ブレイク ２６歳 ジャスティンの婚約者
グラント・M・ランフォード大統領 ６１歳 共和党大統領現職
チャールズ・ベインズ副大統領 ６４歳 共和党副大統領現職
ライアン・ベネット ３０歳 民主党大統領候補
ソフィア・ベネット ３０歳 ライアンの妻
オーウェン・リード ６５歳 民主党前大統領
ジャック・バンス ４５歳 シークレットサービス 元FBIロサンゼルス支局
ベン・ホロウェイ ３０歳 ジャックの同僚
ダリル・ロス ２９歳 ジャックの同僚
イライジャ・ケイン ２８歳 ジャックの同僚
マーカス・デイン ４５歳 FBI ロサンゼルス支局
キャメロン・バートレット ５５歳 FBI ロサンゼルス支局 支局長
トム・コールドウェル ３８歳 FBI技術班 マーカスの部下
ヴェロニカ・リーヴス ４１歳 FBI特別捜査官
アレクサンダー・ハリス ５２歳 FBI ニューヨーク支局 支局長
エリオット・チェン ３６歳 テクノロジー班主任
アリシア・モンロー ５８歳 FBI長官
ザカリア・ハッダード ５１歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 元イスラム大学 工学部教授 ニューヨークチーム
アミール・ナッセル ２３歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 元イスラム大学 電子工学部 ニューヨークチーム
ラフィ・ガンナム ３２歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 イスラム大学 建築学部 ニューヨークチーム
ロハン・シャー ２９歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 イスラム大学 建築学部 ニューヨークチーム
マジード・ハムザ ４７歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 パレスチナ大学 情報技術学部 ロサンゼルスチーム
サミラ・ハンマド ２８歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 パレスチナ大学 工学部 ロサンゼルスチーム
サイード・カバリ ３５歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 パレスチナ大学 経営学部 ロサンゼルスチーム
リーム・ナセル ３０歳 パレスチナ・ガザ地区 パレスチナ大学 メディア学部 ロサンゼルスチーム
ノア・レヴィ 55歳 イスラエル テルアビブ在住 ユダヤ人
僕のこの小説は、来年、２０２６年２月末日に公開します。
先日、リドリースコット監督がサブスクの映画やドラマ群がつまらないと話していたようだけど、同感です。
僕も非常に退屈です。
それらに2時間を要するなら、僕の小説を２分間だけ読んで欲しい。
その2分間は、２時間を越えるでしょう。
僕は自信があります。
ぜひ、期待してお待ちください。
Mitsushiro Nakagawa
09th. Oct . 2025.
追伸
ネトフリに挑戦する男、みっちゃん。😃
( iPhone 13 pro shot )
本須賀海岸。九十九里浜。山武市。千葉県。日本。10月９日。2025. … 0.9 / 10
(今日の写真。それは未発表です。）
Images.
Taylor Swift … This Love ( 和訳 )
youtu.be/PfJzQuqWSSE?si=TrtL4Mb-uN2dNmML
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僕の新しい小説。
B♭ （ビーフラット）
第20弾。 😄
以下は、まだ初稿の段階です。まだ推敲します。
公開している内容の順番はバラバラです。
今回で部分的な公開を最後にします。
２０２６年２月２８日。
その日にすべてを公開します。
期待して待っていてください。😃
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僕の新しい小説。
B♭ （ビーフラット）
「ジャック、スマホのメッセージを見ろ。またメッセージが飛び込んでいる。IPアドレスは、グランドセントラルターミナルのそばにあるニューヨーク公共図書館の分館、スタヴロス・ニアルコス財団経由だ」
ベンからのフェイスタイムだった。ガーデンのすぐそば、NYPDのミッドタウン南分署に設置された対策室で待機しているベンからだ。ベンの声はこれだけの事件が起きているにも関わらず、冷静だった。
ジャックはアイフォンに指を滑らせ、表示された短い文を確かめた。文字列は無造作に並んでいたが文の輪郭を整えているように見えた。
― グランドセントラルの地下コンコースにアーチ形の天井がある。そこへ来い。ジャック・バンス。言うまでもないがひとりでだぞ、と言っても一人ではないと思うがな ―
メッセージは、ジャックの胸の内を強く叩いた。
車はヴァンダービルト・アヴェニューを北へ抜け、グランドセントラルの南端に差しかかった。街はまだ朝を迎えきれず、ビルの谷間に籠もった湿気が金属の匂いを帯びていた。
ジャックはアクセルを抜き、黒いSUVを滑らせるように歩道ぎりぎりへ寄せた。タイヤが縁石をかすめる瞬間、路面に残る雨粒が光の筋となって跳ねた。
ジャックは重いドアを押し開き、足を落とした。靴音が一拍遅れて石畳に響いた。
彼は一度だけ背後の通りを見やると、赤いサイレンの反射がショーウィンドウの奥をよぎり、通りの影に沈む通行人の顔を、刹那だけ白く照らした。
その光の切れ目を縫うように、ジャックは地下コンコースへ降りる階段へと向かった。
通用扉は重く、金属の軋みがわずかに響いた。構内には地下鉄の呼吸のような低い唸りが満ちていた。
冷気が頬を打ち、空調ダクトの奥から、遠くの構内放送が滲んで聞こえくる。
額の汗を拭ったジャックはグランドセントラルの階段を一段飛ばしに駆け降りた。照明の琥珀色が靴底に流れ、ターミナルの心臓の鼓動のように足音が連なった。
鉄の手すりは冷たく、指先に浅い震えを伝えた。階段の奥からは人の足音が複層的に重なり、地下へと導く古いリズムを刻んでいる。アーチ型の天井は空気を柔らかに吸い込み、照明は薄く膜のように光を張っている。
地下コンコースの空気は湿り、古い煉瓦の壁は過去の雨を忘れられずに微かに匂っているようだ。床のタイルは長年の踏み跡で曇り、ところどころにひびが走って、そこへ街の小さな記憶が溜まっている。
ジャックはそれらを意識せずに歩を進めた。彼の視線は、通路の奥にある暗がりへと自然に吸い寄せられていた。そこにはいつもと同じ出勤途中の人たちが早足で過ぎていく。
壁際に並ぶ古びた看板や掲示板は、折れたチラシを枕にして眠るように貼り付いている。清掃員が一つの帯のようにモップを引き、その先でベンチが一つ、淡い孤独を描くように置かれている。
通路を流れる空気は、まるで都市の静脈のゆっくりした鼓動だとジャックは思った。自分の呼吸が、その鼓動と同じ拍に馴染むのを感じながら、歩みを進めた。
足元のタイルに光が差し、影がゆらりと伸びた。エスカレーターの金属音が遠くで微かに鳴り、階段から吹き下りる風がジャックの体にこもった熱を冷ました。街の匂いと、地下の湿り気と、古い電灯の微熱が入り混じって、時間はゆっくりと溶けてゆく。
歩を止めたジャックは掌をこすり、周囲に視線を散らした。耳に入る雑踏は、独特の反響を帯びて方向感覚を曖昧にする。彼はただ、どこかにいる「それ」を捜しているのだと自分に言い聞かせる。
再び歩き出した瞬間、金属が擦れる高音が辺りの空気を裂いた。一瞬、彼の頸筋が弾かれ、足元に微かな緊張が走った。反射的に足を止めると、視界の端で受話器が小さく揺れていた。
コードは年月の重みでねじれ、埃まみれの金属部分が鈍く光っている。誰も使わないはずの電話が、唐突に、祭りの鐘のように鳴った。都市の静寂に差し込む異音。音は低く、しかし確実に空気を震わせた。
ジャックはゆっくりと視線をそれに向けた。地下の重い空気が一瞬、膝の裏を押すように沈む。耳に届くのは自分の呼吸と、受話器の小さな振動音だけだ。周囲の人々は何事もないように通り過ぎ、母親が幼児の手を引き、老いた男が新聞を折りたたんで小脇に抱え直し、去ってゆく。
