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Coucher de soleil sur un alignement de cyprès (Cipressi) en Toscane dans le Val d'Orcia dans les champs près de Pienza
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//What a disaster
William Saunderson-Meyer says the floods just another blow to a province that was already on its knees
KwaZulu-Natal has declared a provincial state of disaster to try to cope with the devastating floods of the past week.
This is normally a temporary mechanism of which the primary purpose is to facilitate speedy national government assistance to hard-pressed provincial and local authorities. It also triggers the release of emergency funds from the National Treasury.
But in KZN’s case, they might as well make it permanent. This is a province that has been on its knees for some time and it ain’t getting up any time soon.
After all, KZN hasn’t even staunched the bloodied nose it suffered nine months ago. That’s when one wing of the African National Congress government — the Radical Economic Transformation followers of former president Jacob Zuma — tried to bury the other — the so-called reformists led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
KZN hasn’t even properly tallied the body blows it suffered then. The official estimates for the insurrection were 45,000 businesses affected, R50bn in economic damage, 129,000 jobs lost, and 354 killed.
These estimates are probably on the low side. For example, the number of people who were killed in the mayhem doesn’t include the many whose bodies were simply never found and counted.
And the true economic cost is incalculable. There’s been substantially increased emigration of minorities, cancelled investment, and the loss of international confidence in KZN as a safe tourist destination. In at least a dozen small, country towns, all the business infrastructure was destroyed, paradoxically by the very people who worked and shopped in those buildings.
Now the floods. The death toll is over 300 and still rising. Some 6,000 homes have been destroyed and road, water sewage and electrical infrastructure uprooted. As I write this, roaming mobs are opportunistically plundering container depots, stranded trucks, abandoned homes and vulnerable businesses, reportedly unhindered — as was the case during last year’s riots — by the police and army.
Naturally, no disaster is complete without a scapegoat. Ramaphosa, as is his style, was quick off the mark to finger the culprit — climate change.
“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” Ramaphosa told reporters while inspecting a devastated Durban. “We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”
What balderdash. Whatever role climate change may or may not have played in the larger scheme of things, it’s nonsense to pin on it responsibility for the plight of KZN. That lies with the ANC government.
First, this was not an unforeseeable bolt from the heavens. The forecasters warned months back that this was likely to be an exceptionally wet summer because of the La Niña weather pattern that occurs every few years.
There are also historical precedents for extreme weather in KZN, which a prudent administration would have taken note of.
In 1984, Tropical Storm Domoina wreaked havoc in a swathe from Mozambique, through Swaziland to KZN. Although the current downpour is worse, the scale is nevertheless in the same ballpark.
This latest storm — as yet unnamed — dumped 450mm of rain on Durban in 48 hours. Domoina let loose 615mm in 24 hours on Swaziland and northern KZN.
But the true difference between those events, 38 years apart, lies in the lack of preparedness on the part of today’s authorities. In 1984 the SA Air Force deployed 25 helicopters to airlift people to safety. In the 2000 Mozambique floods, 17 SAAF helicopters rescued more than 14,000 people.
This time, according to a News24 report, the SA Police Service and the SAAF, combined, have been unable to put a single chopper in the air. The erosion of South Africa’s military means that of the SAAF’s 39 Oryx helicopters, only 17 are serviceable.
Durban-based 15 Squadron has not a single helicopter available for search and rescue — they are reportedly primarily used as VIP transport — but two SAAF choppers supposedly have been despatched from Gqeberha to help. The SAPS airwing has only one serviceable helicopter but “the pilot on duty has been booked off sick”.
Second, throughout the province, local government is also in a state of disaster and unable to do its job. The scale of the KZN impairment can be measured in the flood destruction of homes.
Some 4,000 shanties have been destroyed, many because officialdom was too lax to forbid building on the floodplain and against precariously unstable hillsides. Another 2,000 of the homes swept away were so-called RDP houses, shoddily built during the kickback-and-steal bonanza of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme of the late 1990s.
In Durban, the eThekwini metro is bloated and inert. It carries a rates and services debt of R17bn, of which R1bn is owed by the national government.
Durban is also infamously corrupt. Former mayor Zandile Gumede — along with 21 co-accused — is facing fraud, corruption and money-laundering charges in connection with a R320m municipal tender.
Yet at the weekend, even as the rain was bucketing down, she won the ANC’s regional leadership contest hands-down, despite the party’s supposed “step-aside when accused” rule.
The ANC-aligned Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has no illusions about the party it supports. It issued a statement calling on the government to ensure that unlike the plundering of Covid-19 emergency relief funds, the KZN disaster funds were not stolen or misused.
