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The Panamanian white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator), also known as the Panamanian white-headed capuchin or Central American white-faced capuchin, is a medium-sized New World monkey of the family Cebidae, subfamily Cebinae. Native to the forests of Central America, the white-faced capuchin is important to rainforest ecology for its role in dispersing seeds and pollen.
Among the best known monkeys, the Panamanian white-faced capuchin is recognized as the typical companion to the organ grinder. In recent years the species has become popular in American media, particularly in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. It is a highly intelligent monkey and has been trained to assist paraplegic persons. It is a medium-sized monkey, weighing up to 3.9 kg (8 lb 10 oz). It is mostly black, but with a pink face and white on much of the front part of the body, giving it its common name. It has a distinctive prehensile tail that is often carried coiled up and is used to help support the monkey when it is feeding beneath a branch.
In the wild, the Panamanian white-faced capuchin is versatile, living in many different types of forest, and eating many different types of food, including fruit, other plant material, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. It lives in troops that can exceed 20 animals and include both males and females. It is noted for its tool use, including rubbing plants over its body in an apparent use of herbal medicine, and also using tools as weapons and for getting to food. It is a long-lived monkey, with a maximum recorded age of over 54 years.
Panamanian white-faced capuchins are highly social, living in groups of 16 individuals on average, about three quarters of which are females. Groups consists of related females, immigrant males, and offspring. On average, females birth offspring every 27 months even though they mate throughout the year. Females tend to stay within their original group while males leave their natal group when they are 4 years old and change groups every 4 years after. Both male and female capuchins exhibit different dominance behaviors within the group.
Adults reach a length of between 335 and 453 mm (13+1⁄4 and 17+7⁄8 in), excluding tail, and a weight of up to 3.9 kg (8 lb 10 oz). The tail is longer than the body, at up to 551 mm (21+3⁄4 in) in length. Males are about 27% larger than females. The brain of a white-faced capuchin is about 79.2 g (2+13⁄16 oz), which is larger than that of several larger monkey species, such as the mantled howler.
The Panamanian white-faced capuchin is similar to the Colombian white-faced capuchin in appearance, except that the female Panamanian white-faced capuchins have brownish or grayish elongated frontal tufts, which provide a contrast to the pure white cheeks and throat
This image was taken in the Panama Canal.
The 'Most Versatile' challenge is set by the Compositionally Challenged Group. Thanks very much Sharon for this months super themes.
In this month's challenge, 11 members entered 94 photos, and 8 members completed all 10 themes. These members, in play order were: Ms J, Dave, Robin, Maria, Linda, Sandi, Sharon, Andy.
This montage features at least one photo per person, and at least one photo per theme. To view the complete challenge and entries, click Here.
Class……………………………V-class Destroyer
Builder………………………..R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co, Hebburn
Yard number……………….494
Laid down..………………….31 Jan 1917
Launched….…………………31 Oct 1917
Completed.………………….11 Feb 1918
Propulsion.…………………..2 shafts : 2 sets of Brown-Curtis SR geared Steam Turbines : 3 Yarrow oil fired boilers.
Speed..…………………………34 knots (max)
Range…………………………..3500 / 1800 / 900 nm at 15 / 18 / 32 knots (as built)
History
.1943: Jan: Taken in hand at Grangemouth for conversion into a Long Range Escort. 1 boiler was removed, fuel stowage rose up to 445t, engine power decreased to 15 000hp, maximal speed was 25kts.
1945: Reduced to reserve.
1947: Placed on disposal list.
1948: Sold to BISCO and towed to breakers yard at Granton
The vessel was allocated the following pennant numbers.
F29……………..1917
G10…………….1918 to 1919
D32…………….1921 to 1940
I32………………1940 to 1948
Vintage postcard, no. 6431. Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina in Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1993).
American actor Johnny Depp is one of the most versatile actors in today's Hollywood. He made his film debut as one of Freddy Krueger's victims in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). With his dark, intense eyes and highly defined cheekbones, he shot to fame as a teen idol in the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987). He is now best known for his many wonderful collaborations with director Tim Burton, and for his flamboyant pirate Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of Carribean franchise. He likes to play freakishly eccentric outcasts whose oddities are misunderstood by society. Depp has been nominated for three Oscars and has won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor.
John Christopher Depp II was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1963, to Betty Sue (Wells), who worked as a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. Depp was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 16 (or 15 - the sources differ), after his parents divorced. The brooding teenager fronted a series of music-garage bands, including the punk rock/New Wave band The Kids, which opened for Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, and The B-52's. When he married Lori Anne Allison (Lori A. Depp), he took up the job of being a ballpoint-pen salesman to support himself and his wife during slack times in the music business. When he visited Los Angeles with his wife, he met actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to turn to acting. This culminated in Depp's film debut in the low-budget horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), where he played a teenager who falls prey to dream-stalking demon Freddy Krueger. He played a supporting role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon (1986), starring Charlie Sheen. In 1987 he shot to stardom when he replaced Jeff Yagher as Officer Tom Hanson, who goes on an undercover operation by posing as a student in crime-ridden Los Angeles-area high schools in the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987). After numerous roles in teen-oriented films, Depp spoofed the genre as 1950s teen rebel 'Cry-Baby' Wade Walker in John Waters' tongue-in-cheek Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990). The film received positive reviews from critics, but did not achieve high audience numbers in its initial release. It has subsequently become a cult classic and spawned a Broadway musical of the same name which was nominated for four Tony Awards. That year, Depp also started his great collaborations with director Tim Burton, playing the title role in the romantic dark fantasy Edward Scissorhands (1990) with Winona Ryder and Christopher Lee.
Following the film's success, Johnny Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike. He continued to gain critical acclaim and increasing popularity by appearing in such features as Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). He starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis in this drama about a dysfunctional family. He rejoined with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994), a biographical film about one of history's most inept film directors. Then he played a newly-orphaned accountant in the surrealist Western Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995), and an undercover FBI agent in the fact-based crime drama Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997), opposite Al Pacino. Depp appeared as Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego in Terry Gilliam's trippy adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). The same year he teamed up again with Burton in Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton, 1999), brilliantly portraying Ichabod Crane. With Chuck E. Weiss, Depp turned the Central Nightclub in Los Angeles, into the famous Viper Room at 8852 Sunset Blvd. The building was once owned by infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel. It's also the place where River Phoenix passed away on 31 October 1993. Depp closed down the Viper Room for two weeks after Phoenix's death and he also closed it on every 31 October until 2004. That year, he ended his ownership of the Viper room when he signed it over to Amanda Fox, the daughter of his missing partner in the club, Anthony Fox. Depp also once co-owned a restaurant/club in a former cinema in Paris called Man Ray (named after the avant-garde artist), with Sean Penn, John Malkovich and British musician Mick Hucknall.
Johnny Depp has played many different and often bigger-than-life characters in his career. He played a fact-based one, Insp. Fred Abberline in From Hell (Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes, 2001). He stole the show in the finale to Robert Rodriguez's Mariachi trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), opposite Antonio Banderas. In that same year he starred in the marvelous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003), playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off: the charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow. He based Sparrow on rock legend Keith Richards and the Looney Tunes character, Pepe Le Pew. The film's enormous success included an Oscar nomination for Depp. Depp was again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as kind-hearted Scottish novelist James Matthew Barrie, who penned the children's classic Peter Pan, in Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004), with Kate Winslet. He appeared as the notorious second Earl of Rochester in the British film, The Libertine (Lawrence Dunmore, 2004) opposite John Malkovich. Depp collaborated again with Burton in a screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005), and the stop-motion animation Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005), in which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort. Later followed Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton, 2007), Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010) and Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012). Depp reprised the role of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates sequels Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006), At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Rob Marshall, 2011), which were again major box office successes.