受話器はジャックを呼んでいた。沈黙の裂け目からの呼び声は、まるで古い地図の裏側で震えるインクのように、じわりと広がる。ジャックは無言で手を伸ばし、受話器を取り上げた。金属は冷たく、その冷たさが掌に現実を落とした。
「……ジャック」
声は低く、だがはっきりしていた。耳に残る音色に、時間が少しだけ逆戻りする気配があった。ネットの映像で見知った声の輪郭。しかしテレビで聞いたときとは異なり、そこには刃ではなく遠い夕焼けのような色度が含まれているようだった。
ジャックは受話器越しに、通路の端の人影や、ベンチの孤独、床に落ちた小さな紙片──それらが会話の合間に流れ込むのを感じた。声音は会話の窓に、街の細部を滑り込ませるものだ。
「どうした、アミール。覇気のない声だな」
ジャックの声は静かだが、地面に落ちる石のように重みを持っていた。受話器の向こうで、アミールがすこし鼻で笑うのが聞こえた。
「ときどきは落ち込むこともあるさ、人間だからね」
その声は穏やかで、かつ遠い。以前に見せた公の顔とは違い、こちらは影の中で磨かれたものだった。通話の間、隣を通り過ぎる親子の会話がスナップのように割り込み、また消えていった。
「ジャック、これから言うことをよく聴け。ま、録音はしてるだろうけどな」
「それはお互い様だろ」
受話器の向こうで、アミールの言葉は滑らかに落ち、地下のタイルに小さな波紋を作るようだった。周囲の雑音が一度だけ音像を濁らせ、また整頓される。母親の靴音、清掃員のモップの擦れる音、遠くの自販機の冷える音──それらが会話のリズムに交差してゆく。
「俺はこのチームから降りた。理由は、もう多くの人間が死ぬのを見たくないからだ。それだけだ」
ジャックの指先が受話器の脈動を確かめた。声は冷静を装うが、その奥に震えがあるのを彼は聴き取った。地下の照明の輪郭が、アミールの言葉ごとにわずかに滲む。
「それを信じろって言うのか？ お前らの教授、ザカリアはそんな弱音を吐くなって言ってるぞ、せっかく盛大に死んだのに」
アミールはしばらく黙り、何かを笑い飛ばすような吐息を漏らした。通路の端でキャンディを舐める子供の小さな舌音が、言葉の間を埋めた。
「で、どうしたんだ？ 失恋でもしたのか？」
「そんなところだ。この起爆装置は、これからも多くの建物を破壊する」
その一言が、受話器の内の小さな部屋を突き破った。ジャックは一瞬だけ、地下の光が薄く濁るのを見た。だが通路は相変わらず普段どおりで、誰も振り返らない。異変は音の中にしか存在しない。
「どこにどれくらいセットし、どんな仕掛けなんだ、正確に、手短に話せ。つまらないジョークは混ぜるな」
ジャックの口調は掴みかけた氷のように冷たい。受話器の向こうでアミールは静かに説明を試みるが、ジャックは言葉の細部よりもその声が持つ重さに耳を澄ます。通話の合間、壁際の電話ボックスの影が長く伸び、床に細い黒い溝を引いた。
「俺たちは、一般人で訓練されたテロリストではない。しかし、渡された情報は各個人へ分散されていた。たとえば今、俺がこうしてあんたに電話しているように裏切りが生まれた時のことを考えてね」
アミールの声は慎重で、しかし怯えはない。ジャックは受話器を耳にしっかり押し当て、周囲の生活音がそのまま説明の布地となって織り込まれていくのを感じていた。通路の端で老女がバッグを直す音、遠くでシャッターが開く小さな仕事のはじまりの合図が聞こえた。
「俺たちが潜入したのは、今から５年ほど前だ。その頃に建てられていた建造物の中枢にC4を仕掛けた。ラフィは大学で建築学を学んでいたからね。崩壊する様子はもうネットでも１００万回再生だからわかってるだろう。起爆させるためには、ミュートリーダーというQRコードを読み取る昔の携帯電話が必要だ。それとペアで独自に俺がつくったタブレットもだ。このタブレットのバッテリー部分、3分の２にC4を埋め込んだ。このタブレットも大昔にあった指紋認証式のタブレットだ。俺が作ったタブレットは2台だ。それがロサンゼルスとニューヨークに分かれて存在している」
「つまり、起爆装置は2台か？」
「わからない。俺の他にも電子工学部の人間がいたからな。それからQRコードを読み取る携帯電話は大昔、あまりに特殊すぎて売れずに浸透しなかった機器だ」
「どういう流れで起爆させるんだ？」
「あるサイトに特殊なQRコードが設置されているらしい。そこに携帯電話をかざして読み込む。QRコードは３Dレイヤーだ。コードが立体的に浮かび上がって解読し、起爆させるコードへ変換させ、電波で飛ばす」
「電波？ Wi-Fiではなくか？」
「Wi-Fiだったら、あんたらすぐに止められるだろ？ そこは俺がタブレットを改造した。Wi-FiではなくFM電波だ、パイレーツラジオ（海賊ラジオ）と同じ仕組みだ」
「ならば、周波数を駆逐できるぞ」
アミールはしばらく笑ってからいった。
「周波数はいくらでも変えられるようにアプリを設定した。ちなみに周波数を妨害しようと発せられた電波も起爆するようセットした。つまり、いずれにしても、ドカンだ」
ジャックは、しばらく沈黙してから続けた。
「QRコードは、どこのサイトにあるんだ？」
「わからない。すべての過程で分散している。ハードの製造、QRコードの場所、起爆させる操作。流れを散らすことで、裏切りを抑止しているようだった」
ふたりの間に再び沈黙が落ちた。アミールは、足元に落とした視線を引き上げて、いった。
「ジャック、ここまで話しているんだから、知っていたら話しているさ。つまり、ミュートリーダーを手にしている人間にしかわからない。今で言うなら ….」
「ラフィだけ、か」
「そのとおりだ」
二人の間に沈黙が落ち、通話は薄い氷の上で揺れている。ジャックの呼吸がゆっくりと現実を取り戻した。地下の光は細く、しかししっかりと彼を照らしている。
「アミール、どうして話す？」
「さっきもいったとおりだ。人の死にはうんざりだ」
「お前がこうして喋ることがわかっているのに、ラフィはお前を無傷で解放したのか？ この話を信じるにはうますぎないか？」
「確かに。俺が適当なことをいって、あんたらをカモるかもね」
「ジャック、お疲れ様、アミール、その場を動かないで」
ヴェロニカの落ち着いた声が二人の通話に割り込んだ。
「ジャック、実物はなかなかの男前だな」
そういったアミールは、ちょうどジャックのいる壁面の反対側で受話器を手にしていた。
受話器越しの冗談は、地下の湿った空気を幾分、乾かせた。彼らは同じ空間の別々の面を指でなぞっているようだ。
ジャックは受話器を握りなおし、静かに頷いた。その頷きは、街の鼓動に合わせた小さな合図のようでもあり、また終わりのない季節の一端を告げるものでもあった。通路の光がゆるやかに流れ、影が折り重なり、会話は地下のタイルにゆっくりと染み渡っていった。
ジャックは、ゆっくり辺りを見渡した。元々、グランドセントラルターミナルをテロから守る為に、日常的に警護していたNYPDが出入り口に構えている。非常事態の現在、ヴェロニカの指示で一斉にアミールを射程内に捕らえていた。ピカティニーレールを持ったM4カービンの赤とグリーンのレーザーサイトがアミールの両足に張り付いていた。おそらく、赤はターミナルのNYPDで、グリーンがヴェロニカのチームだろう。二つの班がアミールの動きを封じようと照準を定めていた。もちろん、照準はアミールの額にはない。
突然、ジャックの受話器の向こうから頬を叩く音が響いた。
「アミール、あなたは何者なの？」
その声はアナだった。
アミールは一瞬目を丸くしたが、すぐに自分を取り戻した。
「ジャック、つけられてたのか？ ミス・パテル。君こそ何者なんだ？ ジャックの邪魔をしているよ」
彼はそういって親指を逆さにし、自分の足を示した。そこには、赤とグリーンのレーザーサイトが静かに張り付いていた。アナはアミールに詰め寄ると言い放った。
「いっしょに出頭して」
その言葉にジャックは付け足した。
「とりあえず捕まれ。詳しい話は、ヴェロニカといっしょに聞いてやる」
ヴェロニカは足さなかったが、おそらく頷いているだろうと思いながら、ジャックは受話器を持ち替えた。
アミールは一笑した。