Fat chance. The ANC has already announced that its parliamentary constituency offices in KZN would become “hubs for humanitarian support” and appealed for the donation of relief supplies. Watch the trousering by the ANC’s public representatives of anything that the public is dumb enough to leave with them.
It’s in KZN where the ANC’s brazen indifference to the law and antipathy towards the Constitution is at its most obvious and most destructive.
On Monday, Zuma's corruption trial once again failed to take off in the Pietermaritzburg High Court when he successfully blocked the process with another round of delaying legal actions. His lawyers also had some carefully threatening words for the judiciary in a separate Supreme Court of Appeal action.
They urged SCA President Mandisa Maya to reconsider the dismissal of his latest corruption prosecution challenges. They warned that last year’s deadly July unrest was “in part, traceable to a perceived erroneous and unjust judicial outcome” that put Zuma briefly in prison for contempt of court.
“When such conceived mistakes are committed, the citizens (wrongly) feel entitled to resort to self-help…”
Floods, fires and locusts are devastating but at least happen relatively rarely. The ANC, alas, is a seemingly unending plague.
It's been ages since the stars aligned (pardon the pun) and the skies were clear for a New Moon. As summer approaches in South Australia, the Milky Way is now setting early, so it with clear skies, and a New Moon, it was a race to chase it down, and find a good location near Myponga Beach to get a shot with something in the foreground before the Milky Way disappeared behind the horizon.
Olympus OM-D E-M1
7-14mm f2.8
7mm, f2.8, 10 seconds, ISO 3200
2 image panorama, stitched and processed in Lightroom, roughly following the approach set out in Ian Norman's 'How to Process Milky Way Astrophotography in Adobe Lightroom' tutorial from Lonely Speck.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
I am getting lazy, this is a single raw file. I couldn't be bothered aligning the three hand-held exposures manually. Besides, the dynamic range in this shot taken in the afternoon sun isn't that high anyway.
I think what I am trying to say is, not every scene needs HDR... although I still couldn't stop myself from running it through the software. But I am quite sure I could have achived the same result by just adjusting the levels, contrast... in Lightroom or PS, but that again would have taken longer...did I mention I am getting lazy? ;-)
If you look closely you can see that the bigger boat on the left is on the officially marked waterway.
An image I took of the the March 2012 Convergance from my driveway. Very lucky to have clear skies on March 25th to see this convergence. The Pleiades, Plant Venus, Planet Jupiter and the Moon are lined up in the ecliptic plane.
Hélicoptères de la Police Fédérale, Missions:
Les divers types d'appareils alignés par le Détachement lui permettent de remplir au profit des unités de police une très grande variété de missions et notamment:
•la surveillance du réseau routier, de manifestations et rassemblements, d'événements d'envergure (des compétitions sportives, par exemple);
•la recherche de personnes disparues, d'avions accidentés, de biens divers;
•la recherche et la poursuite d'infractions ainsi que l'interception de leurs auteurs;
•la protection des biens et des personnes (transports de fonds, protection de personnalités);
•les opérations spéciales menées au profit de l'Escadron Spécial d'Intervention. etc.
Christmas decorations lined up on a table in a tavern.
Décors de Noël alignés sur une table d'un débit de boisson.
Ilford HP5+ 6400iso Adonal 1+25 23' (par erreur)
I had dinner with some colleagues at Carn Brea Castle (where we also had dinner after our wedding, five years ago - it's one of my favourite restaurants).
We bravely stupidly ventured onto the roof as I wanted to take some photos but it was about a Force 9 up there. All hail Photomatix which managed to align my three very misaligned photos to make this HDR shot.
Carn Brea monument with Pool and St Ives in the distance.
View large Explore 140
Columns at the Old Royal Naval College, London.
The buildings were originally constructed to serve as the Greenwich Hospital, designed by Christopher Wren, and built between 1696 and 1712. Between 1873 and 1998 it was a training college for the Royal Navy and between 1962-1996 the Naval College housed JASON, an operational nuclear reactor for naval training. It was fully dismantled in 1999.
Firenze S. Maria Novella – Santa Maria Novella Train Station, Florence
Archival photo showing an aerial view of the then-new train station.
Opened in 1935, the building is a prime example of Italian modernism but has little to do with the Italian Rationalism movement, being more strongly influenced by the Viennese architecture of Loos and Hoffman, with perhaps a nod to Wright; but it is the building's complete originality that makes it outstanding. The competition to design the station was controversial but the approval by Mussolini of the Gruppo Toscano project was hailed as an official acceptance of modernity.
While it is of a 'modern' design, the use of pietra forte for the station's stone frontage was intended to respond to and contrast with the nearby Gothic architecture of the church of Santa Maria Novella. The interior of the station features a dramatic metal and glass roof with large skylights over the main passenger concourse, which is aligned perpendicular to the tracks and acts as a pedestrian street connecting one side of the city with the other. The skylights span the passenger concourse without any supporting columns, giving a feeling of openness and vast space and reinforcing the convergence of all the public functions of the station on the passenger concourse.