Off-screen, Johnny Depp has dated several female celebrities, and has been engaged to Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anne Allison in 1983, but divorced her in 1985. Depp has two children with French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis: Lily-Rose Melody (1999) and Jack (2002). He married actress/producer Amber Heard in 2015. Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in May, 2016. She was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Depp in relation to a physical altercation between the couple, which resulted in Heard filing for divorce in the first place. Heard was granted $7 million as part of the former couple's divorce, which was finalised in 2017. Depp has struggled with alcoholism and addiction for much of his life. Depp has stated that he began smoking at age 12 and began using alcohol and drugs shortly thereafter. In July 2018, Depp was sued for allegedly punching a crew member twice in the ribs during a foul-mouthed tirade. Court documents stated that the actor "reeked of alcohol" and took drugs on set. According to IMDb, Johnny Depp resides in France, Los Angeles, and an island he owns in the Bahamas. He divides his time in France between Meudon, a suburb of Paris and a villa in Plan-de-la-Tour, an hour outside of St Tropez in Southern France. He also purchased Bela Lugosi's Los Angeles home. Depp is intensely protective of his private life. Inside the Actors Studio (1994) is one of the few televised interviews he's granted. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Despite this massive success (or maybe as a result), Depp's career suffered a downswing after a string of critical and commercial flops. Films like The Tourist (opposite Angelina Jolie), Dark Shadows (a rare misstep with Tim Burton) and The Lone Ranger failed to connect with audiences and critics alike and left many to wonder when Depp's career would recover." It did. In recent years, Depp reprised the role of the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass (James Bobin, 2016), reprised his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg, 2017), and he was seen in the blockbuster Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (David Yates, 2018), written by J. K. Rowling and starring Eddie Redmayne. Depp is set to return as Gellert Grindelwald in the third Fantastic Beasts film, which is scheduled for release in November 2020.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.
Please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Pilatus PC24 "Super Versatile Jet" landing at Prestwick, Scotland on 31st January 2019 (Click on image to view full-size)
Versatile room divider, can be reversed, rotatated, and used either as a room divider or shelving unit.
Riley frolicking in the weeds. Photographed with a Nikon N60 SLR camera using Kodak Max Versatility film that expired 04/2007. The lab pushed it one stop.
Ex-one, displaced due to double deckers arriving on the route
Numberplate: KX13AUR
Fleet Number: 4249
Type: Optare Versa
Company: Arriva Essex
Route: 9
Destination: Shoeburyness, East Beach
Location: Shoeburyness, East Beach
CALLED: _/20
We are very happy with this photo. We spent a lot of time working on this and think we pulled our concept of great!
German postcard. Photochemie, No. K.1819. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.
Käthe Haack (1897-1986) was an extremely versatile German actress. Between 1915 and 1980 she appeared in some 230 films and television productions.
Käte Lisbeth Minna Sophie Isolde Haack was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1897. She was the daughter of cloth merchant Karl Wilhelm Paul Haack and his wife Sophie Margaret, née Jahn. After attending a private lyceum in Berlin-Charlottenburg, she took acting lessons with Seraphine Détschy and Hans Kaufmann. In 1914 she received her first engagement at the Stadttheater Göttingen (City Theater Goettingen). From 1915 on she played most of the time in Berlin. There she performed for the theatre of Victor Barnowsky, but also at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Schiffbauerdamm Theater, Hebbel-Theater, Theater in the Hradec Street, Volksbühne Berlin and the Deutsches Theater. Her roles included Johanna in Der einsame Weg (The Lonely Way), Anni in Ferenc Molnár's Spiel im Schloss (Play in the Castle), Clara in the premiere of Der fröhliche Weinberg (The Merry Weinberg) in 1925 and Mayor Gülstorff in the premiere of Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain from Köpenick) at the Deutsches Theater in 1931, directed by Heinz Hilpert. 1935 to 1944 she worked at the Preußischen Staatstheater Berlin (Prussian State Theater in Berlin) under Gustaf Gründgens.
Already in 1915 Käthe Haack also completed her first film appearance. She played her first role in the short film Pension Lampel (1915, Max Mack) opposite Hanni Weisse. After a highly praised performance in Mack's Der Katzensteg/The Cat Walk (1915, Max Mack), Haack further pursued her film career. During the 1910’s she portrayed a wide range from good-natured to vicious characters in such films as Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart/The Diary of Dr. Hart (1916, Paul Leni) opposite her later husband Heinrich Schroth, Die Hochzeit im Excentricclub/Marriage at the Excentricclub (1917, Joe May) written by Fritz Lang, Das Spiel vom Tode/The Game of Death (1917, Alwin Neuss), Sein bester Freund/His Best Friend (1918, Uwe Jens Krafft) opposite Max Landa, and in the title role of the detective film Die Ratte/The Rat (1918, Harry Piel, Joe May) opposite Heinrich Schroth as Joe Deebs. In the 1920’s, she was more or less reduced to parts of dull bourgeois women or amiable housewives in such successful productions as Der tote Gast/The Dead Guest (1921, Karl Freund), Jugend/Youth (1922, Fred Sauer), Wilhelm Tell (1923, Rudolf Dworsky, Rudolf Walther-Fein), Hedda Gabler (1924, Franz Eckstein) starring Asta Nielsen, and Der alte Fritz/The Old Fritz (1927, Gerhard Lamprecht) with Otto Gebühr. As an extremely versatile actress, she received numerous role offers and could continue her career after the end of the silent era. At the same time, she changed her image from a ‘young and street-smart girl’ to a wife and mother. During the 1930s, Haack was one of the most successful and popular actresses and appeared in box office hits like Berlin - Alexanderplatz (1931, Phil Jutzi) starring Heinrich George, Emil und die Detektive/Emil and the Detectives (1931, Gerhard Lamprecht) as Emil’s mother, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (1931, Richard Oswald), Quick (1932, Robert Siodmak) with Hans Albers, Pygmalion (1935, Erich Engel) starring Jenny Jugo, and Fridericus (1936, Johannes Meyer). In the 1940s, she starred in elaborate large-scale productions like the biography Bismarck (1940, Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and the monumental Münchhausen/The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (1943, Josef von Báky) starring Hans Albers.
After World War II, Käte Haack remained one of best-known and most successful actresses of the German cinema and played in films ranging from melodramas like Herz der Welt/The Alfred Nobel Story (1952, Harald Braun) to crime movies like Dynamit in grüner Seide/Death and Diamonds (1968, Harald Reinl) starring George Nader, and comedies like Der letzte Fußgänger/The Last Pedestrian (1961, Wilhelm Thiele) with Heinz Erhardt. Furthermore, she received rave reviews for her roles as distinguished ‘Grande Dame’ in such films as Der Lord von Barmbeck/The Lord of Barmbeck (1973, Ottokar Runze) and Grete Minde – Der Wald ist voller Wölfe/Grete Minde - The forest is full of wolves (1977, Heide Genée) – a type of role she often portrayed at the end of her career. She remained successful as a theater actress in Berlin. Important post-war stage roles were Mrs. Antrobus in Wir sind noch einmal davongekommen (We got away once more, 1946, Hebbel-Theater), Gina Ekdal in Die Wildente (The Wild Duck, 1948, Renaissance Theater ), Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady (1963, a tour with 1500 performances) and Louise Mask in Carl Sternheim's Der Snob (The Snob, 1966, Renaissance Theater). In 1967 she was appointed ‘Berlin State Actress’ and in 1973 was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her long and outstanding achievements in the German film industry. In 1971 she published her memoirs under the title In Berlin und Anderswo (In Berlin and elsewhere). Käthe Haack was married to the actor Heinrich Schroth. Her daughter, Hannelore Schroth and her stepson, Carl-Heinz Schroth, were also well-known actors. Käthe Haack died in 1986 in her hometown Berlin.
Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
DADA style
tunic
with asymmetric sleeve
kamikaze freeform
crochet
knitting
Navajo 3-ply technique
multi versatile
not only for orange lovers
A small craft, the Gaerlan Heinz-23 has been a versatile and invaluable part of the The Corps' offense and defense since its introduction seventeen years ago. These Crickets can carry up to eight Devil Dogs; a pilot, five fully armed and/or two injured on the bottom wing pylons.
Almost every Marine currently in the Corps has flown into battle strapped to the side of a "Cricket".
Very little armor makes this dropship incredibly fast and maneuverable, even fully loaded with troops.