「言うまでもないが、はい、わかりましたというなら、ここで対話してないよな。ほら、列車がたくさん到着したぞ、照準に気をつけな」
早朝のターミナルに、人が溢れ出した。ターミナルを中心にニューヨークは呼吸している。人の流れは、都市の脈動であり、血流そのものだ。コンコースには人の熱気が溢れ出していた。
溢れた人の流れに一瞬目を移すと、アナは冷静に、そして穏やかな眼差しでいった。
「おねがい。ジャックのところへ」
アミールも同じように笑みを消すと、アナの視線を受け入れ、いった。
「君に初めて会った展示の朝を覚えているかい？ あれは偶然じゃない。僕は君を殺しに行ったんだ」
アナの視線が白くなった。眼差しからは生気が失せ、周囲の喧騒に流され、消えていった。そして、どうして？ と小さく言葉を落とした。
「君が消えれば、アメリカでボンベイブラッドは、ジャスティンと僕だけだ」
////////////////
全国のテレビ局が緊急報道に切り替わった。
キャスターの声は震え、言葉を探す間、画面には会場の静止した映像が映った。スマートフォンの通知が一斉に鳴り、しかし、届くのは言葉ではなく、静寂の報せのように感じられた。
SNSのタイムラインは瞬く間に情報で埋まり、誰もが画面の中で止まった時間を見つめていた。
「どういうことだ…？」画面を見つめる手が、思わず止まる。
画面の向こう、遠くの街角でも、カフェでも、オフィスでも、息を呑む人々の姿が映る。
公園のベンチに座る老女は、手にしたバッグを握りしめ、子供を抱く母親は言葉を失い、運転中の男性はハンドルを握る手に力を込めた。
沈黙は、都市の喧騒、郊外の静けさ、田舎の広野を一斉に包み込み、世界を一つの深い呼吸に束ねた。
政府機関では緊急対応が始まっていた。電話が鳴り、スクリーンに赤い警報が灯っている。大統領補佐官は言葉を失い、ペンを握る手が微かに震えている。ホワイトハウス内の廊下は、普段の喧騒を消し、足音だけが響いた。
誰も正確に理解できないまま、言葉は混乱と恐怖の連鎖として広がっていく。政府内の応急対応が動き、専門家たちが分析を開始する。報告書、通信、カメラ映像、あらゆる情報が交錯するが、四人の存在は、すべての監視の目をすり抜けていた。
四人の沈黙は、記録に残らず、しかし世界の時間軸に確実な爪痕を刻んだのだ。
都市、州、国家、世界 — すべてが一瞬にして同じ呼吸をし、同じ時間の中で凍りついた。
四人の影は、誰にも認識されることなく、世界の中心でその使命を終え、影のまま、夜の帳の中に溶け込んでいった。
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僕の新しい小説。
B♭ （ビーフラット）
舞台はニューヨークです。
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54851971628/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54840848974/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54829426478/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54811315069/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54793744070/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54771288620/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54769008619/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54758538180/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54743658539/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54737038151/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54720346098/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54713957969/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54703714420/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54696914108/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54686544606/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54653035442/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54639396885/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54628511025/in/dateposted...
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www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54599616429/in/dateposted...
Soundtrack.
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack/pl.u-47...
For japanese
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack-for-jap...
iTunes Playlist Link::
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b/pl.u-47DJGhopxMD
For japanese
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack-for-jap...
追記 この小説を多少説明しました。
youtu.be/3w65lqUF-YI?si=yG7qy6TPeCL9xRJV
メモ
1
「Bombay型（ボンベイ型、hh型）」
•特徴：通常のABO血液型を持たない（A、B、Oに分類されない）特殊な型。
•発見地：1952年、インド・ムンバイ（旧ボンベイ）で初めて確認。
•発生頻度：インドでは1万人に1人程度だが、世界的には約250万人に1人とも。
•輸血制限：同じBombay型しか輸血できない。
2
2024年ハーバード大学首席の卒業式スピーチ『知らないことの力』
youtu.be/SOUH8iVqSOI?si=Ju-Y728irtcWR71K
3
Shots fired at Trump rally
youtu.be/1ejfAkzjEhk?si=ASqJwEmkY-2rW_hT
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This bus stop at the foot of the Canongate in Edinburgh has been equipped with an updated Real Time Passenger Information system which is being tested. The city and Lothian Buses introduced the city’s original RTPI system - branded BusTracker circa 2004 - but is well overdue for replacement.