DECENT EXECUTION OF AN AMBITIOUS PLAN:
1) LEVERAGE HISTORICAL PREMIUM BRAND HERITAGE (ALFA ROMEO & MASERATI),
2) RE-ALIGN PRODUCT PORTFOLIO AND
3) REPOSITION THE BUSINESS FOR THE FUTURE.
Fiat's Revamp to Avoid ‘Carmageddon’!
Focus on Alfa Romeo and Maserati to access higher-end of bi-polar market. Instead of closing factories that are operating at less than half of capacity and throwing thousands of people out of work, Fiat will make Italy a production center for the company’s pricier brands, like Alfa Romeo and Maserati, which Fiat will then try to export to the United States and fast-growing markets in Asia.
Success or failure?
Critics are skeptical about the plans to move upmarket. FIAT has been trying that for a while with limited success. They doubt whether Alfa Romeo or Maserati can play in the same league as the German brands - Audi/Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.
To use one of Marchionne's favorite expressions, he and the company need to act "at the speed of light."
Sergio Marchionne has outlined this strategy for Fiat to survive a European “Carmageddon”, as it seeks to break even on the continent by 2016. In response to plummeting demand in its home market, Fiat’s chief executive said the Italian carmaker would revamp its product line and reserve 15 percent of its European capacity for exports - new Alfa Romeo and new Maserati models will be made in Italy for sale outside Europe, including the United States:
■2013 – Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe (to be unveiled in January 2013 @ Detroit)
■2013 – Maserati Quattroporte full model change (to be unveiled in January 2013 @ Detroit)
■2013 – Maserati Ghibli – competing Highend-Models 5-Series/E-Class (September 2013 @ Frankfurt)
■2014 – Alfa Romeo 4C Spyder
■2014 – Alfa Romeo "169/Diva" – large sedan to succeed 164/166
■2014 – Maserati Levante SUV based on Jeep Grand Cherokee
■2015 – Alfa Romeo Giulia – 159 replacement
■2015 – Alfa Romeo "Kamal" – large SUV
■2015 – Alfa Romeo "Duetto" – roadster co-developed with next gen Mazda MX-5
■2015 – Maserati GranTurismo Coupe full model change
■2015 – Maserati GranCabrio full model change
■2016 – Maserati GranSport new flagship model competes against 911
The new Maserati Quattroperte will compete against Audi A8, BMW 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class with the Maserati has grown in length and now it measured at 5.26 m (5.09 m old). Maserati has adopted a more mainstream approach to how it makes its cars, with the new Quattroporte, which will be getting diesel power for the first time. The new Quattroporte diesel will have - a very appreciated - an unexpectedly good compromise between performance and efficiency.
The same approach will go into making the new Ghibli, Maserati’s smaller sedan offering. It will be shorter than the Quattroporte, measuring around the five meters in length.
Specifications Maserati Ghibli 4-porte:
Platform: rear-wheel-drive 300 SRT-derived platform (Street & Racing Technology)
Powertrains: high-performance Pentastar-derived version (Twin) Turbo and direct-injected 3.0 V-6 (410 bhp) MultiAIR and a Ferrari-derived, Twin Turbo and direct-injected 3.8 V-8 (530 bhp) all with ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic transmission
Competition: Audi S6/A7, BMW M5/6-series Gran Coupé, Jaguar XFR, Mercedes AMG E-class/ CLS
Estimated Arrival and Price: September 2013 and > $65,000
Production target: about 20,000 Ghibli's
Made in Italy: Officine Maserati Grugliasco S.P.A. Viale Nuccio Bertone, 2, Grugliasco, Turin
The new Maserati Ghibli is also with All-Wheel Drive ('Integrale') and direct-injected 3.0 V6 Twin Turbodiesel MultiAIR versions available.
Gallery E X P O R T
www.flickr.com/photos/55176801@N02/galleries/721576320021...
18 janvier 2025, 21h
En ce moment, vous avez le privilège de contempler plusieurs planètes du système solaire au cours d'une même soirée.
Un alignement planétaire est assez rare car toutes les planètes doivent se trouver dans une même portion du système solaire et quand on sait que pour plusieurs planètes il faut des dizaines d'années pour faire un tour complet, on comprend mieux la rareté de l'évènement.
Ici j'ai capturé Mars, Jupiter, Saturne, Vénus. Uranus et Néptune sont également dans le champ mais non visible, il faut s'équiper d'une paire de jumelle ou d'un télescope et savoir où regarder.