Alone, the GH-23 has limited armament, just two blast cannons under the bottom wings. However, a veritable cornucopia of weapons systems can be attached in lieu of (or addition to) battle ready Marines, in essentially any combination.
The versatile weapons payload, ability to quickly pick up or drop off troops, and sheer maneuverability (not counting that they were ridiculously cheap to manufacture) made the GH-23 "Cricket" a favorite among The Corps brass and also the Devil Dogs they carried into and out of battle.
The sun was just behind the tower, but even as I took this and the following shot, the gap in the clouds closed up.
A composition used in Week 45 - Take a walk and take a photo - set by the Compositionally Challenged Group.
This composition was also used in November's Most Versatile and the November's Rainbow game, both set by the Compositionally Challenged Group.
versatile rail motor car АМ140 was used as the base for the АМ-140-01 ПК (АМ140ПК), new rail motor car of higher comfort www.flickr.com/photos/cetus13/54475933087/in/dateposted/
Both rail motor cars of АМ140 family are produced by Sinara-Transport Machines Holding (part of the Sinara Group) on the Sverdlovsk Track Repair and Mechanical Plant (ОАО "Свердловский путевой ремонтно-механический завод "Ремпутьмаш", код 1598).
Speed, 140 km/h
Twin diesel generator 540kW,
electric transmission
Number of drive/brake axles 4/4
1991 Ford Versatile 9030 4WD bi-directional loader tractor.
An import from the USA registered in April 1992.
Cheffins vintage and classic auction, Sutton -
"1991 FORD VERSATILE 9030 Bi-Directional diesel TRACTOR Reg. No. J110 JHG Serial No. D470150 Reported by the vendor to be a one owner tractor with 6,011 hours showing."
Unsold.
The Grand Galactic Empire's light bomber is used in both space battles and ground support. With good maneuverability, a crew of 3, and a versatile weapons loadout, it can handle a variety of complex and precise missions.
Built for the 2020 Blarney Build over at Brikwars.com
PHILIPPINE SEA (June 14, 2022) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) Airman Donald Wilder, from San Antonio, prepares to signal the launch of an F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the "Black Aces" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of a joint maritime strike rehearsal to demonstrate service components’ fires and effects capabilities in the maritime environment during exercise Valiant Shield 22 (VS 22). Exercises such as Valiant Shield allow the Indo-Pacific Command Joint Task Force the opportunity to integrate force from all branches of service to conduct long-range, precise, lethal, and overwhelming multi-axis, multi-domain effects that demonstrate the strength and versatility of the Joint Task Force and our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Javier Reyes)
DADA style
tunic
with asymmetric sleeve
kamikaze freeform
crochet
knitting
Navajo 3-ply technique
multi versatile
not only for orange lovers
APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2014-2016
***This outfit is modeled on Girl of the Year 2017 Gabriela McBride.
PERSONAL FUN FACT: All that I can say is WOW! I really can't believe how my old Val Gal looks in this outfit. When I originally ordered in on sale from American Girl, I was anticipating modeling it on my Isabelle doll for my AG clothing guide. I think that the colors, cut, and the vibe of this outfit really suit Izzy's personal aesthetic. But, Valerie got to wear it on display first. Once I saw it on her, it was like I had a whole new doll! I don't think that I have ever seen Valerie look so stunning and flattering in an American Girl outfit in all the years that my sister and I have had her (which is saying something since my sister got her in February of 2000...and I got this outfit in July of 2016). I'm not really sure what exactly it is about this ensemble that brings out Val's inner beauty, but whatever it is, Valerie totally owns it! Gabriela, my model here, also rocks it! I love everything about this unique outfit, so obviously I was very happy when it hit the clearance section on American Girl's website (although I was a bit sad that they were retiring it consequently). I love how many separate pieces this ensemble is, and how versatile it all is! This outfit was also super duper fun to make coordinating handmade earrings for. I just adore the bright colors and prints used for this look.
One of the most versatile harnesses in secondlife. Gives for roleplay, lingerie and beachwear. Sophistication, class and feminine dominance is displayed in this harness. Texture hud to help you with texture, colour, transparency, colour and glow control. Also if you want to have the bra covered, sheer or completely off. Panty covered or crotchless.
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Materials Enabled ( enhanced texturing once enabled will be noticed when you activate your advanced lighting and ambient occlusion in your Preferences in your viewer)
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RLV friendly
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Texture hud - see this link on the options of the hud and what it involves zedsensations.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/domination-fm-harness
Textures bra cup for transparent and sheer.
Transparency for bra cup from showing until topless.
Colour the bra cup with the colours available.
Glow control for the whole harness body
Textures the body harness and inner belt
Colours the body harness and inner belt
Shows panty to cover and crotchless
Texture the outer belt
Colours the outer belt
Textures the metals
Fitmesh body harness for Eve pulpy
Fitmesh body harness for Eve Slim
Fitmesh body harness for Belleza Isis
Fitmesh body harness for Belleza Freya
Fitmesh body harness for Slink Physique
Fitmesh body harness for Slink Hourglass
Fitmesh body harness for Maitreya Compatible only
Try the Demo inworld to make sure it meets your satisfaction before purchasing.
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Static%20Beats/84/236/59
marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Zed-SensationsDomination-fm-...
THE VERSATILITY OF THIS ESCAPE ARTIST, MAGICIAN, ILLUSIONIST, FORMER U.S.M.C. DRILL INSTRUCTOR 2X, RECRUITER FOR U.S.M.C., UNICYCLIST, JUGGLER, GYMNAST, MARATHON RUNNER, COMBAT INSTRUCTOR FOR NAVY SEALS, MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT IN A NUMBER OF ARTS, SURFER, DAREDEVIL, HANDGLIDER, FATHER OF FIVE CHILDREN, 6X WORLD RECORD HOLDER IN ESCAPOLOGY AND 46 MPH HANDSTAND ON SKATEBOARD TIED TO A MOTORCYCLE, TEACHER IN GYMNASTICS, MARTIAL ARTS, CIRCUS PERFORMER HIGH WIRE, PARACHUTIST, SPECIAL FORCES IN MARINES, FASTEST JAIL BREAK IN 22 SECONDS, FASTEST STRAITJACKET ESCAPE LESS THAN 7 SECONDS...IS UNMEASURABLE TO ANY OTHER ESCAPE ARTIST IN THE WORLD AND PERHAPS IN HISTORY. I HAVE SUPPLIED BUT A FEW PHOTOS THAT ARE LEFT FROM HOUDENNY'S EX-WIFE TAKING THEM AND PREVIOUS REPORTERS MISPLACING THEM DURING INTERVIEWS, WHICH IS A SHAME HAVING SO MANY YEARS LOST OF THIS MAN' TALENT.
www.ibmring362.org/WEAR2007.html
www.motiono.com/HOUDENNY/albums/177/
www.motiono.com/HOUDENNY/albums/
www.flickr.com/photos/12421016@N03/?saved=1
URL: myspace.com/houdenny
Nikon D800E & Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens photos of my HDR Hero's Journey Mythology LA Gallery photos taken with a Nikon D800E & Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens! If I keep this up I may create a black hole! See the full-seize photos here:
www.flickr.com/photos/herosjourneymythology45surf/sets/72...
dx4/dt=ic & 45SURF Hero's Journey Mythology Photography (31 photos)
From press release: "Theoretical Physicist hosts Hero's Journey Mythology Photography Gallery Show in Honor of Moving Dimensions Theory Physics Research." Ph.D physicist and photographer Dr. E signs all of his fine art with dx4/dt=ic -- the foundational equation for Moving Dimensions Theory, which stipulates that the fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions at the rate of c--the velocity of light. His Princeton advisor, the late J.A. Wheeler, wrote "More intellectual curiosity, versatility and yen for physics than Elliot McGucken's I have never seen in any senior or graduate student," and Dr. E's award-winning artificial retina dissertation, titled Multiple Unit Artificial Retina Chipset to Aid the Visually Impaired and Enhanced CMOS Phototransistors is now helping the blind see. Though seemingly disparate pursuits, all three endeavors--the photography, retinal prosthesis, and MDT are united in light. For MDT stipulates that photons surf the fourth expanding dimension on their way to exciting electrons in our our retinas or camera chips. The Hero's Journey Mythology motif derives from the heroic pursuit of truth and beauty, calling the viewer to adventure--to turn up Beethoven's Eroica and join the fellowship. When Dr. E's Princeton mentor J.A. Wheeler passed away, the National Post wrote, "At 96, he had been the last notable figure from the Heroic Age of Physics lingering among us. . . the student of Bohr, teacher of Feynman, and close colleague of Einstein. . . Wheeler was as much philosopher-poet as scientist, seizing on Einsteinian relativity early . . . He was ready to believe in the new world before most physicists. . ." And so it is that in honor of the noble Wheeler and all the heroes of yore, the Hero's Journey Mythology Photography seeks to remind us that the heroic age has not yet passed, that it is everywhere we look, should we only look towards the immutable ideals which mark both nature's sublime beauty and the imperishable soul. Words alone can do little to honor those who came before, but only action in the service of truth and beauty--serving those who come hence--can truly honor those heroic spirits of all ages. — in Malibu, CA.