To make this upload more interesting, I have added some Edinburgh transport chronology:-
First bridge at Leith - Abbot’s or Bellenden or Ballantyne 15th century
Sedan chair makes first appearance in Edinburgh 1687
First Graving Dock at Leith 1720
Edinburgh to Queen’s Ferry Road designated as turnpike road 1751
London to Edinburgh mail coach journey advertised as “10 days in summer, 12 days in winter.” 1754
Ferry Road constructed on its present line 1758
The first North Bridge completed 1772
South Bridge built 1785-1788
Upper Drawbridge (later Sandport Place bridge) 1788
First wet dock (East Dock) at Leith opened 1806
John Rennie’s Musselburgh New Bridge opened 1808
Bridge over Water of Leith at Bernard Street erected 1809
First steamboat, “Lady of the Lake”, on the Forth 1812
West Dock completed 1817
Junction Bridge in Leith built 1818
Regent or Regent’s Bridge carrying Waterloo Place over Calton Road completed 1819
Trinity Chain Pier opened 1821
First regular steamship service between Leith and London 1821
Union Canal opened 1822
Second Cramond Brig opened 1824
Leith Dock Commission established 1826
Telford’s Pathhead (or Lothian) Bridge over Tyne Water built 1827-1831
George IV Bridge built 1827-1836
The Mound completed 1830
Glenesk Viaduct over River N. Esk on Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway completed 1831
Telford’s Dean Bridge completed 1832
Mail coach from London to Edinburgh took 42 hrs 23 minutes 1832
Horse drawn passenger service inaugurated on E&DR from St Leonards 1832
Edinburgh to Glasgow ‘swift’ passenger boats on Union and Forth & Clyde canals took 7 1/2 hrs between cities changing at Falkirk 1835
New Western Approach (later Johnston Terrace) opened 1836
Granton Pier, originally Victoria Jetty, opened 1838
Edinburgh & Glasgow Rly opened from Haymarket to Glasgow via Falkirk 1842
EL&NR opened from Scotland Street to Trinity 1842
Granton to Burntisland ferry service opens 1844
Rival schemes put forward for atmospheric railways between Edinburgh and Leith 1845
EL&GR opened from Warriston Jn to North Leith 1846
North British Railway opens to Berwick-upon-Tweed 1846
E&GR extended from Haymarket to Waverley 1847
Scotland Street tunnel and Canal Street station opened 1847
Musselburgh (town centre) station opened 1847
Last mail coach run from Edinburgh to London 1847
Caledonian Railway opened from Carlisle to Lothian Road station via Carstairs 1848
Passenger services on Union Canal abandoned 1848
Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway purchase the Union Canal 1849
Lothianbridge or Newbattle viaduct built 1849
First trains between Edinburgh and Hawick 1849
Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway opened 1849
Edinburgh and Northern Railway introduce train ferry service for freight wagons between Granton and Burntisland 1851
Victoria Dock at Leith opened 1852
West Pier at Leith opened 1852
Peebles Railway opened 1855
Melville Drive opened 1859
Cockburn Street built to improve access to Waverley from the Old Town 1859-1864
GNR, NER and NBR introduce common pool of passenger carriages (East Coast Joint Stock) on East Coast route 1861
NBR complete Waverley Route to Carlisle 1862
Winchburgh railway accident, 17 killed, 1862
East Coast companies introduce Special Scotch Express Edinburgh to London King’s Cross (later the Flying Scotsman) 1862
First John Menzies bookstall at Waverley 1862
The Prince of Wales Graving Dock opened 1863
Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway taken over by NBR 1865
NBR divert Granton trains via Abbeyhill Jcn and Leith Walk 1868
Ratho/Dalmeny branch railway (1866) extended to South Queensferry 1868
CR open Cleland and Midcalder cut off 1869
NBR open Abbeyhill and Junction Road stations 1869
Albert Dock opened 1869
Tramways Act 1870
CR replace Lothian Road station with new terminus slightly further north and rename it Princes Street 1870
Portobello Pier opened 1871
NBR start through trains to Glasgow via Bathgate 1871
First horse trams (Haymarket to Bernard Street (Leith) started by Edinburgh Street Tramways Co 1871
Penicuik Railway opened 1872
NBR introduce first sleeping car service in GB between Glasgow, Edinburgh and London 1873
Colinton New Bridge opened c.1874
Balerno branch railway opened 1874
Victoria Swing Bridge opened at Leith 1874
Tramway opened from Waterloo Place to Portobello 1875
Through trains to St Pancras via Waverley Route and Midland Railway’s new Settle and Carlisle Line 1876
NBR extend railway from South Queensferry to Port Edgar 1878
CR start passenger service Princes Street to Leith 1879
Edinburgh Dock opened 1881
Forth Bridge Railway Company formed by NBR/NER/GNR/MR 1881
Edinburgh Street Tramways Co trial steam tramway engines on Portobello route 1881/2
Forth Bridge construction begins 1883
Roads and Bridges Act ends turnpike roads system and tolls 1883
South Suburban railway opened 1884
Galloway Saloon Steam Packet company formed 1886
Galloway steamers build wooden pier at South Queensferry town harbour 1886
First issues of Murray’s monthly Edinburgh timetable diaries 1886
NBR open new and improved station at Portobello 1887
Belford Bridge opened 1887
NBR open Craiglockhart station 1887
First cable tram route (Edinburgh Northern Tramways Co, Hanover St to Goldenacre) 1888
Forth Bridge and connecting railways opened, also Aberdour station, 1890
Inverkeithing and North Queensferry stations relocated 1890
Fire at the (first) Princes Street station 1890
ENTCo open Stockbridge cable route from Frederick Street to Comely Bank 1890
CR propose railway under Princes Street and Calton Hill to Leith 1890
CR and NBR both open temporary Exhibition stations to serve Edinburgh Exhibition of the Arts, Sciences and Industries 1890
NBR open Easter Road and Piershill stations 1891
Waverley expansion 1892-1902
Lessee of Edinburgh tramways (exc Leith) changes to Edinburgh & District Tramways Co in 1894
Second Princes Street Station opened by CR 1894
CR open their Barnton branch from Craigleith to Cramond Brig 1894
NBR open resited Haymarket MPD west of Russell Road 1894/5
The new Haymarket (South) tunnel completed 1895
NBR open Powderhall station 1895
First motor car driven through Edinburgh 1896
The Alexandra Dry Dock completed 1896
Burgh of Portobello absorbed by Edinburgh 1896
Second (the present) North Bridge opened 1897
Edinburgh & District Tramways takeover the two Edinburgh Northern Tramways cable routes 1897
Booking Hall opened at Waverley 1897
NBR open second Calton Tunnel 1897
Turnhouse station opened 1897
New swing bridge opened at Bernard Street replacing the earlier bridge 1898
NBR open new “suburban station” at Waverley 1898
Norman MacDonald’s Edinburgh Autocar Company introduced motor wagonette service GPO to Haymarket 1899
Edinburgh & District Tramways start their first cable trams 1899
E&DT open Tollcross cable car depot and power station 1899
NBR acquires former Waterloo Hotel as head office 1899
Dalry Road station opened by CR 1900
Jeffrey Street footbridge over east end of Waverley opened 1900
First Sunday trams 1901
First trains to Gifford 1901
NBR open branch line to Corstorphine 1902
NBR open North British Station Hotel on Princes Street 1902
First pedestrian fatality as a result of being knocked down by motor vehicle in Edinburgh 1902
Bonnington Bridge built replacing 1812 structure 1902/3
NBR open Leith Central station 1903
Driving licences introduced 1903
CR open Princes Street Station Hotel 1903
Bonnington Bridge opened 1903
Barntongate station renamed Davidson’s Mains 1903
Cramond Brig station renamed Barnton 1903
Musselburgh & District Electric Light & Traction Co. Ltd open tramway from Joppa to Levenhall 1904
Imperial Dock opened 1904
Bangour (Private) Railway opened 1905
First Leith Corporation electric trams 1905
Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd starts first motor bus service Mound to Corstorphine 1906
Last horse tram (Tollcross to Colinton Rd) 1907
John Croall and Sons introduce first motor taxis in Edinburgh 1907
Last extension of cable tramway network in Edinburgh - the Broughton St to Canonmills line 1908
NBR open Newtongrange station 1908
NBR open temporary station at Balgreen to serve Scottish National Exhibition at Saughton Park 1908
Hailes Platform on CR Balerno branch opened 1908
Musselburgh tramway extended from Levenhall to Port Seton 1909
Leith Corporation Tramways extended to Granton 1909
EDT open electric tramway Ardmillan Tce to Slateford 1910
NBR introduce summer Lothian Coast Express from Glasgow Queen Street to Gullane/North Berwick/Dunbar 1912
NBR open Scotland’s first Control Centre, 1913