J'ai recréer les trajectoires orbitales de chaque planète à la manière de Stellarium (Logiciel et app de cartographie spatiale). C'est cette trajectoire (nommé le plan écliptique) qu'emprunte les planètes dont la Terre autour du Soleil.
Cette photo est une composition de 100 photos qui représente un champ d'environs 180°
While getting ready to polar align, I noticed the Moon just starting to go below the trees.
Image Taken: 15 Apr 10
Object: Moon, 3% illuminated, 1 day 13 hours 15 min old
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Imaging scope: Skywatcher Equinox 80ED
Imaging FL: 500mm
Imaging camera: unmodified Canon 400D
Lights: 1 x 1/3 sec ISO 200
Calibration: none
Guide scope: none
Other details: converted to JPEG with Digital Photo Professional.
Kinder Scout Hike Pt.2:
I passed a few scenes I'd shot before and was very tempted to re-shoot them with a new season and different conditions. I wanted to press on however and I was excited to see what views would unfold.
On the Pennine Way, I moved carefully along the boulder carpeted trail taking in all of the shapes and details looking for that magic combination that just "worked" for me.
About a quarter of a mile north of the Kinder Low trig point I found what I was looking for; the thin, defined diagonal layers of the gritstone combined with the softer less obvious but still present diagonals of edge of the plateau towards Sandy Heys tied the subject and background nicely together for me.
The other magic element (the light) was a little subtler, the clouds were thin enough in places to allow some highlights on the landscape but diffuse enough to have well balanced natural contrast. Speaking of magic, this location is perfectly aligned to catch some fantastic light at sunset and this list is very high on my list to shoot of an evening.
The Front shell was a pain to create, Aligning the triangular panels with the frame was difficult and took a while. Along the side are 6 fission beam turrets, 10 missile silos and the communications array. Along the there are 14 laser turrets and one Advanced Laser turret. In the middle, The Cloaking device sits close to the front, followed by the Advanced Laser Turret, then an Observation dome, and twin fuel scoops, used for collecting stellar gasses such as helium, oxygen, or hydrogen which can be conveted to fuel, water, or breathable air. All of this is mirrored on the belly. The Fuel Scoops took the longest for me to design, so long that it wasn't till early this year that I finally was able to scale them up from the previous model on which the fuel scoops were only comprised of 2 pieces each.
The White Horse Among the Stars
The White Horse spent half an hour this morning
Watching Red Arrows. He had to do it; he was pinned
To the hill, and it is inadvisable to blink, with
So many people standing in your face. They spewed
Out red, white and blue smoke, and horses
Of flesh and blood also turned to watch them:
Every stallion and nag for miles around, facing
In the same direction. The White Horse doesn’t need
Wikipedia to know the history. 1969:
A gnat hit trees – one fatality. 1971:
Two gnats collided – four men dead.
1987: a hawk crashed into a house –
No one died. Insurance paid. 2011:
Crash, death. Still under investigation.
Iraq War: a hundred and fourteen thousand, seven
Hundred and thirty one civilians dead. Afghan
Istan. And counting.
The White Horse doesn’t understand: he hasn’t
Taken sides in wars, or watched Top Gun, and
The sound of children crying makes the fossils
In him grind. When helicopters took folks up
There to glimpse him from the air, the whole
Thing took three minutes, from start to finish.
His making took an age. It began
With sea-things’ lives. He was born
Out of them, with the whole hill:
The Downs formed in the ocean swell.
Seas receded. Glaciers gouged
Out the Manger. Men emerged.
They saw his form long before
They cut it, looked from afar
And discerned his arching spine
On a windy landscape, strewn
With thistles. They paced him out
From ear to tail, etched his throat
With picks, dug his body deep.
And when pilots and passengers
Are asleep, the fossils resonate,
The eyeball widens. The White Horse peels
Himself from the hillside, looks down
On village, orchard, town, blesses
That child who helped to scour him
With her little trowel, arches himself.
His forelegs grapple with the turf, as though
He was some imago emerging. That
Eyeball revolves. And at once he is leaping,
Catching thermals like a peregrine,
Slicing through clouds, slipping out
Of our atmosphere, leaving the merest
Smear of chalk, cavorting with Arcturus,
Aligning the Pole-Star with his eye,
Seeking Betelgeuse in the armpit
Of Orion. Earth becomes invisible.
Each fossil becomes a star.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2012. This final poem in the series was completed on the second day of the White Horse Country Show, in the fields between Uffington and Fawler. Large crowds gathered on White Horse Hill to watch the “Red Arrow” stunt fliers from the R.A.F., and helicopter flights to view the White Horse from the air cost more than ten pounds a minute. “Gnats” and “hawks” are the types of aeroplanes flown as Red Arrows.
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