Los Angeles Gallery Show! Dr. Elliot McGucken's Fine Art Photography! Dr. E's Legendary Malibu & Socal HDR Photography!
Some photos of my fine art photography hanging in the gallery for all my flickr fans! Thanks for the 120,000,000 views y'all!
Setting up in a gallery was fun! It did not seem like work. :) I even got to drive to Home Depot & buy lumber (pine), hammers, nails, and a saw! I added a few dozen feet of new wooden strips to hang all the Hero's Journey Mythology photography--white strips and grey strips--cut them, nailed them up, and painted them so that we could fit all my fine art photography in the gallery! I told them I have even more on flickr if they want more photos--haha. :)
Some photographs are 13"x19" metallic prints on Kodak metallic paper mounted on 18"x24" matts in wood frames with 2.5" black, wood-grain borders, set behind anti-reflective, UV protective, museum glass! Awesome--everyone asks "why didn't you put these behind glass" because the anti-reflective museum glass is so clear! Other fine art photographs are 24" x 36" printed on canvas wraps, or 24" x 36" printed on canvas and front-mounted to plexiglass / acryllic (I love these! Great for HDR)! And the finest ones are 40" x 60" laser-printed on Fuji-crystal archival paper, front mounted to UV-protective acryllic / plexiglass, with a solid aluminum backing for durablity! Heavy, but nice! :) Also have a couple huge 40"x70" (the motorcycle in Venice and Corvette on the PCH) printed straight on a sheet of metal! Some were printed on Canon, some on Epson, and others on a laser printer so expensive it doesn't even have a name. :) I saw it in downtown LA--it was HUGE!
This is my first gallery show, and the funny thing is that while setting it up and adding all the carpentry/new wood strips, I shot more photography than usual, getting up every day at 5 AM to shoot the sunrise at around 6:30-6:45 AM. The Journey Never Ends! As Malibu faces South, the sun rises over the water this time of year, and sets over it too! So it keeps me busy as I hate missing the awesomely magical December cirrus cloud sunrises & sunsets, some of which you see hanging in the gallery, with many, many more to come!
Well, all the best on your epic hero's journey! The gallery is just below Bel Air Camera in Westwood, and if you ever want to meet up, drop me a line! :)
Happy Holidays & Best on Your Epic Hero's Journey!
P.S. (Some folks have asked me when I am going to have a goddess gallery show--soon! :)
Whether it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 was a successful and versatile fighter aircraft during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault led against the Japanese remain among the most popular airplanes of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II while flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft during mid-December 1941. P-40s were first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the start of the war but they soon gave way to more advanced designs such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the best overall fighters of the war but it was a rugged, effective design available in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently required them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were built.
Design engineer Dr. Donovan R. Berlin layed the foundation for the P-40 in 1935 when he designed the agile, but lightly-armed, P-36 fighter equipped with a radial, air-cooled engine. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation won a production contract for 210 P-36 airplanes in 1937-the largest Army airplane contract awarded since World War I. Worldwide, fighter aircraft designs matured rapidly during the late 1930s and it was soon obvious that the P-36 was no match for newer European designs. High altitude performance in particular became a priceless commodity. Berlin attempted to improve the P-36 by redesigning it in to accommodate a turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710-11 inline, liquid-cooled engine. The new aircraft was designated the XP-37 but proved unpopular with pilots. The turbo-supercharger was not reliable and Berlin had placed the cockpit too far back on the fuselage, restricting the view to the front of the fighter. Nonetheless, when the engine was not giving trouble, the more-streamlined XP-37 was much faster than the P-36.
Curtiss tried again in 1938. Berlin had modified another P-36 with a new Allison V-1710-19 engine. It was designated the XP-40 and first flew on October 14, 1938. The XP-40 looked promising and Curtiss offered it to Army Air Corps leaders who evaluated the airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1939, along with several other fighter proposals. The P-40 won the competition, after some modifications, and Curtiss received an order for 540. At this time, the armament package consisted of two .50 caliber machine guns in the fuselage and four .30 caliber machine guns in the wings.
After production began in March 1940, France ordered 140 P-40s but the British took delivery of these airplanes when Paris surrendered. The British named the aircraft Tomahawks but found they performed poorly in high-altitude combat over northern Europe and relegated them to low-altitude operations in North Africa. The Russians bought more than 2,000 P-40s but details of their operational history remain obscure.
When the United States declared war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Corps's front line fighter units. The plucky fighter eventually saw combat in almost every theater of operations being the most effective in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Of all the CBI groups that gained the most notoriety of the entire war, and remains to this day synonymous with the P-40, is the American Volunteer Group (AVG) or the Flying Tigers. The unit was organized after the Chinese gave former U. S. Army Air Corps Captain Claire Lee Chennault almost 9 million dollars in 1940 to buy aircraft and recruit pilots to fly against the Japanese. Chennault's most important support within the Chinese government came from Madam Chiang Kai-shek, a Lt. Colonel in the Chinese Air Force and for a time, the service's overall commander.
The money from China diverted an order placed by the British Royal Air Force for 100 Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawks but buying airplanes was only one important step in creating a fighting air unit. Trained pilots were needed, and quickly, as tensions across the Pacific escalated. On April 15, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt quietly signed an Executive Order permitting Chennault to recruit directly from the ranks of American military reserve pilots. Within a few months, 350 flyers joined from pursuit (fighter), bomber, and patrol squadrons. In all, about half the pilots in the Flying Tigers came from the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps while the Army Air Corps supplied one-third. Factory test pilots at Bell, Consolidated, and other companies, and commercial airline pilots, filled the remaining slots.
The Flying Tigers flew their first mission on December 20. The unit's name was derived from the ferocious fangs and teeth painted on the nose of AVG P-40s at either side of the distinctive, large radiator air intake. The idea is said to originate from pictures in a magazine that showed Royal Air Force Tomahawks of No. 112 Squadron, operating in the western desert of North Africa, adorned with fangs and teeth painted around their air intakes. The Flying Tigers were the first real opposition the Japanese military encountered. In less than 7 months of action, AVG pilots destroyed about 115 Japanese aircraft and lost only 11 planes in air-to-air combat. The AVG disbanded on July 4, 1942, and its assets, including a few pilots, became a part of the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) 23rd Fighter Group in the newly activated 14th Air Force. Chennault, now a Brigadier General, assumed command of the 14th AF and by war's end, the 23rd was one of the highest-scoring Army fighter groups.
As wartime experience in the P-40 mounted, Curtiss made many modifications. Engineers added armor plate, better self-sealing fuel tanks, and more powerful engines. They modified the cockpit to improve visibility and changed the armament package to six, wing-mounted, .50 caliber machine guns. The P-40E Kittyhawk was the first model with this gun package and it entered service in time to serve in the AVG. The last model produced in quantity was the P-40N, the lightest P-40 built in quantity, and much faster than previous models. Curtiss built a single P-40Q. It was the fastest P-40 to fly (679 kph/422 mph) but it could not match the performance of the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang so Curtiss ended development of the P-40 series with this model. In addition to the AAF, many Allied nations bought and flew P-40s including England, France, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Turkey.