NBR open carriage sidings at Craigentinny 1914
Seton Mains Halt on ECML opened by NBR 1914
Ratho train crash kills 12, 1917
NBR temporarily close some suburban stations 1917
Powderhall station closed 1917
NBR open Rosyth Halt 1917
South Queensferry Halt opened 1919
Edinburgh Corporation start running trams directly 1919
Edinburgh Corporation Tramways establish HQ at 2 St. James Square 1919
Corporation starts first bus tours 1919
NBR take over working of the Queensferry Passage 1920
Edinburgh absorbs Cramond, Corstorphine, Colinton, Leith and Liberton, 1920
Corporation start first regular bus services 1920
SMT starts first services to Musselburgh and Tranent 1920
Saughton station closed 1921
SMT start pleasure cruises from Queensferry with two new motor yachts 1921
First ECT electric trams 1922
Tramway on Princes Street electrified 1922
ECT introduce first double deck buses (open top) 1922
Railway grouping 1923
Last cable trams (the Portobello route) withdrawn 1923
Edinburgh Corporation open Portobello Power Station 1923
ECT tracks at Joppa linked up with those of the Musselburgh company 1923
Marchmont Circle electric tram service starts 1924
Tramway extended from Seafield to King’s Road 1924
Five killed when two trains collide at Haymarket 1924
Murrayfield Stadium opened 1925
ECT open Gorgie tram depot 1925
LNER withdraw train service to Trinity and Granton 1925
George Street tramway opened 1925
First night bus services introduced by ECT 1925
Edinburgh Licensed Hackney Carriage Association 1925
Tramway extension opened to Colinton 1926
ECT open Central Garage in former Industrial Hall at Annandale Street 1926
SMT open booking and enquiry office at 45 Princes Street 1926
SMT commence through bus service to Glasgow 1926
Maybury Road opened 1927
LMS relaunch their premier Euston- Glasgow/Edinburgh service as the “Royal Scot” 1927
Edinburgh-Glasgow New Road built 1927-32
Edinburgh Corporation Tramways becomes Edinburgh Corporation Transport 1928
First traffic lights in city at Broughton St/York Pl junction 1928
Levenhall to Port Seton tramway abandoned 1928
LNER introduce third class sleeping cars 1928
LNER loco 4472 “Flying Scotsman” hauls first non stop King’s Cross to Edinburgh train service 1928
Tramway extended from Corstorphine to Drum Brae 1928
Thomson’s Tours start coach services to London 1928
SMT open New Street bus garage 1929
Railway companies invest in SMT 1929
Telford Road opened 1929
Last trains to South Queensferry Halt 1929
Tram accident at Liberton Brae 1929
LNER close Turnhouse, Winchburgh, Gogar, Kirkliston and Leith Walk stations 1930
ECT open tramway extension to Stenhouse 1930
Road Traffic Act 1930
SMT starts extended tours of several days 1931
Bowens of Musselburgh sell their bus services to SMT 1931
First edition of The Highway Code published 1931
Last trains to Aberlady and Gullane 1932
LNER withdraw passenger services from Glencorse branch 1933
ECT introduce first closed top double decker 1933
Moderne style Southern Motors garage at Causewayside c.1933
Two custom built car ferries introduced at Queensferry 1934
LNER open Balgreen Halt 1934
LMS open East Pilton Halt 1934
Driving tests introduced 1935
Tramway extended from Braids to Fairmilehead 1936
SMT concentrate departures at Saint Andrew Square 1936
Corporation tours stance opened at Waverley Bridge 1936
The Maybury Roadhouse opened 1936
Final tram extension to Maybury 1937
Veteran 58 yr old ferry, PS “William Muir” withdrawn from LNER Granton/Burntisland passage 1937
LNER Edinburgh to Glasgow train collides with another stationary train at Castlecary killing 35, 1937
LMS open House O’ Hill Halt on Barnton branch 1937
LNER introduce The Coronation streamlined express passenger train between King’s Cross and Edinburgh and vv 1937
LNER withdraw Granton/Burntisland ferry 1940
SMT bus inbound from Port Seton crashes head on into tramcar on Portobello Road, killing five bus passengers 1941
Dalkeith branch passenger service withdrawn 1942
Western breakwater at Leith completed 1942
Last trains to Colinton and Balerno 1943
ECT restarts city tours after the war 1946
First BEA flights to London (using Northolt) 1947
Last trains to ex-NBR North Leith station 1947
Forth Road Bridge Order approves construction of bridge 1947
ECT start Airport bus service (initially under contract to BEA) 1947
First International Festival of Music and Drama 1947
Peak year for tram passenger numbers (nearly 193m) 1947
Railways nationalised 1948
Washout of East Coast Main Line in Berwickshire 1948
SMT nationalised 1949
Last trains to Haddington 1949
Town planner Patrick Abercrombie publishes his vision for Edinburgh 1949
BEA move booking office and town terminal to 133 George Street 1950
Third car ferry introduced on Queensferry Passage 1950
New Hailes station closed 1950
BR open Easter Road Park Halt for arriving football specials 1950
Last trains to Barnton and Penicuik 1951
Last trains call at Drumshoreland, Curriehill, Ratho and Philpstoun 1951
SMT start hourly express coach service to Glasgow 1951
Northern Roadways start overnight service to London 1951
Forth Ferries run short lived car ferry service between Granton and Burntisland 1951/2
Corporation resolves to abandon tramways completely within three years 1952
Corporation permits external adverts on trams and buses 1952
Last passenger trains to Leith Central 1952
First international flights from Turnhouse Airport (to Dublin) 1952
Last trams to Stenhouse and Slateford 1953
ECT close Gorgie tram depot 1953
BR introduce summer weekly “Starlight Special” overnight trains Waverley to London Marylebone @ 70/- return 1953
BEA Edinburgh to London flights move from Northolt to Heathrow 1954
Last trams to Corstorphine, Portobello, Musselburgh and Levenhall 1954
Longstone bus garage opened by ECT 1955
Leith Dock Commission close Bernard Street swing bridge to navigation 1955
Millerhill station closed 1955
Withdrawal of Colinton trams 1955
British Transport Historical Records open office in Edinburgh 1955
Remaining Glasgow trains via Bathgate withdrawn 1956
Fourth car ferry joins Queensferry Passage 1956
New passenger terminal opened at Turnhouse Airport 1956
Last first generation electric trams 1956
First diesel trains to Glasgow 1957
ECT relocate head office from St. James Square to 14 Queen Street 1957
SOL open Saint Andrew Square Bus Station 1957
Many local rail services converted to diesel operations 1958
Jeffrey Street footbridge over east end of Waverley closed 1958
Construction of Forth Road Bridge begins 1958
Underground roadway heating system installed on The Mound 1959
BR introduce summer daytime car carrier service Waverley to London (Holloway) 1960
British Railways introduce diesel services Edinburgh to Fife 1960
East Fortune becomes temporary Edinburgh Airport for 4 months (96000 pax )owing to runway strengthening at Turnhouse 1961
SMT start The Transatlantic Express service to Prestwick 1961
The new Bernard Street concrete bridge opened 1961
Last trains to Bonnyrigg and Peebles 1962
Last trains to Leith North 1962
SOL rebuild and extend Musselburgh depot 1962
First parking meters introduced on George Street and Queen Street 1962
ECT open their new Marine Garage 1962
South Sub trains withdrawn 1962
BEA move sales office to 135 Princes Street 1962
Beeching Report published 1963
Loganair start first scheduled service Dundee to Edinburgh 1963
ECT open information bureau at top of Waverley Bridge 1964
Eastern Scottish fleetname introduced by SOL 1964/5
New A90 dual carriageway Cramond Brig to Queensferry 1964
Queensferry Passage closed 1964
Forth Road Bridge (cost £19.5m) opened, first direct buses to Fife 1964
Scotland’s first motorway - M90 Admiralty to Duloch in south Fife plus M823 spur bypassing Rosyth 1964
Castle Terrace multi-storey car park opened 1964
Abbeyhill, Piershill, Portobello and Joppa stations closed 1964
Musselburgh and Inveresk stations closed 1964
Kingsknowe station closed 1964
First modern rear engined bus bought by ECT 1965
British Rail brand name and double arrow logo launched 1965
Princes Street Station closed along with Merchiston 1965
BEA Vickers Vanguard on flight from Edinburgh crashes at Heathrow killing 36, 1965
BUA start InterJet service to Gatwick 1966
BR publish closure proposal for Waverley Route 1966
Driver-only double deck buses legalised 1966
SOL open combined depot/bus station in Dalkeith 1966
Motorail brand launched by BRB 1966
Edinburgh Corporation publish plans for six lane Inner Relief Road 1966
ECT close parcels service 1966
Chairlift opened at Hillend ski centre 1966
Half hourly train service Edinburgh to Glasgow QS via Falkirk 1966.