The Smithsonian P-40E did not serve in the U. S. military. Curtiss-Wright built it in Buffalo, New York, as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk IA on March 11, 1941. It served in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When the Japanese navy moved to attack Midway, they sent a diversionary battle group to menace the Aleutian Islands. Canada moved No. 111 Squadron to Alaska to help defend the region. After the Japanese threat diminished, the unit returned to Canada and eventually transferred to England without its P-40s. The RCAF declared the NASM Kittyhawk IA surplus on July 27, 1946, and the aircraft eventually returned to the United States. It had several owners before ending up with the Explorer Scouts youth group in Meridian, Mississippi. During the early 1960s, the Smithsonian began searching for a P-40 with a documented history of service in the AVG but found none. In 1964, the Exchange Club in Meridian donated the Kittyhawk IA to the National Aeronautical Collection, in memory of Mr. Kellis Forbes, a local man devoted to Boys Club activities. A U. S. Air Force Reserve crew airlifted the fighter to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on March 13, 1964. Andrews personnel restored the airplane in 1975 and painted it to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
Denim mini skirts are very versatile in that you feel you can wear them any time during the year. I particularly like the fit and length of this one.
The Cougar was a license-built Canadian version of the Swiss MOWAG Piranha 6X6 armoured personnel carrier. For Canadian service from 1976 to 2005 as an armoured training vehicle the turret from the British Alvis Scorpion (a CVRT variant with a 76mm gun) was fitted. Changing circumstances led to some of the vehicles seeing active service abroad. In addition to 6 wheel drive the Cougar was amphibious, fitted with two propellers, making it a versatile high mobility asset. This example is shown displaying during a Cold War armour demonstration as part of Tankfest 2021 at the Tank Museum, Bovington Camp.
The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family).
It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which, botanically, is a drupe, not a nut. The spelling cocoanut is an archaic form of the word. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning "head" or "skull", from the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.
The coconut is known for its great versatility as seen in the many uses of its different parts and found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are part of the daily diets of many people. Coconuts are different from any other fruits because they contain a large quantity of "water" and when immature they are known as tender-nuts or jelly-nuts and may be harvested for drinking. When mature, they still contain some water and can be used as seednuts or processed to give oil from the kernel, charcoal from the hard shell and coir from the fibrous husk. The endosperm is initially in its nuclear phase suspended within the coconut water. As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the coconut, becoming the edible coconut "flesh". When dried, the coconut flesh is called copra. The oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking and frying; coconut oil is also widely used in soaps and cosmetics. The clear liquid coconut water within is potable. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating. The coconut also has cultural and religious significance in many societies that use it.
DESCRIPTION
PLANT
Cocos nucifera is a large palm, growing up to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m long, and pinnae 60–90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly, leaving the trunk smooth. Coconuts are generally classified into two general types: tall and dwarf. On fertile soil, a tall coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year, but more often yields less than 30, mainly due to poor cultural practices. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, taking 15 – 20 years to reach peak production.
FRUIT
Botanically, the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers: the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. The exocarp and mesocarp make up the "husk" of the coconut. Coconuts sold in the shops of nontropical countries often have had the exocarp (outermost layer) removed. The mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores (stoma) or "eyes" that are clearly visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed.
A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kg. It takes around 6,000 full-grown coconuts to produce a tonne of copra.
ROOTS
Unlike some other plants, the palm tree has neither a tap root nor root hairs, but has a fibrous root system.
The coconut palm root system consists of an abundance of thin roots that grow outward from the plant near the surface. Only a few of the roots penetrate deep into the soil for stability. The type of root system is known as fibrous or adventitious, and is a characteristic of grass species. Other types of large trees produce a single downward-growing tap root with a number of feeder roots growing from it.
Coconut palms continue to produce roots from the base of the stem throughout its life. The number of roots produced depends on the age of the tree and the environment, with more than 3,600 roots possible on a tree that's 60 to 70 years old.
Roots are usually less than about 3 inches in diameter and uniformly thick from the tree trunk to the root tip.
Inflorescence
The palm produces both the female and male flowers on the same inflorescence; thus, the palm is monoecious. Other sources use the term polygamomonoecious. The female flower is much larger than the male flower. Flowering occurs continuously. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although some dwarf varieties are self-pollinating.
ETYMOLOGY
One of the earliest mentions of the coconut dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights story of Sinbad the Sailor; he is known to have bought and sold coconuts during his fifth voyage. Tenga, its Malayalam and Tamil name, was used in the detailed description of coconut found in Itinerario by Ludovico di Varthema published in 1510 and also in the later Hortus Indicus Malabaricus. Even earlier, it was called nux indica, a name used by Marco Polo in 1280 while in Sumatra, taken from the Arabs who called it جوز هندي jawz hindī. Both names translate to "Indian nut". In the earliest description of the coconut palm known, given by Cosmos of Alexandria in his Topographia Christiana written about 545 AD, there is a reference to the argell tree and its drupe.
Historical evidence favors the European origin of the name "coconut", for no name is similar in any of the languages of India, where the Portuguese first found the fruit; and indeed Barbosa, Barros, and Garcia, in mentioning the Tamil/Malayalam name tenga, and Canarese narle, expressly say, "we call these fruits quoquos", "our people have given it the name of coco", and "that which we call coco, and the Malabars temga".
The OED states: "Portuguese and Spanish authors of the 16th c. agree in identifying the word with Portuguese and Spanish coco "grinning face, grin, grimace", also "bugbear, scarecrow", cognate with cocar "to grin, make a grimace"; the name being said to refer to the face-like appearance of the base of the shell, with its three holes. According to Losada, the name came from Portuguese explorers, the sailors of Vasco da Gama in India, who first brought them to Europe. The coconut shell reminded them of a ghost or witch in Portuguese folklore called coco (also côca). The first known recorded usage of the term is 1555.
The specific name nucifera is Latin for "nut-bearing".
Origin, domestication, and dispersal
ORIGIN
The origin of the plant is the subject of debate. O.F. Cook was one of the earliest modern researchers to draw conclusions about the location of origin of Cocos nucifera based on its current-day worldwide distribution. He hypothesized that the coconut originated in the Americas, based on his belief that American coconut populations predated European contact and because he considered pan-tropical distribution by ocean currents improbable. Thor Heyerdahl later used this hypothesis of the American origin of the coconut to support his theory that the Pacific Islanders originated in South America. However, more evidence exists for an Indo-Pacific origin either around Melanesia and Malesia or the Indian Ocean. The oldest fossils known of the modern coconut dating from the Eocene period from around 37 to 55 million years ago were found in Australia and India. However, older palm fossils such as some of nipa fruit have been found in the Americas. Since 1978, the work on tracing the probable origin and dispersal of Cocos nucifera has only recently been augmented by a publication on the germination rate of the coconut seednut and another on the importance of the coral atoll ecosystem. Briefly, the coconut originated in the coral atoll ecosystem — without human intervention — and required a thick husk and slow germination to survive and disperse.
DOMESTICATION
Coconuts could not reach inland locations without human intervention (to carry seednuts, plant seedlings, etc.) and it was early germination on the palm (vivipary) that was important, rather than increasing the number or size of the edible parts of a fruit that was already large enough. Human cultivation of the coconut selected, not for larger size, but for thinner husks and increased volume of endosperm, the solid “meat” or liquid “water” that provides the fruit its food value. Although these modifications for domestication would reduce the fruit’s ability to float, this ability would be irrelevant to a cultivated population.
Among modern C. nucifera, two major types or variants: a thick-husked, angular fruit and a thin-husked, spherical fruit with a higher proportion of endosperm reflect a trend of cultivation in C. nucifera: the first coconuts were of the niu kafa type, with thick husks to protect the seed, an angular, highly ridged shape to promote buoyancy during ocean dispersal, and a pointed base that allowed fruits to dig into the sand, preventing them from being washed away during germination on a new island. As early human communities began to harvest coconuts for eating and planting, they (perhaps unintentionally) selected for a larger endosperm to husk ratio and a broader, spherical base, which rendered the fruit useful as a cup or bowl, thus creating the niu vai type. The decreased buoyancy and increased fragility of this spherical, thin-husked fruit would not matter for a species that had started to be dispersed by humans and grown in plantations. Harries’ adoption of the Polynesian terms niu kafa and niu vai has now passed into general scientific discourse, and his hypothesis is generally accepted.
Variants of C. nucifera are also categorized as Tall (var. typica) or Dwarf (var. nana). The two groups are genetically distinct, with the Dwarf variety showing a greater degree of artificial selection for ornamental traits and for early germination and fruiting. The Tall variety is outcrossing while Dwarf palms are incrossing, which has led to a much greater degree of genetic diversity within the Tall group. It is believed that the Dwarf subgroup mutated from the Tall group under human selection pressure.
DISPERSAL
It is often stated that coconuts can travel 110 days, or 4,800 km, by sea and still be able to germinate. This figure has been questioned based on the extremely small sample size that forms the basis of the paper that makes this claim. Thor Heyerdahl provides an alternative, and much shorter, estimate based on his first-hand experience crossing the Pacific Ocean on the raft Kon-Tiki: "The nuts we had in baskets on deck remained edible and capable of germinating the whole way to Polynesia. But we had laid about half among the special provisions below deck, with the waves washing around them. Every single one of these was ruined by the sea water. And no coconut can float over the sea faster than a balsa raft moves with the wind behind it." He also notes that several of the nuts began to germinate by the time they had been ten weeks at sea, precluding an unassisted journey of 100 days or more. However, it is more than likely that the coconut variety Heyerdahl chose for his long sea voyage was of the large, fleshy, spherical niu vai type, which Harries observed to have a significantly shorter germination type and worse buoyancy than the uncultivated niu kafa type. Therefore, Heyerdahl’s observations cannot be considered conclusive when it comes to determining the independent dispersal ability of the uncultivated coconut.
Drift models based on wind and ocean currents have shown that coconuts could not have drifted across the Pacific unaided. This provides some circumstantial evidence that Austronesian peoples carried coconuts across the ocean and that they could not have dispersed worldwide without human agency. More recently, genomic analysis of cultivated coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) has shed light on the movements of Austronesian peoples. By examining 10 microsatellite loci, researchers found two genetically distinct subpopulations of coconut - one originating in the Indian Ocean, the other in the Pacific Ocean. However, admixture, the transfer of genetic material, evidently occurred between the two populations. Given that coconuts are ideally suited for ocean dispersal, individuals from one population possibly could have floated to the other. However, the locations of the admixture events are limited to Madagascar and coastal east Africa, and exclude the Seychelles. This pattern coincides with the known trade routes of Austronesian sailors. Additionally, a genetically distinct subpopulation of coconut on the Pacific coast of Latin America has undergone a genetic bottleneck resulting from a founder effect; however, its ancestral population is the Pacific coconut. This, together with their use of the South American sweet potato, suggests that Austronesian peoples may have sailed as far east as the Americas.
DISTRIBUTION
The coconut has spread across much of the tropics, probably aided in many cases by seafaring people. Coconut fruit in the wild are light, buoyant and highly water resistant, and evolved to disperse significant distances via marine currents. Specimens have been collected from the sea as far north as Norway. In the Hawaiian Islands, the coconut is regarded as a Polynesian introduction, first brought to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers from their homelands in Oceania. They have been found in the Caribbean and the Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America for less than 500 years, but evidence of their presence on the Pacific coast of South America predates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. They are now almost ubiquitous between 26°N and 26°S except for the interiors of Africa and South America.
NATURAL HABITAT
The coconut palm thrives on sandy soils and is highly tolerant of salinity. It prefers areas with abundant sunlight and regular rainfall (1500 mm to 2500 mm annually), which makes colonizing shorelines of the tropics relatively straightforward. Coconuts also need high humidity (70–80%+) for optimum growth, which is why they are rarely seen in areas with low humidity. However, they can be found in humid areas with low annual precipitation such as in Karachi, Pakistan, which receives only about 250 mm of rainfall per year, but is consistently warm and humid.
Coconut palms require warm conditions for successful growth, and are intolerant of cold weather. Some seasonal variation is tolerated, with good growth where mean summer temperatures are between 28 and 37 °C, and survival as long as winter temperatures are above 4–12 °C; they will survive brief drops to 0 °C. Severe frost is usually fatal, although they have been known to recover from temperatures of −4 °C. They may grow but not fruit properly in areas with insufficient warmth, such as Bermuda.
The conditions required for coconut trees to grow without any care are:
- Mean daily temperature above 12–13 °C every day of the year
- Mean annual rainfall above 1000 mm
- No or very little overhead canopy, since even small trees require direct sun
The main limiting factor for most locations which satisfy the rainfall and temperature requirements is canopy growth, except those locations near coastlines, where the sandy soil and salt spray limit the growth of most other trees.
DISEASES
Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, the Maypan, has been bred for resistance to this disease.
PESTS
The coconut palm is damaged by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species which feed on it, including Batrachedra spp.: B. arenosella, B. atriloqua (feeds exclusively on C. nucifera), B. mathesoni (feeds exclusively on C. nucifera), and B. nuciferae.
Brontispa longissima (coconut leaf beetle) feeds on young leaves, and damages both seedlings and mature coconut palms. In 2007, the Philippines imposed a quarantine in Metro Manila and 26 provinces to stop the spread of the pest and protect the $800 million Philippine coconut industry.
The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid coconut mites (Eriophyes guerreronis). This mite infests coconut plantations, and is devastating: it can destroy up to 90% of coconut production. The immature seeds are infested and desapped by larvae staying in the portion covered by the perianth of the immature seed; the seeds then drop off or survive deformed. Spraying with wettable sulfur 0.4% or with neem-based pesticides can give some relief, but is cumbersome and labor-intensive.
In Kerala (India), the main coconut pests are the coconut mite, the rhinoceros beetle, the red palm weevil and the coconut leaf caterpillar. Research into countermeasures to these pests has as of 2009 yielded no results; researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University and the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Kasaragode continue to work on countermeasures. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kannur under Kerala Agricultural University has developed an innovative extension approach called the compact area group approach (CAGA) to combat coconut mites.
PRODUCTION AND CULTIVATION
Coconut palms are grown in more than 90 countries of the world, with a total production of 62 million tonnes per year (table). Most of the world production is in tropical Asia, with Indonesia, the Philippines and India accounting collectively for 73% of the world total (table).
CULTIVATION
Coconut trees are hard to establish in dry climates, and cannot grow there without frequent irrigation; in drought conditions, the new leaves do not open well, and older leaves may become desiccated; fruit also tends to be shed.
The extent of cultivation in the tropics is threatening a number of habitats, such as mangroves; an example of such damage to an ecoregion is in the Petenes mangroves of the Yucatán.
HARVESTING
In some parts of the world (Thailand and Malaysia), trained pig-tailed macaques are used to harvest coconuts. Training schools for pig-tailed macaques still exist both in southern Thailand and in the Malaysian state of Kelantan. Competitions are held each year to find the fastest harvester.
INDIA
Traditional areas of coconut cultivation in India are the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and the islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar. As per 2013-14 statistics from Coconut Development Board of Government of India, four southern states combined account for almost 92% of the total production in the country: Tamil Nadu (31.93%), Kerala (27.54%), Karnataka (23.26%), and Andhra Pradesh (8.43%). Other states, such as Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, and those in the northeast (Tripura and Assam) account for the remaining productions. Though Kerala has the largest number of coconut trees, in terms of production per hectare, Tamil Nadu leads all other states. In Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore and Tirupur regions top the production list.