BR close St. Margaret’s MPD 1967
Last trains to Corstorphine 1967
Forth Ports Authority replaces Leith Dock Commission 1968
Taxi cooperative, Central Radio Taxis, founded 1968
Waverley Route to Carlisle closed 1969
BR close Divisional Manager’s office at Waterloo Place 1969
ECT introduce first double decker one man operated services 1969
Scottish Transport Group HQ set up at Carron House on George Street, Edinburgh 1969
Closure of North Berwick branch refused by MoT 1969
ECT close Tollcross garage 1969
M8 opened between Whitburn and Dechmont 1969
Direct railway route to Perth closed between Cowdenbeath and Bridge of Earn via Kinross Jcn 1970
ECT employ first female driver 1970
M8 eastern section opened between Dechmont and Newbridge 1970
M9 (later M90) Kirkliston spur opened 1970
Travel Centre opened at Waverley 1970
BAA take over Edinburgh Airport 1971
Scotland’s first motorway service area opened at Harthill on M8 at cost of £650,000, 1971
Push/Pull trains to Glasgow 1971
Kingsknowe Station reopened 1971
ECT expand info bureau at Waverley Bridge to become airport bus terminal 1971
Last passenger sailings from Leith to Orkney/Shetland 1971
Traffic lights installed on Princes Street 1972
First Open Day at ECT Shrubhill 1972
Last sailings Leith to Reykjavik and Copenhagen 1972
The old A9 between Turnhouse and Boathouse Bridge closed to allow construction of the airport’s new runway 1973
Rose Street (between Castle St and Frederick St) becomes first in city to be pedestrianised 1973
First section of Water of Leith Walkway opened between Slateford and Juniper Green using solum of ex-CR Balerno branch 1973
Civil Aviation Act 1971 merges BEA and BOAC as British Airways 1974
First bus lane in city (Earl Grey Street, northbound) 1974
West Approach Road opened 1974
Edinburgh boundary extended to take in Queensferry, Kirkliston, Newbridge, Ratho, Currie and Balerno 1975
Edinburgh City Transport becomes Lothian Regional Transport 1975
Air Anglia launch first Edinburgh to Amsterdam flights 1975
First Leith Street footbridge erected 1975
New runway opened at Edinburgh Airport 1976
British Airways introduce the Shuttle to Heathrow 1976
LRT introduces the Ridacard season ticket 1976
New power signal box opened at Waverley 1976
Lothian introduce Airlink brand for airport bus service 1976
First allover advert on LRT bus - Carlsberg Lager 1976
First phase of Almondvale shopping centre opened at Livingston 1976
Solari split flap departure board installed at Waverley 1976
SBG launch blue and white livery and “Scottish” brand on London coaches 1976
New passenger terminal at Edinburgh Airport opened 1977
SPOKES (the Lothian cycle campaign) launched 1977
BR opens Craigentinny Train Maintenance Depot 1977
HST train services from King’s Cross to Edinburgh introduced 1978/9
Townsend Thoresen run shortlived experimental sailings between Leith and Kristiansand (Norway), autumn 1978
Penmanshiel Tunnel collapse on ECML between Berwick and Dunbar 1979
Transport museum at Shrubhill closed 1979
SOL open combined depot/bus station at Livingston 1979
LRT last use bus conductors 1980
Leith Walk ex-CR rail bridge removed 1980
Deregulation of express coach services 1980
Eastern Scottish introduce X14 Motorway Express to Glasgow 1981
Colinton bypass (3.5 miles) opened from Baberton to Fairmilehead 1981
Cotter Coachline service to London 1981
Lothian Regional Council buys disused railway routes in north Edinburgh 1981
British Rail launch low cost Nightrider train service King’s Cross to Edinburgh and Aberdeen 1982
Eastern Scottish end use of bus conductors 1982
“Maid of the Forth” cruises established at Queensferry 1982
CEDC open first cycleway/walkway on ex-NB North Leith branch from Warriston Crescent to Couper Street, Leith 1982
“Innocent Railway” walkway/cycleway - first section opened by LRC from Duddingston Rd West to southern tunnel portal 1982
Midcalder station renamed Kirknewton 1982
Newton’s Travel launch “Fast Class” coach service to/from Inverness 1982
British Midland start Heathrow to Edinburgh service 1983
Middle Meadow Walk cycleway opened 1983
British Airways upgrade Heathrow services to “Super Shuttle” 1983
British Rail Scotland adopt Scotrail brand (22 Sept) 1983
Stagecoach start an Edinburgh-Glasgow service 1983
ECT tram 35 moved to Blackpool 1983
Henry Robb shipyard at Leith completes two IoW ferries for Sealink (the yard’s last orders) 1983
LRC open walkway/cycleway over former ex-CR route from Craigleith to Davidson’s Mains 1983
Restalrig Railway Path opened from Quarryholes to Seafield over ex-CR Leith New Lines 1983
InterCity launch Highland Chieftain between King’s Cross and Inverness via Edinburgh (581 miles) 1984
LRC open walkway/cycleway (Telford Path) over ex-CR route from Craigleith to Crewe Toll 1984
LRC open walkway/cycleway (Roseburn Path) from Craigleith to Murrayfield over ex CR route 1984
Edinburgh-Glasgow train derails W of Polmont, 13 killed, 1984
Livingston South station opened 1984
South Gyle Station opened 1985
“Royal Scotsman” luxury tour train inaugurated 1985
Scottish Citylink Coaches Ltd formed 1985
Borders/East Lothian routes of Eastern Scottish pass to Lowland Scottish 1985
Edinburgh to Bathgate train service reopened 1986
SPOKES volunteers build 1km Pilton Path in one week 1986
ScotRail Operations Depot opened at Waverley 1986
ScotRail operate dmu shuttles between Waverley and Meadowbank Stadium during Commonwealth Games 1986
Bus services deregulated 1986
Lothian Regional Transport becomes Lothian Region Transport plc 1986
A1 Tranent and Musselburgh bypasses opened 1986
A199 Portobello bypass (Sir Harry Lauder Road) opened 1986
Eastern Scottish introduce City Sprinter minibuses 1986
Sighthill Bypass (3 miles) opened from Glasgow Road to Baberton 1986
SPOKES publish first edition of their Edinburgh cycle map 1987
Scott Russell Aqueduct built to carry Union Canal over the Edinburgh city bypass 1987
Wester Hailes and Curriehill stations opened /reopened 1987
Air UK replace BCal on Gatwick/Edinburgh route 1988
InterCity Sleepers concentrated on WCML and Euston 1988
Preserved Edinburgh tram 35 operates at the Glasgow Garden Festival 1988
New station opened at Musselburgh 1988
Burdiehouse Bypass from Fairmilehead to Straiton opened 1988
Millerhill Bypass from Sheriffhall to Old Craighall opened 1988
Innocent railway tunnel on E&DR opened to cyclists/pedestrians 1989
Guide Friday starts Edinburgh open top bus tour followed by LRT later same year with Edinburgh Classic Tour 1989
ScotRail start Fife Circle train services 1989
Guide Friday start their AirBus Express to airport 1989
Stagecoach sells express operations to National Express, initially rebranded Caledonian Express, 1989
Craig Park retail park opened on former Newcraighall Colliery site 1989
Gilmerton Bypass opened from Straiton to Sheriffhall 1989
Eastern Scottish privatised, revives SMT fleetname 1990
Lowland Scottish privatised 1990
Class 158 DMUs introduced by ScotRail on Edinburgh-Glasgow QS service 1990
Carstairs/Edinburgh link from WCML electrified 1991
Busway proposed from Edinburgh Airport to city centre 1991
East Coast Main Line electrification completed 1991
North Berwick train service electrified 1991
SBG sell Fife Scottish to Stagecoach 1991
Stagecoach Rail launched 1992
Class 158 DMU (158708/710) sets world speed record for BR for underfloor engine DMU, Glasgow QS-Edinburgh, 107mph/171 km/h 1992
Scottish Citylink purchased by National Express 1993
Underpass opened at Gogar roundabout 1993
Guide Friday start Deep Sea World Express to North Queensferry 1993
Gyle Centre opened 1993
CERT (City of Edinburgh Rapid Transit) bus rapid transit scheme proposed c.1993
GRT buys Eastern Scottish Omnibuses (SMT) 1994
ScotRail TOC created (still BRB owned) 1994
New station opened at Wallyford 1994
M8 extended from Newbridge to City Bypass 1995
BR withdraw Sleeper/Motorail to Plymouth 1995
LRT moves Head Office from Queen Street to Shrubhill 1995
Anglo-Scottish Sleeper train operation passes to ScotRail 1995
Scottish Vintage Bus Museum moves to Lathalmond 1995
Mock up of section of a light weight tram displayed at Leith and Parliament Square 1995
First EasyJet services from London Luton to Edinburgh 1995
GNER train operating company takes over ECML train services 1996
ScotRail introduce Caledonian Sleeper brand 1996
Pedicabs first operate in Edinburgh 1996
Eastbound traffic exc buses, taxis, cycles etc removed from Princes Street 1996
First carve up Eastern Scottish between Midland Bluebird and Lowland 1996
Virgin Trains start running CrossCountry and West Coast trains 1997
Underpass opened at Newbridge roundabout 1997
First merge Midland Bluebird and Lowland as First Edinburgh 1997
Last BR operations (2355 Glasgow/Edinburgh - Euston Sleeper 31 March) 1997
ScotRail privatised 1997
Goldenacre Path opened Fiveways to Canonmills 1997
Priority bus lanes (“Greenways”) introduced on five arterial roads 1997
Dalgety Bay station opened 1998
The New Edinburgh Tramways Company formed to promote a Haymarket to Newhaven light weight tramway 1998
9 local authorities form voluntary South East Scotland Transport Partnership 1998
Low cost carrier Go starts Stansted/Edinburgh route 1998
Dunfermline Queen Margaret station opened 2000
GNER propose Parkway station at Musselburgh 2000
LRT becomes Lothian Buses 2000
LB becomes a City Sightseeing franchisee 2000
LB replace last Circle service 32 (Outer Circle) with 18 and 32 routes, 2000
First Edinburgh launch The Overground network in city 2000
Motorvator coach service Edinburgh to Glasgow started by Bruce Coaches and Long’s of Salsburgh 2000
St. Andrew Square bus station closed for redevelopment 2000
Ferrytoll P+R opened in Fife 2000
Cramond Ferry closed at time of foot and mouth restrictions 2000
National Rail website launched 2000
ConCERT consortium pull out of the CEC guided busway project 2001
Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre opened 2001
Forth Estuary Transport Authority replaces FRBJB 2001
Union Canal reopened through Wester Hailes 2001
Integrated multi-modal ticket launched by SESTRAN Traveltickets 2001
Ryanair launch first scheduled service from EDI (to Dublin) 2001
Brunstane and Newcraighall stations opened 2002
Transport Initiatives Edinburgh formed 2002
Rosyth/Zeebrugge ferry service started by Superfast Ferries 2002
LB acquire Mac Tours and Edinburgh ops of Guide Friday 2002
Lothian revamps night bus network 2002
1.6km of ECML realigned near Prestonpans owing to subsidence 2002
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh relocates to Little France 2003
Edinburgh Bus Station opened 2003
Stagecoach start Yellow Taxibus service Dunfermline to Edinburgh 2003
Megabus started by Stagecoach 2003
Second Leith Street footbridge (the “bendy bridge”) erected 2003
Concorde’s last visit to EDI (G-BOAE) 2003
Edinburgh Park station opened 2003
First Group takeover ScotRail franchise 2004
Edinburgh Bus Tours introduce Majestic Tour 2004
West Edinburgh 1.5k guided busway opens 2004
‘Queen Mary 2’ makes first visit to Firth of Forth 2004
Continental start first daily transatlantic scheduled flight to New York/Newark 2004
Stagecoach buy the Motorvator Edinburgh Glasgow coach service 2004
Stagecoach gain 35% stake in Scottish Citylink and become managing partner 2005
Hermiston P+R opened 2005
NATS build new 57 metre high control tower at EDI 2005
Edinburgh congestion charge referendum 2005
Central Edinburgh Traffic Management Scheme 2005
SEStran becomes a statutory Regional Transport Partnership 2005
Transport Scotland (agency of Scottish Executive) begins operation 2006
Ingliston P+R opened 2006
Stagecoach launch Airdirect (later Jet 747) bus Inverkeithing to Edinburgh Airport in 2006
Forth Boat Tours founded 2006
Megabus start an Edinburgh to London service 2006
Former SMT depot/Head Office at New Street demolished 2006
Stagecoach run two week hovercraft trial between Portobello and KIrkcaldy 2007
Edinburgh Airport Rail Link cancelled by Scottish Govt 2007
First TransPennine Express replace Virgin CrossCountry on Manchester services 2007
Edinburgh Bus Tours start Bus and Boat Tour 2007
Lothian start taxibus service to/from Edinburgh Airport 2007
M9 spur (later M90) opened from Kirkliston to Queensferry 2007
Stagecoach East Scotland launch Express CityConnect brand for coach network 2007
National Express East Coast takes over InterCity East Coast franchise 2007
Tolls removed from Forth Road Bridge 2008
First Edinburgh renamed First Scotland East 2008
P&R sites opened at Sheriffhall and Straiton 2008
Wallyford P&R opened 2008
The Cunard liner QE2 makes last visit to Firth of Forth 2008
Norfolkline restart Rosyth/Zeebrugge ferry service 2009
Tramway construction begins on Princes Street 2009
North Edinburgh Path Network connected to Stockbridge/New Town with reopening of Rodney Street tunnel 2009
The state owned East Coast train operating company replaced National Express East Coast 2009
Removal of last step entrance bus from Lothian fleet 2009
Airdrie/Bathgate railway reopened/ electrified 2010
ScotRail reintroduce local Edinburgh-Dunbar service supplementing Dunbar calls by long distance operators 2010
First trams delivered to their new home at Gogar Depot 2011
Waverley Steps rebuilt with canopy and escalators added 2012
British Airways takeover bmi British Midland 2012
Global Investment Partners buy Edinburgh Airport 2012
M90 intelligent transport system inc bus lane 2012
Citylinkair coach service Glasgow to Edinburgh Airport launched 2013
Haymarket Station modernised 2013
Virgin Little Red launch LHR/Edinburgh service 2013
Luxury Megabus Gold sleeper coach services introduced between London and Edinburgh/Aberdeen 2013
Edinburgh Trams Ltd and Transport for Edinburgh Ltd formed 2013
Modern tramway opened Airport to York Place 2014
Taxis and other motor vehicles banned from Edinburgh Waverley 2014
Virgin Trains East Coast replaces state owned East Coast on the ECML 2015
Abellio takeover ScotRail franchise 2015
Amey take over management of Forth Road Bri for Transport Scotland 2015
Bruce’s Coaches launch M8 CityXpress to/from Glasgow 2015
Serco now operating the new Caledonian Sleeper franchise 2015
Borders Railway to Tweedbank opened 2015
Four new stations in Midlothian on reopened Borders Railway at Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange and Gorebridge 2015
UNESCO inscribes Forth Bridge on World Heritage Sites list 2015
Emergency closure of Forth Road Bridge, December 2015
City of Edinburgh Council starts rollout of 20mph speed limits on 80% of city streets. From 2016.