Various terms, such as copra and coir, are derived from the native Malayalam language. In Kerala, the coconut tree is called "Thengu" also termed as kalpa vriksham, which essentially means all parts of a coconut tree is useful some way or other. In Tamil Nadu, a coconut tree is called as "Thennai maram" and tender coconut is called as "Ilaneer" in the native language.
MALDIVES
The coconut is the national tree of the Maldives and is considered the most important plant in the country. A coconut tree is also included in the country's national emblem or coat of arms. Coconut trees are grown on all the islands. Before modern construction methods were introduced, coconut leaves were used as roofing material for many houses in the islands, while coconut timber was used to build houses and boats.
MIDDLE EAST
The main coconut-producing area in the Middle East is the Dhofar region of Oman, but they can be grown all along the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Red Sea coasts, because these seas are tropical and provide enough humidity (through seawater evaporation) for coconut trees to grow. The young coconut plants need to be nursed and irrigated with drip pipes until they are old enough (stem bulb development) to be irrigated with brackish water or seawater alone, after which they can be replanted on the beaches. In particular, the area around Salalah maintains large coconut plantations similar to those found across the Arabian Sea in Kerala. The reasons why coconut are cultivated only in Yemen's Al Mahrah and Hadramaut governorates and in the Sultanate of Oman, but not in other suitable areas in the Arabian Peninsula, may originate from the fact that Oman and Hadramaut had long dhow trade relations with Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Africa and Zanzibar, as well as southern India and China. Omani people needed the coir rope from the coconut fiber to stitch together their traditional high seas-going dhow vessels in which nails were never used. The 'know how' of coconut cultivation and necessary soil fixation and irrigation may have found its way into Omani, Hadrami and Al-Mahra culture by people who returned from those overseas areas.
The coconut cultivars grown in Oman are generally of the drought-resistant Indian "West Coast tall" (WC Tall) variety. Unlike the UAE, which grows mostly non-native dwarf or hybrid coconut cultivars imported from Florida for ornamental purposes, the slender, tall Omani coconut cultivars are relatively well-adapted to the Middle East's hot dry seasons, but need longer to reach maturity. The Middle East's hot, dry climate favors the development of coconut mites, which cause immature seed dropping and may cause brownish-gray discoloration on the coconut's outer green fiber.
The ancient coconut groves of Dhofar were mentioned by the medieval Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta in his writings, known as Al Rihla.[52] The annual rainy season known locally as Khareef or monsoon makes coconut cultivation easy on the Arabian east coast.
Coconut trees also are increasingly grown for decorative purposes along the coasts of the UAE and Saudi Arabia with the help of irrigation. The UAE has, however, imposed strict laws on mature coconut tree imports from other countries to reduce the spread of pests to other native palm trees, as the mixing of date and coconut trees poses a risk of cross-species palm pests, such as rhinoceros beetles and red palm weevils. The artificial landscaping adopted in Florida may have been the cause for lethal yellowing, a viral coconut palm disease that leads to the death of the tree. It is spread by host insects, that thrive on heavy turf grasses. Therefore, heavy turf grass environments (beach resorts and golf courses) also pose a major threat to local coconut trees. Traditionally, dessert banana plants and local wild beach flora such as Scaevola taccada and Ipomoea pes-caprae were used as humidity-supplying green undergrowth for coconut trees, mixed with sea almond and sea hibiscus. Due to growing sedentary life styles and heavy-handed landscaping, there has been a decline in these traditional farming and soil-fixing techniques.
SRI LANKA
An early mention of the planting of coconuts is found in the Mahavamsa during the reign of Agrabodhi II around 589 AD. Coconuts are common in the Sri Lankan diet and the main source of dietary fat.
UNITED STATES
In the United States coconut palms can be grown and reproduced outdoors without irrigation in Hawaii, southern and central Florida, and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
In Florida, Coconut palms will grow from coastal Pinellas County and St. Petersburg southwards on Florida's west coast, and Melbourne southwards on Florida's east coast. The occasional coconut palm is seen north of these areas in favoured microclimates in Tampa and Clearwater, as well as around Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach on the east coast. They reach fruiting maturity, but can be damaged or killed by the occasional winter freezes in these areas. In South Texas they may also be grown in favoured microclimates around the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, and as far north as Corpus Christi , however more severe cold snaps keep them from producing viable fruit.
AUSTRALIA
Coconuts are commonly grown around the northern coast of Australia, and in some warmer parts of New South Wales.
BERMUDA
Most of the tall mature coconut trees found in Bermuda were shipped to the island as seedlings on the decks of ships. In more recent years, the importation of coconuts was prohibited, therefore, a large proportion of the younger trees have been propagated from locally grown coconuts.
In the winter months, the growth rate of coconut trees declines due to cooler temperatures and people have commonly attributed this to the reduced yield of coconuts in comparison to tropical regions. However, whilst cooler winter temperatures may be a factor in reducing fruit production, the primary reason for the reduced yield is a lack of water. Bermuda's soil is generally very shallow (1.5 to 3 feet) and much of a coconut tree's root mass is found in the porous limestone underneath the soil. Due to the porosity of the limestone, Bermuda's coconut trees do not generally have a sufficient supply of water with which they are able to support a large number of fruit as rain water quickly drains down through the limestone layer to the water table which is far too deep for a coconut's roots to reach. This typically leads to a reduction in fruit yield (sometimes as little as one or two mature fruits) as well as a reduced milk content inside the coconut that often causes the fruit to be infertile.
Conversely, trees growing in close proximity to the sea almost universally yield a much greater volume of fruit as they are able to tap directly into the sea water which permeates the limestone in such areas. Not only do these trees produce a significantly higher yield, but also the fruit itself tends to be far more fertile due to the higher milk content. Trees found growing in Bermuda's marshy inland areas enjoy a similar degree of success as they are also able to tap directly into a constant supply of water.
EUROPE
As a tropical plant, coconut is not native to Europe, but grows in tropical territories of European countries, such as Martinique and Guadeloupe (France), the Canary Islands (Spain) and Madeira (Portugal).
COOLER CLIMATES
In cooler climates (but not less than USDA Zone 9), a similar palm, the queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana), is used in landscaping. Its fruits are very similar to the coconut, but much smaller. The queen palm was originally classified in the genus Cocos along with the coconut, but was later reclassified in Syagrus. A recently discovered palm, Beccariophoenix alfredii from Madagascar, is nearly identical to the coconut, more so than the queen palm and can also be grown in slightly cooler climates than the coconut palm. Coconuts can only be grown in temperatures above 18 °C and need a daily temperature above 22 °C to produce fruit.
USES
The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropics for decoration, as well as for its many culinary and nonculinary uses; virtually every part of the coconut palm can be used by humans in some manner and has significant economic value. Coconuts' versatility is sometimes noted in its naming. In Sanskrit, it is kalpa vriksha ("the tree which provides all the necessities of life"). In the Malay language, it is pokok seribu guna ("the tree of a thousand uses"). In the Philippines, the coconut is commonly called the "tree of life".
COOKING
The various parts of the coconut have a number of culinary uses. The seed provides oil for frying, cooking, and making margarine. The white, fleshy part of the seed, the coconut meat, is used fresh or dried in cooking, especially in confections and desserts such as macaroons. Desiccated coconut or coconut milk made from it is frequently added to curries and other savory dishes. Coconut flour has also been developed for use in baking, to combat malnutrition. Coconut chips have been sold in the tourist regions of Hawaii and the Caribbean. Coconut butter is often used to describe solidified coconut oil, but has also been adopted as a name by certain specialty products made of coconut milk solids or puréed coconut meat and oil. Dried coconut is also used as the filling for many chocolate bars. Some dried coconut is purely coconut but others are manufactured with other ingredients, such as sugar, propylene glycol, salt, and sodium metabisulfite. Some countries in South East Asia use special coconut mutant called Kopyor (in Indonesian) or macapuno (in Philippines) as a dessert drinks.
NUTRITION
Per 100 gram serving with 354 calories, raw coconut meat supplies a high amount of total fat (33 grams), especially saturated fat (89% of total fat) and carbohydrates (24 grams) (table). Micronutrients in significant content include the dietary minerals, manganese, iron, phosphorus and zinc (table).