Edinburgh Gateway rail/tram interchange opened 2016
Lothian introduces new fleet for Edinburgh Bus Tours 2016
EastCoastbuses launched by Lothian 2016
Lothian launch Skylink service Leith to Edinburgh Airport 2017
Queensferry Crossing opened 2017
Forth Road Bridge becomes the public transport corridor 2017
Edinburgh to Glasgow train services via Falkirk High electrified 2017
Borders Buses launched 2017
First overall adverts (CRSmith) on Edinburgh Trams 2017
Lothiancountry brand starts with route 43 to Queensferry 2017
44 week closure of Leith Street in connection with St. James redevelopment, from September 2017
ScotRail open Millerhill EMU depot 2018
Lothian launch Cruiselink X99 to/from Queensferry Hawes Pier 2018
DfT Operator of Last Resort (using LNER brand) replaces VTEC on ECML 2018
Transport for Edinburgh cycle hire scheme in association with Serco launched 2018
North Bridge refurbishment works 2018-2026
Lothiancountry start renewed expansion into West Lothian 2018
First start Bright Bus Tours 2019
Lothian introduce 100 seater ADL Enviro 400XLB tri - axle double deckers 2019
Lothian launch capped contactless payment system 2019
Edinburgh to Glasgow train services via Shotts electrified 2019
Lothian open TravelHub inc cafe at Shandwick Place 2019
LNER introduce “Azuma” service to Edinburgh 2019
Avanti West Coast take over InterCity West Coast franchise 2019
Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. Only critical services provided 2020
Waverley Bridge largely pedestrianised 2020
Stagecoach introduce new livery schemes 2020
Ember Core start electric coach service to Dundee 2020
Plaxton Panorama double deck coaches introduced on Citylink 900 Edinburgh to Glasgow service 2020
Flixbus start overnight coach service to London 2021
First Group launch low cost rail subsidiary, Lumo, operating between Edinburgh and London King’s Cross 2021
York Place tramstop closed 2022
ScotRail nationalised 2022
McGill’s Buses take over First Scotland East and West Lothian services rebranded Eastern Scottish, 2022
Open top bus tours move to new base at Waterloo Place 2023
New east corridor at Waverley 2023
Flixbus start Edinburgh to Aberdeen service 2023
CAVForth autonomous bus service (operated by Stagecoach) launched between Ferrytoll P+R and Edinburgh Park station 2023
TransPennine Express nationalised 2023
Dumfries to Edinburgh bus service passes to Houston, Lockerbie 2023
The former Granton Gasworks station restored 2023
Trams extended from city centre to Leith and Newhaven 2023
Caledonian Sleeper nationalised 2023.
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry report published 2023
Low Emission Zone (LEZ) established in central Edinburgh 2023
McGill’s Scotland East pull out of West Lothian 2023
New station opened at East Linton 2023
McGill’s launch Bright Bus Airport Express 2024
Lothian Buses purchase Dunbar based Eve Coaches 2024
Regal Tour replaces Majestic Tour 2024
Flixbus launch Edinburgh- Glasgow service 2024
VINCI Airports acquire 50.01% of Edinburgh Airport, GIP retain remaining shareholding 2024
Bright Bus launch Bus and Boat Tour 2024
Airport buses move to Waverley Bridge 2024
Airport handles 15m passengers in year for first time 2024
Transport for Edinburgh reduced to shareholding shell company 2024
Roseburn to Union Canal footpath/cycleway opened 2024
Lothian drop Skylink brand 2025
McGill’s Bright Bus Tours adopt BigBus franchise 2025
Travel Centre relocates at Waverley 2025
ScotRail abolish peak fares 2025
Tram-Trains proposed for South Sub railway 2025
Transport Scotland confirm discontinuous electrification going ahead for Fife and Borders routes 2025
City council launches new bike share scheme with Voi 2025
Straiton P+R closed
Transport for Edinburgh Ltd changes name to Edinburgh Transport Holdings Ltd 2025
Megabus cease cross-Border operations 2025
16.98m pax use Edinburgh Airport in 2025
Citylink 900 Edinburgh-Glasgow peak frequency now up to every 12 minutes 2026
Ember start Livingston to Edinburgh Airport service 2026
Fire on Princes St necessitates bus diversions and restricted tram service 2026
North Bridge fully reopens after eight year restoration 2026
It's three years this week that the British Government decommissioned the venerable Harrier. To mark the occasion, I'm revisiting some of my old images.
This is the twin-seat T12 ZH663 taxiing at RAF Cottesmore on 13.12.2010. GR9A, ZG506 follows.
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Western Europe's latest heat wave is supposed to abate tomorrow. Let's hope it does.
Sorry this is not a video. I don't do them much. But I am sure you get the idea. This young man had found out that a soccer ball will pick its altitude and then ride the water from a spout for at least a few seconds before losing its balance and falling to the ground. His audience liked watching this trick, and so did I.
The central plaza in this Alsatian village has numerous hidden water spouts and a fine drainage system. The village government turns on the spouts on hot summer days. All you have to do to get cool is walk onto the plaza and pick your spout. It's a ball, with or without a ball.
Location: Huningue, Alsace FR.
In my album: Dan's People.
Seaboard System 1068 & 6269 are in Boyles Yard in Birmingham, Alabama. Canon AE-1, Canon FD 50mm 1.8 Lens, Kodachrome 64 Epson 4990 scan.