COCONUT WATER
Coconut water serves as a suspension for the endosperm of the coconut during its nuclear phase of development. Later, the endosperm matures and deposits onto the coconut rind during the cellular phase. It is consumed throughout the humid tropics, and has been introduced into the retail market as a processed sports drink. Mature fruits have significantly less liquid than young, immature coconuts, barring spoilage. Coconut water can be fermented to produce coconut vinegar.
Per 100 gram (100 ml) serving, coconut water contains 19 calories and no significant content of essential nutrients.
COCONUT MILK
Coconut milk, not to be confused with coconut water, is obtained primarily by extracting juice by pressing the grated coconut white kernel or by passing hot water or milk through grated coconut, which extracts the oil and aromatic compounds. It has a total fat content of 24%, most of which (89%) is saturated fat, with lauric acid as a major fatty acid. When refrigerated and left to set, coconut cream will rise to the top and separate from the milk. The milk can be used to produce virgin coconut oil by controlled heating and removal of the oil fraction.
A protein-rich powder can be processed from coconut milk following centrifugation, separation and spray drying.
COCONUT OIL
Another byproduct of the coconut is coconut oil. It is commonly used in cooking, especially for frying. It can be used in liquid form as would other vegetable oils, or in solid form as would butter or lard.
TODDY AND NECTAR
The sap derived from incising the flower clusters of the coconut is drunk as neera, also known as toddy or tuba (Philippines), tuak (Indonesia and Malaysia) or karewe (fresh and not fermented, collected twice a day, for breakfast and dinner) in Kiribati. When left to ferment on its own, it becomes palm wine. Palm wine is distilled to produce arrack. In the Philippines, this alcoholic drink is called lambanog or "coconut vodka".
The sap can be reduced by boiling to create a sweet syrup or candy such as te kamamai in Kiribati or dhiyaa hakuru and addu bondi in the Maldives. It can be reduced further to yield coconut sugar also referred to as palm sugar or jaggery. A young, well-maintained tree can produce around 300 liters of toddy per year, while a 40-year-old tree may yield around 400 liters.
HEART OF PALM AND COCONUT SPROUT
Apical buds of adult plants are edible, and are known as "palm cabbage" or heart of palm. They are considered a rare delicacy, as harvesting the buds kills the palms. Hearts of palm are eaten in salads, sometimes called "millionaire's salad". Newly germinated coconuts contain an edible fluff of marshmallow-like consistency called coconut sprout, produced as the endosperm nourishes the developing embryo.
INDONESIA
Coconut is an indispensable ingredient in Indonesian cooking. Coconut meat, coconut milk and coconut water are often used in main courses, desserts and soups throughout the archipelago. In the island of Sumatra, the famous Rendang, the traditional beef stew from West Sumatra, chunks of beef are cooked in coconut milk along with other spices for hours until thickened. In Jakarta, "Soto Babat" or beef tripe soup also uses coconut milk. In the island of Java, the sweet and savoury "Tempe Bacem" is made by cooking tempeh with coconut water, coconut sugar and other spices until thickened. "Klapertart" is the famous Dutch-influenced dessert from Manado, North Celebes, that uses young coconut meat and coconut milk. In 2010, Indonesia increased its coconut production. It is now the world's second largest producer of coconuts. The gross production was 15 million tonnes. A sprouting coconut seed is the logo for Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia, the Indonesian Scouting organization. It can be seen on all the scouting paraphernalia that elementary (SMA) school children wear as well as on the scouting pins and flags.
PHILIPPINES
The Philippines is the world's largest producer of coconuts; the production of coconuts plays an important role in the economy. Coconuts in the Philippines are usually used in making main dishes, refreshments and desserts. Coconut juice is also a popular drink in the country. In the Philippines, particularly Cebu, rice is wrapped in coconut leaves for cooking and subsequent storage; these packets are called puso. Coconut milk, known as gata, and grated coconut flakes are used in the preparation of dishes such as laing, ginataan, bibingka, ube halaya, pitsi-pitsi, palitaw, buko and coconut pie. Coconut jam is made by mixing muscovado sugar with coconut milk. Coconut sport fruits are also harvested. One such variety of coconut is known as macapuno. Its meat is sweetened, cut into strands and sold in glass jars as coconut strings, sometimes labeled as "gelatinous mutant coconut". Coconut water can be fermented to make a different product - nata de coco (coconut gel).
VIETNAM
In Vietnam, coconut is grown abundantly across Central and Southern Vietnam, and especially in Bến Tre Province, often called the "land of the coconut". It is used to make coconut candy, caramel, and jelly. Coconut juice and coconut milk are used, especially in Vietnam's southern style of cooking, including kho, chè and curry (cà ri).
INDIA
In southern India, most common way of cooking vegetables is to add grated coconut and then steam them with spices fried in oil. People from southern India also make chutney, which involves grinding the coconut with salt, chillies, and whole spices. Uruttu chammanthi (granulated chutney) is eaten with rice or kanji (rice gruel). It is also invariably the main side dish served with idli, vadai, and dosai. Coconut ground with spices is also mixed in sambar and other various lunch dishes for extra taste. Dishes garnished with grated coconut are generally referred to as poduthol in North Malabar and thoran in rest of Kerala. Puttu is a culinary delicacy of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in which layers of coconut alternate with layers of powdered rice, all of which fit into a bamboo stalk. Recently, this has been replaced with a steel or aluminium tube, which is then steamed over a pot. Coconut (Tamil: தேங்காய்) is regularly broken in the middle-class families in Tamil Nadu for food. Coconut meat can be eaten as a snack sweetened with jaggery or molasses. In Karnataka sweets are prepared using coconut and dry coconut "copra"., Like Kaie Obattu, Kobri mitai etc.
WIKIPEDIA
Is this Hong Kong? Yes, it is! Hard to imagine that this is part of the busy, hectic, overly crowded city of Hong Kong.
We hiked here passing another beach and a waterfall where I jumped off the cliff! The entire day was really fun and adventurous because in the end we almost got lost and hiked in the dark. We ended up being picked up by a boat in the middle of nowhere. I love such adventures!
Red velvet jacket, Cami. Lace overlay cami, George. Embellished hem skirt, Newport News. Brown boots, Nine West. Amber pendant, Ali’s Boutique. Beaded necklaces, Body Central.
This jacket has proven to be fairly versatile. I’ve paired it with brown, black, and red with good results. I think my favorite combo was with the leopard tank and peep-toes (middle picture). But my favorite photo is the one I took laying on the floor in the hallway.
Page 2 of the 1959 March Fashion Digest and Fabric News. The particular issue came from Wyman's Fabric Store in South Bend, Indiana.
My new ride for the upcoming summer. I have been using a Specialized Rock Hopper for the past 15 years and want something quicker. Norco Search Carbon fits the bill. The Search is an Adventure bike - it can still do gravel roads and trails and can be outfitted with panniers for longer trips - versatility was what I was looking for. Do I see an "adventure" in my future?
The 'Most Versatile' challenge is set by the Compositionally Challenged Group. Thanks so much Sharon for this months ace themes.
In this month's challenge, 12 members entered 104 photos, and 8 members completed all 10 themes. These members, in play order were: Maria, Pat, Sand, Linda, Dave, Ms J, Sharon, Andy.
This montage features at least one photo per person, and at least one photo per theme. To view the complete challenge and entries, click Here.
I've learned enough to know not to sneak up on anyone under the tracks, no matter how well I know them. I woke Old Man Tommy up a few weeks ago, and he jumped up startled, absolutely ready to fight. 8 Ball sleeps with a lead pipe next to him.
I suppose the knife is dual purpose. Cutting up food, and self-defense when necessary.
Ok, started with the AK receiver this time.
I love that lower I've been using on everything though o.o I just love it xD
Not sure if I like the mag... but oh well, it's a mag.
Used a magnifier for the first time ever.
Added a hood to the AK front sight cuz I like hooded sights.
Kept the tac gear 'cuz it still shows off the versatility of the M series. One of these times I'll remember GL's exist.
Approved? Or anything too out there?